Happy 6 week birthday, Cros!

Our little guy is already six weeks old... thank goodness!

Here's our guy at the 4 week mark a few weeks ago!

Those earliest newborn days are not easy. At. All. Tony took paternity leave for the first two weeks but unfortunately he got the respiratory flu and was down for 4-5 days there towards the end. That was definitely no fun! He was quarantined to the master bedroom/bathroom and I checked in on him and tended to him as needed. That meant Crosby and I slept out in the living room and the playroom (which is a formal dining room we currently use for a guest room/playroom). It could have been a lot worse, that's for sure! But one of the nights I literally got ONE hour of sleep before getting up to take care of the bigger girls. I cried a LOT that next day. I felt like I couldn't do it and couldn't possibly continue to be a stay-at-home mom anymore. But, here we are just over four weeks later and I'm still here! :) 

It has been a trying transition this time around but even still, I would still say that going from 0 to 1 kid was the hardest. (All you parents know that none of it is easy - but of course worth it!) I've had a lot of moments this time around where I feel like I just can't do it... whether it's breastfeeding, being a mother to three tiny humans, being married to someone whose profession requires lots of long hours. It has caused me to question so many things. 

For the longest time now I've been concerned that Crosby may have a tongue or lip tie. I took him to our pediatrician about it and also to a lactation consultant and neither one seemed to think it was an issue of his since he's been gaining weight so well. The pediatrician we saw at our group seemed to think his fussiness could stem from reflux. He was on medicine for that for a while but it didn't seem to help - if anything it honestly seemed to make it worse! So we went back to the doctor and they prescribed him something stronger. I started doing reading on the medicine for babies and I decided to stop his reflux meds for a few days to see how it went. Well, here we are a few weeks later and his mood has seemed to improve. He still seems in pain every once in a while - but we're thinking it might just be gas? Or possibly it is reflux but not a very severe case of it. Who knows... like my cousin Breanne said, babies are really SUCH a guessing game. And it's MADDENING! 

I plan to take Crosby to someone who specializes in tongue and lip ties to have it confirmed one way or another - hopefully sometime this week. He's got so many of the symptoms/signs that point to this being a possibility (clicking noise while he nurses, high arched palate, short tongue/low mobility, gas/reflux issues, shallow latch, short nursing sessions...) and neither professionals we saw before were entirely confident telling me he didn't have a lip or tongue tie.

This time around hasn't been easy... Crosby has really made me work for everything this time around! And I can honestly say that at this point things are finally seeming to fall into place a little more each day. I might just be saying this because I actually got to majorly sleep in today!!! And it was EXACTLY what I needed. There have been many nights so far where Crosby has slept right on top of me - either on purpose because that was the only way to get him to sleep or by accident because I was so exhausted we both fell asleep while I either nursed or burped him! And while sleep is sleep, when you are in a lighter state of sleep or constantly in an odd position, it just doesn't feel as satisfying. Not to mention just a few hours of sleep here and there is hard, too! Sleep is still not the greatest around here - and depends on the night - but we are getting there. 

He's already moved up into a size two diaper and we just recently switched him to 3-6 month clothes. Yes... this kid is only 6 weeks old! The last time he was at the doctor he was already up to 10#4oz and that was a couple weeks ago - he is absolutely growing like a weed! He still fits into 0-3 month clothes but the sleepers are getting too short on him and seemed uncomfortable. And he really does seem so much more comfortable in the 6 month clothes.

That's about it! We're still breastfeeding. And surviving! And I suspect before too long we'll be doing even better than just that.

Here are some great moments from around here lately:

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