The New Normal

We have a bit of a routine going around these parts which is nice.

Here's a snapshot:

During the night, Dylan eats between 2-3 and 5-6. My wonderful husband does the first feeding, I do the second. I really think Dylan would like to sleep through the night, but we are not allowed to let him yet (because he needs to gain weight), so we feed him at least every four hours at night.

The mornings are the hardest for me. Dylan is more often than not constipated in the morning and grunts and groans and is unhappy from anywhere between 4:30 and 7:30. I am NOT a morning person...not even a waking up person for that matter. So it's really tough for the first hour or so and then I'm good. I try to put Dylan back to sleep after his 7-8 feeding, but it depends...usually he'll sleep for a bit

Then it's coffee time! I've never been a daily coffee drinker. But now I look forward to my morning coffee so much! We got a Keurig and I love it. I think it should go on every new mom's registry!

Dylan's usually pretty awake in the morning so we talk and play and do tummy time. And I try to catch a smile in a picture. It's a fun game. He'll be smiling for like 5 minutes, I'll open the camera, he'll make a stink face. I've caught a few smiles, but most of the time they are blurry because I'm rushing to get it.

If we don't have anything scheduled for the day (doctor appt or walking with a friend), I take Dylan on a walk around the neighborhood mid-morning. But we have been having doctor appts twice a week so far and a walking date once.

The rest of the day is kind of fuzzy. It's a mix of me trying to eat lunch, Dylan eating, Dylan eating, Stella trying to lick Dylan, Stella wanting to play, Dylan sleeping on me, and Dylan sleeping in the swing, with a bit of tummy time mixed in.

Dylan is pretty strong. He can hold his head up pretty well and is almost propping himself on his elbows. He's rolled from front to back a few times. I know they say it's more of an accident at this age, but he does it slow enough that it doesn't really look like falling. I figure if we are ahead in any area, it will be muscular since he's been using his muscles a lot longer than term babies.

Dylan is supposed to be eating every 2 hours or so right now, again because he needs to keep gaining. He seems to like every 2 1/2 hours. Feeding has definitely been frustrating. He was eating really well for awhile, now he's barely eating 2 ounces a feeding. He never averaged much higher than that, but he had a few 3-4 ounce sessions sprinkled in. Now, not so much.

He averages about 18 ounces a day with a high of 20 and low of 14 (ugh). He is on a little higher calorie formula, but I'd still like to up his volume. (Breast milk is considered to be about 20 calories an ounce - so is formula. We do one scoop for 54mls instead of 60 to get to 22 calories. But I'm also adding 1/4 breast milk.)

He was 9lbs, 1oz on Weds which is 5 months actual, 8 weeks adjusted.

Overall things are great. Besides the feeding difficulty, Dylan is a pretty happy, easy baby. I have no idea if its the time in the NICU (probably) that taught him to self-soothe and be happy just hanging out awake by himself, but he's pretty chill most if the time. He does have his moments though...

I'm still pumping 3x a day and getting about 25 ounces. I'm going to keep it up for now because I still dream about Dylan going back to exclusive breast milk or in my wildest fantasies, breast feeding (wild, I know!) so I want to keep my options open for now.

Want some pictures?

Enjoy.