9 weeks

So I went back to work, and it actually wasn't that bad.  I believe that's mainly because I started back to work only 2 days a week.  With the honeymoon coming to an end shortly, I'll be back to my regular 3.5 days in 2 more weeks, I'm trying to focus on the postive.  I really have enjoyed seeing the patients I've grown close to and getting caught up on their pregnancies.  Plus, everyone seems to be excited to hear about Liam and see pictures, of course I happily oblige.  The nanny, Brooke, is wonderful with Liam.  She comes to our place, that way we can see him at lunch time, and has tons of experience with newborns and children.  To top it off she's a doula so we can 'talk shop' to pass the time.

Here's how our little man is doing...

He's rubbed that bald spot on the back of his noggin that babies get. 

I'm still suspicious about teeth, check out these gums and tell me what you think

He's doing great in the bumbo now, we will sometimes sit him in it on the counter while Dominic makes dinner so he can watch

Then we have the upclose shots of all those small parts that grow so quickly

He's almost too big for his Puj tub, although I still love this thing and so does he so I'm going to keep it around as long as possible.

Our handsome little man.  Please just admire those lashes for a minute, boys always get the best ones!

We're looking forward to introducing him to Claudia, Whitney and Hailey as well as another trip from grandma this coming week!

2 months

Here we are, 2 months old.  Liam is just becoming more and more like a little boy than a baby with each day that passes.  He's really following us with his eyes, smiling even bigger than before and really enjoys other children.  Lets see how much he's grown shall we:

We did take a few with us too, you must remember this was in the morning as I was intending to get this post up YESTERDAY and doing photos in the morning leaves the most time for blogging (guess that didn't happen)

And everyone's favorites, the outtakes...

One more for good measure, he just loves sitting propped up on his own.

Real men wear overalls and babylegs

We got a few 2 month shots of Liam on Tuesday, Love the one with his feet and the G block. If you remember correctly I took some maternity shots with the G because we called him baby G until he was born

Here are the ones we took when Cindy was down for her visit, I'm calling these his 1 month shots even though they were at 5wks

 

Looks like I need to clean the scanner, I'll do that in my spare time.

8 weeks

Lots to report this week:

First up an appt with Dr Daley. Liam was 12 pounds 14 ounces and 23 1/2 inches long.  That puts him at about 60th percentile for weight and 70th percentile for height.  He actually grew 4 pounds from his appointment at 2 weeks and  Dr Daley even said he expects him to be even higher next time (around 90th percentile) given his daddy's size.  I guess boobie milk is doing its job.  He got his first vaccines, the Hep B, DPT, polio, pheumococcal and Hib.  I'd say he did phenominal, only briefly crying when the medicine was pushed in and quieting down quickly.  We're doing tylenol today, per Dr Daley's recommendation, to help him with any pain and low grade fevers that might develop.
Liam met uncle Tony this week!  The two hit it off wonderfully and lots of 'man time' ensued.  Tony got here on Friday morning and didn't have to leave until early evening on Sunday.  We spent the weekend hanging around, going to the Oakdale chocolate festival and eating.  I will note that so far Tony hasn't changed a diaper so when Liam is older he can't say 'I changed your butt when you were little'. 

We tried out the Tummy Tub this last week.  Liam loves any bath and this was no exception.  It is a little harder to actually WASH him, it's more like a little hot tub, but how dirty do little babies get anyway?  It's not like they're playing in the mud or anything :)

Another first, the swimming pool!  With the weather and heat we have here in Cali I knew Liam needed a little pool to soak in.  Plus, we want him to be acustom to water and maybe even learn to splash a little before Chelan in July.  He was certainly apprehensive at first but ended up liking it once he knew mama was going to stay with him and in all actuality it really is just a cooler form of a bath.  How adorable is little man in his swim suit?  It's built in SPF 50+ and the one piece aspect means less pale skin to worry about burning.  I'd give his first swim a B+.  If I could get him into swim lessons I would, but crazy enough they don't start until 1yr down here.

I still haven't mentioned a wonderful new gift that nana brought down with her because I just finally got pictures to share.  It's a blanket for Liam made by Janelle who works with Mary. The boarder of the fleece blanket is stitched with Liam's name, check it out:

At 8 weeks postpartum the extent of my working out consists only of  bouncing on the exercise ball for several hours a day (Liam loves the bouncing and occassionally it's the only thing that will sooth him)  Here are the belly shots from this week: (coming once Dominic gets home and can take it)



Now for the upcoming plans this next week.  I'm headed back to work on Wednesday. :(  HUGE sad faces.  I have always been one to say that there is no way I couldn't work.  I really need a little out of the house/adult interaction.  Don't get me wrong, I haven't changed my mind, but I can certainly see why people do it.  I do enjoy watching his smiley face, getting to see him wake up from his naps happy and laughing, and love our time spent together while he's feeding.  Really there isn't anything I don't like about staying home except what I'm missing that's going on at work.  Maybe I'll cut back and drop my half day so I'd only work 3 days a week but that's not going to happen for a while.  In the mean time I am easing into working, starting back 2 days a week instead of 3.5.  This shortened schedule will last for an entire month before I have to go full time.  I guess we'll know for sure next week how I really feel about everything, until then please send lots of good thoughts my way.

7 weeks

Liam is 7 weeks today and I can still barely wrap my head around the fact that I have a child.  I mean he's here and I love him to pieces, every day I tell Dominic about a billion times to look at some cute thing he's doing, but I can't believe this is real because he's so perfect!  We had our 6wk appointment with Andrea scheduled last week but had to reschedule because her little one was sick so instead we went and today to get the final check up of the pregnancy. 

