Peyton Brooke {3 Weeks}

Sorry for the delay in getting this update posted. We have been super busy this week because Peyton is currently on a cluster feeding kick, but here is a recap of what happened during week three! Peyton turned 3 weeks old this past Friday, July 4th. She is growing and learning so much everyday, and I am so blessed to be able to stay home with her so that I can enjoy every moment. She really is happy and content majority of the time and I am a very lucky mommy to have such an easy baby. Let's hope things continue that way :)

We just had to be patriotic for our 3 week photo since it happened to fall on Independence Day!

Getting to spend all day with this cutie is basically the best job ever. 

Peyton absolutely loves her play mat. She will play and occupy herself until she gets tired and falls asleep. I love how she is able to stay perfectly content and entertained all on her own.

We went on our very first outing in the stroller (shopping with Mommy and Grandma DeeDee for a 4th of July outfit) and went to a restaurant for the first time. She was well behaved the entire time!

Her favorite evening activity...snuggling with Daddy!

Her favorite post-nursing activity...snuggling up in a little ball on my chest and passing out. 

Peyton got to meet a new friend, Joseph, for the first time! They are 6 months apart. 

My grandma finally got brave enough to hold Peyton for the first time. She has pretty severe Alzheimer's now, but she always remembers Peyton.  

We celebrated our first 4th of July as a family of three! (Read my post about it here)

We received Peyton's birth certificate and social security card in the mail this week. I guess she is officially and legally our's now :)

She started having some infant acne this week and she still has it, although it's getting better. Apparently, it will go away soon, after it has run it's course. I was unaware of this initially, but I learned that infant acne is caused by mom's hormones that are still circulating in baby's bloodstream. Once those hormones make their way out of baby's body, the acne diminishes.   

I also didn't know that babies don't learn how to really cry until around week three. Well, that is definitely the truth. Peyton officially learned how to cry this week. She still isn't much of a crier, but her cry is definitely much louder and more intense than it was before. She basically cries if she is hungry or needs a diaper change and not much else (sometimes she gets a random bout of fussiness, but very rarely). 

I've been pretty lucky up to this point at avoiding any big, gross messes. This week, I had two in a row. You can read about my giant spit up mess on my 4th of July post. Earlier this week, we also had a big poop mess. Peyton is currently sleeping in her pack 'n play next to my side of the bed in our room. I was in the process of changing her diaper one morning when she had a giant poop explosion. In the 2 seconds between me pulling the dirty diaper out from under her and replacing it with the clean one, she squirted a whole bunch of poo in my direction. My initial reflex was to jump out of the way, which I immediately regretted because that gave her a straight shot at my bed. I wish I would have just stood there and let it get on me because that would have been an easier clean up. Instead, she got poop all over herself, the pack 'n play changing station, the side of my bed, my sheets (all the way through to my mattress cover), my comforter, the floor and all over my hands. I cleaned her up first so that I could calm her down and start cleaning up this giant mess. She was still all upset even after I cleaned her up (she always gets upset when she makes a mess), so now I was listening to a crying baby while trying to strip my bed and get everything in the wash. As I'm trying to load everything in my washer, Sadie decides to throw up her entire breakfast all over my dining room rug. Awesome. There I stood in my kitchen with screaming baby in hand, bedroom covered in poop and dining room covered in vomit. Cue overwhelmed mommy panic mode. Don't worry, we survived and I got everything cleaned up eventually...not my favorite start to a day.    

Sleep patterns: Peyton has definitely been spending a lot more time awake these days, but she still sleeps really well too. During the day, she sleeps for 2-3 hours at a time and at night she sleeps for 5-6 hours. Her night time routine is typically sleeping from about 1 or 2am until 7am and after I feed her at 7, she goes back to sleep for another 3 hours...and so do I. It's magical. 

Feeding patterns: Peyton is already on a pretty steady routine for nursing. She eats every 4 hours, except during her long sleep time in the middle of the night. This week she has been eating at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, and 11pm. After her 11pm feeding, she is typically awake for about 2 hours before she falls asleep for her longest stint of sleep. She doesn't eat again until 7am the next day when she starts the routine all over again. This routine seems to be working well for her thus far. 

I have officially lost 28 pounds of my pregnancy weight. Only 17 pounds to go! I can't wait until I hit the 6 week mark and can start exercising again. 

Peyton currently loves...her WubbaNub pacifier, listening to music, being talked to or sung to, her play mat, staring at light fixtures and ceiling fans, mommy's voice, laying on Daddy's chest, holding on to our fingers, being held up to our shoulders, sleeping in gowns (but her feet have to be sticking out of the bottom), flailing her arms and legs, and being naked. 

Peyton currently dislikes...her car seat, being wrapped or confined in any way, anything that covers her arms/legs/hands/feet, baths, being burped, diaper and outfit changes, being in her swing or bouncy seat for too long, having a wet diaper, and when she knocks her paci out of her mouth and can't get it back. 

Every week brings new challenges, but I think I am starting to get the hang of this mommy thing!