Max is One Month Old

In case you missed it: Max’s Birth Story

Apparently I’m going to be one of those moms who are all like, “Where has the time gone?? How is my baby already one month old??” BECAUSE IT’S TRUE. Where has the time gone? How is my Max already one month old? He’s a little thriving baby and I love it. We went to the pediatrician this morning and Max is coming in at 10 pounds, 11 ounces!

On the way home from the hospital

A six day old gas smile

So what’s been going on these past four weeks, you ask? Well, let me just say that the struggle was real. Like, really real. And then after a very trying first two weeks, we came to understand each other. As in, I came to understand that Max is very particular and likes to grumble (i.e.: rage with every ounce of his being) about having to burp. I know, right? #firstworldbabyproblems

Also, I attribute my seemingly endless frustration at having been cut half open and the resulting pain. BUT, Max really is great!

Things he likes: being swaddled, walks in the LILLEbaby carrier, tummy time and back time (is this a term?) on his colorful mat, getting stomach kisses, baths (except when I give them to him -__-), eating, looking outside, being rocked.

Things Max dislikes: a dirty diaper, being burped.

So, see? The likes far outweigh the dislikes. Now, I will say that the dislikes make him into this madman who is semi-inconsolable for a solid 10 minutes, which is a preposterous amount of time when your baby is screaming at the top of their lungs and you’re all, “Shhh, I can’t hear Real Housewives over this noise!”

Week one was physically the hardest because of the pain and I felt very cooped up since our bedroom is on the second floor and I couldn’t yet navigate the stairs. Once I made it up there after coming home from the hospital, I wasn’t moving. I was basically confined to one room. Gratefully so because the pain was so bad, but also, I wanted to maneuver around. Mike was off work for that first week, thank goodness, and so he did a lot of the “heavy lifting” with the boy. With him being a nurse we are in the fortunate position of Mike only working 3 days a week or so which means plenty of help and time with baby.

We bought the Owlet baby monitor which measures Max’s vitals through a sock on his foot, you know, because SIDS makes me into a nervous wreck. The monitor brings peace of mind except when it goes off. That alarm and the red flashing light will jolt you out of anything, lemme tell ya. It went off a couple of times so far because it detected low oxygen levels, but turns out I had placed the sock on all wonky and it wasn’t getting a good reading.

BFF

Sometimes he can’t even

Also, I have this love/hate relationship with feeding Max. At first, I was breastfeeding and pumping every now and again, but for me, breastfeeding doesn’t come easy. There is most definitely a supply there, but Max has this voracious appetite and if he can’t latch right away, he basically roots there for forever, is completely disorganized, he screams bloody murder, and it all leads to me leaking everywhere – all over myself, all over him. This is by far the most frustrating thing about motherhood. The good news is he’s still exclusively on breast milk. I try to feed him myself once a day and then the rest of the time, I’m pumping for the next feeding via bottle. It’s true that breastfeeding is just not a pleasant experience for all moms and I’m 100% okay with that.

(And you’ll never appreciate showering more than when you’re a mom and have your own fluids all over yourself.)

Some of my favorite moments is when Max makes these adorable grunting noises. I almost typed “adorable little grunting noises”, but there’s nothing little about them. They are big boy grunts and it’s hilarious. He has different grunts too. There’s a grunt for the obvious – pooping! There’s a grunt when he’s getting adjusted in his swaddle and preparing for sleep. Another one for when he’s waking up. Another when you’re moving him around and he doesn’t want to be.

He also makes us laugh so hard at his little antics. Like when you’re holding him with his head on your shoulder and he over and over lightly head butts you and then makes this really weird noise. When he’s done with that, and when you’re done shaking from laughter, he’ll turn his head to the side and just stare at you with these big blue eyes. (Yes, eyes are still blue!!) Speaking of, he’s really good at maintaining eye contact and tracking your voice and movements. He’s rolled over from front to back AND back to front (just yesterday!). He has excellent head/neck control. He holds his bottle. As a newbie mom I’m thinking all this is advanced and I’m just gonna go with it.

The poop face

And then Snapchat happened…(follow me at @thefoodiejen!)

Being a Max mom is basically the best job there is!