At least someone is sleeping!

Today Zane turns 6 weeks old! Hard to believe. He continues to eat every 3 hours around the clock....well, sometimes 3 1/2 to 4, but generally just 3. He is still sleeping most of the day away and I have learned that he prefers to sleep completely smothered in blankets snuggled up. Like this

He can sleep pretty much anywhere is wrapped loosely in a blanket with the blanket practically over his face. Even when he is awake, he likes to hold hands or hold his own hands! He is a snuggler which we love because a certain little girl who shall remain nameless was so busy moving all the time she rarely laid her head down, much less snuggled.

I have recently discovered that sleeping on his tummy is also a favorite, as it was for his siblings. Here he is during his nap today. I am sure the pediatrician would approve putting a newborn on his stomach to sleep with a loose blanket under his head and a baby book two inches from his face.

While Zane was napping this evening, big brother was in the kitchen doing homework

while Alaina was headed to bed. So hard to go to bed when it is so light outside but a kindergartener needs her sleep! Speaking of which, Alaina has proved herself a TRUE extrovert. She is so energized after a day of being with all her "friends' that she comes home and is literally running or circles and  wrestling her brother. That girl!

  Not sure yet if Zane is an introvert or extrovert. He has periods of happy awake time during the day, where he gazes at us and is even starting to look at objects nearby. While some days these periods of time are up to 30 minutes, some days he barely lasts a minute before wanting to go back to sleep or be held. He has also demonstrated his ability to get *really* upset. You know that awful cry where they turn bright red and loose their breath? What's funny is the very second he is picked up (these minutes usually only happen in the car when I can't get to him right away) he stops crying, calms and is then typically content and awake. Never the less, that kind of crying scares Conner who apologizes for not being able to get him to stop while Alaina just looks at him and giggles. That girl.

A Big Day

Yesterday was a monumental day in the Sandberg household. Two out of the three children will now be going to elementary school. Yep, sent these two off today for their first full day of school. 

Her "I'm now in kindergarten"poses. Can't you see the confidence and joy on her face?

Or is this how they really feel about heading out to school? Hmmm.......

It was a weird dynamic once they left Friday morning. On one hand, I am so happy to see Alaina go where she has wanted to be for a long time.....school (just like her brother).  She was always upset that she could not stay for lunch at preschool, and now, her dreams have come true, she stays every day! : ) Now that my big two are where they "need to be", where does that leave me and this handsome little guy?

Who, by the way, can fall asleep in record time. This was Zane about 20 seconds after the above picture was taken.

I am *choosing* to see this time, this transition as an opportunity. An opportunity to reexamine and reorder my priorities. Heck, first I need to determine what they are and if they are in line with what God wants me to be doing. It is a precious opportunity to spend time with my last child as he grows out of a newborn into an infant and into a baby. He hit another milestone....he found his mobile. Here he is glancing at it out of the corner of his eye. I am sure it is quite strange to see for the first time.

This is also an opportunity to refocus on health. Through the pregnancy weight gain, bad habits, lack of exercise and fatigue, health has certainly taken a backseat. I remember when I felt like this:

 

That is me on my 33rd birthday, a mere 4 years ago (and 60 lbs lighter). I felt energized, positive, alive and much more motivated. I want that again. I need that again. My family needs that again. As someone who has struggled all her life with weight issues, right now feels like Mount Everest. How can I ever climb and conquer this challenge? One. Day. At. A. Time. Isn't that true for any challenge we face? Rarely do we have success immediately. It takes time to transform and change our mind and our body. It takes practice. It takes hard work. It takes determination. It takes making the right choices over and over. It takes having resources and support, even a guide. Funny, what is true for weight loss is also true for our spiritual lives. To live as God calls us can feel like an insurmountable challenge, but is totally possible through "training". As is saying in Phillipians 4:12 " I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Yes, we have to learn. Sometimes all over again...and again...and again. I guess weight watchers is to weight loss as the Bible is to spiritual maturity. However, both require that you love your self first. I am blessed to know that I can love myself because God loved me first. The key to that is not only *knowing* it, but *believing* it.

Wordless Wednesday

Last days of Summer...

