One month down, a lifetime to go! Archer has been in our family for one month now, and the transition to a family of four went even better than I could have hoped for. Theo has embraced big brotherhood with open arms. His love for his brother seems to grow every day and fortunately we haven’t had to deal with any jealousy issues yet. He wants to hold him all day long and when Archie cries Theo will kiss him, give him his binky (although he’s a bit aggressive with shoving it in his mouth) and will shush him.
Theo loves to have Archer lay on his chest because he sees Jordan holding him like that.
All day long Theo says “I hold you baby Ah-cha” and wants us to put him in his arms.
Archer is the sweetest happiest baby. He has fit perfectly into our family and is just like his big brother in so many ways. He’s not much of a crier as long as he’s been held and snuggled. He loves to be worn in either my Wildbird ring sling or my Solly wrap and is pretty much guaranteed to sleep the entire time. He also loves walks and sleeps great in the stroller. He has a love hate relationship with the car. Sometimes he cries, but he’s just like his brother and can usually be calmed down with some heavy metal music. He’s starting to get more alert and his wake times are getting longer. He loves tummy time and has such a strong neck, which Theo did as well. It’s fun watching him slowly become more aware of his surroundings.
He loved his first bath, and that chubby little face just melts me.
Check out all that dark hair he had as a newborn. It’s already lightening up a lot, so I’m interested to see if it will be blonde like Theo’s or brown.
Strong little man
Archer’s first Valentine’s Day
Archer is a pretty good sleeper, and we’ve only had a couple of rough nights since he was born. He typically goes down for the night around 8p and doesn’t wake up to eat until 2a. I usually do a dream feed at 10p before I go to bed so that I can get a good four hour stretch of sleep. He wakes again around 5a to eat and then again around 7:30 when Theo wakes up. He still cat naps a lot but usually has one long nap from about 9-11a which has been nice. I have been pretty successful at putting him in his crib for his morning nap so I’m able to do things around the house baby free. We have been using the Ollie Swaddle which works well for keeping him swaddled tightly. I have been trying to make sure he goes down for another long nap in the afternoon when Theo does. It’s hit or miss though on whether or not I am successful with that.
The Ollie swaddle and the Snuggle Me lounger are lifesavers for naps. He doesn’t sleep in the lounger at night.
Nursing is going great and we’ve had no problems so far. He is already up over three pounds from his birth weight which makes me a happy mum. He nurses every 2-3 hours during the day, and usually cluster feeds in the evenings from about 5-8. The cluster feeding makes it tough to get anything done in the evenings but I know it’s a short phase and will be over soon so I’m fine with it. We haven’t introduced the bottle yet but plan to sometime this week so fingers crossed that goes well.
My postpartum update
My recovery has been so much easier this time than it was with Theo. My delivery in general was easier and I didn’t tear which I’m sure contributed to the ease of recovery. I’ve been taking it pretty easy and trying to relax as much as possible and enjoy this snuggly newborn stage. In the past week I’ve started going for a few mile walks every other day. I’ve been doing some gentle stretching as well. I have had some aching in my pubic bone, which I also had towards the end of my pregnancy. Until that is resolved I don’t plan on increasing my workout intensity because I’m sure it will just make it worse.
One week postpartum (don’t mind the dirty mirror)
Four weeks postpartum
I am exclusively breastfeeding and it has been going really well. Archer latches great so I’ve had no pain with nursing. Nursing always makes me soooo hungry and thirsty though. I drink an absurd amount of water and I eat constantly throughout the day. I am down about 25 pounds from my pregnancy weight, and still have 13 pounds left to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m in this awkward stage where maternity clothes are way too big, but my regular clothes are tight and I don’t love how they look.
Overall I feel like the transition to two has been easier than the transition to one. Our house gets loud and crazy but damn is there a lot of love around here!
