The first 4 weeks

Can you believe it's already been 4 weeks? That's incredible. Emmett will be a month old in two days. Crazy. We have so much to learn, but that's definitely not to say that we haven't learned a ton. Some snippets of that:

On poop: baby poo does not come out of clothes (his or yours) without a fight. Pre-treat, pre-treat, pre-treat, and scrub. That's all I have to say.

On sleeping: next time around, we're not letting our little one sleep on us unless there's no other choice (like we're at church, etc.). It's the crib from day one. Emmett's in a not-so-cool habit now of only being able to sleep soundly on either me or Chad. We can get him to sleep in his bouncer for a little while sometimes, but that's definitely a battle we're in the thick of. Which is why Emmett's currently lying on the couch and wailing. Not so fun. 

On eating: also next time around, we're not giving our baby a bottle unless he/she becomes dangerously dehydrated. Emmett was having trouble latching on to nurse from the beginning, and we supplemented with formula when we brought him home. After the first bottle though, there was only one other time when we could even get him to try to latch on. I pumped for a while, but it wasn't enough, and my milk went away. So to all my gal friends looking at motherhood in the future: if you want to breastfeed, don't give up, even if it's not working at the beginning. Talk to a consultant, be careful and make sure your baby isn't getting dehydrated, but keep at it and no bottles. Emmett's a totally formula baby now, and that is definitely not what I wanted. 

On strangers being fascinated with your baby: it happens, and everywhere. Sometimes it's fine. Like nice little old ladies in the grocery store telling you how lucky you are, 19ish-year-old girls wanting to come up and touch his head, and people smiling down into your stroller as you pass on the sidewalk. Sometimes it's not so fine. Like the very strange woman in the library who came up behind me, pinched the shoulder of Emmett's shirt to try to angle him toward her, and said, "I'm sorry but I have to see him." That definitely weirded me and Chad out. She was just another lady admiring our baby, but that wasn't exactly the way to do it. 

Four weeks can work wonders in the postpartum realm too. It's amazing how much I feel "back to normal" already. At two weeks, I was able to mostly do pilates (while still working around stitches). I've lost all my water weight, which is sooooo wonderful. I have feet and ankles again! Before, they looked like tree trunks. My face has deflated, my nose has shrunk back to normal (weird yes, but I promise you, my nose got bigger during pregnancy! So weird.), I can wear my wedding rings again, and my face and hair are no longer oil factories. Basically, it's wonderful. And on top of all of that, we have a perfect little boy. Motherhood is so much better than being pregnant. 

Anyway, things around here are pretty great. Parenthood rocks. It's funny; it's only been four weeks, but we can't imagine life any differently now, and I can't imagine being without our Emmett. Despite some frustrating habits, he is absolutely perfect. And adorable. He's starting to smile more; he's always smiled in his sleep (from day one in the hospital, he smiled in his sleep), but he's smiled at us a handful of times in the past week. And he has some strong little legs. It's easy to see now why it hurt so much when he'd push his little feet against my side while I was pregnant :)

Mustache courtesy of Katelynn :)

Have a great day!