Logan Driving...

All right, so not really, but he does manage to hold onto his keys in this video! I promise he's not always on his playmat, just the easiest place for me to get a video!

Top Ten Logan Necessities

There are a few people who read this (I think) who are pregnant. And while I am in NO position to give advice, I thought I'd post the top 10 things that have been most useful for us this first month (it'll be a month on Thursday, such a big boy!). I always liked seeing things like this when I was pregnant, so wanted to share. In no order...

1. Swaddleme Blankets - wonderful blankets that are in the perfect swaddle shape, you wrap them around the baby, they velcro together so no need to worry about them coming up around the baby's mouth. LOVE THEM. We have three...and some sleepsack swaddleme's as well.
2. Bouncy chair - Great to put him in when we need to get things done and easy to move room to room. We have one upstairs and one downstairs. He hates his swing right now, but does like these.
3. Boppy - a must for me when nursing, again one upstairs and one downstairs, Logan also likes it for a little tummy time.
4. Cloth Diapers for burp cloths - they seem to be all over the house right now!
5. Breastpump - SO glad I did not wait to get this. I used it the first day I was home from the hospital. I'm not pumping a ton right now, only about once a week, but I'm going to start more this weekend to get a stash going.
6. Nursing Tanks - I live in these! I love the Target ones.
7. Yoga Pants - Again, I live in these, nice and comfy!
8. Socks - We know how I feel about the baby socks, the fold down kind...see a post in September for more info!
9. Baby Mittens - the cotton kind to just cover their hands so they don't scratch themselves...I'm not very good at Logan's nails yet, so these help!
10. Disposable Changing Pads - I put these on top of the changing tables on the pack n plays...we had cloth ones, but um, well, with a little boy they got ruined quickly...and with explosive poop too. So we started using the disposable ones and we cut them in half to save a little money.

All right, that's my two cents worth...time to go feed a baby! I'll try to post some more pics tomorrow!

Weekend Update

All is well with the Z's! We had a great weekend with KJ, and she was way too good to us! Not only did she help so much with Logan and give us lots of praise for how we're doing with him, but she also made us some meals that we'll be enjoying for many nights to come! It's amazing how cooking a meal is still the most complicated thing - so very nice to have some prepared for us. It was wonderful to spend time with her and just relax. S came over to join us on Saturday night too and we watched Up...kind of a depressing movie! I guess I would reccommend it but I really don't know that it's a little kids movie...so anyway, thanks KJ for a WONDERFUL weekend! Can't wait to see you again soon!

Grandma and Grandpa F. came over today to bring us more meals too. Well, I think they came to see Logan too...they seem quite smitten with him! :) Logan is so lucky since he gets to see Grandma and Grandpa K. for Turkey Day and spend more time with them. We're excited to have a longer visit with them!

I have to go feed Mr. Logan for a final time tonight, and then head to bed. Sundays are still hard days for me, with Peter going back to work and all of the help that I have all weekend being over with. Luckily this will be a shorter week so hopefully that will help. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE staying home with my little monkey - I just wish Peter could stay home with us everyday too! Better start playing the lottery... :)

Video Attempt

All right, here's my attempt to upload some videos...excuse my cheesy voice! They are oh so exciting, but just wanted everyone to see our little guy! He did a 2.5 hour stretch of sleep last night...woo hoo! That was so nice for this mom! Add in the other little bits I got and I think I might have gotten 5 hours...a new record!

Still Here!

Well, the blog doesn't get a lot of attention, but we're still here! Breastfeeding is going okay, I only have a hard time at night...because it is the middle of the night! We're on our way to the next goal, which is bfing till 6 weeks. After that we'll go towards 3 months. But, we'll just see how it goes, as Peter reminded me the whole goal is that Logan gets fed. However that happens is fine, as long as he gets fed. We'll see how things go!

We got a WONDERFUL surprise today...my mom came over to hang out with us and it was a very nice break in our day. Logan has been so lucky to see his grandparents so often, Grandma and Grandpa Kelley were here on Sunday for Peter's birthday and will be back for Thanksgiving. We're also getting REALLY excited about our visit from KJ this weekend! We cannot wait to see her! She truly prepared me well for the emotions that come with a new baby and is such a great resource for us, we can't wait for her to meet Logan!

Here's a couple of pics of our little guy from today - he's growing! Now he just needs to learn to sleep on his own in his pack and play, he has a harder time at night. Lots of fussiness and lots of awake time! Keep your figers crossed for us!

Just Hanging Out...

Well, not a whole lot is new here, we continue to just hang out with our little guy! Well, I get to hang out with him, Peter has to work of course, but has been able to work at home the past few days, which is nice because he can avoid his awful commute. Let's see if I can think of things that are new with us...

Logan is definitely making his needs known! He's getting better about letting me know when he is hungry and actually being awake before I have to wake him up to feed about 60% of the time (knock on wood). He's also doing better staying awake for feedings. Wednesday night was a hard one here, he was up every hour to eat - and when it takes at least 40 minutes to do everything for a feeding, well, you get the picture! I'm still not really taking naps during the day, but I think I'm getting about 4 - 5 hours or so at night...not all at once of course, but I'll take what I can get.

