Between the White Lines: May 2016

Well, Mr. Cooper is a whole month old (plus 10 days). This month was a very long month for us all. Trying to adjust to a new normal is proving to be a little difficult with three, but we are trying to manage. At his appointment on the 10th, he weighed in at 10lbs 15.5oz and 23inches long. He is extremely close to Connor's size at 1 month... Cooper is actually a quarter inch longer. I can't remember which percentile his weight was (maybe 79th??) but I do remember his height put him in the 94th percentile. He's super long!

I'm still pumping most of his feedings (4 or 5 bottles) and nursing 2 or 3 times in 24 hours. He's doing about 5 ounces in each bottle, except recently he isn't finishing them and leaving about an ounce. So maybe his little growth spurt is settling down and he only needs the 4 ounces again. So he's getting about 28-32 ounces in daily.

He is still wearing his 0-3 and 3 month clothes but may not be in them much longer. Like I said, he's super long. He is wearing size 1 diapers and has room for growth. He is wearing Luvs diapers. We were putting him in Target diapers because those have worked well with the other two. However, his skin was sticking to the diaper lining, and I read that when others had that problem they had to switch diapers. So far, so good.

He is another fantastic sleeper. He is now doing a 6-7 hour stretch at night. We put him down between 9 and 10 and he wakes up between 3:30 and 5. Then he wakes up 3-4 hours after that feeding. I cannot believe I am 3 for 3 with sleepers! Since he is doing this long stretch at night, we are planning on putting him in the crib sometime this week.

Not much going on developmentally since he's still so little and sleepy most of the time. He's beginning to stay awake for an hour at a time, but it's still not much. He's smiling some and beginning to coo some. He is holding his head up well, and I have even put him in the bumbo seat once. He did alright, but not great. He was only in it about 30 seconds before he had had enough of it. I haven't put him back in it since, but will begin to put him in it daily this week. He's beginning to tolerate being put down more and more each day. Most of the time he still wants me to rock him to sleep. I'm only successful about three times a day where I can put him in the swing or bouncy seat and he will fall asleep on his own. He's also starting to figure out that he is his own person and not attached to me anymore, so he's not as fussy when he's not near me. But, he does have his moments where all he wants it to cuddle. I wouldn't mind it so much if I didn't have Connor and Maddie, but we're making it work. They love to hold their baby and I try to let them hold him as much as he will let them. We're still working on personal space, but that has been the biggest challenge so far. It'll get better, I'm sure. But for now, we are still constantly reminding them (and sometimes demanding them) to leave him alone and to get out of his face.

Here are some pictures of Cooper since the last post.

One Month

All of my babies at 1 month

Excuse the gigantic cut on his forehead, I failed to trim his nails

Well, I've been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks now... just been a little busy adjusting to life with a 3 year old, a 21 month old, and a newborn. But better late than never!!

Cooper Morris joined our family (finally!) on April 5, 2016 at 6:14pm. Big boy weighed in at 8lbs 11oz and was 20.75 inches long. Not entirely sure how I delivered that big of a baby, but somehow I did. I was induced with this one just like I was with Connor and Maddie. Fortunately, labor was very easy and delivering him was even easier. Kinda shocked at how he was my biggest baby and the easiest, but that's how it goes sometimes.

Little story on his name. Cameron and I have always wanted to keep family names as middle names and give them each their own first name. Connor's middle name is Cameron's middle name (which is his mom's maiden name) and Maddie's middle name is my middle name (which was my dad's mom's middle name Helen Louise Stanley). With it being our third, we were wide open with ideas because the two obvious family names were taken whether the baby being a boy or girl. Once we found out we were pregnant, we had to dig for names we liked. Then came the question of do we keep the same initials... since CMW are Cameron and Connor's initials and MLW are mine and Maddie's. We didn't want him to feel left out, so we limited ourselves to C for the first name and M for the middle name. The ONLY M name I could think of was Maurice. It's my brother's middle name as well as was my dad's dad's middle name and my dad's brother's middle name. But since it's my brother's middle name, I didn't want to use it in case they wanted to use it if they were to have any boys. So, I then was looking through old pictures and saw the name Morris on the back of one. I then remembered that my dad's dad went by Morris. It's apparently how his mom pronounced Maurice. So, I ran the name by Cameron and he was on board. So now the first name. We went through every "C" name imaginable. I absolutely could not get on board with any name. Then we found two names that I actually liked. Cameron really liked Cooper and it was one that I had picked out too. I went back and forth for forever on the name. Some days I liked it and other days I wasn't sure it would fit him (I did this with Connor and Maddie too). Naming a baby is more stressful than you would think... especially the second of the same gender. But, Cooper stuck and I really like the sound of Cooper Morris, so I finally felt that it was a strong enough name to give to my boy. Plus, he kinda looks like a Cooper ;)

