Slacking...4 Weeks and 1 Month Birthday!

Wow, I'm such a slacker this week!  G was 4 weeks old on Thursday.  Time is just going way too fast.  I don't like it one bit!  The big news for this week was our trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Indiana.  It was our first long distance car ride and first overnight trip. 

Griffin did a great job ont he car ride over.  We weren't sure how things were going to go with him because it's over four hours to get to my parents' house.  G slept the whole car ride over.  We stopped once to eat and feed/change him.  After our one stop we were able to get the rest of the way to their house without stopping.  He started to wake up just as we were driving through town to get to the house. 

Saturday was quite the busy day.  Most of my extended family made the drive up to Mom and Dad's to come meet G.  We were so happy to see everybody.  They had about a four hour drive  to get here and were very excited to meet the newest memeber to the family.  It definitely meant a lot that they ca me to see us! 

Grandma and Grandpa have had such a great time having Little Man here.  We're definitely not ready to go home, but tomorrow morning we have to :o(  Hopefully we can come back again soon!

Today Griffin is officially one month old.  I honestly cannot believe it!  I really feel like we just left the hospital a few days ago.  It doesn't seem possible that he is already a month old.  He's doing so many new things!  We've been working on tummy time and his neck muscles are getting much stronger!  He enjoys lifting his head and looking around, especially when he's being burped or carried around upright looking over a shoulder.  He is so amazed by everything around him.  Those big beautiful eyes are open wide taking in everything he can.  He also likes to scoot himself around on the floor while doing tummy time.  He gets those little legs and feet moving and he scoots all over the place.

What a weekend we've had!  Like all weekends I don't want to see it end, but I guess there's no way to stop it, unfortunately.  I guess the best way to end the weekend is with a pic of G on his one month birthday! 

One Month Old!  1.29.11

Some of G's Firsts!

Today was a fun day.  G and I were playing (well as much as you can play with a 3 1/2 week old baby.)  He had just finished eating...big surprise there...and I decided to play some peek-a-boo with him.  As the game went on he started smiling and reacting to me!  He's smiled for a while now, but a lot of times it's while he's sleeping.  He hadn't yet smiled in response to people yet.  It made me so excited!  He's also figuring out that his arms can move all over and he likes to stretch.  He has never liked to have his arms swaddled.  It used to be because he would sleep with his hands up near his chin.  They were always around his face when I was pregnant.  Now that he's not staying quite so curled up he likes to sleep with both arms up above his head.  It's so darn cute!

We've also started working on tummy time.  He's not a huge fan of it, but is a very good sport about it.  His ocean play mat is nice because it has a stuffed whale attached that can be used as a pillow.  It helps keep his head up off the floor a bit so he's not smooshed.  He moves his legs and tries to move himself around.  We're working on getting those neck muscles stronger, but he still can't move his head much on his own yet.  He's getting better though!  When he's being burped he lifts his head to look around a lot more now.  He's definitely still a bobblehead, but it amazes me how far he's come in just three weeks! 

I constantly find myself in a battle between wanting him to reach all these developmental milestones because I can't wait to see him accomplish things, and wanting him to stay small and helpless because I know he'll never need me this much ever again.  Even though the 2 or 3am feedings aren't exactly fun, I know that I really shouldn't complain because the time is going to go so fast.  I'm amazed at how fast he's growing.  My sweet baby isn't going to be a baby very long I'm sure! 

And of course, I can't end a post without a picture!  Here he is...stretching like a big boy!

Three Weeks Old Already?!?!

Where is the time going?  I can't believe my sweet boy is already 3 weeks old!  He is getting bigger and stronger every day.  As he stretched out yesterday, after a diaper change, he completely filled out his newborn size sleeper!  It's been so funny to see the newborn sizes look big on him.  He still likes to pull his knees up and his legs out of the sleeper legs, but he can finally stretch all the way from top to bottom of them.  I'm sure he'll still be in them for a little longer because they're big everywhere else still, but it's just one more confirmation that he is growing like crazy!  We don't go back to the pediatrician until his two month check up, so it will be very interesting to see how much he grew in 6 weeks time! 