Liam weighed in at nearly 12 1/4 pounds! He is slowly transitioning out of his 0-3 month clothing and into 3-6 month sizes. The Bumgenius diapers make his little tush less 'little' and that means the length often becomes an issue before the width. We have some onesie extenders but I haven't really used them yet because there are just so many things he needs to wear before he outgrows them anyway. Let me just say we are beyond happy with the Bum's so far.  We've had some leaks here and there but for the most part that's a fit issue related to the learning curve.  Washing them isn't to big of a deal either.  We're washing about every 2 days and have around 20 diapers (I don't remember the exact number and since they're never all in one place it's hard to get an accurate count).  I picked up 2 wet bags (we use them as dry bags though) to rotate through and that seems to be perfect.  I did order a pack of liners to have on hand just in case we needed to use diaper rash ointment but so far no rash to speak of and that makes mama happy :)  The last transition to make is cloth wipes.  We have them on hand but haven't changed over for a few reasons, one being I have about 5 refill size packs of disposable wipes left and the second is I haven't found a homemade wipes solution I'm comfortable putting on wipes I intend to wash with the diapers.  I think we're actually going to stick with plain water with a drop of tea tree oil unless someone has a suggestion....anyone??


The vibating bouncy chair, or as we call it the viby chair, has become a bit of a favorite over this last week.  He will sit in it and stair at us and occassionally take his afternoon nap in it.  It's actually convenient to have something he likes besides being held all day long. 

Yesterday he had his first non-family member babysitter.  Brooke is going to be his nanny once I go back to work, starting in just over a week!!!!!, and we thought it would be nice to get them aquainted before I actually started back.  She was here for half a day in the morning while I went to the dentist and ran some errands and things seemed to go well.  He slept most of the time, which is typical for him, and took a 3oz bottle before finishing the feeding with boobie since I got home in the middle.  It certainly is a tough decision picking a childcare provider for your little one but I have heard nothing but amazing things about Brooke from at least 3 well respected friends in the area. 

This week we're looking forward to Liam meeting Uncle Tony, that's this weekend, and getting to spend more time hanging out and practing tummy time and rolling over techniques (he hasn't done it yet but I've been showing him how). 

First Mother's Day

I had an absolutely wonderful first Mother's Day.  Liam started the day off right by only getting up once over night and then sleeping in until 7:15!  We got dressed and showered up and dressed which is quite the feat while managing a nearly 7 week old little boy, simply having 3 adults instead of 2 made it easier.  Just before leaving we opened presents.  Dominic and Liam got me diamond earrings that were beyond gorgeous.  I couldn't wait to get them on!  Best part of the day for sure.

Mary was down visiting and really enjoyed Mimi's Cafe when she was here for Easter so we made reservations for 9:15.  When we pulled in the place was PACKED.  I mean, if the fire marshall was there he probably would have closed the place down for having too many people blocking the entrance.  Thank goodness we made those reservations because the lady wasn't even quoting a time since the wait was so long!  About 15 minutes after our reservation time we were seated and drinking hot chocolates.  Unfortunately Liam got fussy just after arriving and wasn't even soothed by boobie!  We ate in shifts and still managed to have a good time before heading home.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around and getting some alone shopping time while Nana baby sat the bubba before leaving for the airport.  She really enjoyed getting to see how much Liam has grown and become much more interactive, those smiles certainly make your day brighter.  Here are a few shots from our trip on Saturday to Lodi, Liam tagged along making this his first wine tasting!

 

My two favorite men, the big man and the little man

6 weeks old

Liam is 6 weeks old today!  I know I say this everytime but I can't believe he's already a month and a half old.  He's getting bigger and more alert by the day, becoming a little boy instead of a baby.  This last week auntie Cindy had to leave and go back to her family.  She sure was a huge help and we would have her move in if it were feasable, but it's not :) 

We've been trying to get in more tummy time but little man likes his Moby and isn't usually happy to give it up.  Heck, I'm not about to complain because it sure is easier than having to carry him around in my arms all day.  I think we'll try and increase it more over this next week before I go back to work.  I'd love to get him to try rolling over and the only way to do that is to get him to lay down!  He did offically outgrow his 0-3m white onesies and is now in 3-6m size

He also loves bouncing on the exercise ball.  If he's ever really upset this almost always calms him down.  He's been having some issues with gas bubbles in his tummy from my over active let down and the bouncing really gets those bubbles out the best.  Mylicon is a life saver though as well.

Here are a few shots in his Bumgenuis diapers.  We're loving cloth so far.  It seems to wick away wetness from his skin fast but I'm still able to tell just how much he's peeing because of the removable insert.  We starting doubling up the inserts (we call it double stuff's, like oreos) at night a few days back and that actually helped to extend his sleep another hour plus, putting him around 5-6hrs of solid sleep at his longest stretch.  As an experiment we tried disposables, or sposies as well call them, at night and he didn't go any longer than with the double stuffs so we're sticking with those.  We haven't had any diaper rash problems either.

Little protector, Eclair

Again with the smiles :)  He's been giving them out more and more, still reserving the most for daddy.

To help with his sleep patterns we started a night time routine, it goes a little like this:  bath in the Puj (he adores the warm water), story time (usually the going to bed book or pajama time, thanks auntie cindy) and then boobie.  Who knows for sure if it's made the difference or if he's just old enough to go longer but we have started to really enjoy those 5-6hrs of sleep at a time.  Eclair sometimes gets in on the lotion action.