6 weeks

 

Dr.'s Appointment
This was pretty much just a weight checkup.  Although Dr. R checked everything out and thinks Muppet looks great.  We were most pleased with his weight gain.  He was up to 9lbs 13 ounces at the appointment.  A week later we took him to a lactation boutique to pick up some stuff for me and weighed him again.  He's currently up to 10lbs, 10 ounces!

Getting Bigger

Probably the biggest news of the week is Muppet's move into "big boy" clothing.  Not super big boy, but when we brought him home from the hospital even his newborn sized clothes were swimming on him.  We thought he'd never make it to 0-3.  And last week they were too big for him.  Now they fit.

And more importantly - his newborn diapers have gotten too small, so he's moved into size 1s!  As was made more than evident when I tried to get one more day out of the newborn diapers.

Sip N See
We also hosted a "meet the baby" party so our friends could all come and meet the Muppet.

We decided on a Muppet theme, obviously.

Bright colors and lots of sugar.  Cookies, cupcakes, and a candy buffet.  We still have leftovers. 

And I had a friend make specially themed cookies for our sugar-iffic table.

Sleep

We got one fabulous night where Muppet slept for a 5 hour stretch.  ANNNNND then we went back to every 3 hours.  At least I know he has it in him.

This past week Muppet has developed a definite wake up time - 5AM.  Anytime after 5AM when he wakes to eat he does not want to go back to bed.  He wants to be held and cuddled.  He'll sleep, but only if he's being held.  

And the past 2 nights he hasn't wanted to go to bed either.  He'll lie in his crib wide awake.  He stays wide awake and staring at the ceiling for a good 5 minutes before deciding he's lonely and someone should come entertain him.  This goes on for hours.

My Checkup

I had my checkup this week and passed with flying colors.  I was cleared for everything I was doing before having the baby.  And I'm definitely taking advantage of it.  I'm hitting the gym every day and increased my running mileage today to 4.5 miles.  And I definitely need to hit the gym.  I'm losing weight like crazy (thanks breastfeeding!)  but still have some extra flab in my midsection from where the baby was.  I can't wait to get it tighter!  My mom came down to watch Muppet while I went.  It was our first time leaving him completely alone.  And it went well.

J started back at work
 J went back to work and it was actually harder than I thought.  Only because I've been dealing with a fussy Muppet this week. 

J asked me to send him pictures of Muppet, so everyday I try to find something cute for him to do.

 

The nice thing about J returning to work is the little night time routine we have.  I look forward to it every day.

He gets home from work and it's daddy-baby time.

He takes Muppet and feeds him, bathes him, and cuddles with him for the night.

Meanwhile I go to the gym, where I now do my weekday runs (hey, it's either that or in the middle of the night after an early morning feeding).  Then I make dinner for the two of us.

 Outings
This week we took J to the mechanic and to work.  Which was okay, but I definitely planned too much into that day.  I also planned a field trip to a farmer's market.  And it was the day Muppet decided to stage an "I hate the carseat" protest.  Screaming everytime he was in the carseat - all the way to the farmer's market, home from the farmer's market, on the way to pick up J from work and take him to the mechanic.....

It became our last car trip of the week.  We walked to the grocery store after that one.

But it was Veterans' Day Weekend, so J had an extra day off work AND the National Parks had free admission.  So we took Muppet to Cabrillo National Park which is one of my favorite spots in San Diego.

It was gorgeous and sunny when we left the house and picked up sandwiches to eat there.  But shortly after we arrived the sun disappeared behind the clouds and the wind picked up.  It got COLD.  And we had brought appropriate clothing for Muppet, but not J and I.  At least we're rockstars as parents even if we're not so great with ourselves.

So we made it a short outing, briefly walking the coastal cliff and jaunting by the lighthouse before packing it in against the weather.

Weight (me): -6

Weight (Muppet): +3lbs, 4 ounces

Milestones:

*Moved out of newborn clothing into 0-3!

*cooing

*REAL smiles!

1 month!

 

 Welp, we did it.  We all made it past the first month.  Some days it felt like it went by so very fast, and other days felt like we'd never get there. 

Muppet continues to grow and thrive.  At his one month appointment he was up almost 2.5 lbs.  Which means he went from being in the 25th percentile to the 47th percentile.  And this of course makes me feel like I'm doing my job as a mom and giving him everything he needs right now.

Every time we think we've mastered some aspect of parenthood, a new wrench is thrown in.  But the first month was great at giving us time to test the waters.  And I am eternally grateful that J was able to take off the entire month. 

We both wanted an October baby, because it's one of our favorite times of year.  J loves Halloween as much as I do, and we're hoping to instill this love in Muppet from the very start by making sure he takes part in all our favorite activities.



