Fat lip at the Doctors

We did a family trip to Link's two week appointment. Everything with Link is good, even the newborn rash and the spitting up milk through the nose. Link is over his birth weight and in the high 90% for everything. He is already wearing some 3-6 month clothing. We did have the liquid from his head hemotobin syringed out though. It was hard to see but I think Link feels a lot better. I am doing good too. Swelling way down. At least in one area, not in the face however. As we were leaving the doctor I totally banged the car seat handle against my lip and gave myself my own glamour lip. This photo does not involve me sticking my lip out at all, it is all puffiness.
Dr. Schwartz apologized to me about my labor. He said if he went back he would have not have let me push for 11 hours at the hospital (not to mention what I did at home) but would have excused the midwives and talked to me earlier about suction and I might have been done in an hour. The thing is though, had he done that I probably would have said no anyway. I loved the fact that he let my midwives still guide my process naturally, even if we did end up doing the suction. I hated going to the hospital and that was the one part that kept things real.

Don't want to miss a thing

Eating at Schera's, originally uploaded by Shannon Marye.

Link has that cry now where he really needs something to happen and I am not sure what it is. Mostly overtired I think. I don't like it at all. However, I know it won't be there forever. I don't want to wish things away. Sometimes I think, man, people breastfeed for years, how? I don't want to do this forever. But then, I also can't resist the little smiles Link makes in his sleep after he is done nursing. It is probably my favorite part of the day.
We went to WIC today and everyone loved Link. He is so good with people and on outings, but saved all the screaming for mom and dad. He did have a growth spurt like I expected and is almost 11 lbs now. He went down 1/2 an inch, but probably because his cone head is shrinking. My hemoglobin is still really low. They made me test twice they were so surprised at the number. I am taking vitamins and such, but I guess I must have lost a lot of blood. I don't even remember any blood, except what was on Link when I first met him. Seemed like a pretty dry labor. I weigh less than I did before I got pregnant. 10 lbs less. I don't know how that worked. I feel like a deflated balloon though. I miss that tight belly, the one I have now I could wrap him up in like a blanket. I also never noticed the neck. It is like an extra muff. Was that there during the pregnancy or did it deflate as well?
Tonight we went to Schera's for dinner. It was a nice get out. Link nursed for over an hour as soon as our food came. I used the boob hider that Lorri gave me and I really liked it. It has a stiff area so you can look down at babe while they are eating. It was pretty busy so we didn't get a lot of time with the boys. We left when Link got so cranky he turned the volume up to 11.

97%

I feel great today. I want to get so much done I may be overdoing it. I moved a couch, helped move the bed back upstairs, etc. At one point my stomach started cramping or contracting again which was a little scary. Link has been a great boy today. He is really developing his lungs though. He no longer squeeks but some of his crying is more intense. I don't like it when he cries that hard. Sometimes it is followed by him spitting up nearly everything he just ate out his mouth and nose. This scares me a little bit. I am going to bring it up with our doctor at his two week appointment on Thursday. We were both so excited for the day we even dressed up. No single onsie for him and old t-shirt and sweatpants for me. The funny thing is, it is the only day we didn't have a single guest. Most guests have come unannounced so I thought someone would show up, but no. We still had a great day anyway.

Poem/Riddle of the Day

My husband is the canyon and I am the river
My son is the one who connects us together

My baby love

I was telling my breast feeding specialist that Link went from a half hour to 2 hour feedings. She said he probably is using the last hour just to be close to me and not really nursing. I never thought of that before. When babies are little you don't realize they love you, but they do and that is so powerful.

First Adventures

Crying at Mascara Park- First Outing, originally uploaded by Shannon Marye.

I really feel like I am learning how to do everything again. Including going for a walk and taking a trip to the store. We needed to get some things at Walmart today so Bryce decided we should take a walk first so Link's first outing was not corporate America. We went to Mascara Park. Link did not like something, be it the sun, wind or stroller. The short walk consisted of strolling to our mailbox, me pushing the stroller while Bryce carried LInk to the park, going to the library to drop off a book, nursing on a park bench, sleeping in the stroller on the way home. All in only 2 blocks. It took us another 1-2 hours to get ready to go to the store. When we finally got it done Link went to sleep pretty quickly in the car seat. One thing I was unaware of, teenagers base thumping cars are excellent white noise for babies.
In addition to our outing Michelle Gifford (who took our pregnancy photos) came over with a gift of a book of baby photography. I love it!
My body is changing in many ways. The first way, cracked nipples. That sucks. The second, I feel so skinny. I know that I probably look similar to before I was pregnant but I feel so much smaller. Today I called Bryce to the bedroom to show him how east it was for me to rool over in the bed now. I am excited about that, but I do miss having LInk inside me. He was such a great baby and still is.

Calder, Calcium, Cloth, and Cousins

cousins diana and lincoln, originally uploaded by Shannon Marye.

So Link missed sharing a birthday with Cat Stevens but he does share a birthday with Alexander Calder. Perfect for any little boy. Also Rufus Wainwright.

Link is on a nursing kick, two hours at a time and sometimes just minutes between them. My nips are starting to hurt a little. I am using lanolin and others have given me some great tips. How long does this last?!?!

Larry noticed I was lacking calcium in my muscles and I feel the same with my teeth becoming very sensitive now. So I started taking the calcium that Bryce bought at the beginning of my labor.

We are trying cloth diapers this weekend. The first G-diaper with cloth insert did not work. He peed in it while sleeping and his onsie was soaked. A prefold with a snappi and thristy cover worked great, but we need more small prefolds. We also used both of the velour all inone diapers and they worked fine. It is weird to think they are just on him for a few hours before they have to be taken off though. G-diaper with disposable insert did work, but got a little bit outside the insert.

Vahida came over with Diana and stuff from their neighbors garage sale. Giuntas (minus Monet who is in the Smoky Mountains) came over with 4 bags of Justin's old clothing. Bryce says people are just giving us clothes now to torture us. We have more outfits for Lincoln than he will need all year long. I think it is time to start being picky. There are also a lot of socks, hats, shoes, and receiving blankets. I love swaddling blankets, but I don't really understand the size of receiving blankets. What are they for? You can't wrap the kid n them and Link always gets his off if he is asleep and we put one on top of him. What are your receiving in them?