Sokolewicz Family: The dog days of summer

As September arrives, I look back on the last 3 months and our first summer with our little man. Having Jacob at the beginning of the summer was really good timing, especially in a year with the Summer Olympics! We wouldn't really take a newborn outside anyways in the first 2 months, so the hot weather (and West Nile outbreak) just encouraged us to stay inside and stay cool and healthy. In the last month we've started venturing out to restaurants, run errands, go on car rides and lots of walks in the neighborhood! Jacob has also established a bit of a routine, that I am so grateful for! My A-type personality was really getting in the way of the flexibility of a newborn.

Jacob usually wakes up between 7 and 8, I release him from his double swaddle (currently using the Swaddle Buddy method, minus the actual Swaddle Buddy - I just folded a thin blanket into a strip) and he stretches his arms and legs for a few minutes. It's one of my favorites times of the day. He makes the cutest squeaky noises while he stretches reallllllly big and gives me huge gummy smiles. I love it! Then I change his diaper (it's usually ~2lbs because we don't change it overnight), hug and kiss him a few hundred times and then take him out into the living room, give him his medicine and nurse him. He usually stays awake for 30 minutes and then I put him back down in his crib for his morning nap. This is his longest nap that usually lasts 45 mins to an hour. Then he gets up, I nurse him, change his diaper, and we play. About 45 mins before he's due for his next feed (he's still nursing every 2 hours), he starts giving his sleep cues, so I pick him up and take him into his room, swaddle him, put the noise machine on, close the curtains and rock him to sleep. He typically naps for 30 minutes. Then he's up again and we just repeat the eat, play, nap cycle. We usually get through 5 cycles during the day. Then after 5ish (or his 5th nap), we try to keep him from napping so he'll {hopefully} sleep better at night.

We start bath time at 8, which includes California Baby Calming Body Wash. Jacob really loves bath time, and I love the smell of their calming body wash. Then I slather his booty in Triple Paste, put a fresh diaper on him, put him in footed PJs, give him his medicine, nurse him and then Josh rocks him to sleep while I take my daily shower. He's usually down by 9:15.

J is currently still waking 3 times each night to nurse. I can usually get 3-5 straight hours at the beginning, and then he's up every 2 hours until 7 or 8, when we start our day again.

Being able to anticipate what's next is really great for me (and I would imagine him too). Now that he's napping and sleeping in his room, I'm able to get chores done around the house during the day, and Josh and I have "us" time after we put him to bed when we drink a glass of wine and watch a little tv.

Things are definitely getting easier, but I still struggle daily. I'm trying to establish my new identity as a SAHM and figure this whole thing out. I'm still terrified to go anywhere by myself, so we usually just stay at home during the day. Occasionally we'll meet Josh for lunch, or my sister will come over and run a quick errand with us. I need to get more confident with this.

Weekends are the best. Josh is here to help out, I get to take naps, and we try to go out a few times with Jacob.

I'm really looking forward to the fall, and cooler weather. That will help us get out more during the day, and give us more to do.

Overall I'm super happy these days, and really looking forward to Jacob getting older and continuing to grow and learn. Love that little guy!

Here are some fun pictures from the past month...