Monday, May 21, 2012

8 weeks

My little baby is already 8 weeks old! That means he's almost 2 months old. Time is going by WAY too quickly. But I am so excited to see him learning each and every day.

The past two weeks or so he's had some noticeable hair loss at the front of his head. It almost looked like he would end up with a mohawk! But it's already growing back quite rapidly. He is still just so handsome either way. 

He is a good little sleeper. He sleeps all night except for feedings, which come every 2-3 hours, and he takes plenty of naps throughout the day. In this picture we are in bed and he started up against my shoulder like normal and he scooted down so he was horizontal and at my hips! Such a funny baby! I was catching up on some TV shows via hulu so I just let him stay that way. 


Baby still sweats a lot. People think I exaggerate, but the below picture shows I am not! No, that is not a leaky diaper. That is, in fact, sweat! This happens every night and sometime even during the day. I have smelled the sleepers and checked the diapers. We began using disposables at night to see if that helped. It did. I wonder if the extra layers of cotton from his diapers were just too thick. Yesterday we switched him over to the Bumgenius Freetime diapers and those seem to work better with the sweat problem so far.


With his sweating, he also had a very very warm head. If I'm holding him with his head resting against my bare arm he leaves wetness on my arm when he moves! It's not a little moisture, it's enough that I wipe it off! His head usually feels sticky and sometimes I'm afraid his little brains are going to fry! I know he's just a warm-bodied baby, but it seems like his head shouldn't be quite so warm.

We've been doing more exercises with Jack to help him grow big and strong. I prod him with his rattle and he grabs it and sometimes waves it around, but he hasn't really noticed it quite yet. He loves staring at his stuffed panda and reaching for it. He has pulled it closer to him even! He likes the panda the best since the contrast of the white and black is easy for him to stare at. We do tummy time and floor time every day. Sometimes I put him on a blanket for tummy time, but I also use the boppy to help elevate him. His neck is getting so strong! But sometimes he just likes to chill.


I have a light up mirror that I set him in front of also. He loves to stare at himself and the colors that light up. He smiles at himself and gurgles at the music. Jack also has discovered how much fun it is to grab things. His favorites so far are Mommy's hair, Mommy's necklaces, and Mommy's shirt collar. He isn't super strong yet, but at least I have this warning period to prepare! When Daddy has him in the mornings he holds him horizontally and lets Jack push against Daddy's tummy with his legs. Daddy also holds his hands and extends his arms so that he's raised off Daddy's lap. This helps Jack to hold up his own head and move it from side to side. Mommy holds him under the armpits and lets him practice standing and jumping. He seems to like all of these exercises for a brief time. Then he's ready to snuggle again.


Jack has finally begun to sleep in his sleeper at night! While he still wakes up every 2-3 hours to eat, in between those times I get him to sleep them put him in his sleeper. I had been letting him sleep on my chest or curled up in the crook of my arm. I know you're not supposed to do that, but it worked for us. He has been in his sleeper consistently for the past three nights! Now if only we can get to some longer stretches of sleep. Six hours would be lovely at one time!

Daddy has been reading to Jack. He loves to look at the pictures on the pages. I love that Daddy and Mommy both love to read. Hopefully we can foster a love for reading in Jack when he is very young so it just is natural as he ages. My grandpa always used to read to me when I was little and I couldn't wait to read on my own. I still love to read today for fun.


I love the above and below pictures. He was really loving the pictures in Petunia the Silly Goose. He was smiling and cooing at each page as Daddy read to him. In general he's been a lot more verbal recently. He coos at Mommy and Daddy, he gurgles at the wall, he splutters at his hands. I make lots of noises at him and accentuate the form my mouth makes to teach him. I swear he's trying to mimic the shapes when I do this. Such a smart little baby already!


Along with baby trying to talk to Mommy and Daddy, he has added a bunch of noises to his "unhappy" arsenal. He has a nice, shrill screech when he is startled. His cries escalate much more quickly when he is hungry and not fed immediately. He has a frantic cry when he wakes up suddenly- usually because his arms twitch or something like that. He also wheezes and gasps a lot, which is actually worrisome. It sounds like he has trouble getting a breath when he does it and then he coughs a lot. I set him upright and pat his back when this happens. It really makes me want to keep him out of his crib in a room alone when he sleeps. I don't plan on moving into the nursery to sleep for quite some time yet. I like him being so close to me- both for feedings and so I can check on him.

Our whole family when on an almost 3 mile walk the other day! It was so lovely outside and we have a park with a wonderful walkway. We got out the stroller and headed out. Jackson took advantage of the nice weather and wore his flip flops/sandals. I love these little sandals! Love the colors, the style, and the little skulls and crossbones! Perfect for Jack's first summer.


On the walk we passed a beautiful german shepherd. We would like one or two of those someday. They are such beautiful dogs and would make great buddies for our kids and good watch dogs. Make me feel a little more secure while Matt is deployed someday. Jack was content in his car seat for part of the walk. A couple times we got him out and carried him though. He knows he has Mommy and Daddy wrapped around his finger. Just a little fussing and out of that car seat he came!


Here is his official 8 weeks picture. Wearing his U of M onesie. Love it! He'll definitely get a lot of use out of this in the next couple months. It came in a set with a yellow one with a blue M on it also. We are going to represent!


Things Mommy has learned: Mommy doesn't care when the baby spits up/drools all over her or her clothes. With this in mind, Mommy doesn't wear nice things when she doesn't have to. She will plan to wear nice clothes to work and then change when she's home so Jack will only spit up/ drool on Tees. Babies go through a couple onesies a day... which is ok. I used to try to keep it to one a day and just make due with his sweat/spit up/ drool/ etc on it, but now I just change him and resign myself to more laundry than normal. Bibs might become a regular part of his outfits. I've put them on him a couple times, but his drooling is sporadic. But I'm sure he'll get to the point where he'll wear one pretty much all day.

Jack's left ear was folded over when he was born. It has slowly been unfolding, which was surprising! I thought it would just be like that forever. Now his ears look much more symmetrical. I admit, I was willing to let him get plastic surgery when he was older if he wanted. Matt said boys don't care about that kind of thing anyways.

Ok, well, I wrote all this while baby was sleeping on my arm! Now he's awake and ready to play!