Eight Weeks Old

So much for more regular, monthly updates on our newest addition!  The title of this post was originally 'Six Weeks Old', then I had to change it to 'Seven Weeks Old', then I had to change it again to 'Eight Weeks Old'!  I guess I just need to accept the fact that I can't diligently keep up with my blog anymore.  That's virtually impossible with the life I have now.  How easy it was to post something whenever I wanted before the twins came.  I was so excited to be experiencing motherhood, that I did a great job of keeping it updated with their developments and growth.  Then, once there were three, it was more of a challenge, but I was still able to keep up most of the time, with just a random month here and there where I would need to catch up.  But now, it's nearly impossible, and I just have to accept that it can't be at the top of my To Do list anymore.  With four kids now, there are many things that can't be at the top of that list anymore!  I guess I'm ok with this (most of the time).  This season of my life includes many sacrifices on my part which is just what happens when you have young children, many of those being sacrifices of time for myself and what I want to accomplish when I have some ME time.  With all of them being so young, everything I may want or need to do that doesn't directly involve them must be pushed aside constantly, to take their of their immediate needs.  When the house is a crazy mess and I can't seem to work on anything for more than a couple minutes at a time, I just tell myself "One day, when your kids are grown and on their own, your house will be spotless and you will absolutely miss how it is now!"  So, I've just learned to embrace the season of small children and what it brings!