We are still breastfeeding...and it's still hard for me, emotionally at least. I think part of the reason it's hard is because with a bottle I know exactly how much he's getting (just speaking from when I've pumped) and I know he's eating enough. It's hard to tell without the bottle, but I'm learning to trust him as well as his diapers to steer me in the right direction. It's also draining that it takes 45 minutes to do the whole feeding/changing diaper process, and then we have to do it again so soon! During the day he can go 2.5 hours between feedings, for example:

Feed at 12:30, takes until 1:15
Feed again at 3:00 - 2..5 hours from the beginning of the last feeding.

At night he CAN go up to 4 hours in between, doesn't happen often. Here's a typical night for us:

Feed at 10:00, takes until 10:45
Soothe to sleep until about 11:30
Check on him about 10 times, fall asleep around 12
Up to feed at least by 2 again, if not earlier
Feed 2 - 2:45
Soothe to sleep until about 3:30
Sleep about 3:30 - until no later than 6, if not earlier

So, yes, at night, I wish we did formula. It would be a bit quicker for the feedings for sure. Also because formula stays in babies tummies longer and they sleep longer (sometimes). But, we're going to keep plugging away at breastfeeding for now, we'll see how it goes. I would like to start pumping more so I can get a few bottles for Peter to give occasionally.

He's rocking out in his swing right now, he's starting to be more comfortable in his bouncer too, he'll sit in there while I get ready in the mornings. Not that we go anywhere...per the pedi we are housebound, except for walks, until his 2 month appointment - but we still get ready to feel good about each day!

Here's a few pictures of our growing guy!

Birth Story

All right, let's see how many tries this takes to type the whole thing! I've got a sleepy baby right now so I'm going to give it a try...it's long and may have some details some of you may not want to read, but I tried not to make it too graphic...

Well, Sunday, October 25, I was of course anxious to have a baby, though my due date was not until that Friday. I had some bleeding that morning, called the doc, and he said oh, that's normal...but I started thinking oh, it's time! My mom and dad came over for lunch and we all went out to Sweetwater Tavern. Then mom, dad, and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. It was a quick 40 minutes, and I felt a few twinges, but I wasn't sure what they were. Here's a pic of that day, 39 weeks 2 days pregnant...
So, mom and dad left around 2, and I went upstairs to take a nap. I started having those twinges more, and they felt mostly like menstrual cramps. I couldn't sleep so I came downstairs and parked myself in front of the tv and got contractionmaster.com going on my computer. At that point I still thought it was nothing, because my mom kept telling me it was going to be SO painful, and I just felt these cramps. Well, I kept hitting the button on contraction master when they would come, and they were 5 - 6 minutes apart. That was from about 4 - 6:30 pm, and Peter was sleeping. I was still in complete denial at this point!

I finally woke Peter up and told him about the timing of things. I called KJ and left a message something like, "It really isn't a big deal but I think I might be having something that may be a contraction..." When she called back she said yep, that's probably the start of things. I decided to take a shower, straightened my hair, and Peter started getting things together. We timed them again from 8 - 9pm, and they were all 4 - 5 minutes apart, lasting 30 seconds to 1 minute. They were getting a little harder to just sit through, I was up and walking a lot. We finally called the doctor around 9 (yep, the monotone one of course!) and he said well, it's still really early, but you can go to the hospital if you want...

Off we went. By the time we got up to labor and delivery it was about 10pm, and when the nurse checked me I thought for sure she was going to say I was 1cm. and I had to go home...instead she said I was 4cm and staying there to have a baby! I decided not to get the epidural right away and walk around for another hour or so..and the contractions definetly got much stronger. Finally I was like okay, bring on the epidural! I think that may have been the most painful part, especially because I had a contraction right as the doc was putting the epidural in, which was hard. But, we got it and thought all was good...

5 minutes later Peter and I were in the room, they had dimmed the lights in hope that I would sleep a little...and all the sudden Logan's heartbeat monitor starts to slow down...I couldn't see the numbers but I could hear it getting slower and slower. And I started to panic. I saw in Peter's face that he was paniced too, and he ran out to get the nurses...but ran into them in the doorway because they were running in. I have never in my life been so scared. They moved me around, got oxygen on me, and it finally started going back up. The doctor came in and said sometimes that happens after an epidural, it's normal, etc...um, sure. The rest of the night I was glued to that monitor, and didn't sleep a wink.

Around 5am the nurse (who was wonderful!) came back to check me and said I was fully dialated...I spent about an hour and a half laboring just with her and Peter, pushing, but Logan would get close but not stay put! Finally aroudn 7 the doctor came and I turned a bit to my side and Logan got moving a little better. The doc decided to do an episiotomy and that helped get Logan out - but he had wrapped his umbilical cord around his arm about 3 times, which was one reason it was so hard to get him out!

When they put him on my chest my first comment was, "He's so small!" I still cannot believe that a human being came out of my body, and that he was the one in there for 9 months. All in all I had a wonderful labor experience, minus worrying about the heartbeat. I think I could have gone without the epidural if it was either contractions OR pushing, but the fact that you have to do both? I don't know, it will be a hard decision for me next time, after the heartbeat scare with the epidural.

We're doing well, just continuing to work on feeding and fattening up our little guy!

The pics from Logan's first session with our photographer can be found here:
http://blog.meganrussellphotography.com/
He's the Nov. 10 post.