The Rothlisbergers: Dirk

Well, one month has flown by and is officially in the books with our little man!! I get so stressed out about newborn stuff (sickness, feeding, cord care, etc.) so I'm always happy when my babies get a little bigger and older and less fragile!! But I am definitely trying to soak up all the sleepy newborn snuggles. I wish I could hold him all day long!! (Something about three other kids, a home to take care of, a time-consuming calling, blah blah blah).

- Size: Unofficially 9 lbs 3 oz (born at 7-10). We moved him to size 1 diapers (mostly because I ran out of newborns and am too cheap to go buy more when I have a ton of size 1). He can still get away with some of his newborn clothes but he's too long for all his newborn sleepers so we're up to 0-3 month in those.
- Sleeps like a champ!! Hallelujah!!! I've always been blessed with good sleepers, but he's been the best so far. My others had jaundice so badly that I had to set alarms and wake them up every three hours during the night to make sure they were eating enough to clear up the jaundice. Thankfully, this little guy had an easier go with the jaundice (more on that below) so I didn't have to do that. He had a rough first two nights home but ever since then, he has only woken up once a night to eat. So I feed him between 10 and 11 and then put him down for the night, and he usually wakes up around 3:30, sometimes a little earlier or later, and then goes back down after eating until 7!!! Amazing!!! Every few nights, he wants to stay up a little bit after he eats, but Jordan usually takes him at that point so I can go back to sleep, and it usually only lasts a half hour or so. Obviously, being so young, he's not on any consistent nap schedule during the day, but we pretty much follow the sleep, eat, play routine already and we do try to keep him awake from about 7-9 pm so he's extra tired at night. He prefers to sleep swaddled, which we prefer too, and will get fussy if he ever breaks out, which doesn't happen very often because we're pretty much champion swaddlers!
- He'll sleep pretty much anywhere once he's asleep - rock and play, swing, laying in his bed or on mine - but only after you've gotten him to sleep in your arms and then laid him down. He won't fall asleep on his own anywhere but being held. I'm okay with this for now :)
- He also eats like a champ. We had the normal nursing issues at first - overactive letdown for a few days and then he got used to that and started getting very impatient when my milk regulated and the letdown wasn't immediate. But after the first couple weeks, we've gotten into a good 3-hour routine during the day and he's doing great. I really love nursing and am so glad I can do it!
- He did have jaundice but we were able to bring him home with a bili blanket to help with that. He had to have the blanket from the time we got home Friday night to Monday morning but then he was all good!! Ironically, that Monday, Madison came down with the flu and it proceeded to go through all three girls. We spent 10 straight days with at least one of them running a fever. But through a miracle combination of prayer and breastmilk, neither he nor I ever got it. I was so worried and kept him pretty secluded from the girls. Even now, they're well trained on using the hand sanitizer before touching him and they're good about not breathing on him. The saddest part of all that was just that they were so excited to see him and hold him and love on him, but I wouldn't let them for the first couple weeks!!
- We've seen a pretty good amount of smiles from him already, although I don't know if they were really directed at any of us of course. He focuses really well though and I feel like he actually knows my face now :)
- It looks like the nickname of choice for now is Dirky Turkey. It started as Dirky Perky but then McKinley came up with turkey and somehow it stuck :) Jordan still likes to say Dirk the Jerk every once in a while just to make me mad :)
- Having a boy has definitely been a learning curve for us - Jordan and I have both been peed on a few times, and he even hosed down the doctor at his 2-week check up!! But we're getting pretty good at preventing that now! And the circumcision recovery was intense - poor guy!! Personally, I'm eating my words a little bit about having a boy. Of course, my girls are still very special to me, but there's just something a little different about saying, "my son" ... I often find myself thinking about his future and the kind of man, husband and father he will be. It somehow feels like a lot more pressure knowing you're raising the future patriarch of a family!! He's definitely my little man, although those feelings might also be intensified by the fact that I know he's my last baby.
- He loves to poop in clean diapers, like right after I change him. I change him at every feeding and could probably count on one hand the number of diapers that haven't had poop in them. He takes after his Dad :)
- He still has all of his hair, and while it's medium brown normally, when you get him in the sun, a lot of red comes out, also like his Dad
- He hates the carseat!! Screams the entire time he's in it, which is a lot since we have to drop off and pick Madison up from school every day. So far, we've decided he's tied with Reagan for the worst carseat rider. Hopefully it will improve. He does, however, love to be in the wrap so that's what I do in the grocery store, at soccer practice, etc. We've taken him out in the stroller a couple times and he doesn't seem to mind
- He's a pretty happy baby as long as he's being held. If he's awake, he doesn't tolerate being set down anywhere for very long but as soon as you pick him up he's happy again!
- He does appear to have some reflux issues, although so far not as bad as Madison or McKinley. He spits up pretty much every feeding but isn't really upset about it. Sometimes when he's sleeping, he'll cry out and then spit up and go back to sleep. He prefers to be held upright instead of laying down, just like the girls did. I've already cut out ice cream since that seemed to affect the girls the most. He usually gives me one good burp each time he eats. He also usually gets the hiccups every time he spits up, which is annoying, especially when I've just gotten him to sleep. Consequently, we've started giving him the pacifier to get rid of the hiccups. So far, he tolerates it but doesn't love it and still has trouble keeping it in
- Most people say that he looks like Jordan but is starting to look more like Madison. He also looks somewhat similar to one of his cousins on Jordan's side, Ryker. I'm bad at telling things like that so I don't know!!
- He's still pretty spastic in terms of him movements but it's cute :) I love watching him stretch out after he's been swaddled and sleeping!!
- In addition to Granny and Pops, he's also gotten to meet his Great Grandma Rothlisberger. Hopefully we can introduce him to the other grandparents and great grandmas soon!!
- He's not a fan of baths at all!! We try to be as fast as possible because he protests the whole time! Even the lotion makes him crazy!
- I'm working on a separate post about him and his sisters, but I'll just say here that they are OBSESSED with him!! Keeping them away the first two weeks was hard and has made them a little hesitant to get too close to him even now, but they always want to know where he is and are always wanting to give him kisses and hugs (after applying hand sanitizer of course ha ha!) The two big girls both really love to sing to him, and Reagan loves to do absolutely everything to him!! She wipes his face, puts his blanket on him, gives him his pacifier, tries to pick him up, grabs him from us to hold him all the time, kisses him, puts his socks on, holds his hand and even likes to wipe his bum during diaper changes. It's been a tough balancing act for me to let her be involved but also keep him safe!! We're working on the concept of "gentle". She already says his name and asks "where Dirk?" first thing when she wakes up from naps or in the morning. When he cries, she runs over to him and says "Shhhh" while also yelling at us "Baby crying!"I knew the big girls would love him but I honestly can't believe how much Reagan has taken to him!! It makes my Mom heart seriously so happy!!

Lots of pictures, because he's the cutest!

His "official" one month picture ... we're using the Tonka truck for this guy!

I love his expression in this one ... he's got some good faces, probably from trying to figure out what the heck his sisters are doing all the time!!!