Pumpkin Patch

One of the best parts of Halloween is going to the pumpkin patch and picking out the pumpkin, bringing it home and carving it.  J especially likes this part because I usually let him watch whatever scary movie he wants while we're carving.  This year we brought Muppet to his first pumpkin patch.

He wasn't all that impressed, as usual.

 

Even though we got him all dressed up in his Halloween outfit.

 Halloween
We were invited to a Halloween party and decided to attend kind of last minute.  J and I usually do some sort of couple's costume.  Before I got pregnant our original plan was to dress up as Inspector Gadget, Penny, and Brain.  


After we knew I was pregnant we spoke about dressing up as Rainbow Brite characters and dressing up Muppet as Twink.  But really?  When it came down to it, I pretty much decided we weren't going to dress up for Halloween since we were going to have a new baby to take care of.  Hence the seasonal skeleton suit above. 


So we tried to find something quick.  And decided that the comfort of Muppet was the most important part of the costume.  Especially when J found adult sized sleep & plays.  And so our "costume" was born.

Introduced Bottle 
The past week we decided to introduce the bottle.  Breastfeeding has been going really well.  Better than expected.  I thought it was going to be painful, but I was definitely one of the lucky ones.  Muppet didn't have any latch problems so I never had any nipple pain/soreness/bleeding.  All the same, we didn't want to mess with something that was going so well.  Pumping too early can actually have the opposite effect of what many people think and lead to supply issues - both oversupply and undersupply.  Now that breastfeeding is fairly well established we wanted to make sure Muppet will take a bottle so I don't have to be around all the time in case he gets hungry. 

At our breastfeeding course they told us the best way to introduce a bottle is for mom to be far far away.  Sometimes babies can smell mom nearby and they want the milk straight from the tap.  So I headed out for a run and left J to work out the bottle details.  

 Muppet is not picky about where his milk comes from!  There are 2 issues that sometimes come up with a breastfed baby.  The first is which bottles.  Some babies are really picky about which bottle they'll take.  It's recommended you don't buy too many of one brand, because your baby may hate it.  (We had this problem with pacifiers).  Luckily, we didn't have this problem.  We started with Dr. Brown's bottles.  And he took them like a champ.  A little too much like a champ according to J.  He was worried that Muppet was drinking too fast.  Which could cause problems later when he realized that milk doesn't come from the tap as fast as from the bottle.  So we switched to Tommee Tippees.  And Muppet had no problem taking those either.  And J likes them better, so we're using those for right now.

The other issue with breastfed babies is that milk temperature.  Once again, in our breastfeeding course the instructor advised us to attempt to give the baby the milk cold, or room temperature.  "Warm from mom, cold from dad."  Which makes a lot of sense.  That way the bottle giver doesn't have to worry about the temperature of the milk and can give it whenever the baby wants.  Apparently this doesn't work for everyone - but it sure does for Muppet.  He'll take that milk anyway he can get it.  Even straight from the fridge. 

Newborn Photos

The photographer who took our wedding pictures came down to take pictures of Muppet.  We don't have them back yet, so we'll just stick with the ones I take:

Bedtime with Dad.  J does bedtime routine with bath, story, and cuddles.

We're actually getting a lot of use out of Muppet's Halloween costume.  And it's impressive how strong he's getting.

Muppet LOVES his pack & play.  Or more specifically, the mobile.  Which isn't really mobile since you have to spin it yourself.  And he gets annoyed when it stops moving.

Changing time has gone from crying crying crying to loads of fun and smiles.  Because we have that fabulous white wall to look at.

Next Appointment: Thursday, November 3
Sleep: Still in 3 hour increments, but he's getting really great at eating and going right back to sleep so the whole thing takes 30 minutes.  That means I get 2.5 hours of sleep between feedings.

Week 3

 

First Real Bath

 

We were worried about giving Muppet his first real bath hearing that sometimes it can be a baby's least favorite thing.  But it seems like we must have a little Water Baby on our hands because he loves it!

Love might be the wrong word, but he tolerates it nicely without so much as a peep so we've incorporated it into our nightly routine.  Most nights it's just water, but every few nights we work some soap in there.

 

Playdate   

 H came over with her son for Muppet's first playdate.  S is a little over 2 months older than Muppet - but look how big he is!  He started out a little munchkin, about a pound lighter than Muppet when Muppet was born.  And now he's a giant baby!

The two didn't interact too much, but frankly Muppet is just now working on focusing on things other than our faces, so it's not too surprising.  I'm certain they'll be besties in no time.

Return to Running

Less about Muppet, but this week also marked my return to the road.  It's been hard not running and I've been waiting a bit, but 3 weeks sounded like a good time to get back into it.  And so the day Muppet turned 3 weeks old I left him with J and headed out for a nice and easy 2 mile run.  Just to test the waters.  It ended up being a lovely run and I was faster than I anticipated.  

My plan is to keep up the 2 miles every other day for the next week and then up it to 3 miles once I get that under my belt and make sure everything is okay with this new addition.

