wowzer- lots going on

I have soo much to post about!. First- a big thank you for all the well wishes and comments. I am hoping to catch up on my blog reading over the next day or so.

HAPPY FIRST FATHERS DAY ERIC!!!
If this picture does not melt your heart, I don't know what will.


Eric is already such a great dad. I actually have been feeling guilty about breastfeeding. Just this morning he asked me if I could pump so that he could take care of Brooks. I told him to just give it 2-3 weeks and then absolutely. While I was in the hospital, Eric went home a few times for the dog. One time he took the camera, went to Target or somewhere, and made me a photobook of the day of Brooks birth. I came home to a wrapped gift from my son, and just a beautiful, beautiful little album commemerating the day. How sweet is that? He also has already bought Brooks about 10 different outfits (he is responsible for the adorable hat in the other pictures) and a Halloween costume. His excitement and love for this kid slays me- it seriously does.

VISITS
Both families visited this weekend. My parents and sister & brother in law both came down for the afternoon Saturday- it was great. They were super generous bringing Brooks tons of boy clothes (yay for non neutral!) and tons of food so we could have leftovers for a while. Eric's parents & sister came Sunday. They also brought us tons of food- so we are set for a bit.
My SIL was the only annoying visitor. She kept calling Brooks it. Does it cry a lot, Does it sleep, etc. She also looked through the photo album eric made me and her one comment was 'wow- what a workout, you were sweating like a .... (sentence gets cut off here b/c she never finished it, my guess is one of my classic WTF dirty looks fell upon my face without realizing it)

We also had Eric's best friend over. It was really great because this guy and Eric have been friends since they were 4 years old. They were each others best men in their weddings, and Marc had a son 7 weeks to the day before Brooks was born. Hopefully the lifelong friendship continues in this generation.

BROOKS UPDATES AND RANDOM PICS
we had our first pediatrician appt Sunday. Brooks looked great- everything as it should be, and he gained 5 oz since Friday!. He lost 7 oz from birth weight, so at 4 days old was almost right back to it. This made me feel so much better because BF'ing has been hard mentally as well as physically (the is he getting enough question and such).

Sleeping- I don't expect to get sleep at all, but do have one major sleep concern. Brooks won't sleep in the bassinet or PNP. He will sleep on us or in his swing, but when I put him in one of those he wakes up. I don't know how to handle this- b/c doing the on us/swing thing probably isn't a good idea (the ped. said only the first couple of day), but he is too little to cry it out, so I have no clue how to get him down.

I have become a mamrazzi... this poor kid will think the camera is one of my appendages. But I don't care, he is too delicious for me not to. So here are a few pics of him
0-3 months clothing is not going to fit quite yet


The first meeting of hound and baby- it is going well with the dog!





BREASTFEEDING
is HARD. It is going ok, he is eating, and apparently eating well. My concerns are that I don't know what is a concern and what is par for the course in figuring it out.
My nipples hurt- there are about 10-15 seconds of agony when he latches, but then it feels better, but they hurt if rubbed up on. I think this is normal, but who knows.
LATCHING- is our biggest struggle. My breasts are big and I think that my handle on things is difficult- we are getting on there but it takes a bunch of tries each time. And sometimes he latches, then lets go, then latches, then lets go, and keeps it up (which stinks since the pain part is the first 15 seconds of a latch).
Timing- I was neurotically timing how long on each boob. 5 days in I am already in who cares mode and if he is on a solid 10-15 minutes I am ok with it. I also was trying to give him both at each feeding but now have been doing more of an alternation. I really have no clue what I am doing and am going to maybe have a lactation consultant appt next week.