In the future, I will try not to make my posts so long (I take too many pictures!)
Our little creature is 4 weeks old now, almost a whole month! Where has the time gone? Actually, where has the summer gone? Between pregnancy, childbirth and the beginnings of motherhood, autumn has just snuck up on me. The other day while Robbie, Meo and I were walking along a trail, we noticed the leaves have already started to change and the cool breeze promising the inevitability of winter was evident. I love autumn, but I'll miss summer.
Spending everyday with Mattimeo makes me feel both relaxed and busy simultaneously. Relaxed because most of what we do is sit around and eat and sleep and read, busy because the days go by so quickly and I almost constantly holding my baby boy. Now that Robbie is at work, I've gotten more into the swing of motherhood. Not that we have a routine per say, but there are certainly things we do everyday, and I have started to know his alert/sleep/eat patterns better. This post is going to be dedicated to giving you a taste of what a day with a newborn is like (with an absurd amount of pictures, because apparently I can't stop taking them).
Mattimeo is a good little sleeper. We usually sleep in until 8:30-9:30, which is nice because I actually feel awake and refreshed in the morning.The first thing we do is nurse, he is always very hungry first thing in the morning because he only wakes up to eat two or three times a night now. Then I change his diaper, give him a sponge bath and some clean clothes. We usually do a few baby yoga poses in the morning too. Then I put him in his swing for a few minutes so I can grab something to eat for breakfast and potentially take a shower depending on if he falls asleep or not.
During the day we spend a lot of time nursing. He eats usually about every 1-2 hours. While he's eating, I spend a lot of time watching him because he's so darn cute. The rest of the time I take advantage of the opportunity to read. I go back and forth between nursing/infant care/parenting books and novels. I am reading a really great book series now, so it's been hard for me to put it down and read anything else! Sometimes while he is nursing, we both fall asleep, which is nice too.
The other major activity of the day is diaper changing. I usually change his diaper every couple of hours, unless I hear him poop, then I change it right away.We are using cloth diapers, so I also have to rinse the poop off the diapers after I change him and put them in the wet bag to be washed every couple of days.
Now nursing and diaper changing doesn't seem like a lot of work, but it turns out it is very time consuming. And by the time I am done nursing, burping him, and changing his diaper, sometimes he is almost already to eat again and we start the cycle all over. So the days have just been flying by! I try to fit in some other activities throughout the day too though. Everyday we read at least two stories to him. Sometimes I even read my novels out loud to him while he's nursing. Everyday we do a little bit of yoga. We have a little bit of tummy time everyday, and his neck has already gotten really strong! It's pretty amazing how well he can hold his head up now. Sometimes I feel like he is growing too fast and I want him to stay my little baby forever. Everyday I sing to him a little and talk to him about different random things. Also everyday we make sure to spend some time outside, usually going for a nice walk. On the weekends when Robbie is home we have been actually going places to take walks and expose him to new sites and sounds which is fun for all of us.
When Robbie comes home he has been really awesome and makes dinner for us while I nurse him. That will keep Meo happy long enough that he can hang out in his swing while Robbie and I sit at the table and have dinner together. Then we hang out, sometimes watching a movie or playing games. We take turns holding Meo while the other person gets some chores done, such as washing dishes or taking care of the cats. Robbie is great about changing diapers while he is home. He also changes the diapers once or twice in the night (we have special nighttime cloth diapers that don't need to be changed any more than that), so that I can have some rest since I don't really sleep deeply in the night. Like I said before, Mattimeo is really good at sleeping in the night, but I am always very alert so I can tell right away if he is hungry and so that I don't accidentally squish him since he is usually sleeping snuggled up against me. I feel rested when I wake up, but I certainly don't sleep like I used to.
