Oliver's first month or so...

Okay, so I left off with Oliver just being born. He was so squished inside of me that we had to wrap him really tight or his legs would flip up. It was very comic like.

So here he is a few hours after birth. He looked like this for the next month, rarely opening his eyes. He couldn't latch properly and wasn't getting enough calories to allow his body to do anything but just grow. In the first three weeks of life he lost 14 oz. We were seeing his pediatrician, an occupational therapist, and a chiropractor. We tried just nursing, tube feeding, finger tube feeding, tube feeding at the breast, and anything else that would work. At his six week check up, his pediatrician said we needed to do 80 to 90 percent bottle feeding. I had been pumping every three hours since day four of his life by this time. Finally in the beginning of September I had had enough. I told Brock that if Oliver didn't get the hang of nursing by the end of September we would be switching to formula. It was a tough decision but I was so sore.





My friend Sara gave me some good advice. First she asked if Oliver could nurse or if he was just use to getting milk faster from these other devises we had to use. She said "Take one day and just nurse and see if he can do it on his own. He will cry a lot so be warned. " It took me a few more days to get up the courage but I did just that and we are nursing fine to this day. I now look at my pump with disdain and know that I need to start pumping again to build up a supply for going back to work.




Brock put up a tree swing for Ian. We wanted to give him something special for when Oliver came and the attention was no longer on Ian. I can only imagine what it would be like to be an only child where grandparents came to see you, to have a brother born six years later and now they come to see him as well.
Ian is a fantastic big brother and loves to spend time with Ollie.







School started way too soon for me. I guess it was that I was sitting most of the summer. Ian was very excited to start first grade and was put into one of my good friend's class. Ian calls him Mr. A. His last name is Aguilar and kind of hard to pronounce for little ones. Even though I am not teaching right now, Ian is still attending my school Renton Park Elementary. It is about a 20 to 30 minute drive from our house. It wouldn't be such a big deal if I was going there everyday anyway but since I am not right now, it is long to drive there and back in the morning and afternoon. It's not as bad as it sounds because Brock often takes him and picks him up. Brock has decided to go back to school full time to get a teaching degree. I have always thought he would make a great teacher. He is no longer with Starbucks. It has been very nice to have him home during this time that I have been. Oliver is more demanding of attention that Ian was and Brock has been helping a lot.




Brock turned 29 this month. We celebrated with both sides of the family at his parents house. It was a nice time.












This is the first picture of Ollie smiling. He is a very serious baby and when he smiles it doesn't last long enough to grab the camera. He does smile in his sleep a lot. Not the best picture but it does show that he is growing or at least his cheeks are filling out.




So that sums up July, August, and most of September. I will catch up in my next post. I don't want to overwhelm anyone with marathon posts.