7 Weeks

It is crazy to think that Asher is almost 2 months old.  Really?  Did we really just introduce him to the world two months ago?  It has been an incredible 7 weeks.  It's easy to say that now that we are out of the 'rough patch' of learning how to live on a bizarre sleep schedule, getting the hang of nursing, and figuring out how to go to the grocery store with a baby (all things that I thought would be easy enough, boy was I wrong).  

I have told anyone who would listen that breastfeeding has been (BY FAR) the most challenging aspect of parenting thus far.  I am not used to feeling like I am failing at something-- and before you think I need to check my ego at the door, let me explain.  There are PLENTY of things that I am bad at.  But I quit them right when I start to realize I'm going to be/do poorly so I only have to feel bad about myself for a few days.  Example: in 7th grade I tried to play the clarinet.  I went to three lessons and never got the damn instrument to make a sound.  I quit before the 4th lesson.  So I wouldn't ever say "I'm bad at the clarinet" because technically, I have never played the clarinet.  Breastfeeding was it's own beast.  The first week presented challenges and then we spent 2 weeks after that playing 'catch up'.  I had to nurse, supplement, and pump-- which made feeding sessions about 2 hours long.  So by the time we were done, we needed to start all over again.   Asher was slow to gain weight, so we were going to the pediatrician every few days where they would print graphs with growth curves that showed him in the bottom 5th percentile.  Now I've worked in biostats and should know exactly how much attention/care to give these graphs, but as a brand new mom- you might as well have punched me in the boob.  I felt like a catastrophic failure.  Luckily after a few weeks our chunky monkey started putting on weight, we were given the green light to stop supplementing, and magically one day my body seemed to connect all the dots and breastfeeding 'just worked'.  But I spent a good 4 weeks thinking "Maybe this isn't how this is supposed to work, maybe he shouldn't be breastfed", I know, *gasp*.  I am incredibly grateful that things just clicked, but I am also very empathetic and supportive of women who ultimately decide that they need to find an alternative to exclusive breastfeeding.  I get it!

Anyways, now here we are at 7 weeks, and things are going smoothly.  Asher has been coming into work with me this week while I train Marra to take over the 50% of my position that will remain on-site.  He was a total doll today, and my incredible coworkers were so accommodating, taking turns canoodling him.  Rebecca (our chaplain) said her son used to only nap on things with heartbeats... that pretty much sums up Mr. Asher's waking (...or not so much) hours.  

Here are some pictures from the last week:

Happy Hour Crew at Karla & Terry's 

(Baby swap!  Rachel has Asher and I have 4 month old Max)

Someone is learning how to smile :)

Family Nap- Har and Ash sharing a pillow

Mohawk!

Being rocked by Chad

Trouble in paradise...

So.  Last night Harlan started 'erping' at about 4 a.m.  Ben nearly got him to the back door but he ended up barfing in our living room.  There was a "splat" and then a "clunk".  Our dog found the one rock in our whole yard and ate it.  We just shake our heads when he does this (sadly this is not the first time Harlan ate and subsequently regurgitated a pebble), but we are a little nervous about what is going to happen when we move to Albuquerque.  I've put up pictures of our backyard below, almost the entire thing is rock.  Our dumb dog is going to be in rock eating heaven.