1 month!

So I've actually written a post here or there but not added pictures so I haven't posted them. I probably won't at this point but I'll try to capture what I can in there.

Neil loves sitting like this on us. This is how he sleeps a lot.

Neil is now one month old! Since February is a short month we just took his one month pictures on the last day although he was born on January 29th. His first doctor visit was on March 1st and he is very long (in the 95th percentile) but still light on weight (25th percentile). He gained a whole pound in a week though- the Thursday before (8 days earlier) he weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces and at his one month appointment he weighed 9 pounds 4 ounces. They are supposed to gain about an ounce a day so I guess he's been having a a growth spurt!

Our family!

Neil definitely likes to be held and cuddled. Sleep has been the worst part- not only am I up feeding him every few hours but he wants to be held and won't really go down in the crib, rock 'n play, or bassinet. Sometimes during the day we can put him down and it's ok but at night for some reason he screams. We've tried Happiest Baby on the Block (swaddling, shushing, swinging, etc.) but it just doesn't work. He's a stubborn little guy. Dave is awesome though and still helps me tag team so I can get some sleep.

Nursing is going a lot better. It turns out that Neil was tongue tied. Basically the little skin between the bottom of his tongue and the bottom of his mouth was too far out and he couldn't stick his tongue out of his mouth. We had them clip it (I was so nervous about that but it wasn't bad for him at all) and it was like night and day. He now latches on super easily although I've been really sore from the bad latches and the constant attempts to latch and not latching on. He's getting enough food though, for sure!

"Mommy, I want to be held!"

Neil sleeps a lot but his alert times are getting better, and he seems to like his activity frame even though he still doesn't control his hands/legs. His legs can hit a little keyboard that plays a song and he definitely looks at the toys hanging off of it. He seems to have pretty good head control, too, although I can only tell when he's sitting on me. If I put him on his stomach on the floor he start to cry and doesn't seem to like that. I keep trying anyways, just to get him used to it, every once in awhile.

How Neil likes to sleep when he isn't being held

I am doing well- I'm about 6 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight and my "big" pants from before pregnancy are hanging off me now. I still have a slight stomach but I think once I start exercising I'll be able to get that down, too, and even there I can't really complain. Right after Neil's birth everything there was just so loose I couldn't even suck it in- my muscles were a mess. The first day I could actually use muscles to suck in my stomach I lifted my shirt excitedly to show Dave. And since then I've been seeing my stomach slowly shrink.

My sister Megan, Neil, and Dave