2 months

12 pounds 6 ounces
23 1/8 inches long
wearing size 0-3 months, some 3-6 months for the length
love the kick and play- your feet just go non stop in it
very vocal- always talking to us
nursing every two hours, sometimes longer at night
recognize Mom and Dad
noticing Mingo and Haplo
responding to us- we read you stories and make fun noises that you love
playing with toys- look at them and enjoy them hanging above your head

Charles,

I am so amazed by how much you have grown.  I look at you and  you have really become a little baby, not just a newborn anymore.  You have really awakened in the past few weeks and are starting to play with us and respond.  It's a whole new world interacting with you and it's just so much fun.  We sing and giggle and just love on you.  Your Dad and I are so happy to be your parents.  Sometimes we really think we're getting the hang of this, although you still keep us on our toes. 

Santa Claus is coming to town

I wonder what Charles wished for from Santa Claus. 

Christmas at home

It was fun to decorate our new home for Christmas.  I didn't buy anything new this year so we worked with what we have.  Next year I definitely want to change up the decor and make it more whimsical.  I can't wait to share Chrismtas with Charles and help create the magic for him.         

 

Derek's company had a work party and they had a decorate your own wreath table.  Derek brought me home the goodies and I put them all together.  I hung this on our pantry door.  Derek said he chose the two gingerbread people because they represent us with their hearts.  Isn't he a sweetheart?!

 

Our stockings were hung on the mantle with care.  I found those darling deer at an estate sale, same as the wreath.  I think I'm going to spray paint them next year a bright red and put them where Charles can see them.  But this year it was a bit of a rustic theme with the birdhouse and woodsy Santa.  So, I know the stockings don't match but they are more of the direction we'll be headed in over the next few years.  

It was fun to decorate this railing.  I enjoyed being able to see it from below rather than being hidden in the stairwell.  Again, we'll probably have different ribbon next year but I love the look.

 It was hard finding a spot for the tree in the house.  We put it in this corner but next year we'll have built ins here so who knows what we'll do.   This is the first year we put the santa hat on top of the tree and I just love it.  It will definitely go with our new whimsical and magical decor theme we're headed in. 

7 weeks

milestones:
responsive interaction
smiling

This week has been a big one!!  Charles is now responding to us.  We can play with him and he watches us and it is just the best thing in the world.  He likes all different noises and tickling and just plain attention.  When he's awake we're loving it.

His reflux has also gotten pretty bad.  He'll spit up while nursing, immediately afterwards or an hour later.  And he's got quite the projection.  It hits the floor, all down our backs or the back of the couch.  We're definitely glad we got leather couches and wood floors at this point!

My little clown fish

Have you heard about Nemo?  That's my mom's favorite children's movie.  She keeps putting me in this onesie.

 

I know, it's so embarrassing.  

 

Sometimes I pretend to be asleep so she'll quit talking whale to me.  

6 weeks

changes this week:
-he's been sucking on his hand/fingers much less
-growing pains, the poor thing will just cry in his sleep sometimes.  clean diaper, full belly, just growing pains.  Thankfully we can soothe him most of the time

milestones:
-getting better neck control
-more arm control
-can follow us around the room with his eyes and sometimes his head
-he's gotten big enough to do a new nursing hold-which is awesome for us-no pillow needed.  It's not quite perfect yet but once he grows just a bit more we'll be golden on the go.

 This was a big week for us.  Charles and I went out by ourselves several times.  On Tuesday we went to a le leche league meeting.  I'd gotten so tired and while I know I'm not anywhere close to giving up breastfeeding I was struggling a bit.  It was really nice to get out and be around others that are having some of the same struggles.  It was also nice to have our first outing be in a place where I could nurse if I needed to, which, of course, happened.  There are weekly meetings during the day that I'll probably go to while I'm on maternity leave and there are also monthly meetings during after work hours that I can go to when I'm back at work.

On Wednesday we headed to the grocery store.  There were some things that we just needed.  It's hard for Derek to stop on the way home from work because he's usually so tired.  The weekends are for chores and sleep, so grocery store is low on the list.  Charles and I did pretty well.  He made it about thirty minutes before getting fussy.  I checked out while he was crying and they were so helpful.  Without even asking a woman put all the groceries in a cart and walked me to my car.  When Charles took a breath I tried to chat with her a little bit.  She was really sweet and loaded up my car, I attempted to help and she said nono, put the baby in the car set, I've got this.  I love how friendly people are and I"m so thankful for their help.

On Friday we headed to Target.  I wanted to finish up Derek's stocking gifts and was looking for a few other things.  Shopping with Charles is a very different experience.  There's no milling about.  It's go in and get what you need before he gets fussy.  I'm still babywearing which is very helpful.  He did end up getting fussy in the store so I slipped in an empty aisle and set him up for nursing while in the sling, covered him and me up with the tail and headed to check out.  It was definitely a first.  The only open line was a male.  The lines with a female employee were atleast two deep!  So, I sucked it up and went in the male line.  It was an older male so I figured maybe he'd understand.  And then two males got in line behind me to check out.  We handled it though.  He finished nursing halfway through check-out and I put everything back together, set him back up in the sling and we were off.  It's really weird nursing.  My breasts have stopped being sexual when I'm in Mom mode.  So I"m not as conservative about nursing as I thought I would be, and when Charles is crying and I know he needs to nurse or nursing will help-you better bet we're gonna nurse!

that's right-our baby can sit up by himself.  look at that cuteness. the chubbiness kills me. I could just eat him up.

I've also clung to the mantra of sleep when he sleeps.  I was sitting on the couch with him in the sling and he kind of leaned to one side and dozed off.  The pillows were right next to us so I leaned over and we took a nap.  It was fabulous.  I didn't have to worry about him falling off the couch or me squishing him or any thing getting in his face.  We've been doing this every day since then and it's been a life saver for my sanity.  I love snuggling with him and the sleep I've gained is wonderful.  

I know this isn't the proper hold, but for laying down it works. 

5 weeks

milestones:

- drinking from a bottle

I didn't grab a weekly picture of our little munchkin this week. Tuesday was a little crazy.  But Charles had a big week between 4-5 weeks old.  Derek gave him his first bottle.  We used tommee tippee's and he took to it just fine and came back to me without a problem.  I've been pumping to go back to work and have a supply.  It's kind of a pain but at the same time, at least Derek gets these moments?  And it will help if I ever decide to have a beer. 

 It was really hard for me to be around for this.  I know it's silly but I felt like I had no more purpose.  I might have cried.  Yes, it's silly.  Thankfully I could look at Derek's pure joy in being able to provide for Charles and nurture him by feeding him and it made me happy.  I mean- look at that face on Derek.  And Charles was looking at him during the feeding- it was pretty amazing.

 I think we should call these weekly updates "photos of Father and Son".  I have got to get on Derek to take more pictures of Mother and Son!!  But I love capturing all these moments of my two guys together.  Some things are getting easier but it's still hard.  Not lots of sleep, he still gets fussy.  But we know what to expect.  We're getting better at soothing him and we know what his cries mean. 

 The ring sling has come in handy so so much.  Derek is learning the joys of baby wearing too.  At night sometimes Derek will wear him to soothe him- it's like swaddling I s'pose but he's so hard to hold once he's swaddled.

 We are planning on giving him a bottle once a week.  So, Derek has given Charles a bottle twice.  He still loves it and we're having no problems.  Thankfully.

 We got our Christmas tree up over the weekend.  It wasn't the easiest thing to decorate for Christmas with our schedules and lack of sleep but we did it slowly over the course of a week or two and now we're all done.  Derek went out to get a tree on Saturday and we decorated it on Sunday.