Update

Well, the last 7 weeks have flown by! Phillip was off work for 6 weeks which was such a huge help. He took care of Daniel while I took care of Gideon and that made my job so much easier. Daniel loved it too!

Gideon was 9 lbs, 4 oz when he was born. Couldn't believe it when I heard, but then I knew how miserable I was feeling the last few weeks of pregnancy so I wasn't too surprised to hear why! Gideon lost almost a pound in the first few days, and so his doctor had us giving him formula for the extra calories. That was a bit of a challenge! I was still nursing him and then also feeding him formula in breastmilk that I was pumping. It took him 3 weeks to get back to his birth weight, but now he is off formula and is exclusively breastfeeding. Yay! I was worried he was going to get so used to the bottle that he wouldn't nurse. He did like the bottle better. But we worked through it. Anyway, that was the biggest challenge the first 3 weeks of Gideon's little life. :)

One night we had an especially difficult night. Gideon cried and cried for several hours straight (pretty much). Nothing could console him and I was very worried about what was wrong with him. Around 3am I finally called the after hours pediatric phone line and spoke with a nurse. She suggested I take him to the emergency room! Yikes! I really didn't want to do that for several reasons, but I didn't want to NOT take him if there was something really wrong with him. Anyway, after lots of anxious prayer, we decided not to take him. Thankfully, he finally calmed down and fell asleep about the time we were trying to decided whether or not to take him to ER. The next day I took him to the doctor and she said he looked fine. So, she put him on acid reflux medicine just in case (Daniel had this when he was a baby and the doctor said it can run in families), and I stopped drinking cow's milk and stopped eating other dairy products (I still eat cheese), and we also started swaddling him at night. Oh, and we had been giving him a little bit of soy formula here and there (we were still trying to wean him of formula) and the doctor suggested giving him a hyperallergenic formula, so we switched to that as well. After that, he has done so much better! We've never had a night like that again! At first, I wasn't sure what of those things was helping him. Now, I think it is mainly that I've cut out the dairy products. I haven't given him the acid reflux medicine in a few days and still seems fine. I think it's mainly what I eat that bothers him. I will still give him the acid reflux medicine though for now...

The only other little problem is that Gideon has clogged tear ducts. Most likely they will just open up on their own eventually (this is a fairly common problem in infants). I thought he had an eye infection when the problem first showed up, because had goopy stuff coming out and sticking to his eyelashes. Also, his eye will be very watery at times. And the doctor said his eye could get infected and if it does that I will have to put some ointment on his eye. Yikes again! Thankfully, I haven't had to do that yet! I'm hoping this problem will resolve itself very soon.

So, Gideon is almost 7 weeks old and I think the hardest part is over. Nursing is going well, no major tummy issues, he sleeps very good, and really doesn't cry much. Definitely much easier than Daniel ever was!! And I'm so glad!!!! He still sleeps a lot during the day and then tends to wake up more at night, although he is becoming more alert in the day now. At the most, he'll sleep 3-4 hours at a time. This is usually at night when I'm sleeping with him (yes, I sleep with him). During the day, I'll lay him down by himself but he doesn't sleep as long that way. Maybe an hour or two at most.

The most exciting thing is that he has started smiling at me! He actually smiled at my mom first. She wants that stated on the record. :) But yesterday, he looked right at me for several seconds and so I started talking to him, and then he just smiled the biggest smile right at me! Oh, it was so beautiful! He smiled several times yesterday morning at me and Daniel. Daniel thought it was pretty cool too. :) Phillip doesn't believe me. He thinks Gideon just has tummy bubbles or something. But he'll find out soon enough. :)

Daniel has adjusted so well to Gideon. He knows that he is the big brother and Gideon is the baby brother. :) Daniel is very possessive of Gideon too. A couple times he's thought that someone else took Gideon and left us and it really bothered him. He likes to help with Gideon too. He'll bring him the pacifier or help give him a bath. I really have to watch him close so he won't accidentally hurt Gideon. Gideon really likes Daniel too (at least, I fancy he does). He'll just turn and look at Daniel when Daniel is talking to him, and then of course he smiled at Daniel yesterday. I just love that they'll grow up together and be playmates and friends. How special. I love my boys so much and feel so blessed to have them!! (That includes my husband by the way!)