Caleb 10 Weeks

We have video! I was trying to catch him smiling and cooing while he was playing with the toys that hang from the arch on his hippo mat (he likes to go after them with his feet).

Well, my darling boy continues to GROW. He is now wearing size two diapers and 6 month sized onsies!! He can now get his hands to his mouth to suck on them consistently and he'd only been at that for a few days when he started grabbing our fingers and shoving those in his mouth as well! He hasn't quite got it down yet with toys but any toy, blanket, or burp cloth that gets too close he will try to kind of herd in the direction of his mouth. :)

Picture Post

So my Momma was saying she needed a Caleb picture fix so here's a quick post with a bunch of pics. I'll try to get some text and some VIDEOS up soon! In the mean time here's the pics to tide you over. :)

He flipped that toy on to the top of his head himself. It was on his chest earlier.

Goofy face...
Happy goofy face.
He's becoming more and more aware and preoccupied with the camera. It makes it hard to catch the shots I want cuz the camera shows up and he STARES at it.
These are from this morning:

Caleb's 2 Month Check Up

Oh man... that was awful. Watching him get his shots I mean. I cried. Not as much as he did but I cried.

Otherwise the appointment went really well. My cute little piggy now weighs 14 lbs 2 oz, is 24.3 inches long and has a 16 inch head. That means my little piglet is now 95th percentile for both height AND weight (he used to be 95th for height but only 50th for weight) and is still 75th for head. Basically he's HUGE! He's fitting into 3-6 month sized clothing already!

I am actually starting to enjoy the early mornings with him, b/c now that he's sleeping through the night (MIRACLE!!) I'm not a complete zombie and he is just SO delightful. It's like he's way excited to see me, like he missed me in his sleep and he just smiles SO big and he coos and wiggles and is absolutely charming. I think it helps that I hear him stirring before he fully wakes up so I get up then before he does so I can run and take care of my urgent morning needs and then get a bottle prepped and get back to him right as he's opening his eyes so he doesn't fully wake up and start screaming before I get to him.

Just one more update on the feeding bit - the bottle thing and pumping has been working good for the last couple weeks, however I'm having more issues with my migraines again (something about my hormones going all wonky post baby and my sleep schedule getting totally screwed) and I can't take the good drugs while breast feeding him, so I've reached the decision and both of our doctors are 100% with me on this - that Caleb needs a functional mommy more than he needs to be breast fed. So my pump is due back on the 29th and between now and then he's going to get switched to an all formula diet. That way I can bust out the big guns and get this crud under control so I can function like I want to.

And he's not just charming for me any more - he was charming the pants off the doctor and nurses - smiling big and cooing at them. I swear yesterday he was already starting to babble. He was making all these new noises all of the sudden. I was like "Whoa! Where did that come from?!" And he's such a little flirt - he'll watch for you look at him and then smile great big and scrunch up his nose and then look down and then glance back up at you from under his eye lashes like he's bashful. It's absolutely adorable!

But I do have to say I think I'm his favorite right now. :) And it makes me VERY, very happy. Because last night he was being a bit fussy for Adam, so I stopped whatever it was I was working on and came over and said "Come to da Momma" and picked him up and right then and there Caleb just smiled GREAT BIG and let out this really happy coo. It was SO dang cute. And Adam was like "Holy cow! Did you HEAR him?? Wow.... He REALLY likes you." I just smiled great big. It was a very happy moment.

Ya know, people keep asking me if motherhood is what I thought it was going to be, or if its a lot harder or what not and how do I like it etc. This might sound weird but motherhood is EXACTLY what I thought it was going to be. Its the most wonderful, stressful, amazing, completely insane thing I've ever done. I'm going to credit my mother for most of my preparedness on this one. I think she did a superb job of balancing out that yes, babies are wonderful but she definitely didn't sugar coat the realities of 2 am feedings etc so I definitely knew what I was in for.

People also ask me if I'm surprised at the intensity of the love that I have for my child. Apparently this surprises/amazes a lot of other first time parents, but I'm not surprised one bit. It's exactly what I thought it would be and I've decided that I owe that one too to my parents, because they taught me what love really is. I think there are an amazing number of people in this world who don't have a clue what real, unconditional love really is and feels like, so the first time they experience it - when they have their child - it knocks them on their butts. But I've been really blessed to have parents in my life who taught me that one by example so once again it's all just exactly what I thought it would be.

And now that you've scrolled through all my blathering I'll stop because I know that what you are REALLY here for is a bunch of pictures of Caleb from the last two weeks:

The timing on this next one was just so bad it was funny. I'm not sure which is funnier to me - the look on Adam's face or Caleb puking...

Caleb's Blessing

So Caleb's baby blessing was last weekend and it was wonderful. We of course did the obligatory photo op after wards and so here's a picture post of the cute baby and adoring family members.

We really needed Louis and the girls so we could have gotten a good pic of the whole fam...

Caleb with his Grandma and Grandpa

Here's the boys (you know my husband is tall when he makes my Daddy look short...)

I have this obsession with his feet. I just think they're too cute!!

