Drake's First Thanksgiving

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving with Drake by traveling down I-40 west to visit all the family. This was our first big trip with him so it was the first time packing for him and the first time staying overnight with him somewhere other than the hospital our first couple days. 

On Tuesday night, Jay was heading to Hickory and stopped by with the sweetest Thanksgiving outfit for Drake. Just look at those shoes! He also gave him some Thanksgiving pajamas that he wore every night and a cute hat that was too small for his big noggin. Our guy is turning out to be a tank. 

We started with a stop in Winston to have Thanksgiving lunch with the Marcey side of the family. Drake met his Great Grandpa for the first time and cuddled with the rest of the family for most of the morning and afternoon. Also...Derrick and I are tired as illustrated by the photo below.

Riley is going to be such a good babysitter. Drake basically melted on her for a nice afternoon nap.

Lunch was delicious and Drake handled the in-the-wild feedings and travel like a pro.  After lunch we loaded up and headed to Hickory for Thanksgiving dinner with the Williams's side.

Drake was basically the center of attention the entire evening.

 

On Friday, after sleeping off two Thanksgiving meals, we headed up the mountain for our annual tree hunt.  I was shocked Drake made it all the way up the mountain without a meltdown...we were pushing his feeding time but Uncle Jack was in the back seat with the pacifier so crises averted. He ate really well in the parking lot after getting to the tree farm and then we took the hayride up the mountain.

It was a gorgeous day and we ended up taking off our coats once we got up the mountain. Drake lives up to his nickname, Furnace, and keeps me warm when I'm baby wearing.

The farm had a lot of 15+ foot trees that weren't selling so they trimmed off the bottom branches to turn them into smaller trees. It was pretty funny walking around and seeing all of these trees looking like they were up on stilts. Jack was fighting hard for this one.

Jay ultimately found the winner though. The problem, we found, was cutting the trees like this created an optical illusion. Once we got tree home it was MUCH larger than it appeared at the farm. My parents had to move furniture around to accommodate it and apparently it just toppled over last night because it was too big for the tree stand.

I'm not sure if Derrick and I are going to get a tree this year. It seems like a lot of work for our current situation and Drake isn't able to appreciate it yet. I think we'll go all out next year. I reserve the right to change my mind but we'll see.

The tradition is lunch at Myra's after the tree hunt but Mom had to get back for work. Since Derrick and I drove separately with Drake, we kept the tradition alive and took Drake to his first Myra's stop.

A few other highlights of our trip- Grandma got to give Drake a bottle. We introduced bottles the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and he took them with no problem.

We got our first good glimpse at a future smile. We still haven't gotten a true awake smile but we're hoping this means it's close. Tell me it's close!

Crosby was with us even though her presence on this blog has been seriously minimized since Drake came along. She was great, much better than she's been at home actually.

We spent another day in Winston with family on our way back to Morrisville and Nana got her turn with the bottle.

Drake experienced his first tortilla chip.

Overall it was a great weekend and I think it tired Drake out for a couple of days. We're starting a new sleep routine with scheduled naps and feedings. It's apparently supposed to be challenging at first so that's what we're getting through right now but it's for a good cause!

Drake: 1 Month

Drake turned 1 month old the day before Thanksgiving. One whole month as parents...crazy!

We had his one month doctor's appointment that day and it went great. They are happy with his growth and weight gain. Speaking of weight gain, Drake is a big dude! He weighed 11.2 pounds at his one month appointment which means he's gained 3.5 pounds in a month...over a quarter of his body weight! He doesn't really seem that chunky to me. He is definitely filling out but I think he's just a long, big guy. I'm going to get major mom strength carrying him around.

We went on our first trip with him over Thanksgiving and it was great. He traveled like a pro and was the center of attention everywhere we went. I'll write a separate post for Thanksgiving with those pictures.

We've started a bedtime routine. He's too young to start sleep training but we've started a routine for him to get used to and we have been putting him down drowsy so he can practice putting himself to sleep. He's pretty good at it and only squawks for a few minutes before falling asleep. It can still take a while to get him drowsy enough to put down and he has woken up every 2-3 hours the past couple nights but we transitioned him from the rock-n-play to the pack-n-play and he doesn't seem to mind that at all which was a concern of mine.

We also introduced the bottle last week which he took like a champ. He took the first one we offered and has had no trouble switching between breastfeeding and bottle feeding. This is good because we made the decision to pump my right side for a few days and bottle feed those feedings to give my right side a chance to heal. It's still very painful and I needed a break after 5.5 weeks. Once it heals I'm hoping we can start back at square one with a good latch and forge ahead with no problems.

