Luna is now three weeks old! It feels like it has gone fast but at the same time it feels like she's been with us for ages.

Things have really settled down this week and everything feels a lot more normal. I wouldn't say we are in a proper routine as I feed her on demand and we go with the flow (I honestly cannot express how much I dislike those baby books that try to enforce a strict routine and schedule, babies just don't work like that and it just seems to cause so much stress for parents and babies!) but we are certainly settling into our own rhythm and finding what works.

Breastfeeding is now going really well, we have got a much better latch, it's hardly painful at all (which is a huge relief!) and there are no real problems. I tend to express about 100ml in the mornings which she usually has in the evenings and she takes it from a bottle with no fuss. There were certainly days in the last weeks when I wanted to give up (even though I am a super determined breastfeeder) but I am so glad I persevered through those tough days. Breastfeeding is just so much simpler and more convenient than bottle feeding (yep, I'm basically saying I breastfeed because I'm lazy!)

When she was weighed last week she still hadn't quite regained her birthweight so she is being weighed again tomorrow. The health visitor wasn't too worried as she had gained quite a bit, I am just hoping that she has gained plenty again this week.

Luna is sleeping brilliantly at night, I know I am ridiculously lucky as she sleeps 6-8 hours at a time. She goes to bed somewhere between 11pm and midnight and wakes anywhere between 5-7am. It feels like I need to be apologetic for her sleeping so well, as I know not everyone is so lucky, but I can't pretend she's up all night when she's not! I honestly think it is just the luck of the draw as to whether your baby sleeps or not, so I can't really even offer any words of wisdom. I do spend all evening with her almost permanently attached to the boob, she is usually naturally awake from late afternoon through until bed and so she takes on a lot of milk in that time (including the expressed milk from the morning as a top up). Then I just swaddle her and put her in her crib. It works for us (so far anyway, I am well aware it could change very soon!) and I am certainly getting a lot more sleep with a newborn than I did in the last few months of pregnancy!

She has been a lot more awake this week, her eyes have been open so much more than in her first couple of weeks and she looks around appearing to take everything in. I love it when she is wide awake and staring up at me, though I tend to talk a lot of nonsense to her, poor thing!

She was officially registered yesterday which means we finally decided on her middle name (at last!) We were still discussing all the options in the car on the way to our appointment but eventually named her Luna Grey. Now that we have decided it just feels perfect for her, not only do we love the colour grey, but also if we'd have had a boy his name was going to be Grady, so it feels like a little reference to that, as he would no doubt have been called Grey for short.

Generally I have been feeling really good this week, it amazes me how quickly the body recovers from pregnancy and birth. When I was pregnant everything was a struggle and exhausting, I couldn't walk far and was quite limited physically which I found incredibly frustrating. Now I feel like I am back to normal, can do everything I need to, can walk as far as I want to and don't get particularly tired. I am still carrying a lot of extra weight though, I haven't lost anything this week and still weigh 12st2lb, so have at least two stone to lose. I am carrying extra weight all over and still have a noticeable bump, which is making me feel quite self conscious and I just feel really horrible in all my clothes. With breastfeeding, dieting isn't a priority and though our meals are reasonably healthy, I have been craving sweet and stodgy snacks. This week I am trying to be healthier in my snack choices, going for yoghurt and fruit instead of chocolate and biscuits. I am also starting to walk a lot more and I am keen to start running again maybe in a couple of weeks. My feet and ankles are finally starting to look a bit more normal (and a bit less elephant like!) there is still some fluid there but it is improving a lot.

If you want to see how Luna was doing last week you can catch up here and I am finally getting round to working on my birth story blog post so watch out for that very soon!