Well, for us anyway. Conner and Alaina start school on Wednesday and I would be dishonest if I were to say I was not looking forward to them starting. Keeping an 8 year old and VERY active 5 year old entertained while caring for a newborn is hard. Just hard. I feel like with their modified year round schedule, they have a perfect length of summer, around 6 1/2 weeks. Just enough time for vacations and fun summer stuff, but not long enough for all to grow weary, namely Mom. I would like to think I would feel differently if I didn't have a newborn, but who knows. I see some Mom's loving every minute their kids are home for summer and not wanting school to start and then those that count down the days. Me? I am counting the days. Don't judge. : ) 

Alaina will do staggered entry Wednesday to Friday so it will not be until Monday that they will both be on their regular schedule for school. I think Alaina is going to LOVE school with all the social opportunities and stimulation. I hope that Conner's love for school continues, although third grade is really seen as the transition at his school into "the real world" with his first year of nightly homework, real grades, and switching classes for main subjects. 

More on that Wednesday! For now, here are some of the latest pictures and moments I am attempting to capture and enjoy.  

 

Daddy time!

 

Becoming more alert. 

 First time really looking at each other.

 My little Mommy at heart. 

 When asked what the hardest part of having a little brother is, Alaina answered "Because you always have to feed him and I never get to see him." HA! 

 Alaina successfully calmed Zane down from an all out screaming cry tonight and was so proud of herself. I was lucky enough to capture it on video. If I can figure out how to post it I will!

Guess who is starting to hold his head up?

One Month Old....Wait. What?

Hard to believe Zane is a month old. An exciting month it has been since we have been to a wedding, a funeral and on a week long vacation at the beach since his birth. He is a baby on the go for sure. I have yet to start the birth announcements! Whose idea was birth announcements anyway? I mean if you know me or my family, you know the baby is here. I think birth announcements are from years of old when mail was popular and email did not exist, however instead of sending email announcements (not a bad idea now that I think about it), it has turned into a tradition of spending a lot of money on paper and stamps to tell everyone what they already know. : ) That said, I do love getting baby announcements, so I too, will be sending them. Can't say when they will got out, but they will go out! The kids start school next Wednesday with Alaina's first full day next Friday so I am absolutely sure hoping that I will be able to get more done, including the birth announcements and the commencement of some type of exercise regimen. We shall see!

We did go to the pediatrician today for Zane's one month appointment and my sweet husband came as well. It is the first well baby check up he has ever been to! I think it is sweet that he wants to be part of as much as he can knowing that Zane will grow so quickly, as the other two have. So Zane, who was 6 lbs 4 oz at birth and 6 lbs 2 ozs at his initial weight check on June 25th is now 8 lbs 8 ozs! Luckily he is a pro at feeding and since he is my third, I know what I am doing too. We are a good team. : ) Funny to think back on how it took three people to breastfeed one baby (I will spare you the details of how that went down) or it would require 6 pillows for positioning, or I would schedule my entire life around feedings. Heck, I have fed Zane in the minivan (parked and in motion...no I was not the one driving!), the doctors office, a convention hall, on the beach, and even popped a squat on the floor at a recent consignment sale to feed. Not saying I enjoy that, but Mom's gotta do what Mom's gotta do when baby is hungry.

Zane is slowly becoming more and more alert each day and we are working toward a routine that I have come to believe in: eat, awake, sleep...repeat. Better than a "schedule", although it does eventually develop into one, I think the "EASY" routine as coined by the Baby Whisperer is most natural and effective in establishing a functional and predictable life for he and I. Zane is still eating every 3 to 3 1/2 hours around the clock and although I am praying with every ounce of my being hoping that he will start to go longer at night, I won't push it for another two or three weeks since he was born early and is so young. Zane is also starting to hold his head up for a few seconds at a time when he is held in a sitting position and up on my shoulder for burping and he is working very hard to find his hands and fingers to suck on. His baby acne and cradle cap have gotten worse, but I can tell already that he does not have the "allergic" skin like Conner had. Thank goodness! So enough writing, here are some pictures from today! : )

 

 His "official" one month picture. Love that face! I plan to take a picture of him in the high chair every month so we can see him grow.

 

 Tummy time!