What a random intro to an Eight Week Update on the baby!  I guess I just had to get it out!  And, adding her to our family has added so much, including work and chaos, that I guess I just had to start out that way!  Callie has been such an incredible, life changing addition to our family in so many ways.  Life is definitely busier, more challenging, more stressful at times, but also more full, more eye opening, more filled with love, more precious.  She's come such a long way in her first short weeks of life.  To have gone to the brink of death, and back, she sure is full of life now!  Callie is such a sweetheart.  I feel a bond with her that I never felt with my other children.  Which is funny to me to think that I could have that much more love to give after already having three kids.  A mother's love is astounding to me, even my own, in how much of it there is to offer.  Each time I've added a new child to our family, I've wondered how I will have even more love to give, when I already love them with my whole heart.  It's unexplainable though, and will always amaze me!  Maybe it's the tragic experience we shared at her birth; or maybe it's the attitude I've taken with how I'm going to raise this baby; or maybe it's her personality; or maybe it's the fact that I know it's the last experience I'll have with a newborn and all the emotions that go along with that.  Maybe it's all of these things, but I do feel a different closeness with Callie than I did the other three, when they were babies.
When I mention the attitude I have in how I'm going to raise this baby, I mean that I've decided to break all the "rules" of parenting this time around.  It's very liberating to be raising a fourth baby!  You've gone through the experience enough times that you're comfortable in no longer listening to "the experts" and their one size fits all rules on how to raise a baby.  They say Don't Co-sleep!  Don't let your baby sleep on it's back!  Don't breastfeed anywhere you want in public!  Don't take your baby out of the house until it's had it's first vaccines!  Don't spoil your baby by holding her constantly!  Don't!  Don't!  Don't!  Well guess what?  I'm doing all of those things!!  And it's working out perfectly!  For some reason, our society has shunned many of the natural, primitive methods of raising a baby.  I guess it's because there are so many people having babies now that don't know what they're doing, and the whole process of childbirth and childrearing as become so medical and processed, that we just don't know how to listen to our instincts and raise our children.  There's been a big stigma in our Country for many years about co-sleeping being a bad thing.  You'll suffocate your baby!!  Put her in a cold, sterile crib, all alone, on her back from the first night she comes home from the hospital!  All of that seems so unnatural to me and are rules we followed with our first babies.  I tried to follow that when Matthew was born as well, but it didn't last long and he ended up in my bed many nights after crying in his own bassinet.  This time though, I just started out with having Callie in bed with me and it's been SO wonderful!  We're so cozy and connected!  It just seems SO unnatural to me to have your baby tucked away in your womb where she feels secure and comfortable, and then not replicate that environment for her when she's born.  It seems to me to make the transition to life in the outside world much more difficult.  It feels so unnatural to me to have your infant sleeping flat on it's back, alone, and being pushed around in a stroller.  The majority of the world co-sleeps and wears their babies, yet doesn't have issues like the US does, with SIDS, colic, uncontrollable crying, etc.  Hmmm...makes you wonder!
Anyway, I don't mean to get on my soapbox about how to raise an infant, but I definitely have a new perspective, and of course along with that, guilt for my first babies that they didn't have that experience. But, it's all in learning and the growth of a new mother, right?  I think since she's been home from the hospital, Callie has rode around in the car seat/stroller (outside of the car) maybe 5 times.  The rest of the time, she's been in the wrap that I'm wearing.  I know it makes her feel more secure, and like she's still secure in the womb, and makes me feel as close to being pregnant as it can, which is always something I miss as soon as it's over!  Right from two days after she came home, Callie's been to Target way too many times, the mall for hours, Cabbage Patch land, Everland, parks, grocery stores, boutique clothing stores, restaurants, COSTCO a million times, many, many stores, an overnight trip to a North Carolina water park, etc. and hasn't stopped.  You name it, she's probably already been there!  Wearing her, and exclusively nursing, have made all of this incredibly easy.  I believe Callie is going to have the most laid back personality out of all my children, because she's already been through so much and has had to completely mold into the routines and lifestyle we already have versus us adjusting our schedule to a new baby.  I believe she'll be much better off for it, being used to changing schedules and new experiences.
From day one, she's done an amazing job with breastfeeding and my supply has been wonderful.  I am so extremely thankful for the opportunity to have such wonderful breastfeeding experiences with at least two of my kids.  It's what has truly made me so passionate about the infant experience and what led me to knowing what I want to do with my life, in regards to career, helping other mothers get a better chance at having the amazing experiences I've had with my own.  She has had no lack of appetite, taking her meals very seriously.  Feeding her has been a delight, has been extremely easy, and hasn't really caused me to lose much sleep at night.  In the past couple of days, she's started going down to just one feeding in the middle of the night already, which is nice.  Also, from the time she came home, she hasn't had her days and nights mixed up, always sleeping through the night, in between her feedings without staying awake, crying, or making my sleep difficult!  She had the usual growth spurt right at 2 weeks old, wanting to eat every 2 hours, or sometimes even more frequent, for about a day to a day and a half, then tapered out after that.  I thought she'd have another one at 6 weeks, but so far has been consistent in every 2 1/2 to 4 hours each day.  At her 5 week check-up, the Pediatrician agreed that there is no reason to wake her and make her eat every 4 hours, and to let her go longer than that, since she's gaining weight so well.  Even though she's already the size of a 3 month old, at a whopping 13+ pounds, he said to continue to let her decide how often she eats, and to choose her own feeding schedule.
At that 5 week appointment, she was already 12lbs, 12oz, which puts her in the 95th percentile for weight and she's in the 80th percentile for height.  Her head circumference is just around the 60th percentile.  I've finally come to the realization and acceptance that I just have big kids!  I've always thought petite babies and kids were so precious, and thought the twins would be petite since they were so small when born, but none of my kids have been petite, and have been quite the opposite of that!  I'm going to embrace it now and be fine with the fact that I never had a tiny infant this time around!  I know and believe that her size and strength are what got her through the crazy birth she had, and am so glad she had all those extra oxygen and fat stores!  I just weighed her again yesterday by standing on the scale by myself, then adding her.  By that calculation, she is 12lbs, 8oz but I'm not sure that's accurate.  She definitely feels heavier than she did at 5 weeks.
Callie does not like to be put down very often.  She is most content, and most quiet, when being held.  She does not like her swing or to be left alone.  For the first few weeks, she really wasn't content if I wasn't holding or nursing her, but she's gotten much better about being put to sleep by other people and about being entertained by her older sisters.  They can each get her to stop crying sometimes but talking or singing to her. They're already such great big sisters!  Callie's happy place is sleeping cuddled up next to me at night, or in the Ergo carrier.  No matter where we go, if I put her in that, she is sleeping in a matter of minutes.  Last night, I went to a Night of Worship at church.  It was two hours of loud music and singing, which you would think would startle a baby and make them agitated or over stimulated.  But no...this part of church always puts her, and keeps her asleep!  She loves it!  It's definitely nice to have a spot to put her when we're out, and know that she'll be content and easy to take places!
Here are some pictures of our new life with Callie from the past 8 weeks:

