An Update at Last!

Wow!! It has been a crazy ride for the last 6 and a half weeks. I'm so sorry I haven't had time to update the blog. Jake and I have been readjusting to life with a baby and with family visiting there just wasn't much down time to sit down and compose a blog for you all.

First off, I have to say that our lives have changed for the better ever since Jaxon arrived. I can't imagine life without him anymore. He is what we wake up to every morning and what we go to sleep to at night. He is the most perfect gift God could ever give us and we are so incredibly blessed to be his parents.

When Jaxon was first born, he weighed 9 pounds. *Whew! What a hard time I had during labor!!* For the first three and a half weeks of his life we were struggling to get him back up to his birth weight. He had lost a whole pound before he was even a week old. So the doctor suggested I start supplementing him with extra breastmilk. He slowly started gaining weight and finally reached 9 pounds right before he was 4 weeks old. During this time we discovered one of the reasons for his slow weight gain is due to him having a posterior tongue tie. This explained a lot of what was going on: slow weight gain, poor suction/bad latch, painful nursing, etc... We are currently waiting on the insurance to approve the procedure to clip his tongue. The doctor said she isn't sure if I'll see an improvement in nursing or not, but it is worth a shot. I've also been struggling to keep my milk supply up with his demands lately. I drink a ton of water, nurse often, drink Mother's milk tea and take Fenugreek vitamins daily. I'm hoping eventually I'll feel like I have enough milk to keep up with Jaxon's appetite. He recently went through a growth spurt where he was nursing literally every hour and just never seemed satisfied after eating. Before this growth spurt he'd eat roughly 2.5-3 ounces but now he eats more around 4 ounces each time.

Jaxon is so great during the nights! Little man has slept through the night since we brought him home! Unfortunately I couldn't let him sleep through the night with his weight struggles. I had to wake him up every 2 hours at first then once he hit his birth weight I woke him up every 2-3 hours and now since his growth spurt I let him sleep as long as he wants and I let him wake me up. Usually he goes to sleep around 9-10 and wakes up at 3:30 to eat. One day he even let me sleep until 5am!! He must have had one full belly that night! I never minded getting up multiple times at night to feed him, it was our bonding time (although it was SO hard to keep him awake to eat during the night). He still falls asleep easily at night when he's nursing but I know he eats more before he passes out compared to a few weeks ago. When we first brought him home Jaxon slept in bed with us. It's so weird because while I was pregnant I swore I wouldn't do that, but once he arrived I just knew that is what was best for us at the time. I'm such a light sleeper and having to get up every couple hours to feed him, it just made sense to have him right by my side. He always slept so good when he was next to me, too. He would pass right out without any fussing. Jaxon has now moved into sleeping in his pack 'n' play that's in our bedroom. He sleeps there from bedtime until he wakes up to nurse. Sometimes I bring him back into bed with me after that and other times he'll go back to sleep in his pack 'n' play.

During the day Jaxon and I just hang out together while Daddy is at work. I've been finishing up my online schooling (actually I just finished my last assignment today and all that's left is my final. I will finally be a qualified administrative medical assistant). It is a little hard to get other things done during the day, such as cooking and cleaning. Jaxon is a little fussy during the days if he's not with me. He doesn't have long naps unfortunately, he just sleeps for 15 minutes then I'll try to move him so I can get some work done then he'll wake up and fuss until he's with me again.

Jake and I bought a new fancy camera to take pictures with. We now have a billion pictures of Jaxon we need to upload on the computer. I also forgot to mention that Jaxon rolled over from his belly to his back for the first time at 2 and a half weeks! I even caught it on video!! He has done it a few times since then, too! I will post the link to the video down below. Jaxon seems to enjoy his bathtime, well maybe he doesn't enjoy it but he doesn't cry. We give him baths on Wednesday and Sunday nights. It seems like everyday Jaxon smiles and coo's more often than the day before. I finally captured a big smile on the camera yesterday. I'll try to get a video of him cooing at me!

Jaxon was baptized last Sunday! Jake's Aunt MaDonna and Dad were the proxies for the baptism. His Godparents are my brother-in-law, Alex and his wife Donielle.

Lucy and Leila are both very curios about Jaxon. Leila is such a good girl and watches over him and gives him kisses and lays next to him. Lucy is still trying to learn that she's a lot bigger than he is and that she can't play with him. She likes to lick his face when he's in his swing. We're still trying to work on stopping Lucy from jumping up on us. Lucy will love when Jaxon is a few years older and can finally play with her.

Jake and I have had our families come out and visit us since Jaxon was born. It was so wonderful to have them all here!! I'm so happy all the grandparents could see him while he was still tiny. The next time we'll see everyone will be March or April when Jake, Jaxon and I fly home to visit. That seems soooo far from now!! We miss you all so much!

I tried to keep the updating short and sweet so it didn't take you all day to read. I'll try to stay on top of the blog and keep it updated on a weekly basis like I did during the pregnancy.

We love you all so much and can't wait to see you/for you to meet Jaxon!

Enjoy some pictures and the video of Jaxon rolling over::

Jaxon Rolling Over Video

Holding Jax for the first time

All 9 pounds! My Chubby man!

Daddy holding Jax for the first time

Getting cleaned off 

The very first diaper change and Daddy gets peed on!

Nana and Jax

The special dinner the hospital made us

We're home!

Lucy meeting Jaxon

Leila meeting Jaxon

At the park

Jaxon and his girlfriend, Holleigh. They were both born on 12/14, just a few hours apart.

Sleep when the baby sleeps!

At Jaxon's pediatrician appointment

Christmas morning

Reading Jax a book he got for Christmas

Such a handsome boy!!!

On our anniversary night

Swinging with Mommy

After his first bath

At the hospital. Look how huge he was!!! It almost looks like a different baby!

On his way home from the hospital

Full belly!!