Houston's first 2 weeks

Houston is already over 2 weeks old! In some ways I feel like this was the fastest 2 weeks of all time, but then I also feel like he has always been here.  He has just fit into our little family so perfectly. I am so happy with how the transition has gone.

We have been so blessed with this little baby boy.

He is the sweetest, most laid back baby - at least so far! I'm writing this down in case I need reminding later how precious he is :)  The first few days of his life he barely ever opened his eyes, but he did eat!  Thankfully I was fully prepared for those first couple of days at home this time.  Before my milk fully came in Houston nursed pretty much constantly throughout the night on nights 2 and 3 of life.  I "slept" on the couch sitting up topless and just let him go back and forth... haha. but that's how we survived. On day 3 my milk came in and there was a noticeable difference and Houston slept well that night! 

 He's starting to have more periods of wakefulness now, but thankfully has been sleeping really well at night.  He'll usually do at least one 3.5-4 hour stretch in the night - which feels incredible!  I've been going to bed when I put him down at night because that is usually his longest stretch. It's pretty weird for me to go to bed at like 8-9oclock because I would typically prefer to be up until like midnight, but you gotta sleep when you can!  After his long stretch he'll do about 2.5-3 hour stretches until around 7am when we all get up for the day.  Leo has been waking about 7 also and trust me the rest of us aren't getting any sleep once he's up. 

Houston's crib is in our room, which I think is going to be really great because whenever we do move his crib to his own room or into Leo's room we won't have to transition him to a different bed.  Leo slept in the packnplay in our room for a couple months and then we put him in the crib, but I figured why not just go straight to the crib.  I swaddle him in a halo swaddle/sleep sack thing and he does so well!  My only complaint about the middle of the night is changing diapers. ugh.  If I didn't have to do that then night time would be much easier / I could do it like half asleep haha.  Sleep, nurse, swaddle, repeat. but no, babies have to poop 18 times an hour and little boys like to pee everywhere if you're not careful.

What I have been doing is feeding him on one side, changing his diaper to get him to wake up a little, and then feeding him a bit more on the other side before putting him back down.  So far it's a pretty good system I think.

Another reason I think Houston is doing well with sleeping is because we are so active during the day and keep the room dark and quiet at night.  Lee brought this up the other day - he said when Leo was a baby our house was pretty quiet and dark since it was winter in Michigan.  Little Houston doesn't have a chance for the house to be quiet or dark with Leo running around and the Florida sun streaming in - which is a good thing!! I don't feel like he has the day/night reversal a lot of people complain about.

Breastfeeding this time around feels like an absolute breeze.  With Leo I was in excruciating pain for months. Literally. I would cry when he'd latch and dreaded the thought of feeding him.  It was miserable.  However with Houston, after the first 3-4 days and initial uncomfortableness, I haven't even really felt him latch on or nurse.  I'm able to just feed him and go about my business. haha. He was probably about 4 days old and I was walking around the house nursing him and doing something else to help Leo and when I realized what I was doing I was so happy and relieved that breastfeeding isn't going to be torture for me this time.  It's amazing how you just remember what to do.
Also - interesting tidbit - I had Houston 1 year exactly after Leo weaned. haha.  I had a 1 year break!

As I posted in his birth story, Houston was born 9lbs and 21.5 inches long.

At his appointment at 4 days old he weighed 8lbs 11oz and then at his 2 weeks appointment he weighed 10lbs 1oz!  So he's definitely getting plenty to eat! I have always heard that bigger babies sleep better.  This could be a total old wives tale, but so far it seems like he sleeps just a tad bit better than Leo did... although I really can't complain about Leo, he was an ok sleeper.

Speaking of Leo... Leo has been the best big brother.  He loves his baby brother so much!  He talks to him with an adorable high pitched voice and says "he's soooo tiny!" "he's sooooo cute!"

It melts my heart.
As much as I want Houston to stay tiny and cuddly forever, I can't wait to see him and Leo interact and become best friends.

Another brag on Leo - he's almost totally potty trained!  He still usually wears a diaper at nap time and always to bed, but other than that he's in underwear all day and I barely have to remind him to use the potty!  It's such a relief to not have to worry about getting him to go to the bathroom or changing his diaper during the day.  Houston has enough diapers to keep up with!

I'll try to do a post about Leo soon.  He's growing up so fast.  I can't believe all the stuff he can do these days.

What else to say about Houston?

His umbilical cord fell off really early... on his Aunt Michelle actually. haha.  She was changing him and picked him up in just a diaper and the cord stuck to her shirt! I think he worked it off a little bit doing tummy time.  He's just as squirmy as Leo was!  I think Houston's cord fell off on about day 6 and Leo's was on day 9.  Houston's looks to be healing just fine though!

He loves his swing - which is awesome when I need a few minutes to clean up or eat!
He is awesome with tummy time and has been lifting his head up and turning it from side to side since about a week old.
He likes the Baby K'tan wrap!  We've been going on a walk almost every morning and sometimes evenings too and he fits all snug in the carrier. We have a double stroller, but I didn't want to break down and pay an extra $100 for the infant seat attachment so we're just going to wear him until he grows into the stroller.
His favorite place to be though is laying on mommy or daddy's chest. He's so cuddly!

He really is just such a happy baby.  He goes days without ever crying.. as long as you feed him right away! He used to hate getting his diaper changed but he now does it without complaint, haha.
I just love this beautiful boy.  Makes me want to have about 6 more ;)