This Week at the Brennans’

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What a whirlwind of a few weeks it has been!

Here’s what happened this past week:

Well, incase you missed it, we welcomed our fourth little bundle of joy on Monday, September 16th! Porter James has been such a dream baby! A newborn is obviously challenging, but all things considered, we are thriving! The biggest hurdle for me is finding pockets of time where I can sleep. These first six weeks are the hardest for sure. A part of me is enjoying it so much, but the other part is like “just get through it.” Total survival mode. Besides that, things are going well. Porter has been my most calm, best nursing baby and is really a great sleeper…once we finally get him down to sleep. Easier said than done. Ha! He rarely cries at all and has the cutest sneeze ever. We all love him to pieces and feel like he was the missing piece of our family we didn’t realize we needed until he was born.

Already 1 1/2 weeks in, we are trying to carve out more obvious wakeful periods, but it’s definitely touch and go. He’s a newborn and on his own schedule. Some nights he sleeps really well, but then other nights he’s awake for hours. Not cranky or fussy in the least, just alert. Par for the course with a newborn. Wheee! I’m confident after 6 weeks of exhaustion, a feed, wake, sleep schedule will naturally emerge and we’ll all get used to this new normal.

So grateful for my husband who has some time off for paternity leave. I don’t know what I’d do without him. But seriously though. He is why I feel like I’m somewhat put together. He is also the reason I’m able to sleep until 10am most mornings because he does everything with the kids in the morning before school. Bless his freaking heart.

Gordon was able to snag three weeks of paternity leave, starting the day I delivered Porter which worked out perfectly if I do say so myself. Ideally, we’d love for him to get more and legally he is allowed to take more but his job doesn’t pay for it all. Soooo, we’re taking what we can get and are so grateful for it! We talked last night before falling asleep and he is loving this relaxing time off to just focus on the kids. We really are so lucky to have him.

On Friday, we took Porter to the pediatrician to get checked and ensure he was growing. He lost 7 ounces after he was born upon leaving the hospital on Wednesday, but was back up 3 ounces by Friday, so we are confident he is getting more than enough food! Also, thanks to his hearty appetite, he did not have any hint of jaundice. Such a big blessing! After that appointment, Gordon and I went out for lunch with the baby in the stroller. Just two weeks ago, I was dreaming about doing just that and we finally got to do it! Yay!

Friday night to Saturday, Porter had an amazing 4 hour stretch of sleep from 1-5am and made me feel like a million bucks. I felt good enough to get out of the apartment and take all three boys to the park and give Gordon a nap break. It felt so great to get out for some fresh air! I find when I’m feeling lonely, emotional or ‘off’, getting out really makes me feel significantly better. This was obviously not one of those times, but it sure felt amazing!

Brooke and I have been watching The Great British Baking Show every Friday night on Netflix and even though we’d love to binge watch the whole season, they’re just releasing them week to week. So, it’s a fun mommy-daughter date we have after the boys have gone to bed. Gordon was going to watch with us, but there obviously wasn’t enough room on our bed! I swear, if our room was large enough, we would have kept our super comfy king bed. We miss that bed almost every day. Going from a king to a queen has been a challenge for sure.

Post pardom, I’m feeling ok. Have a lot of random aches and pains, but I think thats mostly from the weird positions I find myself in as I nurse a baby back to sleep in the middle of the night. Pretty sure they’re all mostly normal. Thus far, I’ve lost 23 pounds (out of 40 total gained) and feeling pretty darn good about my decision to breastfeed. I’m sure the next 7 will also fall off but the last 10 will be brutal. My body is a bit backwards. It was hard for me to lose any weight at all in high school or college, but once I got married and started having babies, it got significantly easier to lose weight. (Gordon and I both weighed 20-30 pounds more when we got married than what we currently weigh now.) I’m not sure if that’s because we got into exercise and healthier eating and it’s just become our new normal, but I’m grateful to know my body and know what to expect.

So, in the mean time, we’re just enjoying this new baby, laying low and resting when we can.

Here’s what is coming up this next week:

We have family coming into town! The kids are excited to see their grandparents for sure.

We’re blessing Porter at church this Sunday. I’ll probably just show up with the baby for the blessing and go right home because #germs.

Gordon and I are hoping to get to the dermatologist and dentist before his paternity leave is up. Maybe I’ll remember to make those appointments. Haha.

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