September was filled to the brim with new baby for us! I went into labor on September first (had Oliver on the second--you can see my birth story here), so we got to enjoy him all month!
Oliver weighed 6 pounds 7 ounces at birth and was 20 inches long
Oliver was so sleepy after he was born. I got him latched on right after and then couldn't get him to eat for a long time afterwards. It was actually really stressful to me, but we think that because his birth was a little more traumatic with how he was positioned with his cord that he just needed a lot of rest. He's been great at eating since and loves to nurse.
His birth was hard (of course) but such a beautiful experience. I don't ever look forward to labor, but I am so grateful for each of my children's birth and the experience they were. I also love the sweet spirit and how close I feel to the Lord by bringing these babies into the world.
The girls stayed the night at Ben's parents' house while I was in labor. When they got back, Ben brought them into the room one at a time. They loved him, of course.
Parker loves how small he is, but she told us that we would have to comb his hair when he is a toddler, because his hair is sticking up 😂
Ashtyn keeps saying, "I waited so long for my baby brother! I have been praying for him since Rylee!" She finally got her brother 💗
We were so surprised when Oliver was born with this much hair! None of our other babies had hair like this and we thought all our babies would just be bald. We were wrong and we love it! We especially love the little curl his hair has!
When Oliver was born, he loved to sleep while held and hated to be put down. The one place he would sleep besides my arms was on my nursing pillow.
We have had so much fun putting him in cute boy outfits, after three girls.
The first few weeks, he napped really well (and didn't sleep at night, so we had to sort that out). I would have to wake him up to eat, and even after turning on the lights and getting him out of his swaddle, he would often stay asleep.
The first time he fell asleep in his carseat. This was the second time we took him anywhere (to Ben's parents' house). The first time, he screamed the whole time. This second time, he fell asleep. He will fall asleep in his carseat in the car sometimes, but he really hates getting buckled in. He screams every time we go anywhere.
This cute outfit was one that Ben's cousin gave us and it's our favorite. I will also never get over his hair!
I couldn't resist this outfit 😂
So many pictures of his cuteness sleeping!
Most of the month, we were in survival mode (a baby who doesn't sleep at night will do that to you), but we have tried to keep up on the house. The kids have had to step up and help quite a bit!
Oliver now sleeps pretty well at night, waking once or twice and going back down pretty well. He struggles more in the early mornings and sometimes struggles to go down right at first, but overall, he does okay. It's much more manageable now. His naps are hit and miss. Sometimes, he takes great naps and others, I end up letting him sleep on me (for the second half of his nap or sometimes even his whole nap). I don't mind naps nearly as much as interrupted night sleep.
I love baby profiles 💗
Oliver isn't a huge binky baby, but he will take this binky (Ben's cousin gave it to us as well, it's a Bibs Binky and then we had to buy more, because he won't take the ones we got from Walmart). Sometimes we have to work on it, but he almost always will take it and it does help him calm down and sometimes sleep.
The girls love Oliver! It's been a transition for them and I'm hoping to be able to give them a little more attention again now that Oliver is doing a little better at night.
The days are long with a newborn, but the snuggles are precious.
Oliver already loves to give smiles 💗
Oliver's first bath! He didn't love it, but he also didn't hate it. He didn't cry until we moved him from the water to his towel, and even then only for a second. He's the first of our kids who didn't just scream while in the water at this age.
This was his first bottle. He was wondering what was going on, but he took it really well.
When he's awake, Oliver is pretty much always surrounded by his sisters. He will never lack for attention in this house, I'm thinking.
One thing I did this month was work on my bullet journal for next year. It's been a fun way to pass the time while resting and while so tired. I was able to listen to a few audiobooks and watch Downton Abbey while doing it.
The first few weeks, we could not get Oliver to sleep in his crib for longer than 20 minutes, and often not at all. We would actually put him to sleep in his carseat, but I hate doing that because it's not as safe.
Makenzie (Ben's cousin) recently had a baby and had gotten this mattress, but her baby didn't love it. She lent it to us to try and Oliver slept on it! I was so happy. This was the first time he slept in his crib and I can't tell you how relieved and happy it made me.
Wide awake when he was supposed to be napping.
Finally falling asleep on me again.
While the mattress helped him some, he still struggled so much at night to stay asleep at first. He would wake every twenty to thirty minutes (only giving us one three-ish hour stretch a night). Ben and I were so tired and not sure what we were going to do. One night in the middle of the night, I came across and Facebook ad for this weighted sleep sack and bought it out of desperation.
It was actually pretty expensive and after I bought it, I didn't think it would work and regretted it, but it was too late. It came in the mail and that night, I was amazed to find that it actually helped! The mattress that Makenzie gave us helped him to not wake up immediately after putting him down in the middle of the night and the weighted sleep sack helped him to not wake up later. I can tell you, it was well the worth the money!
Other things we did to help with his night sleep was to try giving him more wake time during the day (including trying to keep him awake while he nurses, which is no easy feat) and to make sure he is getting sunlight during his waketimes to help set his circadian rhythms.
Just a funny face 😂
The girls love being big sisters 💗 although Rylee gets mad when Parker and Ashtyn say that Oliver is their baby brother. In Rylee's eyes, Oliver is HER baby brother and no one else's.
They love giving him smooches. He is fairly tolerant (more so than Parker was as a baby), but he definitely has a bubble and doesn't love being messed with. He simply puts up with it most of the time.
Big yawns!
Parker is a baby person! She loves babies. Of the girls, she spends the most time laying by Oliver, talking to him, looking at him, and snuggling him. She loves that we have a baby in the house!
Tummy time!
Ashtyn "feeding" her baby 💗
A leaf bug that Ashtyn found (and kept under her bed until we made her let it go).
A small painting that Ben did this month 💗
We decided to redo our Pay Off the House Chart this month as one of our date nights. We are getting really close, as we reached 50,000 left to pay off this month!
Something else we did in September was celebrate completing a hundred of hours of reading as a family! We set this goal at the beginning of the summer and were able to finish just as August was ending. The girls were really excited to go get ice cream when we finished and we had a lot of fun doing it as a family (and Oliver slept the whole time :)).
Ashtyn and Parker both got Cotton Candy, Ashtyn with bubble gum mixed in and Parker with white chocolate chips. Rylee got strawberry ice cream with bubble gum mixed in. Ben and I got strawberry and cheesecake ice cream to share.
The baby phase is not my favorite, as much as I absolutely love babies. There are certain things about it (sleep deprivation being at the top of the list!) that make it hard. But, I am doing my best to soak up these moments with Oliver, because I know they are so fleeting! We are so happy to have him as part of our family 💗
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