Drew is two months old today! The last month has been so great. I honestly feel like I really didn’t start enjoying my maternity leave until right around week 5 or 6. I mean, of course I was enjoying having a new baby, but I would say the first month was survival mode. We didn’t leave the house, I was completely sleep deprived and each hour/minute revolved around his labor intensive eating routine. I’m so happy we’ve moved forward. Right around week 5, we turned a corner. We started leaving the house, I started sleeping, the “dessert” bottle was removed and overall life was much more enjoyable (though still exhausting and extremely hard at times!).

Disclaimer: This is a long post but it is probably mostly for me. I like having a place to document what he started doing and when, what he likes and dislikes, etc. And, well, there are just too many cute pictures of this little guy.

I realize I am a bit biased but seriously, could he be any more adorable?!

Below is a comparison of the day he left the hospital and today (11/13) in the same (newborn) onesie. I love his chunky little thighs. I am not going to lie, I enjoy taking responsibility for fattening him up. It was not easy but we both hung in there on the nursing front.

Stats
Week 1 – weight: 5lbs 4oz, 2% – height: 18.75 in., 9% – head circ.: 33 cm, 6%
Week 2 – weight: 6lbs 2oz, 3% – height: 19.5 in., 11% – head circ.: 34 cm, 7%
Week 7 – weight: 8lbs 10oz, 6% – height: 20.75 in., 2% – head circ.: 37.5cm, 13%
Week 9 – weight: 10lbs 2oz, 14% – height: 22.25 in., 19% – head circ.: 38cm, 11%

The below picture on the left is at 4 weeks and on the right is 8 weeks. Gosh he has grown a ton! He’s still in newborn clothes but we are getting close to transitioning to 3 months. We think he is just being fiscally responsible in getting lots of use out of the gobs of newborn clothes he was given from his grandmothers. 🙂 He has recently moved on to size 1 diapers although they are still a little big on him.

8 Weeks old – odds and ends

• Eating – Yes, the boy can eat! Woohoo! It took a while but he is finally nursing relatively well. I’d still say there is room for improvement but he has come a long way. He

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  doesn’t do that great of a job nursing right before bed or in the middle of the night but we’re getting there.

• Night Sleep – Nights seem to be pretty predictable and consistent. He usually sleeps 4 hours straight, eats and then goes back down for another 2 – 3 hours. Around 6am or so, he wakes up and eats a bit and then maybe an hour later naps in his swing for another hour or so. The day seems to really get started between 8-9am. I can’t wait for him to drop that middle of the night feeding which according to everything I’ve read and been told, should be soon! Believe it or not, he is still sleeping in his pack-n-play in our room. Yeah, we were sooo the people who thought we’d have him in his room at like week 2. Um, not so much. Ha!
• Naps – ugh. Lately, we are struggling here. Everyday seems to be different than the one before. Some days he resists naps completely and somedays he wants to sleep all day! We are following the ‘Babywise’ method of “eat, awake time, sleep” but lately I would say Drew is following his own plan. Of course, he’s the best napper in the world if we just hold him all day or let him lay on us on the couch (which uh, we do let him do because he’s just so darn cuddly). We are really working to get him to nap in his crib and so far, he hates it. We have some work to do here.

Drew likes the following:

• Peeing and pooping as soon as the diaper comes off. He’s an expert at this no matter how fast we move and how many precautions we take. Ok maybe he doesn’t like this but he is darn good at it.
• His activity playmat thingy. We had no idea how much this thing really entertains. It’s fun watching him discover the different hanging toys.
• Moving (in the car, walking around the house, in the swing, stroller).
• The moby wrap and baby bjorn – he instantly relaxes and falls asleep. We used the bjorn the first time at week 7 when we took him to his first Vandy exhibition basketball game. He slept the entire time. Lately I’ve been putting him in the Moby around the house and he likes that too.
• Napping on his tummy. Sigh…we don’t really let him yet (he zonked out during tummy time several times) but gosh he seems to prefer sleeping this way. Our doctor says don’t let him until he puts himself there so….we won’t.
• Being read to – Tim started reading to him around week 6 and it was amazing how he appeared to be paying attention.

Drew dislikes the following:

• Being in his crib.
• Being bored. He likes variety and gets disinterested with whatever he’s doing pretty quickly (hmm…maybe that’s normal?).
• Being left alone. He may be happily kicking away on his play mat and if I leave the room, he notices and starts crying. I guess he likes being the center of attention. 🙂

Milestones

• Smiling – Week 5. Now he gives us gummy smiles all the time. I love them!
• Babbling- Week 6. Not a ton but we get some fun babbles here and there.
• Bearing weight on his legs – He started doing this around week 5-6. He doesn’t do it all the time but regularly does this when angry/hungry.
• Finding his hands – week 6-7. Tim caught him staring at his hands one day and he’s also started grabbing at things on his play mat, while being held, being fed, etc.
• Lifting his head side to side while on his tummy. I wouldn’t say he is a pro at this but we can tell his head control has improved so much. He has not quite figured out that his arms can help him lift that big head up.

And now a few more pictures……

This month I started venturing out on my own. First stop, the grocery store. We survived!

From the collage below, you sure wouldn’t think he has a napping problem. See a theme though? Not many pictures in his crib.

Drew loves reading time (and Tim is already reciting their favorites).

Working on tummy time here.

Drew and I had so much fun when Monica came and visited. Our friends all joke that she is the baby whisperer….but it’s no joke. He loved her and he actually did nap in his crib for 15 minutes took a solid nap in his crib while she was here.

Poor baby got his first shots this month and has more this Friday. He screamed bloody murder handled it like a pro.

Having fun on the play mat.

Looking ahead: Drew has an exciting holiday season in front of him. I return to work from my 10 week leave on December 3rd. 🙁 Luckily I work (primarily) from home and am taking advantage of the situation and going to work from Cincinnati. So….Drew

and I will be spending the month of December in Ohio. We really didn’t want to enroll him in daycare until January and therefore the Grandmas get to fight over Drew duty are graciously going to watch Drew as I get back to work. Although I’m a little fearful for his lack of routine (naps that is) to continue (or worsen) while out of town for a month (and split between my parents house and Tim’s parents house), I’m also extremely excited that he’ll get so much family time while he’s still so little.

Well that’s it! Tim and I are having a ball and absolutely love watching him change and grow. I’m ending this ridiculously long post with my favorite iphone pic of the month. Love this little face!

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