Ben at 1 Week!!!

Okay, technically he was one week old on Saturday - but it's hard to keep up with this.  Was trying to get the hospital blogs done first, so I didn't forget anything I wanted to say about that.  I figured I'd do one last little update - but this time instead of being pregnant, it's all about life with a newborn!
How Far Along Were you When you had Baby:  I was 41 weeks exactly when Ben was born.  I really didn't have an option to go much further than that.  (Okay, I'm sure I had an option if I seeked out other doctor's, but I am happy with my decision with going in at 41 weeks...)

Weight Gain:  Last I weighed myself pregnant I was 160 - so I gained 38 pounds!!!

Total Weight Loss Since:  I weighed myself on Saturday, and was 146.  A little bit of a bummer that I only lost 14 pounds - considering Ben was 9 pounds at birth.  But I was pretty swollen, and probably still retaining fluids...and I keep reminding myself it took me 9 months to put on all that weight, it's not going to come off overnight!

I did weigh myself again on Tuesday and was 142, so it's slowly coming off....

Belly Picture:  No thank you. 

Best Moment of the week:  Has to be just about everything!  Getting to meet our little Benjamin..Having my parents in town...Mark's parents...Having Allison here - was amazingly wonderful!  Don't think I can ever thank her enough.  Then having Rob & Jenna here...the gorgeous weather!  Jim loving on his baby brother.  I can go on an on.  It really has been a great week!!

What are you looking forward to:  This week - having Mark at home all week with me!  I know he's been loving it, taking care of stuff out in the yard.  Thank goodness for such wonderful weather!!!

What I miss about being pregnant:  Like I said in an earlier post, I thought for sure I'd miss being pregnant.  But knowing that my little family is complete - there's not a single thing that I miss!  (I am still missing the fact that I can't sleep on my stomach.  It's still pretty uncomfortable with everything still healing.  I did attempt last night - my stomach felt fine, but my boobs, another story...)

Any Stretch Marks:  With both my boys I lucked out - not a single stretch mark!  I didn't think I had much of the linea nigera line - but now that my stomach has gone down quite a bit - there's one there!

How did we come up with Benjamin's name:  I copied a list, I think it was the Social Securities top 1000 names - or something like that.  And went through that and eliminated all the weird names.  Then I started to eliminate the names that I didn't like, and eventually came up with a list of about 20 or so.  It wasn't 20 names that I loved, just names that I would consider.  If I just put the few names I loved, and Mark hated them, then we'd be right back at the beginning.  I gave that list to Mark - and he did the same thing, making fun of me for a handful of names that were on there.  Another night he took a look at it, and said I would consider Nathan, Benjamin, Sean, and Kevin.  We sat on those for awhile, and then narrowed it down to Nathan & Benjamin, and one night we decided on Ben!!!

How is Nursing Going:  Wonderful!  We really haven't had any issues at all!  Ben latched on right away when I was in recovery - and has been a champ since.  Actually, the first couple times at home, it took him forever to latch on.  I had some pumped milk, so I ended up putting some on my finger, and then on my nipple to get him to start eating.  That lasted for a day or two, and ever since, no problems.  I remember with Jim I had to use a nipple shield because of the problems we were having.  I do get really full at night, which causes me to be pretty sore, and wake up with a wet shirt.  I may need to start getting up to pump a little bit to relieve some of the soreness.  We've been letting Ben sleep - not waking him up every 3 hours to eat - so it's been great in the sleep department!

How/Where does Baby Sleep:  We've still been working on this one.  He's been sleeping mostly in his swing.  Usually he'll fall asleep and when we go to lay him down, he wakes right back up.  I think next week when Ashley is here we are going to put Jim in his new room - so we'll be able to start using the crib!  I'm not a huge fan of the Moses basket - it's pretty small, I'm always paranoid he's going to roll to the side a little bit...But Ben has been a champ with sleeping!  I think we'll need to work on getting him to fall asleep earlier - but for instance last night he fell asleep around 11:00 or so, and then woke up at 5:00, I fed him, he went right back down, and then slept until 8:30 or so.  He's pretty awake and alert during the day - getting a good solid nap later on in the afternoon.  I can't believe how we lucked out with both our boys - sleeping very good through the night.  (I better be careful with what I say - hopefully I'm not speaking too soon here...)

How is big brother doing:  AWESOME!!!!  Jim has been wonderful the past week or so.  I think having everyone around has helped - he's had the constant attention.  I think once my parents leave (we still have 4 weeks with help around...)  Jim will be well adjusted, and am hoping we don't have any problems.  Jim loves Ben - he loves giving him kisses...patting his head...helping me to burp Ben...he will give Ben his teddy bear or lion when he's crying...put in his pacifier, etc. etc. etc.  He's a great big brother!!!

As you can tell we truly have been blessed with two wonderful boys!  And I couldn't be happier!!!!

I promise my next post, I will update with pictures!  I sure do have lots of them.  Getting this written has been a challenge in itself.  Trying to add pictures, don't think it's happening right now.