My younger sister, Joni, blogs about my youngest niece, Elye, every month to keep track of milestones and cute stuff she does. It's a great idea and for some reason easier than getting out the baby book and writing it all down. Unfortunately, I haven't done either for Easton yet. These past three months have been the hardest three months of my life. I feel like a horrible momma for not writing this stuff down, but I've been lucky to get my shower clean let alone keep his baby book updated. I know that a lot of it is just being overwhelmed with all of the things being a new mom brings into your world. But the big majority of the reason is the postpartum depression/anxiety. I am just now starting to feel somewhat like myself. Not every day, but there are more good days than bad now. I am on my third different anti-depressant and have high hopes that it was be "the one". I feel so guilty to have not done all of these things to keep track of his first months of life and will regret it forever. Three months is as good a start as any right? At least I'm not having to title this post "Easton at 3 years old". I know this post is supposed to be about Easton and it will be, I just want to get a few things off my chest first. I get angry now days when I think of how postpartum robbed me of enjoying him in these first few months. The scary thing is, I don't even remember a lot of what happened the first weeks of his life. I was so lost in my own misery and uncomfortable in my own skin that I couldn't focus on him. I didn't want to focus on him. I wanted my old life back. I wanted my old body and mind back. I didn't want this new life. The one thing I am grateful for is that I recognized what was happening to me very early on. I made the call to my OB two weeks after he was born. I knew good and well that what I was experiencing wasn't just baby blues. So the fact that I am starting this now is a good acomplishment in my own book. Okay..enough about me.
Easton weighs in at 10lbs 12 oz finally! He is a bit on the small side due to his stomach/feeding issues. He is now starting to wear his 0-3 months cloths and looks adorable in them. He still eats every 2-3 hours...mostly 2. That can be anywhere from 2-4 oz. Mostly 2-3 oz. He is up every two hours at night most of the time too. He does a good 4-5 hour stretch at the beginning, then up and down the rest of the night. Not my favorite thing, but like my best friend said, "you know you won't be feeding him every two hours at night when he's 15, so there is an end in sight." Ha..thanks Erin. He smiles a lot now. It just so happens to be the cutest smile around. Sometimes it's only this little half, Elvis lip, smile. He loves to lay on his back and kick and flail his arms around as if he could take of in flight at any moment. One of our favorite things he does is what we call his "pitiful cry". It is totally a pure, "please feel sorry for me" cry. It's not even a cry..it's seriously a "wah..wah..wah..." I need to get it on video. It really is hard not to laugh at it, even though he is upset. One of the neatest things he does is when I'm changing his diaper, he will stare right at me the whole time. Like this morning, at 4:30 am, I was changing his, oh, 4th poopy diaper of the night( poor thing had his first enema yesterday..that's a whole other story) and I look down and he grinning at me. Who in their right mind grins at 4 in the morning? Easton does. He love to sleep in his bed and has finally got to where he will sleep in his carseat. Oh..he's awake. That's the majority of the milestones as of now. He is a precious baby and I love him so much my heart could burst. I have to go get my sweetie up...
Kiddie Crunch Snack Mix
1 hour ago
Great post Julie! I'm glad to hear the milestones and the love in your words. And don't feel bad about the "baby book" thing. Lyla is turning 5 in a few weeks and I still haven't started her "baby book". I never wrote anything down for Lyla!!!!! So, 3 months is REALLY good. Most moms don't keep perfect baby books either.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you started. Elye will know everything about her baby years, but poor reesi will know about 1/5 of Elye. Reesi was the first baby, I didn't have PPD, and I hardly wrote anything down. I don't know what was wrong with me. If only we had had blogs back then. Nothing exciting happens in the first three months anyway so he won't miss much.
ReplyDeleteAck! My comment didn't make it through...but wanted to say I can relate. I had ppd/a as well and used to feel so guilty about not doing the things so many "normal" moms do, but now that I'm recovered and have a busy and very happy preschooler, I realize that she doesn't care whether or not I have the perfect scrapbook. What matters to her is that I got the treatment I needed and even in my worst moments managed to care for her and love her. She cares that I am with her in those moments of her life. I love it when I can get them down, but with my busy life I definitely don't capture everything I want to!
ReplyDeleteAlso wanted to let you know I featured you in my "Weekly Round Up" of ppd blogs. And that I'm so glad you got treatment early and recovering. Yay!