Adjusting at Home

 I think we hit the two week growth spurt, which meant very little sleeping for any of us, especially Muppet.

It's just part of having a newborn.  Those days we spent basically camped on the couch trying to sleep as possible.  It was nice having my mom near enough to run over treats like frozen yogurt for an afternoon pick me up.

We did manage to get out a couple times, including a trip to the mall so I could get fitted for a nursing bra.  Because holy hannah did those puppies grow!  Which was obviously necessary to keep up with Muppet's eating habits.  Other than that, breastfeeding has been going unbelievably well.  Better than I thought it would.  He latches like a champ and I haven't had any nipple soreness, cracks, peeling, or bleeding.  And he's gaining weight as he should be.  Or at least it seems like he is.  We'll know more for sure at his next appointment.

Next Appointment: Thursday, November 3

Sleep: The first night we let Muppet sleep without waking it took him forever to get to sleep.  We started putting him down at 10, but he didn't go down till midnight.  However, at that point he slept till 6:30.  We got a little too excited as he spent the next couple of nights taking forever to go to sleep and waking up every 2 hours.  3 week growth spurt?  We decided to start a "sleep routine" which has definitely helped.  Sometime between 5 and 7 when he's ready for "dinner" I feed him.  Then we give him a "bath" (most nights just warm water, no soap).  Then we read him a bedtime story and "cuddle him to sleep."  This has resulted him getting to bed at a reasonable hour - even if he is still getting up every 2 hours for eating.  At least he goes right back to bed after a feed and I get in a couple hours before he wakes up for his first night meal.
Best moment this week:   Seeing our little guy with the big little guy and thinking how one day he'll be that big too!

Milestones:   

*Muppet is attempting to focus on other things.  He stares at spots on the wall, his art cards, and the toys on his gym mat.

Week 2

Second Doctor's Appointment

Back up to birthweight
Still a little jaundice, but nothing bad
Everything looks good

Outings 

We're still taking Muppet on walks as often as the weather permits - when it gets too wet out we skip it.  It's a good time for all of us to get out, including the dog!

 

We also went out to lunch and a walk along the beach.  Which means more carrier time!  I don't know how people live without baby carriers.  We use it every time we have an errand.  Which includes walking to the grocery store when we need to pick something out.  It's great to be hands free.

 

On Saturday, October 15, we took Muppet for our annual "Zoo Walk."  We got him all bundled up for the 2.5 mile walk.  Here he's wearing a hat his grandma made for him.

Muppet spent most of the time sleeping, so we entertained ourselves by taking pictures of him with the animals.

Adjusting at home

I'm really lucky that J took off the whole month to stay home.  He's an incredible help.

With Muppet's sleep schedule this week, he's been getting up when I'm done feeding and spending the ridiculous amount of time trying to get Muppet to get back to sleep once I've woken him up.  In the morning when I'm doing the "breakfast feed" he makes the two of us breakfast.

 

Then he entertains Muppet while I take a shower. (or a nap)

 

 The dog is also adjusting.  In general he'd prefer to have nothing to do with Muppet.  But that's pretty much how he is with all people in general, so I don't think it's anything personal.

And at night, anytime Muppet cries, the dog goes running to the baby's room to check it out.  He comes to get me if Muppet is really waking and not just doing his "I make a ton of noise when I sleep" noises.

 

 This week Muppet became more interested in some of his things.  Like the swing. 
 

 He doesn't love being in the swing if he's awake, but he'll sleep in there for a while if he's already asleep.  J thinks it's the music.

 

And he's great in his pack n play.  For some reason he just gets really calm and happy when he's in there.

 But his favorite thing is the Baby Gym.  We do tummy time there or just lie and look up.  He's not quite able to focus on the hanging toys, preferring to stare into our faces or at us, but he's happy as a clam lying there.

Muppet weighs: 7lbs 6oz
Next Appointment: Thursday, November 3
Sleep: Muppet is a sleepy sleeper at night.  During the day he has no problem waking every 2-3 hours to feed.  But at night?  Not so much.  Which means I have to wake him every 3 hours.  And that's not easy to do.  It takes me an hour to wake him.  I strip him down to his diaper - which I change.  Then I tickle his feet, his ears, under his arms.  Still sleeping.  Eventually I dip a washcloth in cold water and wipe it on his face and he still sleeps.  Once I get him up, he eats and it takes forever to get him to go back to sleep because he's really only getting an hour of sleep between feedings with me trying to wake him and get him back to sleep.  I'm really looking forward to when I don't have to wake him.  Dr. R said that now that Muppet is back to birthweight, he just needs to get a little bit over and once he turns 2 weeks old I can let him sleep at night.
Best moment this week: Taking Muppet to the zoo.  It's one of my favorite places

Milestones:   

*Muppet now focuses on our faces

*Back up to birthweight