March Break

Today is (sadly) the last day of March Break. That means after a wonderful two weeks off, I have to go back to work tomorrow. The good news is that there are only 13 more weeks until Summer Break! This last term is always very busy but goes by quickly.

Over the break took The Bean on his first road trip to visit family in PA. I posted a photo of the drive down as my "moment" a couple of weeks ago. He was awesome the whole way there. We put him in his car seat and got on the road just after his mid-morning feeding, and he slept pretty much the entire six hour drive there. Weather was good, traffic was light, the border crossing was easy... it really couldn't have been a better drive. We woke The Bean up once at a rest stop so that he could eat. We thought that was better than having him wake up hungry on the last stretch before getting to Jen's parents' house. Once we arrived at their place The Bean was grabbed by Jen's dad and that pretty much set the tone for the whole week.

The Bean with his Grandma.

With Grandpa.

Nan.

Pap.

Great Grandma.

So many people came to visit him and I think just about everyone one of them held him. I'm glad so many of our family and friends there got to meet him. They've been so supportive and loving and we were really happy to finally introduce The Bean to them. Even though Ollie dealt with the busy schedule and myriad of people extremely well, I do think it was a little much for him. As I think I've said before, he doesn't have a schedule, but we do have a bit of a routine, and that got thrown off. The result was that he was fussier than usual and his sleep schedule was, well, not a schedule at all. The next time we're back I expect that things won't be quite so busy.

Overtired.

I feel guilty that we can't go visit more often, but hopefully we'll be able to spend a good amount of time there over the summer. I can't imagine how much The Bean will have grown and changed by then!

The Bean's Nursery

We picked up The Bean's rug when we were in PA, so now his nursery is complete! We're very happy with the way it turned out. It's a nice cheerful room for him to spend time in. (He's even started napping in his crib during the days.)

{this moment} Family Photo

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.



Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment} Rearview

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.



Inspired by SouleMama.

{this moment} Kisses

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.



Inspired by SouleMama.

Two Months Old!

Today The Bean is two months old!



-He still loves to be held. I think if we held him 24/7 he would be quite content. He's not discriminating about who's holding him at all... just as long as he's being held.

-He fusses when he's hungry, pooing or passing gas, and when he's tired. Bouncing him and patting him on the bottom seem to sooth him, unless he's hungry, then only Jen will do.

-He started using a pacifier when he was about 6 weeks old and LOVES it. It almost always helps calm him down when he's fussy. This is one of those things we weren't going to do, but when he was crying unless there was one of our fingers in his mouth for him to suck on, it seemed like an amazing alternative.

-He continues to gain weight, but is still below the 5th percentile. Our little boy.

-He makes eye contact and smiles at us. He is especially smiley in the mornings when we change his diaper. He now loves being naked! He also loves it when we talk to him (particularly in a high pitched voice) and ask him questions.

-He is starting to make little grunting and "cooing" noises at us.

-He is gaining head control. He'll hold his head up for long periods of time and place it back down rather than just flopping down. We've started giving him tummy time somewhat regularly. Twice he's rolled over (front to back) when we've had him on cushier surfaces where he has something to push against.

-He's starting to sleep for longer stretches of time. He's even gone as long as 6 hours when we initially put him down between 7 and 8pm. He now typically gets up twice in the night, rather than 3 or more times, like he used to.

-He fits into all his newborn clothes now, and we've started putting him into 0-3 month clothes on occasion, although the pants especially are still too big. We also moved him up to the next size of cloth diaper from the diaper service, but they're also a little too big.

Words cannot describe how happy I am to have this little boy in our lives. I was smiling on my way home from work yesterday, thinking about spending the evening with him and Jen... my two favourite people in the whole world.

First Pediatrician Appointment

The Bean had his first appointment with the pediatrician yesterday. Overall it went really well. A nurse weighed and measured him. He was 9lbs. 2oz and 21.5in. ...still below the 5th percentile, but following a nice growth curve, so nothing to worry about.

We spent a good deal of time talking to the resident doctor. He was quite thorough and addressed all of our questions. When it came time to do vaccinations the pediatrician came in. We had some questions about the vaccines, and he answered them well. I really liked it when he said that if we had any reservations, he rather we go home and think about it then have us make a hasty decision and regret it later. We decided to go ahead and do both of the scheduled shots. The Bean's poor little thighs looked so sad with the band-aids on him afterward. He had been crying before they injected him, and continued to cry afterward. We had woken him up for some of the earlier testing, so my guess is that he was tired, and that's why he had started to cry, then the needles just made things worse. Jen nursed him and he calmed down and fell back asleep.

We were able to stop for a tea/coffee and a cookie on the way home while The Bean slept in his stroller. It was a nice mini-date!

The shots seemed to really take it out of our little guy and he slept through the rest of the afternoon, woke in the evening, nursed, and then went back to sleep for another long stretch.

We have some reading to do on vaccines before our next appointment, but I am very happy with the staff and doctors we had and the way they interacted with us. Hurray!

Baby Smiles and First Bottle

This week has been a bit of a fussy week for our little boy. We'd been "warned" that Week 3 and Week 6 might be tough because supposedly those are times when babies go through growth spurts, but for us Week 4 and 7 seem to have been more challenging. Maybe because he was induced 10 days early? I don't really know and I guess it doesn't make much of a difference.

All that said, I'm still adoring spending as much time as possible with him. Mornings are one of his best times of day, and if he's awake early on the weekend I try to take him after he's had something to eat and let his Mommy sleep in a little. This morning he was having some diaper-free time on his change pad and was just as happy as a clam.



Hopefully we'll be seeing more of this smiley face as we move into Week 8!

Ooh... an exciting update is that I was able to feed him for the first time last night. Jen pumped about 3oz. of milk so I did the first part of his 2am feeding. (He was still hungry after finishing his bottle, so Jen nursed him a little more.) It was very sweet the way he looked up at me while eating. No pictures due to it being the middle of the night and not exactly an ideal photo op time. :P He'll still primarily be breastfed for a while, but Jen is going to start freezing some milk for times when it will be easier to bottle feed, like if we want to go out or if she gets sick or whenever else it might be better to have that option.

{this moment} Feet

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.



Inspired by SouleMama.