Clearly Caleb was very stressed by the whole picture taking experience...

Caleb Week 7

I'm sorry for the delay in this post. I've been trying to get pictures to go with it but we're currently experiencing technical difficulties so we're posting pictureless for now and we'll get pictures online when things stop making me want to blow them up!

Caleb is doing wonderfully. He's SO BIG!! Holy crow! He now fits into 3-6 month sized clothing! At 7 weeks old! It makes me sad that some of my favorite outfits no longer fit him but oh well. He's getting SO chubby! He's got multiple jelly rolls on his arms and legs now. And he smiles ALL the time. I just love it. He's a doll! He's also a serious cuddle bug. Mom was commenting on it when she was here and my thought is - with Adam and I for parents I don't know how this kid could NOT be a cuddle bug.

Just to list off some of the developmental milestones he's already hit: he can roll from front to back AND from back to front. He can't do it consistently or at will but he's done both multiple times. He can push up with his hands and hold his head up to look around when lying on his belly. He can ALMOST keep his head stable in all directions. He coos and gurgles and growls and grunts and makes all sorts of noises. He's got the social smile thing down pat. If you put a toy in his hand he will grasp it and shake it. If you move a toy slowly across his visual field he will turn his eyes and head to follow its progress.

My folks and my sister Liz were here for the weekend b/c we had Caleb's baby blessing. It was really beautiful and it was so great to have my folks here for this wonderful experience. (For the non-Mormon folks: we don't baptize kids until they're 8 years old but we do haul them up in front of the congregation as infants to give them a name and a blessing. Its kinda like a christening, and for us - its a big deal). We had a brunch for the family afterwards and that was great.

OH! And he's starting to get HAIR!! He appears to be working on a full head of dark hair. OH! And he's got eye lashes now! And he's starting to get eye brows!

I'll post more as I think of it and with pictures as soon as I can get them to work right.

Caleb Week 6

HE SMILED AT ME!!! He'd done little turn the corners of his mouth up smiles for me before but not the BIG gummy grins he's been doing in his sleep. Well, July 4th at 5:3o am I had just finished feeding him when he totally ripped one and I looked at him and said "Oh my goodness! Did you just poopie or did you just poot?" And he looked up at me and just started grinning this huge grin. I LOVED IT! He's done it for me like twice since then.

Life is pretty good this week. The last couple days he's slept for 5 hours at night, which is WAY exciting. I'm still pumping and giving him breast milk in a bottle. He's getting a little bit of formula but mostly breast milk.

Caleb also got to meet his Great Grandma Cleo on Saturday. Cleo is Adam's Grandma and she's not doing so well right now so we made sure we made a trip down there to see her this last weekend. Here's Adam, Caleb, Cleo and Donni:

Caleb also got to meet his Uncle Mark (Adam's little brother) for the first time this weekend. It was really cute to watch the two of them together, Mark was really taken with him.

Cute sleeping baby picture:

Here he is crashed out with Daddy on the bed in the living room. We have a bed set up in the living room from when my parents were in town visiting. Well... it stayed set up after they left so that poor Adam could get some sleep at night.

And one other random side note: I think my child has the goofiest baby hair I've seen yet. In addition to his male pattern baldness, he has now developed the classic semi-circle of baldness that a lot of kids get from laying on their backs. This means he's got this like patch of hair on the top and then a semi circle of hair around back. It's REALLY funny looking. I am however hopeful that his male pattern baldness won't last TOO much longer b/c he's starting to get some decided fuzziness on top of his head. I tried to get a picture but they don't quite do it justice (he was being highly uncooperative about holding still in the right position).

Week 5 1/2

I just wanted to do a quick update, mostly cute pictures, b/c I realize that last post sounded a bit negative. For the record - I didn't sugar coat my feeding issues or cut it short on purpose. I had already gotten some flak from some people for my decision and so I was hoping if I explained fully that people would understand I didn't make the choice lightly and just in case somebody still didn't agree with me by the end of the explanation I included the line that I didn't want to know b/c I spent a lot of time feeling like a failure and wondering what was wrong with me and I needed to move past that.

In other news: Life is improving. A LOT. Caleb's mouth is totally thrush free and I am FINALLY pain free. As soon as the blister finishes healing I will be good to go! At first I wasn't responding well to the pump (apparently some women just don't) but I am improving by the day. I'm now averaging 2 oz more per pumping session than I was Saturday and the overall amount I get each day has roughly doubled so I'm very pleased and hopeful. The pumping has also meant that I'm getting more sleep - which is a truly glorious thing. And I'm now able to be conscious when Caleb is awake and I'm able to play with my darling boy.

And b/c I promised you chubby baby pictures - here they are!

I just love the Winnie the Pooh jammies! So cute!

Liftin' that big noggin' is hard work!

Caleb now LOVES his baths. He didn't cry once, even when I washed him this last time!

Just look at that FAT belly! I LOVE IT!

He was talkin' to the Momma after his bath.

Caleb LOVES his Daddy!

All ready to get rocked to sleep!