Ok I’ve spent a couple of hours today updating Nathaniel’s photo gallery. Updates include upload of 200 new pictures and sorting into subalbums. (Uploading is in process as of 8:55 pm.)

Too cute:

First off - 12 pages of new pictures in the photo gallery! (Link is over on the left of this page.)

Nathaniel’s weight check went great on Friday. He gained ten ounces in the previous week, way up from his earlier gains. His official weight was 8 pounds 4 ounces.

He’s now rolling over intentionally - even did it for the doctor on Friday!

He’s talking more and more every day, though he is shy about doing it for the video camera!

We bought a scale to keep and eye on his weight gain at home since it’s been an issue. Also I’ve ordered an electric double breast pump so I can try to get my milk supply to increase - and also becaues I’ll be returning to work in a couple of weeks and I think an electric pump is going to make things easier than using my hand pump.

School is going well, though I’m a little overwhelmed with the amount of writing I have this quarter… not sure how I will manage other than to stay up late nights after he goes to sleep until his first waking (that will give me about 5 hours a night). Not to mention I still have tons of reading to do too, but I’ve been able to keep up with that for the most part.

I haven’t lost any more weight… really haven’t been able to focus on it at all, though I do need to get myself to go for walks since that’s something easy to do with Nathaniel and it makes him sleepy. I am two sizes and between 11 & 14 pounds up from prepregnancy.

Gabriel is magic when it comes to putting Nathaniel down for naps/bedtime… Daddy’s touch is what it takes! (He sings to him. I do sometimes but I’m not sure if it helps or keeps him awake b/c of my awful voice. LOL)

Ok so tomorrow we have a weight check… We bought a scale for home since this has become a bit of an issue and we’d like to keep a close eye on Nathaniel’s growth.

Last Friday he was 7 pounds 10 ounces on the doctor’s scale. On our scale today he was 8 pounds 6 ounces - that’s a gain of 12 ounces in 6 days!

Hopefully in a few weeks we’ll have him where he needs to be with weight and can being to wean off of the formula supplementation.

Will update tomorrow after the doctor’s visit. Also have new pics to upload sometime in the next few days, including his 3 month pics.

Well the SNS really has resolved the frustration at breastfeeding around here… He’s happier as he is getting a constant flow of food, and I’m happer becaues he’s not constantly popping off my breast. (He wouldn’t release the suction when pulling off. OW!)

We have a weigh check on Friday morning, so I’m hoping for a good weight gain. Average weekly gain is 4 to 8 ounces, so I’m hoping for at least 4, but 8 would be awesome! (Or more!)

Hopefully we will only have to supplement with formula for a while… I’m hoping to get my milk suppy to increase so if I need to keep using the SNS, I can put breast milk in it rather than formula.

Well, we have had to start giving Nathaniel formula after breastfeeding… He is not getting enough food as evidenced by slowing growth. I tried for two weeks to increase my breast milk supply with several “tricks” but unfortunately it was not enough to get him growing well. At this point we are supplementing with a bottle after every other feeding.

I’m frustrated because I wanted to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months, then continue breastfeeding while we introduced solids. But the impact to him not having enough food… well, it’s just not acceptable. I’m getting an electronic breast pump and hopefully we’ll be able to transition from supplementing with formula to supplementing with pumped breast milk. At least then he will be getting the best food, even if it’s not in the best way. I had some concern that he may not be digesting the breast milk well and that was the problem, but over the weekend he’s consistently taken 8-10 ounces of formula in addition to breastfeeding, so it’s obviously a quantity issue. Hopefully when we return to the doctor on Friday he will have put on a pound.

Tomorrow I’m going to contact the hospital resource center to see if they have a supplemental nursing system… really hoping they do because the more often we give bottles the more difficult breastfeeding becomes, as he develops a preference for the ease of drinking from a bottle. Breastfeeding is a bit of work for both of us!

It’s been quite depressing to have to go this route for feeding… though Gabriel has been a great support, it’s still in my head that my body has failed me twice now - first I couldn’t give birth naturally and now I can’t produce enough food for my child. I just hope that he hasn’t been damaged by my low milk supply and that the formula doesn’t cause any problems for him in the future. (We are giving soy formula - we tried milk and he was miserable, he had trouble digesting it.)

It’s already had an impact though. He’s never been a big crier. but now he cries even less if that was possible. He used to cry pretty hard when you put him down to change his diaper, but over the weekend he has stopped doing that and now carries on quite a conversation with us when we set him on the changing table. Perhaps it’s just continued development, but I think it’s because he has had a fuller tummy and can handle being put down more easily.

Just a quick update… Lost 3 more pounds - just 11 more to go to return to prepregnancy weight.

Well, we seem to have a somewhat regular routine down. Not a schedule… things do not happen at any particular time! But a routine, as in, things happen in the same order each day (actually it repeats several times within the day).

Our cycle is wake - eat - play - sleep. Repeat :). After about 90 minutes awake we get Nathaniel ready for a nap, and generally he naps for about an hour. Sometimes he’ll surprise us and sleep for 3 hours for a nap, but most of the time it’s 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.

Gabriel is an expert on the the settling down for a nap portion - it’s quite impressive what he can do with a squirmy 3 month old! I can get him down as well, but it’s a little more challenging as I have to distract him from the idea of the nearby food while prepping him for bed. LOL

He’s growing a lot in length (nearly 4 inches since birth) and his feet have gotten longer too. He has outgrown some clothing (footies) simply because his legs are so long and even some onesies because his torso length has increased too.

Life revolves around Nathaniel… Last week my parents offered to take us out for lunch, but it was only 15 minutes away from when we needed to get the baby ready for a nap… So they brought lunch to us while he slept

Well, the week back to work didn’t go too well… It’s just too soon to be away from Nathaniel so many hours and days. I have 5 more weeks of state paid family leave, so I’m going back on leave until mid May.

And in other news, Nathaniel did the following exciting things in the past week:

So this week for school I read:

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn (fun & easy read, but of course there’s a a whole hidden layer of meaning to discover in class discussion)

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature (uh…WTF? I don’t get Transcendentalism.)

And these three essays:

“I Want a Wife”

“Last Roundup for Wild Horses

“Bring Back Flogging”