Things are going pretty well. He's eating a lot! I do 4 pump sessions a day and get about 8 ounces every time. I nurse him while Connor and Maddie nap and through the night. When he takes his bottle, he's eating about 4oz every 2 1/2 hours. I think it's a lot, but maybe it's just a growth spurt. Only time will tell.

He's waking up about once a night, occasionally two times (like last night). We feed him between 9:30-10 and he's up between 2-2:30 and the sleeps until 6:30-7 (Cameron gets up for work at 7:30 and the kiddos get up between 7:45-8). On the nights he wakes up twice, it's usually 2 and then 4-4:30 and then he doesn't wake up until 8:30-9. Just depends on how much he's slept during the day and if he's going through a growth spurt.

I've made it a point to put all three kids down for naps at the same time each day. Maddie goes down around 1. Connor goes down around 1:45-2. Cooper sleeps pretty much whenever I feed him. So, I try to feed him between 1-2 and he's good until 4.

Cooper will actually be a month old on Thursday, but the last time he was at the doctor (on April 19th) he weighed 9lbs on the dot. He lost some weight after birth (which is completely normal) and they want them back at birth weight by 2 weeks old (or maybe starting to gain weight again at 2 weeks old... I can't remember which). But it doesn't really matter because he was past birth weight at 2 weeks.

He's already in size 0-3 and 3 month clothes. He could probably still squeeze into some newborn stuff, but I don't have much newborn stuff so I just put him in 3 month clothes. He's in size 1 diapers and probably could have been from the get go, but the newborn diapers have the umbilical chord cut out in them.

Cooper actually has dark hair. Connor was born with dark hair, but he had red underneath the dark hair. So when you had Connor out in the sun, you could see the red. That's not the case with Cooper. It's dark all over, even hid eyebrows and eyelashes are dark. Are we going to have a dark hair baby?? I guess we will find out! His eyes are still blue, but that could literally change any day. Connor and Maddie have pretty blue eyes, so we will see what Cooper's eyes will do.

He had high jaundice levels (Connor and Maddie did too). They were high enough to where he had to do a bili-blanket (Connor also had to do the bili-blanket for 48 hours). It isn't the worst thing, but it does make things a little more difficult. He can't wear clothes and has this huge chord coming out so swaddling at night gets difficult. Then he isn't really mobile and has to stay near an outlet. It was rough, especially it being the day after we came home from the hospital and having Connor and Maddie running around like the wild children they already are. But, he began it Friday the 8th and had another appointment on Saturday to check his level. It was still a little elevated, so he had to do it Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. He had an appointment on Tuesday the 12th and his level was back to normal. We kept the blanket an extra 2 days to make sure he didn't rebound back up. Fortunately, he did not rebound and we had that thing out of our house for good!

He had jaundice like his brother, and now has acid reflux like his sister. So, we are working on getting his tummy better. It's already better since he's started Zantac on Thursday. He does not like to take his medicine and actually spit it out the first few times I gave it to him. But I've figured out a way to give it to him without him spitting it out (sip of milk, half of the Zantac, another sip of milk, then the rest of the Zantac, and then he finishes the bottle). At night, I give it to him when he's screaming because I'm changing his diaper ;)

We're all beginning to adjust to a new normal around here. It's been a little tough with Connor and Maddie needing me as much as Cooper, but we're working on our patience (easier said than done on both parts). Connor and Maddie love to "help" out... a little too much sometimes. I ask them to leave the baby alone while he's sleeping and all they say is "He's so cute!" It's sweet (really it is) but when the baby is screaming because all he wants to do is sleep in peace... it's a little testing.

I don't have many hospital pictures because I completely forgot to take them, but I've posted some pictures I've taken over the past few weeks (along with the few I did take in the hospital).