Here Come the Cummings: Cooper is 1 month

Where has the time gone? I can't believe Cooper is 1 month old now! At times it feels like I just blinked and he's already 1 month, and other times, I feel like he's been here much longer. We love our sweet boy and just can't picture our lives without him. He brings such joy to our family!

Though this is such a special time, it has not come without it's difficulties. The first month has been MUCH harder than I pictured from the beginning. At first, I thought "oh I know I have to wake up 2-3 hours every night to feed him etc..it will be hard..." but I don't think I realized that not EVERY baby wakes up 2-3 hours and then goes right back to sleep. Our first 2 nights home from the hospital, Cooper did not sleep one wink the entire 2 nights! We were going crazy. Poor guy was so hungry, and I was nursing him around the clock. We were beyond exhausted. We have already been to the doctor 4 times now and it turns out he has acid relax so he is on some medication for that. It has helped and he is not spitting up as much as before. I also have low milk supply so that is another cause of frustration. Those 2 things have caused a ton of fussiness and a very tired mommy! Thankfully things have gotten better but of course there are always good days and hard days.

He has been sleeping a lot better now and went 2 nights sleeping 4 and half hours which was glorious! But then last night he went back to waking up every 2-3 hours, but is going back to sleep right after I nurse him. I really can't complain at all...after our first 2 weeks where I was up at all hours of the night, having him go right back to sleep after eating is wonderful, I don't even care that I'm waking up 3 times at night. I am trying to put him on a schedule, but that is much easier said than done. I do think some babies are more difficult than others and I think Cooper will take more effort on my part to get him on a good sleeping schedule. I am doing Baby Wise, where during the day he eats, plays, then sleeps and that works some of the time. He is just very difficult to put down for a nap right now. He just LOVES to be held, so he usually falls asleep in my arms and then I lay him down. He's only 1 month old, so I'm not stressing over it. I just want to enjoy him and this special time and not stress over every little thing.

Justin and I think he is just the cutest thing in the world! We find ourselves saying that to each other at least 7 times a day. I wanted to include some of his newborns pictures that turned out oh so cute!

I really can't believe I've been a mom for a month now. It really has been the hardest but wonderful month. Because of all the little issues we've had at the beginning, I really haven't taken him out of the house at all except for the doctor. The last thing we needed was for him to get sick. I really haven't left the house much at all besides going on walks, and I will definitely be ready to start taking him places soon. He's also fussy a lot so I worry I'll be in a situation where he won't stop crying, but I need to just bite the bullet. I have to time it perfectly where we leave right after he eats, so he has a full tummy!

I have enjoyed taking him on walks, which is great for me to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather! The first few walks, he would end up crying and screaming all the way home. I felt like the people around me were judging me by not doing a thing with my crying child, but what can you do...I gotta walk the rest of the way home! Then the past 2 walks, he just looked around, didn't cry at all and slept, it was great!

He is nursing around 8-10 times a day, and it takes him about an hour each time. If you do the math, that is 8-10 hours of nursing a day! No wonder I feel like I can't get anything done. It's exhausting but I know worth it. Everyone tells me he will get much faster at it and I'm still waiting for my milk supply to increase (yes I have tried tons of stuff to help it). Having a newborn really can be challenging but I just read a good blog post today about how this time goes by so fast. Everyone has already told me it goes by fast, but it was a great reminder. I want to enjoy this season as I won't get it back. Children are a true blessing and Cooper is a huge answer to prayer and I am so thankful for this season, no matter how hard and exhausting it can be.