Family Photos from December 2013

All photo credit goes to Ryan A. Stadler!

Simon is 1 week old here!

We survived the first 6 weeks!

Here are some of my thoughts and reflections looking back on Simon's first 6 weeks of life outside the womb.

• I'm craving routine and daily rhythms.  Simon is not quite craving the same thing as I can't seem to figure out the right times for naps and night time sleep is still elusive.  I'm often reminding myself that Simon is a baby, and even though Gwen and I are used to structured days he's new to all this.
• Physically I feel great.  I'm so thankful for this!  After 9 months of nausea and heartburn and then a couple really intense weeks of birth recovery and serious breastfeeding pain - I feel good!  Hallelujah.  It's easy to focus on what's lacking (my core strength and weight to lose), but at this point I need to be celebrating good health.  It's a gift!  Also, by lots of God's grace, prayer, and prevention we have yet to really get the yucky illnesses that've been going around this past month.  Thank you Jesus.  
• I love having a new person in our family.  
• Simon is super, super cute.
• Simon had trouble gaining weight at the beginning and it was hard to hang in there with the doctors orders of waking him up to feed every 2 hours and pumping after feedings to increase my milk supply.  We had been on a 3 hour routine, and bumping it up to 2 hours was enough to make me crazy.  There were many tears shed over a baby who refused to wake up and eat no matter how hard I tried. As feeding times were increased there were new worlds of pain.  His latch required constant adjustment.  The pain brought imaginings of drywall knives during the latch process.  I started a practice of praying during that super painful two minutes at the beginning, and it was through those prayers that I received a lot of peace. We were doing weekly weight checks at a nearby birth center and rejoicing over each blood-bought gained ounce.  Then came the blocked ducts which are like flaming balls of blistered bruises underneath the skin.  And the remedy? To push on them at every feeding. So fun! Then the antibiotic for the infected blocked duct that wouldn't budge after days of massaging it.  Just after Simon's birth I had set a mental goal of getting him breast-milk for 6 weeks, and I'm happy to say we met that goal.  But it wasn't easy.  And I am so relieved to be done and SO thankful for formula.  We lasted just 4 weeks with Gwen having some similar issues, and it feels good to have worked through some of those difficulties and still made the same decision.  It really came down to what I wanted to do and what I could make work with my job of parenting Gwen - and I'm so glad to know Simon is growing, healthy, and getting what he needs to eat.  Hallelujah!
• I have a lot of goal-setting thoughts swirling in my mind lately.  I'm excited to hammer out some of my ideas for the year as far as how I'd like to grow in faith, marriage, parenting, ministry, creativity, etc.  But there's so little time and brain power these days.  I think Bert and I will be re-learning how to do quality communication around a baby schedule.  I miss having time to just talk things out with him.  I know it will return someday.
• Longing for sleep.  Whole different ball game with two kids.  Those daytime naps are so elusive.  My new favorite are the 5pm crash naps on the couch because I literally can't last any further without some sleep.  When Gwen was a baby she slept through the night around 2 months, but I think Simon might be trickier than she was on the sleep front.  We shall see!
• Our families are so wonderful.  How could I ever thank God enough for them?  Both my parents, Bert's parents, and our sisters, have been so helpful, encouraging, and loving through all of this adjustment.  I don't take this for granted.  I know we have it good!  From my mom automatically emptying my bathroom trash when she would come over those first 3 weeks, the comfort of coffee cake in my in-laws living room. They are just so wonderful.  I can't even describe it.  And the way everyone loves Simon is just the best.  The moments of people holding and loving him are the ones I want to remember and treasure.
• It's so different to welcome a second child.  It's easier to picture what's coming next as far as physical development.  Stress in general is lower.  Crying is less scary.  Diapers are no big deal.  Cuddling is amazing and enjoyed as much as possible.  I'm careful about what habits are being developed because I've been on the other side of breaking sleep habits.  So I do try to lay Simon down to sleep on his own when possible.

Well, it's time to go feed the baby.  I really hope some of that made sense, even though my brain feels foggy.  I'm so excited to have Simon in our family.  What a precious gift.  I love him so much!  We all do.