We have now gotten all of Griffin's newborn portraits back.  They are wonderful!  I have to admit, I love the fact that we hadn't cut his hospital bracelet off yet by the time the pics were taken.  It truly showed how new he really was!  It will probably sound silly, but I didn't really want to cut the bracelet off.  I also couldn't believe just how tiny his little bitty wrist was.  Once the bracelet was off we could really see just how tiny he is.  I'm still amazed that not that long ago this little guy was hibernating inside my belly, and that he fit in there.  What's even more amazing is that babies MUCH bigger than G is now manage to find room inside their mommas' bellies.  It's a pretty incredible process that's for sure. 
Right now we're going through the big 3-week growth spurt.  G is eaing every 1 1/2 to 2 hours during the day and every 3 hrs at night.  As soon as he's done eating, he falls right back to sleep.  It's so hard to be a growing baby!  Hopefully the growth spurt slows here soon, and we can get back to a more "normal" eating/sleeping schedule.  He was just getting into a really good one before the growth spurt hit.  Mommy is definitely missing the sleeping for 4-5 hrs at night thing!  I know, I know, I really shouldn't complain about 3 hr increments.  A lot of infants eat every 2 around the clock for weeks or months.  What can I say...he had me spoiled from very early on!

Here is G's 3 Week Picture!

Don't you just love my crazy hair?!?!  :o)

Two weeks down!

It's really hard to believe that Griffin was two weeks old on Thursday.  Even harder to believe that today is two weeks since we brought him home.  I'm amazed at how fast time seems to be moving. 

We had his two week check up at the pediatrician on Thursday.  Of course, it would have to be on the first big snow of the season.  The weather has been so unbelievably warm for Dec/Jan that I almost forgot just how awful winter in Illinois actually is.  Thankfully we have a warm cover for G's car seat that helps shield him from the cold, wind, snow, etc.  This was also the first day that I had driven since the day before he was born.  After giving birth you're restricted from driving, they suggest two weeks, which I was good and followed.  Nothing like breaking us both back in on a LOVELY day...Anyway, we made it to the ped's office with no trouble (thank goodness!) and his check up went great.  He is above his birth weight and has grown almost a full 2 inches!  The doctor said his height was just soaring and even showed me the line graph that the stats are plotted onto.  His weight is increasing well also, but since he started on the lower end, it's going to take him a little longer to reach "average" in weight percentiles.  Not that I would ever want an unhealthy baby, but I can honestly say I was ok with his little size at birth.  It made pushing him out much easier!  :o)

Of course there always has to be a hang up.  Thursday evening one of his eyes was getting very goopy and gross looking.  Why it couldn't have started that morning while we were already at the doctor's office I'll never know, but that's how it worked out.  I googled the symptoms and decided it was probably a blocked tear duct.  I was trying some of the "home remedies" it listed for helping to unclog it, but on Friday morning it was looking worse instead of the same or better.  So I called the ped's office back.  After speaking to a nurse and giving her the info, she said she would talk to Dr. M and get back with me.  A few hours later she called and told me he thought it was also a blocked tear duct.  (Yea for Dr. Google and I being right!)  Dr. M said to continue to wipe it clean with a warm, wet, clean cloth and to massage the area between the inner eye and the bridge of the nose often to work the blocked tissue and gunk out.  (Again, yea for Dr. Google and I doing the right thing!)  We did those things over and over yesterday, and I'm so happy that this morning it looks SO MUCH BETTER!  There is still a little bit of yellow goo that comes out, but at least his poor little eye isn't stuck shut by all of it any longer.  He is looking much better finally :o) 

And of course because I can't post without a picture, here is one of my favs from this past week.  G is 9 days old and snuggling with his momma :o) 

Week 1 - Success!

Well we have made it through our first week at home!  Griffin is adjusting well, and so are Mom and Dad!  Knock on wood, he is a very content, easy-going baby.  I'm sure that means that the next one will be the total opposite.  Good thing that isn't going to happen for a while!  ha! 