He's pretty much the best and Derrick and I are still very much enjoying parenthood. I think the lack of sleep is catching up with me a little bit but that's part of the deal with a baby. I wouldn't change it. We've both gotten better at multi-tasking. This is my current situation:

Three Weeks with Drake

Drake hit the 3 week old mark on Sunday and I think we're finally hitting our stride. Things are starting to get easier and we're feeling much more confident taking him out and about now. He is growing so much and, according to our at-home weight checks he is up 2 lbs from the day he came home from the hospital. He's starting to chunk up!

Feeding is getting much better...he is latching pretty quickly and, while it's not pain-free yet, it's more bearable. I've fed him out in the wild twice now. Once at Friendsgiving last Friday and once in the car at frisbee practice. I wore him in the carrier for frisbee practice and he slept for the first hour before it was time to eat. We've got practice again today so we're hoping he stays just as chill.

We're starting to get a lot more awake time and I love seeing those eyes! He has found the ceiling fan and seems to react a little bit to my voice and Derrick's voice. We started reading him Harry Potter before bed. We don't really have a bedtime routine yet but we do try to go upstairs by 9 and dim the lights for our last feeding. He tends to be fussy and awake sometime between 8 and 10 for about an hour but he still isn't much of a crier. Derrick and I just take shifts walking and bouncing him until he falls asleep.

One of the most nerve wrecking things that I've found is dressing him for the cold. He's a pretty hot baby so I don't want him too hot but it's cold outside and it's hard to figure out how to keep him comfortable. We have a lot of onesies and pant sets but I'm ordering a few warmer one piece outfits to rotate through this winter. Sizing is also hard but we're figuring it out.

I can't believe we're coming up on a month old! One week from tomorrow! We have a pediatrician appointment that morning and then we're taking our first road trip for Thanksgiving. I think he'll sleep most of the way down but we'll see how it goes!

Derrick and I are still smitten by this guy. It can be exhausting and a little overwhelming at times but we wouldn't change it!

Newborn Photoshoot

Last week we had Drake's newborn photos taken. We used Jamie Staggs with Jagg Photography. They shot a few of our friend's weddings and we used them for our family photoshoots that we gifted our moms for mother's day a few years ago. Jamie and her husband are so fun to work with and we love their images! I really wanted a lifestyle type shoot in our house and that's exactly what she delivered. She spent a couple hours with us when Drake was 9 days old. Here are some of my favorite images!

I love that crooked little foot!

Side eye :)

This is one of my absolute favorites. I love how tiny Drake is in Derrick's arms and Drake's yawns use his entire body.

Sweet Crosby. Poor girl is still figuring out the attention shift in the house. We're trying to give her as much love as possible while still making sure she's not too close or rough for Drake. She's getting better but it's been a process.

I'm so happy to have these moments captured. He's already growing and chunking up and it's only been a week since these photos. We are totally in love with this little dude and I want to make sure we remember these sleepy and exhausting days with him.

2 Weeks with Drake

Drake turned 2 weeks old yesterday! This past week went by a lot slower than the first week...probably because the first week consisted of the actual birth, hospital stay, and the millions of firsts of having him home. Derrick and I have gotten into a pretty good routine around the house but it definitely consists of a lot of sitting on the couch holding a sleeping baby. We still don't have much of a schedule. Drake dictates our days and we live around his feedings. Here's his two week picture. He was kicking and squirming so much this was the only picture I could get that wasn't blurry. 

We've been very well taken care of by friends and family. Our fridge is stocked and we have more meals on the way this week. It's been so amazing to not have to worry about cooking or going out for dinner. We've been completely spoiled.

Breastfeeding has been improving. Especially over the last two days. This morning he's been eating every 45 minutes which has been a little nuts but he's latching right away and the pain goes away pretty quickly. I'm hoping we've turned a corner. I don't completely dread it anymore although I'm still a little anxious right before he latches. He's sleeping pretty well at night. We get a 3.5-4 hour stretch early on and then two 2-3 hour stretches. He's been getting a lot fussier in the evenings right before we put him down for the night but he goes down pretty well in the middle of the night. Derrick and I are working our bouncing and soothing skills.

My parents and Jay came to visit this weekend to get their Drake fix. Our plan is to go home for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks so that will be our first big trip with him and the next time my family will get to see him. He's already grown so much in two weeks...it's hard to believe he'll be a month old at Thanksgiving!

We got our newborn pictures taken last Wednesday and they turned out amazing! She captured so many of his expressions and I'm so glad we decided to get them done. I'll do a full post with more pictures but here is a sneak peek.

Derrick and I are getting pretty good at multi-tasking. I'm currently writing this with a sleeping Drake in my arms and Derrick has eaten more than one meal one handed. Drake's been a little fussy today but, beyond today and the evening before bed, he's really a pretty calm guy. He very rarely cries and only fusses if he needs something or is over-tired. He's still sleeping for most of the day.  I know there is plenty of time for this to change but we're soaking up the baby cuddles while we can.

Two weeks in and we're still in la la land with Drake. We're completely obsessed with him and the good moments heavily outweigh the hard ones.