Growing Like a Weed...Already

Kim

Growing Like a Weed...Already

Henry is now 7.5 weeks old.  It is hard to believe that on Thursday, he will be 2 months old!  Time is really starting to fly.  I feel like we were in a fog for the first 4-5 weeks, but now we have emerged and time is moving quickly.  It is already hard to really remember those first few weeks.  They were a blur of feedings and lack of sleeping.  There was a time when my biggest goal of the day was getting a shower.  Thankfully, we are at the point now where I can pretty easily get a shower every day.  And most days we get out of the house for at least a little while.  Henry has been to Target, the grocery store, Babies R Us and a few other places with me.  Generally, he falls asleep once he gets in his car seat.  When I get to the store, I just take his whole carseat and place it in the shopping cart.  It takes up most of the cart, but he is usually happy as long as we are rolling around.  I know I need to enjoy this time when he is immobile and content to just sleep and ride around.  Once he is bigger, things won't be so easy.  We've also taken him out to eat several times.  Mostly he just sleeps through the meals.  Again, I know we should appreciate this while it lasts.  It really makes things pretty easy. 



Aren't I cute?

As I mentioned in the last post, he is usually sleeping 5-6 hours a night now in his Pack 'n Play by our bed, which is also awesome.  For the first 5 weeks or so he mostly slept in his swing in our den and I slept on the couch.  He was waking up every 3 hours like clockwork to eat too.  I'm not sure I've ever been so exhausted.  But just like everyone says, you make it through it and now things are much, much better.  I get to sleep in our bed and he is doing really well getting himself to sleep and then going back to sleep once he eats.  Who knows if it'll last, but we'll take it for now.  Our next goal is to migrate to the crib, but I'm not quite ready for that yet.  It is so nice to be able to see him and touch him without having to get out of bed. I'm doing much better at sleeping when he's sleeping, but I like being able to roll over and see that little chest going up and down and  know that he is still breathing and happy.  We've got about 4.5 more weeks before I go back to work, and we've made so much progress in these first 7.5 that I know we'll get there. 

Anyways, here are some updates/things I don't want to forget:

• Thank goodness for pacifiers!  You absolutely love yours and probably spend more time during the day sucking on it than not.  If we can't find your pacifier quick enough you try and stick your whole fist in your mouth.  I'm waiting for you to find your thumb!  One of the ways we know that you are really asleep is that you finally spit out your paci.  Otherwise, you might look asleep, but every now and then we'll see you sucking on the pacifier.  You are a champ at it, that's for sure.
• You get so mad when your bottle is finished.  As soon as we take it out of your mouth you start fussing, squeaking and generally getting upset.  I usually try to have your pacifier nearby so that you can have it immediately.  Usually, this placates you.  However, I have to take it out pretty quickly again to burp you and you get mad again.  It is pretty comical because you really are just mad that your food is gone and you have nothing to suck on anymore.  Don't worry, we always give you the paci back once you burp!
• In that same vein, you have discovered how to stick your bottom lip out when you are unhappy or mad.  It is quite possibly the cutest/most pitiful thing I have ever seen.  Case in point: 

Look at that lip!



• This week you've also discovered that you can lift your legs all the way up in the air.  You love to lay on your changing table and kick your legs and lift them up.  The other night as we were sleeping I looked over at you and you had your legs straight up in the air, creating a little tent with your blankets.  I wish I had a picture. Also, this new-found skill allows you to kick off all of your covers. I don't swaddle you tight anymore at night because you do like to move so much.  I usually just lay the blankets over you and tuck them in lightly around your body.  Well, this morning you had kicked them completely off.  You might be a wild sleeper like your cousin, Maddie.  I better watch out!
• You are still great about laying in your Pack 'n Play in the mornings (and occasionally in the evenings) and playing by yourself.  This is usually the time when I try to sneak in a shower.  You love your dog toy that is hanging down in the Pack 'n Play.  You will lay there and punch it and talk to it for 30 minutes sometimes. We love it. 
• You also love the bath.  You lay there so content and sweet with your hands folded across your belly as we bathe you.  I am glad that you like it because undoubtedly you will be a beach baby!

I love bath time!

• You are always playing with your tongue.  Even your pediatrician commented on it because it is so funny. I can stick my tongue out at you and you usually copy me after a few tries!
• We are still waiting on a real smile.  There have been a few "close calls" and you give us the Elvis lip, but no genuine, intentional smile yet.  We have made every silly face and noise we can think of to try and get you to smile, but so far, no dice. 

All-in-all, life with Henry is pretty great.  Matt and I both agree that he is the absolute cutest baby we have ever seen (we're not biased at all!), and he is still as sweet as can be.  Each day I can tell that he is learning more about the world around him and his personality emerges a little bit more.  We are so blessed to be his parents.  It really is amazing how much you can love something.

I'll leave you with this picture.  It was a crazy St. Patrick's Day around these parts this year...

Sleeping with grandpa.