This is what bedtime story time now looks like in the Jergler household

I can't get enough of looking at Callie's face.  Mainly because I know this face will grow and change incredibly fast, and I'm so worried I won't remember it, even just in a few months.  I know this is true, because I've experienced it three other times, and as they grew older, it was easy to forget what it looked like to stare into their newborn faces.  So, I'm soaking it in every single chance I can get.  I may not completely remember every detail later on, but I can sure say I didn't waste a single second of her as a newborn, and will have such heartwarming memories because of it.

My heart melts when I see how much Matthew already loves his baby sister!

This is now my view in our van.  Every seat is full, which of course makes my heart full!  Never in my wildest dreams, earlier on in my life would I have thought that I would have a van full of children!!  Callie has completely and utterly completed our family, and this is the picture to prove it!

  With Scott's schedule this summer, we were able to meet up with him a couple times while he was working.  He brought his kids from their summer camp up to Lake Lanier a couple of times, so I brought the kids to swim with him.  Little Callie and I got to relax in the shade each time we were there!  I had the excuse to stay out of the sun, and the water, because of taking care of a newborn!

Chubby little sleeper

It's incredible how much she looks like Matthew did when he was her age.  I know they're siblings, so it shouldn't be surprising that they look alike, but these two definitely look the most alike out of all four.

Becoming more and more alert and interactive!

Cuddles, giggles and bonding at bedtime, with big sister Rosie.  When I look at the twins with Callie, I just get so excited for when she realizes how much she loves them back and all the fun, laughter, play and love they will express over the years!  Of course, each one needs their turn with her.  I'm not entirely sure that it's because they want to snuggle with her, or if it's because it prolongs the time before lights out!

Matthew is all business each time he gets to hold her

And Emily's turn

When Callie was in the NICU, they had a program called 'Beads of Courage'.  The Nurse Practitioners pay for this program out of their own pockets.  Each baby gets a necklace string, and a chart that keeps track of every single thing they do to the baby, from blood draws, to x-rays, to surgeries, to minor procedures, to tests, MRI's, first time feeding, first time being held, you name it, there is a bead for it.  As you can see, in the short 7 days Callie was in the hospital, she earned MANY beads!!  What a special gift of remembrance, that we'll be able to show her when she's older.  Proof to her of what a fighter she was!

I may take way too many pictures of her sleeping!

I just love this picture...she's so cozy and protected!  This would be a great picture for a Moby Wrap ad(haha)!

Here is Callie's One Month picture.  Soon, it will be time for her Two Month one!  I did this with Matthew last year, always with the same background and holding the same thing (a grey monkey), to watch his progress.  I loved putting them all together after one year and seeing the difference.  Unfortunately, with her, I didn't get to take a 'Just Born' picture, like did with him.  But, oh well...it's part of her story!  Looking at this picture now, I can already tell there will be quite a difference in the next one.

Here's an example of how much Callie has already changed:

What an incredible opportunity, to be these children's mother!  Each baby I have, I am just amazed that God has given me the love, endurance, opportunity, trust, and strength to continue to become the mother of such special beings.  Callie is certainly a testament to that, and each and every moment that I look at her, I am so thankful to have her in my life!

Until next time,
Mrs. J