first week

We've been home from the hospital for just over a week now, and I'm still not sure if we're capable of handling four children.  :)  This next week will be the true test as I start driving again and have to get all four out the door to get Caleb and Logan to school on time, and then picked up on time at the end of the day, too!

The first few nights home with Jackson were pretty rough.  Almost no sleep between feedings.  He was dealing with spitting up (there was one projectile incident) and was gassy.  He wasn't very good at burping, but has since improved (we still have some trouble here and there).  A few nights ago I started giving him a bottle of formula for his nighttime feedings, and things are much improved!  The last couple nights he's only gotten up once to eat.  He seems to handle nursing fine during the day, so I hope that continues - I'm fine with doing some bottles and formula, but don't want to completely give up nursing!  He can be pretty inconsolable during the evening hours still, though, so I've got to decide whether to give him a bottle sooner...  Our first few nights home Mike and I were at a loss as to how to calm Jackson down and what to do - we found it humorous that we felt so clueless with our fourth child, isn't it supposed to get easier??  :)

It's definitely been an adjustment for Caleb, Logan, and Levi.  I think for the most part they are handling it fine, but there has been some acting out and behavior issues.  Caleb will randomly burst into tears over practically nothing (and many times it's clearly not real tears the way he can turn them on and off...), Logan is overboard with the backtalking (I almost need a whole separate post to get into that), and Levi can get pretty stubborn when he doesn't want to do something you're telling him to do!

On Monday, Jackson had his first doctor appointment.  We took all four boys since Caleb, Logan, and Levi were also due for their second flu shot.  Boy, was I sweating by the end of that appointment!!  Jackson weighed in at 7 lb 14 oz (47th percentile), which is a normal amount to be down from his birth weight.  He was not a happy camper when the doctor had to look him over - what a pleasant experience to be in a small room with four young children, one of which is a screaming newborn, and three adults...  It got even better when Levi had to get his shot.  Things did not go as well as the first time around, that's for sure!  He was a little worried about it this time since he knew what to expect, plus I think what set him off was he saw some blood when Logan got his shot (he had his arm tensed).  He started SCREAMING and was not going to sit still for the shot.  I'm so glad Mike was there to help hold him down.  The nurse ended up giving it to him in his leg, saying it wouldn't hurt quite as much as his arm.  He made sure to tell me later that it wasn't any better in his leg and it still did hurt.  :)

On Thursday, Caleb and Logan had a half day of school and they had a pajama party in their class!  They were so excited to go to school in their pj's.  They could also take a stuffed animal along.  Logan took Captain Mark the Shark (his giant shark that was a perfect pregnancy pillow for me), and Caleb took Batman Sam (because he wore his Batman pj's and Batman slippers).  This coming week they have their first field trip, I'm sure they will be excited about that.  I wish I could go along, but we cannot take other children along for this, and I'm not about to leave Jackson behind for a whole day just yet!

Thursday evening we went out to eat for the first time with all six of us.  Caleb and Logan each earned a free personal pan pizza for reading in October (so, really, Mike and I earned it...).  After supper we paid a visit to Grandma Krol at Sunset Manor.  Her mental health is failing, so it was an interesting visit, but the boys handled it well.  She asked probably ten times how old Jackson is, and was so surprised every time when we said he was one week.  And, she asked Levi about as many times if he liked his new brother.  He answered normal every time up until the last time we could tell he was a little exasperated, but thankfully I don't think Grandma picked up on that.  :)  After leaving Sunset, Mike and I were discussing when we could get over to visit my Grandma Tiemeyer at her new place, possibly even this weekend, then I got an email from my mom saying she was coming this way with a couple of my aunts yesterday!  So, it worked out for us to meet up with them for a bit at lunchtime and we had a very nice visit.  Somehow she ended up showing off for the boys how she can touch her tongue to her nose, and we all had a good laugh over watching them try to do it.  :)