What I've learned about Jackson - 14 days old (or, Got Milk? I do.)

Jack.

Sweet
Content
Sleepy
Hungry
NOT sensitive to noise

Jack has been such a good baby since his birth. I'm not trying to jinx it by writing this out or anything, but he has been a seriously GOOD baby ever since we met him in the operating room.

I've learned that his swing and nuk puts him to sleep, his car seat and nuk puts him to sleep, and rocking puts him to sleep. Yes. He sleeps a lot at this stage.

Not only has he been pretty easy in his first 14 days, he even nursed! None of my other babies would, and I was so happy that Jack took to it. And while I was at the hospital and able to "nap when the baby napped" it was kind of the one thing that only mommy could do for this sweet, tiny, new little baby and it was so cool to have that time with him... just the two of us.

Then, once we got home and those super helpful nurses weren't there to bring him over to the nursery at night so I could catch some sleep, or come in every few hours, wake me up, and hand me a snuggly baby (complete with fresh diaper) to nurse... well, I realized that nursing is a big commitment and it's HARD! And since we didn't invest the big bucks for a good pump, no one else would be able to take on any of the (500) feedings each day/night. Oh, and it was no longer possible to "sleep when the baby sleeps" because the other kiddos I birthed were 1) noisy, 2) needing mommy to settle disputes like the one about whose pop tart had more frosting or the one about whose beach ball was whose, and 3) noisy. Yes, I mentioned noisy twice because while Katie and Jake can be quiet and play really nicely together, they can also disagree and they must believe that he who yells loudest automatically wins because they are looouuuuddddd.

I also thought about my "hips," as Katie calls them, wayyy too much. The scene in "Look Who's Talking" wasn't too far off. You know the one, right? (Well, okay, maybe it wasn't THAT bad, but close enough to scare me just a bit.)

So we got home from the hospital on Saturday, I enjoyed nursing a number of times that evening and into the night and then on Sunday John headed over to Target to pick up some formula and bottles.

Good thing too.

Jackson seems to like a 3 to 4 oz. bottle at every feeding and for all the size of my "hips", there were not 3 to 4 ounces being produced so Jackson was eating pretty much constantly... and I was tired.

Jack's also a good sleeper. After his bottle, a diaper change, and a swaddle he's ready to go back to sleep. (Unfortunately, I'm usually pretty awake and right in the middle of Law and Order - at least one version seems to be on every hour - so I'm not getting as much sleep as I could be getting if I didn't like that show so much and could turn it off before the resolution.)

I don't know how he's able to sleep so soundly but it's awesome because he is able to totally ignore the massive amount of noise that his siblings can make. Seriously. loud. noise. I've mentioned that, right?

Like screaming, playing the recorder right next to him (no music lessons, grandma and grandpa just happen to have one laying around at their place) (and it made it's way upstairs for awhile... we stored it in Katie's tall dresser. Top drawer. Way in the back. On purpose. You know... to keep it "safe"), loud fighting, and just the other day there were loud shouts of "SUPER JAKE!" coming from all corners of the house while a heard of elephants (AKA Katie and Jake) tromped through the house.

Yep. He can pretty much sleep through anything at this stage. Hope it continues. Forever. Because he'll be sharing a room with Jake once we're ready to move him to the big crib and Jake can be pretty noisy.

So. Basically, we're pretty blessed to have this sweet, healthy, happy baby boy join our family.

I fell in love with him the moment the doc pulled him from my tummy.

Horsey Rides and a good Chop

Luckily I've been recovering pretty well from the c-section because sometimes watching John playing with the kids cracks. me. up.

Tonight Jake was giving daddy a piggy back ride.

And then he was giving him a chop on the head. I don't know how that game started but I *do* know that when Jake chops daddy, I actually HEAR the thud of Jake's hand connecting with the top of daddy's head.

And Jake doesn't care what he interrupts. In this case it was a diaper change for Jack.

It was pretty funny. I laughed pretty hard. And it didn't hurt (too much).

I'm thinking that maybe I'm finally ready to watch Funniest Home Videos again but without feeling like I'm going to pop stitches...

