Baby Update

Matthew is 3 weeks old today!  This time of him as an infant is already slipping through my fingers at lightening speed.  I know from prior experience that this time goes SO fast and I want to cherish every.single.second.  I have done a good job of that and don't believe there's anything else I could do to ensure I soak in these precious moments of his first few weeks.  But, it's still going fast and he's growing way too fast!
I took him to his 2 week check up on Wednesday and he's seriously an overachiever on the amount of weight gain an infant should experience!
Here are his Stats so far:
Date of Birth - 8 lbs, 2 oz and 21 inches long
Date of Discharge from hospital (3 days after birth) - 7 lbs, 8 oz.  The nurse this day said it may take up to 2 weeks for him to get back to his birth weight.
Doctor Appt, Two Days after Discharge - 8 lbs.  Pretty much back to his birth weight!
Two Week Checkup on 7/10 (19 Days Old) - 9 lbs, 9 oz and 22 inches long

There is certainly no question that this kid is eating well!  I've been so amazed at this breastfeeding experience, compared to when I had the girls.  I have not once pulled out my breast pump and want to delay it as late as possible.  From the very first time he latched on, just 30 minutes after being born, he's been such a pro and sometimes an animal about how much he eats!  It's such a wonderful experience, so reassuring and so much wonderful bonding time for us.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend a group meeting at the hospital where he was born for new mothers of infants, held by the Lactation Center there.  I had no idea what to expect, how many women would attend, or if I would like or hate it.  You take your baby with you.  Well, I LOVED it!  We sat in a circle with our babies, introduced ourselves and just talked about breastfeeding and any questions or concerns we have with having an infant.  I actually felt bad when it came my turn to say that my experience with breastfeeding has been so easy and having one infant has been so easy, compared to what I experienced before.  Most of the women there have had a lot of issues with proper breastfeeding and have had to pump from the beginning and give bottles, or use other methods to get their babies to breastfeed.  I just felt so relieved and reassured that everything is perfect in my little world!  But also, it was just SO enjoyable to sit with women in the same stage of their life as me right now and share experiences.  It was also a great excuse to go back to the Women's Center where he was born since I love that place so much and am still sad my experience there is over!

Anyway...I kind of got off track there, but wanted to include some thoughts on the meeting and how my experience with this infant has been so far.

Here are some pictures of Matthew from the past week or so.  Our good friend Tony came up this past Sunday and took some great photos of him.  There are quite a few more that he took, but these are the previews he sent so far.

Fourth of July

I'm SO in love with this squishy little face

Took this picture because of his hand position...won't let the food get too far away!

Photo by Tony

Photo by Tony, inspired by Matthew's Pirate room

Love this hat!

Such a cute idea!!

Tony took some baby bump pictures of me as well, a couple of weeks before Matthew's arrival and I'm REALLY hoping he sends them soon so I can post them!

Mrs. J