Tripp-One Month

I feel like I've said this about Ruth Ann a million times and now I'm starting to say the same thing about Tripp...but time is really going way too quickly at our house. I can barely believe Tripp-man has been in our family for 1 whole month. In some ways it feels like he's always been here and in other ways it feels like I just found out I was even pregnant with him.



So here's what Tripp is up to at 1 month old:

~eating 7 bottles a day with at least 3 ounces of breast milk. I gave up breastfeeding...for those moms out there who have been successful with breastfeeding I believe you all deserve gold stars. It's exhausting work. Tripp took about an hour to eat, times 8-10 feedings per day it was more time consuming than a full time job...Tripp didn't take the weekends off so it was WAY more time consuming than a full time job! Then he developed breast milk jaundice and had to go on formula for a day or two to clear it up quickly...after feeding him from a bottle I suddenly felt liberated! I had all this new found time on my hands...luckily I had lots and lots of breast milk frozen and tucked away in the fridge, so once the jaundice cleared up we started working our way through that supply. He'll have a few more days of breast milk and then we'll be back to mixing formula for the next 9-10 months.

~sleeping a lot. We're followers of Baby Wise at the McCarty house so our schedule is Eat, 30 minutes Awake Time, Sleep...repeat every 3 hours...except at night, then baby can sleep as long as they want to. Tripp gets his last bottle at 11pm-ish and usually gets up once during the night around 3:30-4am. Then he wakes again around 7am. I'm planning on putting a little rice cereal in those night time formula bottles in a few weeks and am hoping this will keep him asleep until at least 5 or 6am. I return to work in 28 days and sleep through the night will be a requirement for me to function properly.

~enjoys the swing...thanks to the Clark boys for letting us use your swing!

~HATES his car seat. Ruth Ann never minded riding in her car seat so traveling with her was a breeze. Apparently lightening really doesn't strike twice because so far Tripp hates the car seat. This may mean I'll be traveling a lot less in the next year or it may mean Tripp stays home with Daddy while Ruth Ann and I go off to play!

~HATES bath time. I can't remember when Ruth Ann started enjoying bath time, but it seems like it was only after a few weeks. Tripp hates it the moment I take his clothes off...it's like he already knows what is coming. The crying ends as soon as I put his diaper back on...maybe he's just modest!

~LOVES being held. I said this on Facebook the other day, but I'll repeat it here too...I had a strict "No Rocking To Sleep" policy with Ruth Ann, but I'm having a hard time resisting the urge to rock my snugly baby boy through out his entire nap time. He's so snugly and sweet. His favorite position is on his tummy laying on your chest. He burrows down and oh I could just stay like this with him for hours! I realize all this snuggling could be creating a monster...but I don't care. He's my last and I'll take all the snuggle time I can get. Ruth Ann is the opposite, all though since Tripp's arrival she has asked to snuggle and be rocked more often...which is fine with me too. I'll rock both these babies until they move out of this house to go to college if they ask me to!

~unfortunately baby acne is starting to set in. Ruth Ann's skin went crazy around this same time and I've been waiting for Tripp's to do the same. It only last a few weeks but it makes for awful pictures until it clears up. I had the same thing when I was baby and my Granny (my dad's step-mother from Western NC) told my mom it's all the poison coming out of their little bodies...yikes! This may sound shocking to hear, but if you've met my Granny it won't surprise you at all...she's not full of happy things to say.

I'm still trying to figure out who Tripp looks like and really I think he's got a mix of different family members. At times I see a lot of my brother and dad. Especially when you look at these legs...



If you've ever seen my dad in a pair of shorts then these skinny legs will look very familiar. I'm not use to looking at skinny legs. I have tree trunk legs and Ruth Ann had chubby legs the minute she started eating. I keep thinking these little legs will start plumping up soon, but I'm starting to have a feeling he's going to have the legs of the Becker men that came before him!

When I was pregnant with Ruth Ann and found out I was having a girl I began hoping and praying she would have Arch's hair...stick straight...and my prayers were answered. So far she has his hair and it really is great hair. Now I have found out this McCarty hair gene is a dominant gene because Tripp also has his daddy's hair...notice it sticking straight up...



Luckily Arch and Spencer have both mastered this hair, so they'll be able to help Tripp figure out what to do with his hair too...bows hold Ruth Ann's hair down and out of her face...Tripp won't have this advantage.