JAG is one month old...seriously? how did we get here?

I'm going to do these surveys every month to keep up with James' progress and updates. Y'all know I love a good survey. :)

Weight: 10 lbs 12 oz! He gained exactly 2 lbs on the doctors scale today. Happy Mama and growing baby! 

Health: Seems to be perfectly healthy. Every time we go to the doctor they tell us how healthy of a little boy we have - seriously the best thing a parent can ever hear.

Sleep: He does pretty well. He sleeps a good 4 hour stretch (usually midnight to 4am) and then he's up every 3 hours. He eats and goes right back to sleep, which is nice. Occasionally he eats and he's very awake and bright eyed but I swaddle him back up and put him in his sleeper by our bed and he goes back to sleep. I think I fall back sleep before he does! During the day he sleeps a lot too, but has several hours of awake time, too.

Clothes:  We are mostly wearing 0-3 month clothes and PJ's. I'll still squeeze him into his newborn gowns but they are fast retiring. Actually, I think right now would be a great day to pack away all his newborn clothes. Still in newborn diapers but as soon as this box is finished we'll be moving up to Size 1. tear. 

Social: He loves to look around and loves bright lights and ceiling fans. He can recognize Austin and I's voices and turns his head to us when he hears us. We're pretty sure he has smiled at us a time or two - not gas smiles but real smiles!

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Diet: Breast milk and a little formula supplement to keep up with his huge appetite. I have had low milk supply issues but we are getting there...finally! He roughly eats 3-4 ounces every 3 hours but it's hard to know exactly what he's getting when I'm breast feeding. As long as he's gaining weight, I'm good!

Baby Gear Love: His favorite is the Moby wrap for sure. He LOVES it. I think the combination of the body heat, tight swaddle and hearing my heart beat he feels like he's right back in his little womb. He also loves the MamaRoo swing, loves the bouncy seat, and his sleeper at night. He sleeps in the Rock-n-Play sleeper at night and also will sit and chill while I shower and get ready. He also loves looking and  listening to the mobile in his crib!

Crying: Pretty much only cries when he's hungry. He is a little more fussy at night, I guess just normal baby fussiness? We can't ever seem to figure out a reason for it. Maybe gas? Who knows, but it's tolerable and doesn't last too long. The boy just likes his food and he's good!

Likes: Cuddling with his mama, and his daddy, too. Eating! Baths, he loves the warm water flowing over him. Being swaddled up like a burrito, chilling in the Moby wrap or MamaRoo, listening to the ocean waves or heavy rain on our "white noise" apps. Also, he loves to suck his fingers, not always his thumb, but really just any finger he can manage!

Dislikes: Rub downs with lotion, clothing going over his head, waiting for food and having his diaper changed. 

Postpartum: ehh, I suppose I'm getting there in the weight department. I've lost about half the weight but still have a long way to go. Austin and I are about to start our protein shakes and try to really make some moves down the scale! I've been feeling great otherwise. I was really nervous about postpartum blues/depression but thank God I haven't had to deal with that. I am honestly surprised at how happy and up beat I've felt...a ton better than I thought I would feel. And the recovery from the C-section wasn't bad at all. The pain was totally manageable and almost 100% gone after 4 or 5 days. I really feel almost back to normal again. Slightly more tired than before, but even that has been a ton better than I thought it would be. I guess since he gets up and he goes right back to sleep I'm still getting a good 6-8 hours of sleep each night, so it's really not bad at all. 

Milestones: Hmm. Not sure we've had any of those? He holds his head up for short periods of time and it's so cute. And he did roll over from his back to his side when he was like 1 week old. But I think that was some crazy fluke or something. Who knows but I don't like this growing up faster than we are suppose to business!

I am going to try and get better - I HAVE to start taking pictures with my camera and not my phone. The iPhone does take great pictures but as far as high quality and printing them - not so much. I hope for his 2 month post I have a bunch of great real camera pictures and not so much of this iPhone business! 

The first few weeks at home

I don't even know where to start. I have so much to blog about and so little time to do it. I really want to write down these memories and moments as I know they will leave my memory so quickly. Oh how precious these first few weeks have been! Thank goodness for the iPhone camera. 

So let's see. James was born on Tuesday, April 16th and we brought him home on Friday,  April 19th. Shortly after we got home we were greeted with Austin's siblings - Peyt, Alissa and Caroline joined us and then Leila and Jeremy came in a few hours later. We had a full house on our first night home and we didn't want it any other way! My mom was here too, of course. Speaking of my mom (GiGi) she stayed with us until James was 2 weeks and 2 days old! It was AMAZING. We loved having her here and all the help she gave us. Holy cow have I missed her! She will be back soon..4 weeks to be exact! 

On Sunday April 18th James went for his first doctor appointment. He had lost a bit more weight so we had to go back for weight checks for several days. I also had to pump and give him additional breast milk with the SNS system. It was...interesting. More on that on a whole different post.

Sometimes we make a mess while we eat. :)

James is 3 weeks old now and we have had lots and lots of visitors. Lots of friends and family and it's been great. This Monday was actually my first full day alone with him and it was so fun. I've been alone with him all week now (3 days) and absolutely love it. I love having him all to myself and I love being able to do whatever we want! We spend our days cuddling, nursing, and changing lots of poop! I think I will do a post on a typical day for us soon, but for now this post is filled with lots of randomness and lots of pictures.

Lots of skin to skin time for James and me. My favorite part of our day. 

He went out on his first shopping trip on Friday April 26th. I used the Moby wrap and he LOVED it. We were out for several hours and he did awesome! 

Last week James' belly button stump fell off. It was still a little gooey so I was skeptical to submerge him in water. He has been getting bird baths with a washcloth but all that changed last night when he had his first bath! He did awesome and LOVED the water. He just chilled and took it all in. Austin videoed it with our big camera so I'll try to post that when I can. I wasn't really surprised with how much he loved the water, he is a super chill baby but also I loooove water so of course I knew he would be just like his mama! :) 

 We are so blessed with such a good baby. He is SO chill. I swear he hardly ever cries. He mostly cries for one reason - he's hungry. He will cry randomly when he has gas issues or just wants to be held. Overall he has been so awesome and so easy. He sleeps great at night in his newborn sleeper next to our bed, up every 3-4 hours (last night he did a 5 hour stretch!!) and he nurses and goes right back to sleep. He eats well and does everything he is suppose to do. Our only trouble has been my low milk supply and trying to get that up but that's a whole post in itself. He is just such a good baby, I am one proud proud mama!  These 3 weeks have gone by so fast. 

Fayetteville Shower

Yesterday we had a couples shower in Fayetteville hosted by my aunt Susan and Gammo. Everything was so nice and games were EVERYwhere! It was like a baby shower circus!! :) The food was awesome and we had so much fun seeing everyone. We have the best family and really appreciate all the love and support welcoming Baby Green!! 

Cute little cookie favors! 

Look famililar Katie and Fran? :)

Aus pinning the paci on the baby

Everyone wrote funny little messages on diapers so in the middle of the night while we are chaining them we have something to read! 

Wish cards for Baby James...Mom is going to make a book of all these for him to read one day!

I loved this...they had everyone sign two of our favorite books from when we were kids!

Sweet GiGi and me!

Present time!!

Us with GiGi and Granddad! 

This game was called "my water broke" and we all had mini plastic babies frozen in ice cubes and whoever could get their baby to melt out of the ice cube first won! I won! haha

Granddad and me

Love my Gammo! 

Aunt my sweet Suz!

And love my Margie! 

We had an awesome two weekends and are so blessed from our family and friends!! Love you all!