.7 Weeks.

The past 7 weeks have been nothing short of amazing. I am so in love with my little man! 

Nap Time smiles...my favorite :)

Greyden is a serious baby. He rarely cracks a smile for you and if he does, you had to work pretty hard for it.

He is such a little snuggle bug. He has to be snuggled up as close as he can get to me when he falls asleep at night...or any time for that matter.

He spends most of his day either in my arms (with a tight grip on my shirt) or in the Baby Bjorn. I can sometimes sneak him into his swing for a quick nap, but those occasions are rare. 

He is definitely a Momma's boy, but he sure loves his Daddy too.

He knows his Daddy's voice well and will turn his head towards Daddy's voice whenever he hears him. 

I assume he doesn't mind bath time too much because he never cries when he is in the tub. Like I said though, he is always so serious so it's hard to tell what he truly likes.

Greyden's Poker Face

We feel so lucky to have this little guy as a part of our family.

.4 Weeks.

As you can imagine, life with 3 little ones has left me a very small amount of time to do anything except a random status update on Facebook throughout the day.

Here is an update on Mr. Greyden.

At his 2 week appt he was 7lbs 4oz and 20.5 inches long.

He eats like a champ and would eat all day long if I let him.

We took him to the Dr. Sunday night due to the fact that he had seemed a bit congested and we had some family members come down with random illnesses and wanted to make sure that he had not contracted anything. Turns out he is perfectly fine...better safe than sorry. :)

At that appt he weighed in at 8lbs 7oz. So he put on a whopping 19oz in a matter of 10 days. They consider normal weight gain to be about an ounce a day (which would only be 10oz). Proof that my kid is a great little eater.

I haven't really updated by way of what has gone on since he has been home and the whole jaundice situation. That was seriously a nightmare and I would like to think I handled it like a champ.

Greyden ended up being on the lights for a grand total of 8 days. For 5 of those 8 days, I had to get 3 kids ready and out the door by 9:00am to get his levels checked by 10am. I am pretty fast at it now. :)

The first 3 or 4 days he was on the lights full time more or less and the last few days he was just on them as much as I could get him to be on them (which wasn't much). I ended up requesting the bili-blanket for the last 3 days to supplement with since he was constantly wetting himself and I was having to wash the bed cover and improvise with other things MULTIPLE times a day. Also, he wouldn't sleep much unless he was being held and I didn't want to start losing my mind with a fussy baby and 2 little girls that were already acting out due to lack of attention from Mommy. We finally determined that he had breast milk jaundice and had his Daddy's blood type (A+ and I am O+) so that contributed to his jaundice quite a bit.

I had to deal with 4 different doctors due to the fact that his Dr. just happened to be out of town the entire 1st week and a half after he was born. I was actually VERY grateful that things ended up this way. The Dr. that I saw for him the first week (Dr. Jackson) had talked to me about breast milk jaundice and that her son had the same thing. She explained to me the option of formula feeding for 24 hours and just pumping my breast milk. She told me that she didn't stop breast feeding because it is not harmful for a baby to have a higher jaundice level, so long as it stays below 20 (Greyden's has leveled out at a 16.5). EVERY other Dr. since then, even his regular doctor (Dr. Liddle), recommended that I do the formula thing for the 24 hours. I had done a lot of research on the breast milk jaundice since speaking with the 1st Dr. and most of my research came back saying that stopping breast feeding was completely unnecessary as well. So I pretty much told the other 3 doctors what Dr. Jackson had told me and that I would not be stopping breast feeding unless it was medically necessary.

I have to admit, breast feeding doesn't just magically get easier with every baby (maybe it will with #4...but so far I have not found it to be true). It is truly a learning process for Mom & baby every time. Getting a baby to latch on correctly can be a difficult task and painful for Mommy. Even with this being baby #3 for me, I still went to see a lactation consultant due to Greyden's jaundice and his lack of weight gain the first 3 days. I took her advice and modified it as time went on as to what worked best for me and Greyden. The first 2 1/2 weeks were not the easiest with breast feeding and we are now pro's at it. It was not easy, but so worth it. :)

Here are some random little facts about Greyden:

• He usually sucks on his lower lip when he is sleeping.
• He prefers to fall asleep while being held, forcing whoever is holding him to walk around until he falls peacefully asleep.
• He can sleep through MOST of his sisters loud noises, screaming and crying.
• He LOVES to sleep in Mommy's arms and sleeps best when being held by someone.
• He will not sleep in his swing for more than a few minutes at a time and that is only when you put him in there already asleep. He won't fall asleep in it and will start crying almost immediately after being put in it if he is awake.
• He truly only cries for 3 things: When he is hungry, needs his diaper change or just needs some Mommy loves.
• He is a dreamer. He is constantly having dreams and even nightmares every time he falls asleep.
• He has officially smiled 4 times now. The first time was Thursday night while I was holding him. The 2nd time was Friday at Grandma 'chilles. The 3rd time was Friday night at Daddy. The last time was just last night when he smiled for Daddy 3 times REALLY big all in a row. Seriously, SO adorable!
• Up until about 2 days ago he was eating just about EVERY hour during the day. Now he is starting to get on a better schedule and will eat every 2 or 3 hours.
• He LOVES to grunt, especially in the early morning around 4am when he is requesting a diaper change.
• He is a GREAT sleeper and only wakes up about twice a night to eat.

