Our new daily routine

Now that Turner is almost 4 weeks old, we have a routine down...we have a schedule :)

I feel we have been very blessed with such a good baby on our first go around with kids. He only cries when he's super hungry or when he's in his crib and is fighting to sleep. I can tell the difference between his cries of wanting to be held or just tired and I need to let him 'cry it out'. Yes..I've already had to do that and it's hard, but it gets better and he can now put himself to sleep in his crib with no fuss...so it's worth it.

 I've come to realize that Turner is a morning person...which is not surprising to me since I am a morning person. Our days start around 6 or 7 am with him being hungry (it depends on what time his middle of the night feeding was to what time he will wake up). He usually wakes up 2 hours after his middle of the night feeding...I will usually take him out of his crib and but him in the bassinet (from our pack n play) in our room with his nook to rest for another hour. Sometime he falls back asleep, sometimes not.

Our day feedings are every 2.5 to 3 hours. After the morning feeding, he usually only naps for an hour (at most) and then wants to 'play'. We do tummy time and I sing/read to him. We started going for a walk (since it's cooler in the morning) which him and Mya both love. He will then have his mid-morning feeding. He will nap after and that gives me time to either shower, catch up on blogs, clean or nap myself. He usually won't nap for the whole time because like I said...he's a morning person and that usually is his awake time to explore and learn new things!

The afternoons I have found is when he loves to nap and I get most of my stuff done. Some days we have errands to run and others it's just getting stuff done around the house. Turner is very good in his car seat and sleeps the whole time. It for sure makes it easier to take him places when I need to. Tate usually gets home around 5 or 5:30 when I am doing Turner's 'dinner' feeding. Tate will start to get supper ready while I finish feeding him. Tate will then burp Turner and change his diaper while I finish dinner.

Our night time routine is starting to get consistent and Turner is always ready for bed. Every other day we give him a bath (which we still have to do a sponge bath because his cord STILL hasn't fallen off...doc says that's OK). We get him in his PJ's and Tate feeds him a bottle while I pump.

*Even though I am breastfeeding, Turner was given a bottle in the NICU and our first days home because my milk supply hadn't come in yet and he needed the nutrients. We were OK with supplementing because it was necessary for his health. Tate also had to feed him a bottle when I was in the wedding a few weeks back. Turner has been GREAT at not getting confused between a bottle nipple and my nipple and still breastfeeds just fine. We decided to give him a bottle every night as part of a routine so he knows it's bed time when he gets it and also so that when I do go back to work and he gets bottle more frequently, he will do just fine. All bottle feedings we do now are my breast milk unless there is some emergency that formula needs to be given (like when you are stuck in a car during road construction at his feeding time and he is SCREAMING because he is hungry...formula it is)*

Tate will then burp him and we then swaddle him (he loves those things). We put him in his crib for the night. Tate and I have actually gone to bed at this time also (it's usually 9 pm) because we are tired. Turner falls asleep right away and will sleep for a good 3-4 hours before waking up for his next feeding. There have been a few times where I have had to actually go wake him up to feed him.

Turner has a late night feeding which is usually around midnight and then his middle of the night is between 3-4 am. After his midnight feeding, he will usually wake up 3 hours after that feeding for the next one. At both of these feedings, I put him back in his crib, he's 95% of the time wide awake & has the hiccups when I do this, and he falls asleep on his own. He 'talks' a little bit, but we all fall sleep peacefully. Then...6-7am rolls around and we start it all over again.

First 2 weeks were a bit different...feedings were more often, but the last week and a half have been like this. I have read and am following the 'Baby Wise' book. It's working so far and I hope it continues to work for us. I would highly recommend all expectant or new mama's out there to read that book.

 

I promise all my posts going forward won't be all about Turner. I am pretty obsessed with him right now and he's really all I think about...but I do have some house updates to post about and we have fun things coming up next month!!!