November 18
Last night was the third night when Gerritt slept for one 4-hour stretch. Yeah! He usually sleeps in one 4-hour & one 3.5-hour stretch. What a difference this makes for our level of fatigue! We are starting to feel human again. I think Gerritt's ability to sleep longer is due to his increased fat reserves. He weighed 12.8 lbs when we weighed him 3 days ago (6 weeks of age). He was the same size, if not bigger, as a couple of 3-month-olds at our church service last Sunday. For a while we were nervous that we were overfeeding him. So my husband & I kept a feeding log where we wrote down everything Gerritt ate - time & amount. The goal was not to exceed 30 oz of formula & breastmilk combined in a 24-hour period. However, after talking to several people & hearing, "You can't overfeed a baby" from more than one person, we've stopped keeping track of Gerritt's intake. Now he eats as much as he wants & whenever he wants.
Another new change is that Gerritt is producing real tears. Yesterday I was home alone with him for a few hours. I was in the middle of my pumping when he started to cry. Unfortunately, I couldn't pick him up until I was done, and when I did he had tears running down both sides of his face. :-( That about broke my heart. I've never apologized to anyone so profusely.
Last Thursday I've attended my first New Moms Support Group organized by my church. I felt so proud when I drove with Gerritt & found the house all by myself. Just a few weeks ago I was afraid to do just that. He cried about half of the way there & it took all of my concentration to focus on driving safely. The car seat is not his favorite place to be, that's for sure. However, once I pulled over & gave him a pacifier, he promptly fell asleep. :-)
About a week ago we bought tickets for my Mom to come over from Russia. She will be arriving on January 11th & stay for 1 month. I can't wait to show off Gerritt! She is in love with him already. I've been sending photos of Gerritt to her about every couple of weeks. She says she has his photos all over her condo & tells him good morning when she wakes up every morning.
Last week Gerritt also started smiling (at 6 weeks of age). He smiles back when we talk to him in a high-pitched happy voice. He loves to smile upon waking up in the mornings, after eating & getting his diaper changed, while one of us is getting him dressed for the day. Sometimes he even laughs although mostly in his sleep. I am not sure where he learned to do that. :-)
Gerritt still gets hiccups at least once daily, especially in the evenings. Just like when I was pregnant... I knew he was having hiccups due to a series of little rhythmic movements in my belly.
Some sad news for our family... Chris's Mom Barbara passed away on November 14th, one day before her birthday. She would have been 88 years old. She was a wonderful woman & will be missed greatly. I am happy she at least got to see the photos of little Gerritt & shared our joy in welcoming him to the world.
November 27
Motherhood is getting a little easier. I am falling in love with our little creation more deeply every day. The breastfeeding didn't work out for us unfortunately since I wasn't able to produce enough breastmilk to keep up with Gerritt's eating demands. However, I still produce about 9-10 oz. of breastmilk per day, so Gerritt is not solely formula-fed. I pump every 3-4 hours during the day & every 4-5 hours during the night to maintain my milk supply. It is like a full-time job! Can't go anywhere without my Medela Pump In Style breast pump! Meanwhile, we went from feeding Gerritt Similac Advance formula to the Costco brand with similar composition to Similac Organic. The organic formula is made using cane sugar, so it doesn't mix as well, but I believe the less antibiotic & hormone exposure Gerritt gets the better. This formula is more expensive than its non-organic version costing $14.99 for 12.9 oz & $27.99 for 25.7 oz, so my best source for buying it has been Ebay. How did we survive without it in the past?
I've also looked into acquiring donated breastmilk. I have found & wrote to a couple of websites matching people looking for breastmilk with breastmilk donors but have not heard back from them. One of my coworkers kindly offered to donate her breastmilk to Gerritt, however, I had to decline after learning she was taking Prozac. Up to 20% of Prozac is excreted into breastmilk & its effects on an infant brain are unknown.
We have finally received Gerritt's corrected birth certificate & social security card. Thanks to my Russian style of printing, his middle name was misspelled as Yinwon instead of Jinwon. We are also planning on getting Gerritt a passport. Two of the Moms in my New Moms Support Group said it was a requirement now to have a passport for traveling abroad (such as Canada) even for babies. I am sure we'll travel to Canada in the next 3-5 years, so passport for Gerritt seems like a good investment.
Gerritt is more interactive every day. Besides smiling, he started tracking us with his eyes as we walk around room by turning his head. He loves to play pick-a-boo with Daddy & focuses on brightly colored toys for longer periods of time. His neck is getting stronger. He is still not able to hold his head by himself, but at least it's not as wobbly. Gerritt's favorite form of entertainment is watching our various facial expressions & hearing us talk. Sometimes we play classical music for him as well as popular children's songs. Can't wait when he'll be able to sing along!
Gerritt also likes to bathe. I am sure he likes it because he has never cried while being washed. He is VERY vocal about things his doesn't like, for example, wearing a hat. Of course, we make it as pleasant for him as possible: warm up the bathroom prior to him undressing, put him in a plastic tub lined with foam & a soft towel, cover his body with one of the wash cloths & washing one body part at a time, & using soft soothing voice. It is quite a production!
I've been busy catching up on my dental care. I've had 4 dental appointments so far. I have been refusing dental x-rays for a while for fear of exposing myself to too much radiation. When I finally had a set completed this fall, I ended up needing 3 crowns! I think I better follow the recommended treatment guidelines from now on. The goal is to have my teeth fixed before my husband goes back to work on December 10th since we don't have a babysitter for Gerritt yet. Finding a babysitter I would approve of is another story...
