Jack was born on August 8th and weighed 6 lbs 9 oz. I was honestly shocked he was that small because I assumed he'd be around Scarlett's birth weight which was 8 lbs 4 oz. I'm not sure why he was so small honestly. I gained 26 lbs when I was pregnant with Scarlett and only 14 with him, but sometimes people still have large babies with minimal weight gain. Either way, he was a tiny peanut! He's still wearing newborn diapers and newborn clothes and was only 7 lbs 14 oz at his doctor's appointment last week. 0-3m clothes swim on him. I don't have a ton of newborn clothes for him because it's a tiny size and I know he'll outgrow it sooner or later. For now, I'll just roll up the 0-3m clothes that are big for him. Scarlett always asks me why his clothes are so big, I say because he's so small!
When Jack was born, he slept around the clock. I remember asking the nurses is it normal for him to sleep all day? Even when he would have a bottle he would be sleeping during the feed. He would wake up for a few minutes and then fall asleep again while eating. It was a little crazy to me to have such a sleepy baby. I didn't remember Scarlett being like this. They said just wait, he'll wake up and have more alert periods in a matter of weeks. Well they were definitely right, those sleepy periods have ended! While he does sleep throughout the day, he's up a lot more now.
One big change that we're dealing with now is how much he cries. Jack has crying spells throughout the day that make it frustrating to just get through the day. I can't cook, clean, be with Scarlett or do anything when he's like this. Sometimes I can get him to settle down and other times he's just very upset. The crying spells come and go and some parts of the day he's absolutely fine. He loves to be held and would prefer if you held him all day long, but obviously that's not possible. We've already changed his formula once, but we may need to do it again if this keeps up. I know he suffers from gas pain and we are using a lot of gas drops! Poor Jack.
Scarlett is very good with him and likes to gently rub his head and give him a kiss. I have to remind her to be gentle with him. Yesterday, I caught her trying to pick him up which made me nervous. She means well but she's a lot older and stronger than him and I wouldn't want him to get hurt. Scarlett has her normal jealous moments with her brother, but overall she's doing very well with him considering she was an only child for over 4 and a half years!
Since Jack still has his days and nights mixed up, the nights are a little rough. I'm trying to establish a night-time routine with him where he has a bath and then goes into a swaddle around 7:30-8. He LOVES the bath. This is around when Scarlett goes to sleep too. I make the lights dim and I don't talk to him at night so he can try to recognize day vs. night. We were so lucky with Scarlett that from an early age she would go right back to sleep after each feed. Her night-time feeding schedule was so predictable and we always knew we'd get some sleep in-between waking up again. The issue with Jack is that he could sleep from 8-11 PM and then want to eat at 11 and then he's up til 12:30 or 1 and then we have to feed him again not long after that.
Each night is different, but he also makes a LOT of noise which sometimes keeps us up. We were hoping to sell our house before he was born, but that didn't happen so his crib is in our room. Our house only has two bedrooms and unfortunately right now he doesn't have his own room. We took the house off the market in May and it went back on last week, so we're hoping to have a buyer soon so we can move and feel less cramped!
One thing that I'm quickly realizing about having a second child is that they are dragged everywhere. Jack is dragged to everything Scarlett has to go to whether it's a doctor's appointment, a playdate, or even school drop off/pick-up. Since Scarlett was my first child, I was able to solely dedicate myself to her and she was on a strict schedule. When I eventually get him on a nap/feed schedule, I'm not sure how the naps will work since Scarlett's in school 9-1. He can nap in the morning when we get home, but she used to nap from 12-3, so that obviously won't work for us. It seems like I'll have to slightly adjust the schedule she used to use. Hopefully I can find something that works for him and I when the time comes!
Jack is very sweet and we're enjoying the newest family member. I can't wait to see how he grows and changes as the months go by. Lots of memories to be made!
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