Non-schedule- With my first three kids I followed the babywise method pretty strictly--naps in the crib, no feeding the baby to sleep, eating schedule, etc. In contrast, Enzo has been SO spoiled. I fear that down the road he may be a terrible sleeper or that I might wish we had a better schedule, but it's been a really relaxing month to just do whatever I want. Especially near the beginning, I was feeding the baby 'on demand', ie: all the time. It kept him happy, and I didn't mind. Now he eats every 2-3 hours, depending on when he's sleeping. I think he went at least a few weeks without ever being laid down for a nap. There's nothing like having a newborn sleep on you, and I took full advantage. (And still am!) I guess in contrast, the other day I noticed Hyrum had the baby but laid him down when we were about to watch a show. I asked, "Don't you like holding babies?" He said, "No, not really, it's kind of uncomfortable." haha. I guess it's not for everyone all the time.
Recovery- For the first few weeks postpartum it felt like as soon as one thing got better another thing started hurting. Initially it was the pain of birth and stitches. The stitches didn't bother me much after a week, and at all after 2 weeks. As that pain subsided, I had terrible pain from breastfeeding on one side, which subsided shortly after my milk came in. That was accompanied by serious back pain that made it hard to walk sometimes. And fortunately, to a lesser degree, that pain was followed by my right elbow/forearm and left wrist hurting. That would be less problematic if it weren't for all the baby holding I was doing. That pain is now gone, and I'm feeling pretty good! It's always good to remember immediately after birth that within a week you'll feel significantly better, and within a month you'll feel like yourself again (physically.) (Although I should mention, after about 2 weeks, I went for a 30-minute walk with the baby and felt fine, but the next morning I felt really sore! Just from walking!)
Sleep- Enzo has been a great sleeper. In his first week we joked that he was the perfect baby. He never cried (but really, he didn't have a reason to as we were all sitting around anticipating his every need) and slept all the time. There have been a few rough nights where he has a hard time falling back asleep after waking up to eat, but generally he now wakes up every 3-4 hours to eat and then goes back to sleep within 15 minutes. He loves having a pacifier, which I love, too. The exception is when he gets it to fall back asleep, and then we spend the next 45 minutes putting it back in when it falls out and he cries. That's fortunately happening less and less. Once Hyrum went back to work on the 26th I've been doing all the night time stuff; before that he helped by changing diapers, giving me an extra 10 minutes of sleep. While my mom was here I had her hold the baby a few times in the early morning hours so I didn't have to play the pacifier game. I don't feel incredibly sleep deprived, although I do often feel tired and it's hard to wake up when I'm in a really deep sleep. The biggest sign of sleep deprivation (or motherhood?) is that my short term memory is terrible. I walk into a room for something, but can't remember what, or open the internet browser on my phone and immediately forget what I was looking up. Twice (!) in 24 hours I've written time-sensitive text messages, and then never sent them, only to look for a response later and see the unsent messages.
Help- Speaking of my mom being here, I had pretty continual help for the first three weeks. Jenna was here until the 17th, Hyrum took off work from the 17th until the 25th (when my Mom arrived from Courtney's house) and she stayed until the 31st. Everyone was good about entertaining Mila, Siena and Tiago, leaving me free to lay on the bed and hold my baby. Jenna and I had a few good runs to Target (kid-free) in the evenings. Our haul included a lot of soft clothes (for Jenna), nursing bras (for me), and an obscene amount of junk food because it all sounded so good (brownie bites, Mac and cheese mozarella sticks, coconut Oreo thins, Reeses PB cup thins (because they're new and we wanted to try them), etc. Jenna took the kids swimming and to the splash pad. They went to an indoor playground, and her last morning in town they ended up at the pet store, Sonic for drinks, and Target for toys. It's a shame we live next to so many stores... During Hyrum's time off work we went to eat breakfast at a Colombian bakery (that was the 20th for Independence Day) and spent a day at Little Elm beach. Everyone had fun I think, except for me. We set up an umbrella for shade, but while holding the baby and trying to get him to sleep I was completely blocked from any breeze and just got overheated. Mix in a lot of sand... I was ready to go after a few hours. When my mom got here I was feeling really normal and went on most of the daily adventures just so I could get out of the house. We went to a splash pad/playground, my mom helped Tiago make a layered cake to celebrate a Teeny Ty's birthday (which he now thinks is a thing to be done... "Mom, when is this one's birthday? We can make a cake...") and my mom made zippered bedding for the girls' bunk bed (hallelujah!). Hyrum and I got away on a date Saturday night with the baby to eat some delicious Cuban food. And Sunday morning we were all ready in a record time for church. We started piling into the van, just to notice that the back tire was completely flat. Fortunately, we don't live far from the church. We crammed my mom, the baby (in his carseat) and 3 kids into the back seat of Hyrum's car and drove the 2 blocks to church. (We didn't have time to walk, and it was super hot.) It was Enzo's blessing day, so we were glad to make it without further incident, and we were even 5 minutes early.
