Plateau

Yesterday morning Ian weighed in at 5lb 11oz which showed a very slight gain since he had been 5lb 10 3/4 oz the previous day at the doctor's office. During the middle of the night last night Ian peed on his clothes during a diaper change; since I had to take off his clothes, I decided to weigh him. He still weighed in at 5lb 11oz. I am discouraged. He hasn't had any formula for two weeks, but I admit I am tempted to run to the store and buy him some. With Nadia I received free samples of formula in the mail and also received two diaper bags (one from the labor and delivery nursery and one from the NICU) that contained some formula (one diaper bag from Similac and the other from Enfamil). This time I didn't receive any diaper bags upon discharge. I am producing plenty of milk. That isn't the problem. I am not sure if it's because he's using the shield or just because he's not nursing enough. I do many things to try to wake him up and try to get him to stay awake while nursing. We just ran out of frozen pumped milk yesterday. I guess I could at least start pumping again and try supplementing with a bottle of my milk. I looked back to July 2008, and Nadia weighed 5lb 12oz when she was about 2 weeks old and 6lb 12oz when she was 1 month + 1 day old. Her birth weight was 6lb 2oz, and her lowest weight (recorded by a doctor anyhow) was 5lb 8oz. Ian's birth weight was 6lb 1oz, and his lowest weight was 5lb 9oz. So although she lost 2 more ounces than Ian did, she was 10 ounces above her birth weight by the time she turned 1 month old. There's no way Ian will be 10 ounces above his birth weight by the time he's 1 month old. I figure the best case scenario would be that he'll weigh 6 ounces above his birth weight, and that's only if he starts gaining one ounce a day starting today. Please pray that he'll start gaining weight at a faster pace ASAP. It's really starting to get to me emotionally. I weaned Nadia off the shield a couple of days before she turned 1 month old. I am making that my goal with Ian as well. He can latch on fine without it, but the problem is that most of the time he nurses for a MUCH shorter period of time without the shield than he does with it.

Nadia is still really struggling emotionally. There are some happy moments - like when Daddy pulled her around our yard in a sled yesterday afternoon (we got 2.5 inches of snow), but she also has been doing a LOT of crying. I am not sure what part of it is just her age (having a temper tantrum when she doesn't get her way such as when Mommy refused to give her pretzels for breakfast this morning) and what part of it is her adjustment to sharing me with Ian. I will say I am hearing my name 50 million times a day these days! They also take turns waking each other up in the morning. When Ian woke up at 4:15am, she also woke up and never went back to sleep although Paul didn't get her from her crib until 6:00am. I am sure losing sleep isn't helping her mood either. My sister and her hubby and four kids are planning to come up this afternoon to meet Ian. I think having other kids to play with will be a nice distraction for Nadia.

Yesterday I started the process of taking down the Christmas decorations. I think we'll finish that project today. There isn't as much to do since Ian came before we had finished (for example we hadn't put up the outside lights yet). Paul is going to head to Walmart today or tomorrow because the table, chairs, and bookcase I ordered for Nadia's room have come in. Once they're set up, I'll take pictures of her room, and once Ian's wall hangings are hung I'll post the last pics of his room. I'm hoping Paul finishes before his party on Sunday so people can see Ian's room as a finished product rather than a work in progress. Another of my accomplishments yesterday was that I edited some children's book reviews that my graduate students had written this semester and sent them off to the editor of that column. Thankfully I haven't needed to do much schoolwork over the past week. I didn't have to make dinner yesterday because a woman from church (and her daughter whom I had in several classes over the last few years) brought over a meal for us. She happened to bring turkey and mashed potatoes, which is Paul's favorite meal, and he didn't get turkey for Christmas this year (we had ham, which is my favorite) so it was a special treat.

For the last few months I've been researching options for our family vacation. Last year (my first time to speak of 2009 in the past tense) we invited Paul's parents to join us, and we had a great time with them in the Caribbean. It was great for Nadia to be able to spend a week with them, and it meant that Paul and I were able to go on a snorkeling excursion that we wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. This time we invited my parents to join us for a trip to Florida. Yesterday I booked a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite for seven nights in May (for $139 total). It will be different for Paul and I as we've gotten used to the beautiful, clear water of the Caribbean the past 9 years, but the flight to Florida will be shorter and cheaper. A nonstop flight from Baltimore to West Palm Beach is less than 2.5 hours long and costs less than $200 round trip. I doubt we'll bring our snorkeling gear on this trip. It will be our last time of flying before we have to start purchasing a ticket for Nadia as she'll be 23 months old when we go. The resort is right on the beach. Ian will be too little (5 months old) to get much out of it, but based on our last vacation, I am confident Nadia will have fun in the swimming pool and also at the beach. I don't think she'll eat the sand this time though. :-)