G's first week at home was filled with many things.  He had his first and second visits to the pediatrician, met the wonderful staff at SIRM, lost his umbilical cord stump (yea!) and spends lots of time snuggling with Mommy.  Grandma and Grandpa had to leave on Wednesday, which definitely had me a little worried about how things were going to go since Matthew was back at work, but we made it through with flying colors!  We've even had a couple of slumber parties during the day with Sophie.  They both enjoy lying in Mom and Dad's bed all snuggled up.

He has been doing really well eating and sleeping.  He's up to around 3oz per bottle (little piggy!) and is typically only up once during the middle of the night.  We are starting to figure out a good schedule so all of us get the most sleep possible.  I probably get the least sleep since I need to pump at night as well as feed him, but I guess I can make up for it during the day...in theory anyway. 

We went back to the pediatrician yesterday afternoon for another weigh in.  The doctor wanted to continue to check his weight because he was such a little peanut.  I was going to be absolutely shocked if he hadn't continued to gain because of how much he'd been eating lately.  Luckily, after he peed all over the place, we were able to finally get a weight on him, and he's only 2oz away from his birth weight!  He has also grown 1 1/2 inches already!  Our little guy isn't going to be little very long I'm afraid, but that is definitely what we want to see!

All in all we've had a great first week at home.  I still can't believe he's already over a week old.  I have a really bad feeling that time is going to fly, and my maternity leave is going to be over WAAAAAAAAAAY before I'm ready, but I guess no matter when I had to go back, I'd be saying the same thing.  I need to quit thinking about when my leave is going to end and just enjoy it for now.

In the mean time, we're going to do lots of snuggling, and take lots of pictures!  :o)  It's still really hard to believe he's finally here!  And since there can never be too many pics of sleeping babies, here is one of my favs!  He's taking after Aunt Cindy with that thumb!

Sucking my left thumb...just like my aunt!

Major photo bomb...look out! :o)

Here are some of the pics we have of little G.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we have!

Matthew right after he delivered Griffin

Brrr!!!! It's cold out here!

Put me back in!

Hi Daddy!

Griffin and Mommy

With Nancy our midwife

Our precious boy

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa for the first time

Daddy's first time changing a diaper.  It was a dirty one too!

Giving Griffin his first bath at home

Sneak peek of Griffin's newborn photo session!

What a change!

Wow...I knew life was going to drastically change when Griffin arrived, but there is definitely no way to prepare for just how different it actually is.  It is a WONDERFUL change and we are so blessed and thankful to have this little guy here.  We are trying to establish some feeding/sleeping schedules with him, and my parents have been a huge help! 

Griffin is doing well!  He's gained back 2oz from what he lost after his birth weight and he's grown an inch and a quarter already!  We are going back for a weight check on Friday because the doctor wants to make sure he's continuing to gain since he's such a little peanut.  I don't think he has anything to worry about though.  G is up to 2 full oz of milk at each feeding which is every 2-3 hours, and today he's acting like he might like to take more, so before long we'll see if he's ready to take a little over 2 oz.  I think it's safe to say he has his daddy's appetite!  That makes me a little nervous for when he's older, we may need a 2nd mortgage to pay the grocery bills...ha! 

Yesterday we not only took G to his first pediatrician appt, but we also stopped in to the fertility clinic to see Dr. H and his staff.  They are so wonderful!  Everyone came out to see him and Dr. H was very glad we stopped in.  One of the nurses told me to be sure to send them a picture to put on their success wall.  I told her we definitely would when we get his newborn announcements printed up.  It was so good to see them all again!  Matthew wasn't able to go with us because he had to go to Iowa for work, and he was disappointed that he wasn't able  to see them, but glad to hear they were happy to see us! 

Sophie is adjusting pretty well to the new member of the family.  She is definitely more territorial than she used to be.  Whenever someone comes to the door she barks incessantly, which she did before, but her bark is more forceful and territorial than it ever has been.  When he starts crying she gets so anxious and wants to make sure that everything is ok.  Several times a day she goes into his room when he's sleeping to check on him and make sure that he's ok.  She's definitely a good big sister! 

We have had so many well wishes and congratulations from friends and family, and we truly appreciate each and every one!  Thank you so much!  Griffin is only lucky little guy to have so many people in his life that care about him!