Replacing the old school "baby book" 1 Month

When I had Vashon my mom would always ask me "did you put that in his baby book?" or " is his baby book up to date?" I don't know when and where she found the time to do ours but we have very clear and very full baby books and it's actually really nice to look at them even now as an adult. For some reason I can't help but comparing my children to myself. I thank my mom for taking the time to keep such memories of us because even now with Vashon only being 3 yrs old I can't remember things about him from the 1st year.


Vashon's baby book is pretty well filled out and the missing pcs have been photographed and put online with a short explanation as the caption. The things I failed to include are things that I probably wont forget, but I should sit down and fill it in. I notice myself going back to Vashon's book to see if Varen is bigger, longer, or has similar sleep habits as Vashon.

I have a baby book for Varen and as I sat down today to fill it out I noticed that it's not laid out like Vashon's baby book. Then I thought about it, I document everything else about my life online why not use this blog as a modern day baby book.


So here goes


Varen @ 1 month - December 21,2010


Weight - 6 lbs 14 oz : Height -19 1/4"


Sleeping Patterns - Sleeps all day, awake most of the night, but overall a good sleeper as long as someone is holding him

Eating Habits - Nurses on demand usually every 2 hrs , gets about 1-2 (2 oz) bottle of expressed breast milk a day with a vit D supplement in one of them.


New foods he likes - Just Breast milk

New discoveries - His fingers are always touching his face


New Milestones - Doing everything a 1 month old should be doing

Places baby went - To the Dr. office, to meet Santa and to Target. I'm not big on taking newbies out in public.

Anything else - It seems like my days fly by and before I know the day is over. I enjoy Varen but I am still trying to catch up from the holidays, the visitors and master breastfeeding. I still find time to snap photos of my baby as he grows but the 20 min long photo sessions that I used to have with Vashon are no more. lol. Varen also is a bit of a fussy baby only allowing brief moments where my hands are free. I love him so much and his lil cry is just so sad, I only get this time for a lil while so I'm going to enjoy holding him. But he loves to be held.

How is older brother? - Vashon still wants lil to do with Varen, but he is very protective over him. If anyone tries to take Varen out of the house Vashon will make it very clear that they may not take the baby anywhere. I am also trying hard to balance the time between the boys. Vashon is in the "helpful" stage (by helpful I mean always wanting to help, but making a bigger mess for me) so I try to let him help as much as possible but he always wants to help. But of course when I really need him to help me he doesn't want to.

Christmas 2010

With lil time to blog I thought I'd take this time to get the pics up from Christmas. Not much to say about this year we all had a great Christmas and all three of our boys were very blessed.

Vashon with his Christmas blessings

Varen with his Christmas blessings

Vayden with his Christmas blessing ( gone but never forgotten)

So How is Breasfeeding Going????

Months ago I wrote a post about my struggles with buying a breast pump and breastfeeding all together. I got wonderful support and encouragement about the idea but even days before delievery I contemplated saying "forget it all". It seemed like the closer I got to Varen being born the more I would think that maybe breastfeeding wasn't worth it. My goal went from 1 year to 6 months, then to 3 months and I even once said "if I could at least make it two weeks."

The Thursday before I went in to labor Van and I attended a breast feeding basics class and at the time both our spirits were lifted about the choice to breastfeed our baby. When I was asked if I had a birth plan all I said is I would like to breast feed and I would like skin to skin soon after he was born.

Varen didn't latch on until 12 hours after he was born, but once he did he was a pro at it. With the help of a great lactation support team and a supportive husband breastfeeding didn't seem all that bad. Until we realized that Varen wasn't just a little tired, he was lazy. He didn't wake up for his next feeding until 10 hours later despite my efforts to try to wake him. Breastfeeding Varen was becoming quite a chore. The lactation team at the hospital continued to support and encourage me and we began to use lactation aids and finger feeding little Varen. At one point even they suggested we supplement with a little formula. By the time we got home I was in charge of pumping while Van finger fed Varen with a small tube (I was unable to do it because of my finger nails). I was happy he was getting my milk, but my heart was broken that my own child was too tired to feed from his mother. I felt defeated and was even a little jealous of my husband. I now understand how some fathers feel, when the mother breastfeeds.

Here I was the person who once wanted to exclusively pump heartbroken that my baby wasn't breastfeeding. But my sweet Varen overcame, in fact he is the baby that I wanted him to be. He latches onto the breast and now takes bottles too. He does fine with the flip flop of bottle to breast and as long as he gets his food he really doesn't care.

Van got what he wanted, I got what I wanted and breastfeeding is an amazing thing. I can't believe I'm saying this but I LOVE IT. I've made it passed what most call "two weeks of hell" and if it only gets better from here then I could end up one of those women that breastfeeds until her child is 3 yrs old. Just Kidding. :)