Mattimeo has a great temperament, thank goodness! He does cry on occasion, but there is always a reason for it and it is easy enough to make him happy again. His fussiest time of day is between around 8-11 at night. During this time of day, Robbie and I are both pretty exhausted and just want to relax. However, Mattimeo is usually wide awake and wants to be kept busy. So he will cry if we don't entertain him enough. There have been many nights where Robbie and I have dance parties in the living room late at night, both totally exhausted, with a very happy baby being bopped around to the beat. He loves music, and he loves being danced around.
Here are a bunch of pictures from various adventures we've had with Meo these past few weeks:
This is Mattimeo and I reading in the nursery one day. I think it's so cool when he looks at the pictures; he just started doing that.
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| Reading Dr. Suess |
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| Reading Dr. Suess |
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| Reading Dr. Suess |
Other pictures of my time with Meo during the day.
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| Meo and I in the Old Port |
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| View of Meo from my perspective when he falls asleep on me after nursing |
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| Looking at Mommy |
Daddy and Meo hanging out at night.
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| Hanging out with Meo in his jammies |
Robbie and I took Mattimeo blueberry picking for the first time. I had been really excited about blueberry picking all summer, and we actually had plans to go with Robbie's family the day I was in labor. We ended up not going though obviously, because I was in labor. So we went two weeks after he was born. Unfortunately it was really hot outside, and he seemed uncomfortable. Plus, there weren't very many blueberries and it was going to take us a couple hours to fill up a box. We ended up leaving with less than we wanted because we were worried about Meo getting over heated.
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| Picking blueberries |
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| Picking blueberries |
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| Cooling off in the shade |
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| Picking blueberries |
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| Picking blueberries |
We have gone to visit all of Mattimeo's grandparents which has been fun. They all have yards which is nice because we can spend a lot of time outside with him while we are there.
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| Visiting Memere and Pepere |
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| Visiting Memere and Pepere |
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| Visiting Memere and Pepere |
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| With Auntie Sam |
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| A little bewildered |
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| Visiting Memere and Pepere |
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| Mattimeo sees his Mommy! |
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| Visiting Memere and Pepere |
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Here are photos from visiting his Grandma and Grandpa.
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| Visiting Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Visiting Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Visiting Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Visiting Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Visiting Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Visiting Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Visiting Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Visiting Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Swinging because he's a little cranky |
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| Visiting Grandma and Grandpa |
Pictures visiting Grammy, Grandpa and GG.
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| Visiting Grammy and GG |
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| Visiting Grammy and GG |
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| Socks was jealous of Meo getting all the attention |
These are photos from Meo's first First Friday Art Walk around Portland.
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| Robbie, Meo, and I |
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| Robbie, Meo and Gib in front of one of Gib's pieces |
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| Art walk with friends |
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| Nursing in the park |
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| Hanging out in the park after nursing |
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| He likes to be changed outside |
Pictures Robbie took of Meo and I doing yoga together.
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| Yoga time with Mommy |
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| Yoga time with Mommy |
This weekend Robbie and I took Mattimeo to the beach for the first time to have a picnic.
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| First time at the beach |
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| First time at the beach |
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| First time at the beach |
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| First time at the beach |
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| First time at the beach |
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| First time at the beach |
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| First time at the beach |
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| First time at the beach |
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| Not very happy |
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| Now he's forgotten why he was crying |
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| First time at the beach |
Yesterday, Robbie and I took Meo and Pi (one of our cats) to the Falmouth Nature Reserve for a walk. I felt like Pi was sad that he doesn't get as much attention any more and that a walk would cheer him up.
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| Walking with baby and cat |
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| Walking with baby and cat |
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| Walking with baby and cat |
We have had friends come to visit too.
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| Meo watching Robbie and Andrew play Go |
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| Andrew and Lauren |
Finally, one other fun thing Robbie and I did with Meo was go to the drive in. This was great because we could nurse and change his diapers right in the car. We say "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "Rise of the Planet of Apes". I enjoyed both movies and we had such a fun date with our little creature.
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| Meo and I enjoying the drive in |
