Guess Who is Six and a Half Weeks Old?!

Just want to quickly update on today's activity. Mr. Man showed great improvement in his physical therapy session today! His neck muscles are already showing improved strength and he is also showing improved neck movement. The physical therapist said that given his age, he will improve rapidly. This is good news! He is such a trooper for his visits. She stretches and manipulates his muscles for a full 30 minutes and he just smiled and talked the entire time---with the help of some loud noise-makin' toys and lots of high pitched talking from us, of course. The plan is to continue doing what we're doing at home and go back again next week. The physical therapist commented on how alert  and into his environment he is. ( Karen, you will appreciate this..) Her exact words, "Man, we have a little smarty on our hands, I know it. Look how alert he is. He is really into learning about his surroundings." I know this is what every mom wants to hear, but, for the record, he really is one alert little dude. I don't know if this means squat about his intelligence--probably not--but it's still neat to see such a little guy be so engaged.

After the PT appt. we ran into his pediatrician's office since it's right next door to the PT's office just so I could throw him on the scale and see where he is in his weight gain. It's just so difficult with breastfeeding to know how much milk they are actually getting, so I like to periodically check his weight to make sure we're still good on the weight gain.

Today he is 6 weeks and 5 days and he weighs 9 pounds and 10 ounces. ( For the record, for all those awesome ladies who have 10 pound babies at delivery, I cannot imagine pushing the current Preston out of me! You ladies are my heroes!) He has gained exactly one pound, 16 ounces, in 12 days, which is the last time he was weighed at his one month check up. As you can see he is gaining over an ounce a day. It's kinda hard to believe, as I really don't produce a whole lot of milk and he doesn't nurse for very long at each feeding. ( Another side note, there is a marked difference in how much milk I can pump when I have been sure to drink at least 90 ounces of water a day. The water really does make a huge difference.) But obviously he is getting enough calories and fat. Again, I give all the glory to our amazing God. I give every single detail of my life to him..and as I have mentioned before, I prayed and prayed over our breastfeeding journey well before Preston arrived and I have continued to pray through all the bumps in the road along the way.  I know it is not easy for some women, and since breastfeeding is really important to me, I made sure to engaged the awesome power from above. He will enable us to do great things--however big or small. :)

On a side note, Mr. Man has decided that he hates napping during the day. He wants to either be up and awake, or he wants to be cuddled, or he wants to be fighting his obvious need for sleep. If he does nap during the day, it's only for about 30 minutes. Arg! I can't get much done in 30 minutes! But I have learned to do almost everything a whole lots faster! However, he is sleeping much better at night. He is typically doing a 6 hour stretch after his 9pm bottle with Kevin, then does a four hour stretch after his one middle of the night feeding. But then he is up nice and early every morning and has no intention of going back to sleep for hours. So the nap thing is our new work-in-progress. :) Otherwise, he is amazingly perfect and is growing and changing everyday. I can't believe how quickly these  things happen.

Happy Man!