Happy Due Date!

Today was Joseph's estimated due date, which makes him almost three weeks old!

Meeting his Pop-Pops

Each day--it feels like each hour--I pick up another ball to add to what I'm juggling. I am very grateful that my mother-in-law was unexpectedly able to stay with us this week! This morning, with laundry humming, the kitchen cleaned, and Joseph fed and asleep, I decided to dabble my toes in the shallowest waters of "doing school" for the first time since the baby was born. I felt overwhelmed at getting out any books, only to have the baby wake and cry, so I sat the children at the table and assigned different activities: Margaret drawing, John using Magformers (a new toy we we given which is so cool!), and Mary using the fantastic Pattern Play blocks. I put "Charlotte's Web" audio CD on the stereo, told the little ones to listen with their ears, and I sat down and worked with them on their projects, Joseph snoring in my sling. And thus for all of half an hour we went back to home schooling. about which I basically felt like an Amazing Super Mama (ha ha). I'm holding out hope that we can get back to some formal book learning next week, but it has been a slower transition than I anticipated given Joseph's feeding troubles.

After our idyllic half an hour, the morning fell apart for me: feeling like I was racing from one thing to the next, doing nothing but putting out fires and losing my self-possession. I was reminded of just a week or so ago when I was encouraging a lovely friend of mine as she transitions to another newborn in the house and I felt so confident that she can do it--but today I'd lost confidence that I can do it!

Joseph's Nursing Update

Joseph is showing real improvement at nursing! I was able to track down an intake scale to rent at a farther-away hospital: this kind of scale is so sensitive that one can weigh a baby, feed a baby, then weigh the baby again and know down to the tenth of an ounce how much that baby took in. Right now, I'm supposed to be getting into the habit of weighing Joseph before any attempts at nursing. Sunday morning, for the first time, Joseph really nursed properly and he transferred four-tenths of an ounce all by himself! Now in these two days, he has managed a full feeding (1-1/2 oz, at his age/weight) at least four times! The first time I could abstain from pulling out a bottle to feed him because he did it all himself, the feeling was one of such joy. This is the beginning of the transition that the lactation consultants assured me would happen!