3 Weeks

Our Little Bundle of Joy is now 3 weeks old today!

This last weekend my mother came up with my Aunt Judy from Nebraska. They stayed just a short while, and my mother didn't want to let him out of her arms. She really wanted to take him home with her and said she'd be back in February. This was of course the first time she saw her first grandson. My Aunt Irene gave her a grandmother sweatshirt which she proudly wore the entire time.

Sunday night we were brave and put him in the bassinet. For the first time he slept the night there without crying. He of course gets up for feedings every 2-3 hours, but quickly goes back to sleep. This also worked last night too. HE IS OUT OF OUR BED!

2 Week Checkup

Our Boy is 2 weeks old now and received his first check-up. He is now 21 3/4 in long, 9 pounds 3 ounces, and his head is 15 inches in circumference.

He is doing well.

He also had his hearing checked. He failed in the hospital, they think there is fluid in the ears. Today they confirmed there is fluid and he passed on the right. We need to go back to check on the left in a few weeks.

Almost Two Weeks

Our Little Bundle of Joy goes in for his 2 week check up on Tuesday. He seems to be adjusting well to life outside of the womb, though Amy and I are sometimes worried about if we are doing things right.

I've gone back to work, partial days, and have brought work home so that I don't get behind. We start a new semester next week and there are lots of tasks to get done.

Amy's mom left yesterday, but it seems like we've been struggling on our own for a lot longer than that. Last night was our first night alone with the little guy. We tried putting him in the bassinet, but he freaked out and didn't go to sleep until 1:30 in the morning. We are exploring options to get him out of our bed as soon as possible. We tried putting him in the bassinet this afternoon for a nap, while he was sleeping, but he quickly woke up and started crying. He likes the warmth of bodies and being held, which allows no rest for mommy and daddy.

Though there seems to be gloom and doom in this blog entry, don't worry, Amy and I do realize he is only 2 weeks old, and things won't be perfect. He is our special little guy and we love him so, even if he keeps us on our toes!

1 Week Old

It's hard to believe that our little guy is already a week old. It doesn't seem that long. We are now used to the idea of having shifts in the middle of the night to take care of feeding and rocking to sleep--though we are not used to the actions itself of having to interrupt our sleep to take care of this little being.

After the fussing is done, when he looks at us, gives us a smile (even if it is an unintentional reflex due to gassiness) it makes us smile.

But boy, we can't wait until he sleeps through the night. We don't want to wish the next six months of getting to know him goodbye, so we will patiently wait out the six months of sleeping in shifts.

Wishing away the next six months just so we can get some sleep would cause us to miss out on precious moments like those pictured here. Where he is calm soon after a bath (above) or puts his hands beside his head (below) making it seem like he is taking it easy while his parents are dying for some sleep.

Take your time little guy, we enjoy watching you grow--even if it is with our sleepy eyes.

PS: He enjoys sleeping with his arms above his head. Sometimes it looks like he is covering his ears, hiding his face, calling a goal, or lounging. All he needs is sun glasses.

PPS: We do not pose our little guy, he does all his poses on his own.

Movement and Signs

Some of these movements every baby makes within their first week, some are just reactions and not real smiles or meaningful movements, but I'm going to list them all here so that you can get a feel for how our little guy acts around the house.

• Crying - duh. Poopy diaper, feeding time, burps, and bowel movements
• Smiles - not real, but they look like smiles. They are accompanied by grunts and squinting of eyes. However, he does smile when feeding, and I noticed a smile not accompanied by grunts or squinting last night (really this morning) when I was rocking him. Those smiles do look like content but we won't mark them down as a real smile just yet.
• Feeder finder - when hungry, sometimes he will turn towards your chest and start bobbing for a "feeding mechanism"
• Arm movement - he has perfected some karate moves, boxing, the windmill, Mr. Roboto, and many other arm movements. He sometimes sleeps with his arms by his ears, up in the air, or as if he is announcing a field goal. Watch out for the arms as they swing violently when he is crying. He does hold his pacifier in and will pop it out on his own. He also blocks attempts to put the pacifier in. He does often cover his mouth and nose when he sneezes.
• Leg movement - he needs leg room. He kicks during diaper changes making them difficult for daddy.
• Rolling over - he has strong arms and can push himself off of his stomach and even roll over to his back. He can only roll from his back to his side at this time.

Some sort of routine

We will never be back to normal, and it will be a while before we establish some sort of routine, but we are on a two hour feeding schedule and he does cry at night for a while. But we can get him to sleep for four hours between 6 and 10 am.

He did wet our bed twice last night.

Amy is off until May, I go back for a half day on Wednesday. Amy's mom has been helping us but leaves today. She will be back on Wednesday. Laurie, Amy's cousin from Florida surprised us yesterday by flying up just to see the little guy. She will be with us for a few days.

Who does he look like?

We are having a few sleepless nights but think we are getting the hang of it. We feel that we learn one trick to making him happy, but it soon wears out. Right now he sleeps the longest if he naps beside mommy and daddy.

So who does he look like? Here's a picture of Amy and Chad so you can decide for yourself.

Amy


Chad

Our Little Bundle of Joy

Going home today

We will be discharged later this afternoon. We can't wait to get home with our little bundle of joy (OLBOJ) and see Buddy too. We gave her lots of food when we left early Monday morning, but didn't think we'd be gone this long. She may have kicked her litter out while we were gone. All things to look forward to.

It is kind of odd that they would allow two idiots to bring home such a precious little boy without any little instruction book.

Baby has arrived!

It's a boy!
He was born at 12:21 AM January 9th.
He was 21 1/2 inches long
He weighed 8 pounds 7.5 ounces.

23 hours from water breaking to delivery! We are going to sleep now, it's been a long day!

Off to Hospital to Have Baby!

Amy's contractions are 3-5 minutes apart. We are off!

First and Second Contraction

First Contraction: 2:08 am
Second Contraction: 2:27 am

Amy's Water Broke

1:25 am

We're packed

We are now fully packed. Amy's friend Jen helped her figure out what she needed. (They used their friend Tina's list as a guide). We have one suitcase and a diaper bag along with the car seat in my car ready to go. The toiletry bag is in our bathroom. We had a run through of the toiletry bag yesterday when we went to the doctor's office not knowing what to expect.

We are fully ready!

D-day weekend approaching

The predicted delivery day is approaching. We have no idea as to whether he will come out on Sunday or not. We do have a doctor's appointment set for Monday early morning and they will perform a Non-Stress Test to see how the baby does. Other than that nothing to really report. In a few minutes there will be less than 200,000 seconds left until delivery day.

Oh, we caught 3 mice in our garage and I temporarily fixed a hole in our garage door with duct tape. We caught the 3 mice in a 24 hour period. We have gone 36 hrs without any more, so we hope we are done with them.

Dates have passed

No Christmas Eve baby, no Christmas baby, no New Years Eve baby and, for now, no New Years baby. That also means no tax break--oh well, no big deal. We are now approaching the original due date which means I need to go back to work tomorrow and wonder each time Amy calls, if baby is on his way.

Due date is in 5.5 days, or 476,325 seconds.

We have not yet caught the mouse, which either means he died of fright from me chasing him and will smell inside our walls, or that he is still loose in our garage, or that he packed his bags and went out in the snow and ice to live where all mice should: outside (highly doubtful).