We all love our little guy and he has been such a blessing to our family. He brings us lots of smiles and has filled our home with so much love. Not to mention, he is one handsome little man.

.Dear Jaundice.

You are not my friend. :(

This morning I had to take all 3 kids with me to get Greyden's weight and his bilirubin levels checked. I somehow made it out of the house 10 minutes before I was planning. Not only that, but the girls were SO good. They didn't fight at all and stayed right with me the whole time. The ride there and back was nice and peaceful as well considering the girls both had full access to Greyden with him being in the middle of both of them. Luckily they left him alone most of the ride and he slept through any of the touching and loud sounds he had to endure.

Greyden's jaundice levels have gone up a bit more. So...still on the lights for at least another day. I truly thought that they wouldn't have gone up anymore due to the fact he gained 5 ounces in 2 days and he had been having PLENTY of wet and dirty diapers.

The Dr. is thinking that it is due to Aaron and I having incompatible blood types, so we will be checking his blood type tomorrow along with his bilirubin levels again. I am hoping we don't have to do this too much longer.

.The Last Saturday.

Here it is...my last Saturday of sleeping in for a while before Baby Boy get's here. I am up before everyone else and can't fall back asleep.

I woke up to A LOT of nudges in my belly and decided to get up and just feel him move around. Enjoy and savor these last few moments of being pregnant and uncomfortable. :)

4 more days of this and we get to see who has been beating up my insides for the past few months.

The emotions that are running through me are indescribable.

I do know one thing...I feel incredibly lucky that I have the opportunity to be able to create a new life and enjoy all these little moments that some women never do. The pain, the emotions and everything that goes along with it is SO worth it in the end.

.The Final Dr. Appt!!.

Today was my last Dr. appointment before Baby Boy gets here!!

Dr. Hebert ended up being in a delivery and I was lucky enough that I was the only pregnant woman that was far enough along to be seen by her nurse. So I waited for about 3 minutes before they called me back and was out of there within 15 minutes.

I am 2cm and the nurse didn't say how effaced I was. Either way, I am pretty sure we won't be having this baby before next Wednesday unless something drastic happens.

I was 2cm for 2 weeks in a row with Lily before I went in to labor 6 days before her due date. Ironically enough, my induction is scheduled for 6 days before Baby Boy's due date.

Labor is just a guessing game that no one is very good at. So I am prepared to wait it out and I am ready for next Wednesday!! Well, as ready as one can be.

.38 Weeks.

38 Weeks!!

We are almost there!! 8 more days until we get to meet our little Boy!!!

I am getting very nervous and extremely excited. 

The nesting bug FINALLY hit me yesterday and I got almost all of my house organized. I paid for it last night and am still paying for it a bit this morning. It's pretty much done though, so I can put that task behind me. 

I have started to feel like I could just be pregnant forever. It's weird to think that I won't be pregnant 2 weeks from now. I will be home with a brand new baby and 2 very helpful little girls. Daddy will have headed back to work that morning and I will be left to myself managing these 3 little ones. I am not too worried about it, but I know it won't be the easiest thing I have ever done.

I can't wait to see what this little guy looks like!!

.36 Weeks.

We are officially in countdown mode!!!

19 more days until we get to meet Baby Boy!!

*Unless he decides to come early or they have to move my induction date back a day. Let's hope he decides to come just a bit earlier. :)*

I had my Dr. appt yesterday and I am dilated to 1cm and 30% effaced.

It's nice to know my body is making progress a bit earlier than it did with my other 2. It gives me hope that I will get to meet this little one sooner rather than later.

We are OFFICIALLY ready for baby in every possible way.

It is weird the things that get you excited/make you nervous the 3rd time around.

Buying diapers for example...I put it off until last night because in my mind that meant that he could be here any time. That was the biggest thing I would need for him when we came home.

All of his clothes are washed and mostly put away.

The bassinet is set up next to our bed.

The car seat is all washed and ready to be installed in the car.

I guess there is one thing that I could add to my to-do list...but my nesting period didn't last quite as long as I would have liked. A nice deep clean of the house wouldn't be a bad idea. We have only lived her for a month though, so just making sure all of my laundry is done and keeping everything else clean will have to be my goal for the next few weeks.

Brookie & Lily are probably just as anxious as I am to meet their baby brother. I think Daddy is just as excited too, but more nervous as to the lack of sleep he will be enduring. He doesn't do so well on little to no sleep. :)