Happ(ier) baby

yum. finger.

I had a bit of a stroller snafu this morning. I went to The Baby Gap store to spend a gift certificate one of our friends had kindly given us, and used our great new stroller so I could browse and Benjamin could be keep sleeping. The car seat and stroller are designed so that the car seat snaps right into the light-weight stroller. When I finished shopping (I bought Benny a cute little navy blue coat for this winter), I tried to take the car seat off of the stroller and it wouldn't come. I pulled harder.... still stuck together. I tried lifting just the front side... and then just the back... no luck. I tried pressing on the sides and wiggling it back and forth... nope!

Embarrassingly, I ended up spending at least five minutes in the Gap parking lot trying to pry the two parts apart while (luckily!!!!!!!!!) Benito slept soundly in the car seat part. I'm not sure what made them eventually come apart, but I'm so glad they did! I was getting afraid that I was going to have to call Clay at work and have him come help me figure it out, because it's not like I could just load the stroller into the trunk (with the baby still in it) and drive home that way! Sheesh. Later today I'm going to get the stroller and the manual out and figure it out. I've only used the stroller a handful of other times, so I imagine it's something simple I just didn't realize I needed to do.

In Benjamin feeding news: so far I think the combination nursing, pumping, bottle feeding is making Benjamin a more happy baby (although with the formula feeding his diapers have DEFINITELY got more stinky!). Yesterday whenever he showed signs of hunger (even if it was shortly after a feeding), we were able to immediately give him something to eat (either milk or formula or a mixture of both). It felt GREAT to just be able to immediately provide food for him and know how much he was getting. Plus he actually went to sleep last night around 10:00 and didn't wake up until 3:00 (and then again at 6:00), but it was wonderful to be able to go to sleep that early myself!!

"Stop pumping and hold me!"

The biggest challenge to this new feeding routine is that after nursing and bottle feeding him, then I have to pump milk, at which time I cannot hold him because of all the hoses and other pumping paraphernalia that he would inadvertently mess up. As shown in the picture, he does NOT appreciate being put in his bouncy chair while I pump!

I came up with a brilliantly obvious solution around lunch time though, and that's to nurse him then set him on a pillow next to me while I pump and bottle feed him at the same time. A bit tricky, but this afternoon has nicely been lacking in "pick me up" screams.

Speaking of nice things, Clay usually comes home from lunch, and pre-baby I used to have lunch waiting for him. Now however, I'm often feeding Benjamin or pumping when he gets home. Today when he came home Clay fixed a nice lunch for both of us and then insisted on changing Ben's diaper before he left for work. I have the best husband in the world. Just saying.  :)