Sleeping baby

Jack is a great sleeper. I think this usually lasts a couple of weeks before baby is awake for longer stretches.

I'll take it! I love snuggling with this little guy.

Jack/Jake ... Tomato/Tomahto? Nahhh. It's "the boys"

I'm having a little trouble with something. No, it's not the multiple diaper changes or the fewer hours of sleep I'm getting.

I'm having trouble getting the boy's names matched up with the right boy.

For example, I posted to Facebook that I had already changed some of Jake's dirty diapers. And didn't realize that I don't have Jake this weekend until my mom commented that Jake is with them.

Duh.

I have a feeling that there will be a few of those "Jake/Jack" moments.

At least till Jack is a couple of years older and Jake AND Jack are partners in crime.

Then I'll just be yelling "boyyyyyyys!"

And that's okay with me!

Jackson joins our family!

"He's so big"

That's the first thing I heard when he was being pulled out.

And he is!

Jackson weighs in at 9 lbs. 14 oz. and is 21 1/2" long. He's absolutely perfect.

It's baby time!

C-section in less than 3 hours! Can you tell how ready I am from the picture?

Sooo ready to meet this baby boy!

Dreams can really mess with your head.

I woke up the other day feeling good and ready to jump out of bed.
I laughed a little about my dream... the one in which I was pregnant. Laughed for about a second till I remembered that... HOLD the phone... I really am pregnant.

Not achy, not tired because I was up 10 times during the night to use the bathroom, just feeling GREAT!
After a little more laughing, and checking my tummy *just* to be sure... I rooooooolllllled myself onto my right side, waited for the baby to shift from the left of me to almost center, and jumped out of bed finished roooooolllllllling myself out of bed.  Yep.  Definately still pregnant.
And now even more excited for June 8th. 

I'll be reporting to the hospital at 6 a.m. (yes.  6.) and into surgery for my c-section at 7:30 a.m. (yes... still A.M.).  I think we've decided on Jackson for a name, which I love love LOVE and both of the kids have been calling the baby Jack (Jacob seems to prefer the nickname) and Jackson (Katie's name of choice) for the last 4 months or so, so I think it stuck.

Tuesday is my last day at work because even though I could have taken a couple of days off, I decided they would be more needed after Jack makes his appearance.

I'm trying not to stress out and so far I'm doing a pretty good job.  Considering that we don't have the little crib put together, I still haven't found and cleaned the baby car seat, and I don't have any bottles or formula ready to go.  Diapers are on hold until I find out how big he is but we've got a handful of newborn size that we can squish him into unless he's smaller than Katie or Jake were in which case I'm fine for about 2 days worth of changes.  I'm waiting on diapers because Jacob and Katie went into size 1 diapers pretty much right away so I don't want to end up with newborn and not use them.  Although... Katie does like having them for her dolls... 

There's tons more we haven't done and lots that I want to do.

I really want to put a shelf up downstairs for our printer (that I unearthed from the laundry room clean-up), buy toner for the printer, sort the rest of the boy clothes into smaller boxes so they don't get jumbled up again, bring home more boxes from work so I have some to work with, grocery shop for the stuff that I can freeze or that will keep so we can shop lighter for a couple of months.

I did organize the laundry room (where I found the little crib - whew), put the 0-3 month baby clothes away (that mom washed and folded for me this weekend and that I've told Katie are NOT for her dolls.  She asked if she could use Jake's clothes and my answer was no.  I already wash enough of Katie's clothes due to numerous changes throughout the day that there's no more time to wash other unworn clothes!), and organized a shopping list for our meal plans.

I just can't find the energy to get going.  I think it has something to do with feeling huge and roly-poly and not at all motivated to move.  The kitchen floor hasn't even been swept in 3 days and that's usually a once a night thing.  Arg.  Hopefully this weekend will be more productive.  I plan to clean and play with the kids and sit outside (if the bugs stay away) and just enjoy it.

My last weekend with just the four of us.  Mommy, Daddy, Katie, and Jacob.

And on Wednesday, we'll be five.  Mommy, Daddy, Katie, Jacob, and Jackson.

And oh, how our lives will be changed!