Eating- I have an incredibly generous ward who provided so many meals. Really good food, too. Usually with dessert-- cookies, brownies, an entire container of ice cream, etc. (For future reference--when I'm always wondering what to bring people for meals--I liked the rice,pulled pork and rolls a lot, because my kids happily ate it and no ingredients were 'touching'. Also, pizza was great. Salad generally went bad before it was all eaten. And there were several yummy things I was happy to eat multiple times that my kids had no interest in. Their loss.) My mom made us incredibly delicious food while she was here. It made me wonder why I choose to make such mediocre meals on a regular basis. During Prime Day I ordered an Instant Pot and have had fun experimenting with that during the last week-- cookies vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, and heating crock-pot meals. I'm glad to have it!
Listening- The soundtrack of our lives has been Disney Children's Radio on Pandora. (Courtesy of Alexa.) So much Disney music! Usually requested by Siena. Also a few audio books for the kids. During Hyrum's week off work it was a lot of Latin music played really loud all over the house. Or Enya. He has two extremes.
Reading- I've spent a lot of time lately reading-- listening to Killing Lincoln, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Great and Small things; reading Radium Girls and The Beekeeper's Apprentice. I think I'll always associate all those books with holding a sleeping baby.
Activities- I mentioned several things the kids did above. We also went to the Dinosaur museum twice, the splash pad again, and swimming. We went out as a family for gelato. We've had playdates with friends, visited the library, and we religiously do quiet time every afternoon after eating lunch. I need to get out of the house almost daily or else my kids drive me crazy with their constant touching each other and then screaming about it, but Quiet Time is what really saves me every afternoon.
Siblings- Mila, Siena, and Tiago are all in love with the baby. Mila says, "Do you think the baby is so cute??" She says it like people do when they're talking cute to babies. Hyrum taught them not to touch the baby without using hand sanitizer, so whenever they'd get home from somewhere, Tiago raced over to the hand sanitizer and was rubbing the baby's head before anyone else even came through the door. We often see him just laying next to the baby looking at him, smiling. A few times he has asked to do "skin-to-skin" which is the cutest thing in the world. And he asks sometimes to have Enzo in his room while Hyrum is doing the bedtime routine. The kids all pray for the baby and like to rub his head and try to burp him by tapping on his back. The baby's birth brought up a lot of connections in the minds of the girls. They kept talking about how Grandma was my mom, and Jenna was my sister, and Hyrum was born in the hospital with Abuela and Abuelo. When Jenna left, Siena repeatedly said that she needed to go home because her mom missed her, but Grandma loved them more than she loved Jenna. Some of the conversations were hilarious to listen to. Overall, the kids have been old enough to be excited about the baby instead of trying to compete. What a difference from when the twins were born! They even throw away diapers for us and replace the baby's pacifier over and over. Tiago has been particularly helpful. Several nights he's put the girls in bed by himself-- reading them books and singing them a song. He has gotten breakfast (cereal) for them a few times. He is a very proud big brother, and loves when people say the baby looks like him.
Enzo- He is such a chill baby. He enjoys being held, loves sucking on his pacifier, and is only occasionally bothered by gas or needing to poop. He's had a few baths (he peed on Tiago during his first bath, which made Tiago laugh like crazy) and is a fan of taking showers. He'll take a bottle without issue, and breastfeeds well (and fast... like 5 minutes during the day, maybe 10 minutes at night.) His napping has no schedule, and is either in the baby rocker, swing, on my bed, or in my arms. He doesn't usually nap in his crib because the kids are in and out of the toy room. But starting once my mom left he's been sleeping exclusively in his room at night. He likes being in a wrap/carrier, and that puts him to sleep pretty quickly. He was born with a decent amount of hair, but it's been thinning, especially on top of his head. His skin isn't very white, but has a reddish tint. (I thought he was pretty white, but then I saw him next to another pale baby and saw a huge difference!) I think his forehead wrinkles are pretty distinctive, and his skin has been fairly clear. Maybe because he's been fed on demand, he never really fusses when he wants to eat. I can feed him in public without him causing a scene while he 'waits'.
Here are his stats from his first few doctor appointments, where the doctor declared him "perfect." (We kind of agree.) (I was proud to have had real clothes on, and be on time for that first appointment).
1 week appointment- 8 lb 10 oz, 21"
2 week appointment- 9 lb 2 oz (I think... don't really remember), 22" long
And to end, here are the pictures the kids drew while we were at the hospital. They were hanging on the baby's bedroom door when we got home:
Actually, one more funny story. The first or second night that Enzo slept in his crib at night, we were going to bed ourselves and trying to figure out if the baby was asleep by looking on the new baby monitor. I couldn't tell, so I sent Hyrum in to check. Next thing I know, I was looking at the baby monitor as a whale went sailing over the baby's head. Hyrum was in there trying to check if the baby could see it. (I guess the baby's eyes weren't very visible from his angle.) It looked ridiculous.
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