And then there were FIVE!: First Weeks

Well, Mac is 2 ½ weeks old now. I feel like he should be 2 ½ YEARS old. It seems like it has been much longer than 2 ½ weeks since he was born. I love every day I have had with him. It has been a wonderful adventure. I use the word “adventure” because it surely is. Nothing can prepare you for what motherhood involves. Here are some of my adventures, they are not in order of events….

The first week home was a breeze (My mother was a LIFESAVER! I had all my meals cooked, laundry done, bed made, you name it, she did it!!!!) The first night we had him home I fed him at 11 and put him down, no fussing or anything, at 4:45 after staring at the monitor ALL night, I woke him up! I thought babies woke up every 3 hours but not Mac. He was sleeping hard. The next night the same thing happened but I did not wake him up. He slept from about midnight until 8am. It was weird….the nurse at the hospital told me I did not have to wake him up for feedings so I didn’t. (besides that first night…) Well after a few nights of sleeping 6-8 hours something happened. He decided after his 10 or 11 pm feeding that he did not want to go to sleep. So from 10 or 11 until 2 or 3 Wade and I switched off rocking him. He was fine when he was held most of the time, but as soon as you put him down, he let himself be heard…the funniest was Bear, our dog. He was so annoyed with the crying that he would leave our room and go sleep in the den most nights. If he was in our room he would basically burry his head in his bed. It was funny. Ok, so mom and I decided he needed to get involved in “Baby Boot Camp,” because this was not going to work! We decided that he must be hungry at night so that was why he wasn’t sleeping. So I started giving him a formula bottle so I could know exactly how much he was getting. Well, that did the trick. Thank goodness I can sleep (and so can he) again!

Mac’s first outing (when he was 5 days) was to go with me to vote and to see my co-workers. Mom and I were a little nervous how he would do in the car seat so we told my office that this was a “viewing” because we didn’t want to get him out in case he went crazy since we still had to go vote. He did wonderfully in the car seat so that was a relief! The second outing was to the doctor at one week. We have the BEST pediatrician in the WORLD! She came to see us the night Mac was born and brought her stethoscope and gave him a full evaluation that night. She said everything looked wonderful that night so I was hoping he still would be good at his first checkup. Thankfully it did. He weighed 7 lb 9 oz and was 20 inches long. **Side note, they want them to be back to birth weight at 2 weeks however how the heck do you check that with a regular ole scale??? So I just looked at my chunk at 2 weeks and decided he was doing good** We will go back in a month so I cant wait to see how much he has grown! This past weekend we ventured to the lake and just had a grand ole time. Mom took night duty for 2 nights and gave me a break! THANK YOU MAMA!!! Today we ventured to Aunt Em’s favorite place, Sam’s Club. He had a ball! Ha!

It is so crazy to see how much he has changed in this little time. His features are already changing so it will be so interesting to see what he looks like in a few months. I still see no “me” in this baby, but today I sent sister Julie a picture and she said “he is starting to look like you but still has the McClendon lips!” ha.

Mom and I are still trying to get a good picture of him for my announcement. My photography skills are not up to par and after two sessions, we might just have to take him somewhere. It has been difficult. I get some great shots of him but in weird places with weird backgrounds, so that just wont work for me!

I also want to give a compliment to Wade. He has been amazing. He has changed a lot of diapers, sat up a lot of nights with me, and never once complained. He has been so cute with Mac and keeps talking about what all they are going to do one day during “father/son days” that he wants to do once a week. I could not do this without him and I am so thankful that I have him to do all of this with!

Here are some pictures of these first 2 weeks!

Day we got home from the hospital

Wade, Mac and Mac's Great Grandmother, Gam

Dr.'s office

Bath time. He really loves this although he looks miserable in this photo. He normally doesn't cry or anything. It seems to calm him down before bedtime.