On the Verge...

"What can I do to make Mom's first day really hard... Hmmm..." Abram was born on November 17th, 2010. It is now January 2nd, 2011 (that's very strange to type). 46 days later and I have yet to spend a full one completely by myself with him. I have been so blessed... and spoiled. I was talking to a friend before Abram was born, telling her how much time Quinn's work was giving him off for the baby. Her response was: "Wow. I think Ryan got that Friday off". Not only has my husband been around, but he's been an incredible help. I have heard stories of men who never changed their child's diaper. Well, Quinn's got that one down. Actually, that is probably where he will be missed the most. Everytime I am feeding Abram and he falls asleep half way through, I call for Quinn. I mean, it's really hard to hoist yourself out of a chair with a sleeping baby and breastfeeding pillow strapped around your waist. But, alas, I must learn ...

The past month has been lived in 3-6 hour increments. Due to the fact that nursing did not come naturally for the Babram or the Mom, feeding times were especially stressful and time-consuming. This lead to nights turning into days turning into nights, fussy, gassy baby soothing and rocking, and little to nothing getting accomplished in the Smith home. Throughout these last four weeks, we have all grown and developed and learned. Yet we have only begun to find our groove. However, there have been a few life changing items that have proven themselves invaluable and worthy of Smith family endorsement. Here are a few: The iPhone . This high tech gadget that, only a month ago, was a luxury possession, is now an absolute necessity. I do not go anywhere without it (even from room to room). This little guy has become my primary computer and my best friend. Due to the fact that nursing took up/takes up so much time and one is almost completely immobilized while doing it, I cannot imagine not ...

Quinn-Dad: "Abram. You're almost one month old!" Abram: " Whaaaaat?!" Yup, we've nearly made it. Through all of the struggles of the last four weeks, we were encouraged by many friends that sometimes it takes almost a month for babies to catch on to eating and settle in to more of a schedule. I wanted to believe them. I really did. But as I sat in bed every night around 3:00am with Abram on his second hour of feeding without seeming to get anything, I have to admit that I was skeptical. There were many times that I wanted to give up and just give him formula. But for some reason, I really felt like we were supposed to stick it out. Babies his age should be getting about 560 ml of milk/formula and gaining about an ounce a day. Abram is little and has never gotten that 560 (more like 460 ml on average), BUT he gained 11 ounces in 7 days. So he was obviously getting enough. The big problem was that it was taking him a long time to get even the minimal amount o...

We got a bunch of wonderful photos from our session with Kelli Hindman . The session was pretty early in the morning and Quinn and I were both exhausted. I hadn't showered in... well, I'm not going to say, but it had been longer than it should have been. And Quinn was in a rare, grumpy mood. Abram had just eaten, but had gas or was still hungry or something, because he kept waking up crying. But all of these obstacles notwithstanding, Kelli got some really cool shots. Here are a few more: We were planning on using one of these shots for Abram's birth announcement, but when it came down to it, we really wanted a picture that showed a bit of his personality. Because these were all sleeping shots, they were cute, but not necessarily representative of our Babram. So even though we got some shots that are definitely blow-up and hang up in the house worthy, we went with a picture Quinn took of him today for the birth announcement. I know, you are saying: "So... what's i...

Quinn's mom leaves tomorrow. It's been such a blessing to have such amazing mothers who are so willing to help with whatever needs to be done around the house and with the baby. I've gotten too used to being able to pass the baby off to be weighed in the middle of a feeding or having my water bottle and my stomach constantly filled by someone other than myself. We are going to have a bit of a rude awakening when we have to do all of this officially on our own. But I have faith that if we made it a few days between parents, we will make it a few more. The thing that's made it the hardest is the whole nursing thing. He's not very good at it, because he's kind of lazy. He's also a bit of a hard-gainer, like his parents. We have to force a certain amount of food in him to make sure that he's putting on weight. So we rented a baby scale from the lactation consultant, so that we know what he's getting. We weighed him naked today to see his actual ...

Abram says: "What? I'm two weeks already?". Quinn and I were talking this morning and it's weird to think back to our life before this guy. We feel like we've known him forever. We don't ACT like we've known him forever, though. This is evidenced by the fact that we are still worried about every little thing he does. His cough seems to have diminished in frequency, which is a huge answer to prayer. It sounds so rattly and sad when he does it, so hearing it less often has made my heart a little lighter. At this point he should be back to or surpassing his birth weight. However, this is not the case with our little man. He was 6 lbs 14 oz when he was born, 6 lbs 7 oz when we left the hospital, 6 lbs 9 oz at 4 days, and 6 lbs 10 oz yesterday. The doctor and the lactation consultant were very worried about this, which made me cry, because they said that he just wasn't getting enough to eat. It's hard to tell how much they are getting from you...