Say Cheese!

Rex is smiling now and it is the best! I had to check to make sure but I discovered that it is now a response to something pleasurable instead of just a random event. I am so glad I managed to capture it on camera so I could share that with everyone.

I had to take Rex to the doctor this morning because he was having some issues with his two big toes but he's okay. While we were there, they weighed him and it turns out he is 12 pounds and 2 ounces! I told the nurse who weighed him, "Oh my goodness- he's only 5 1/2 weeks old!" She said, "Oh, wow! He's a big boy then." I took another picture of him that has his whole body in the picture.



Rob and I are also doing well. Now that he's done with the roofing project and cleaning up the garage area, Rob wanted to start on another project. He asked me yesterday about what we should do with the front porch because he was getting ready to rip out. I managed to talk him into waiting to start another big project for a while and in the meantime, spending some time with me and Rex. He likes to be busy and fix stuff around the house but I think it will be good to have him in the house for a while too. Rex slept for a 4.5 hour stretch last night (from 10:30 p.m. until 3:00 a.m.) which was so wonderful. He also slept for another 2 or 2.5 hours after that so we got some pretty good sleep last night. There was a big peeing/pooping incident in between there but it's nothing we can't handle. I'm just busy feeding Rex all the time (how do you think he got to be over 12 pounds?!) but I have been getting out more and more lately. I think I'm even going to get a massage in the next few weeks and I am so looking forward to that.

One Month Old

Rex turned one month old last Sunday- it is a little hard to believe that it has already been a month since he was born. He's such a good baby and is still doing great. Everything (like sleeping and eating) continues to get better and easier for all of us. We talked about getting him a little cake to celebrate the occasion but ended up not doing that after all. The day wasn't too exciting- Rob finished up the roof (Yay!) and Rex and I just stuck close to the house where he ate, slept and pooped the day away. He also got a bath that night. Rex and I have been taking walks every morning. We first tried that out last Friday and he just loves being out and about in his stroller. And he usually falls asleep during the walk which I love. Here's a couple of photos of him at one month old.





As I mentioned, Rob has finished up the roof. He even has a lot of the interior work- new ceiling tiles and insulation- done now too. It rained and rained (think rainforest/Amazon kind of rain) the other night and he discovered a very small leak still so he'll have to fix that now. It was on the trickiest part of the roof where the garage meets the house in a very awkward area so it isn't too surprising.

Up On The Rooftop

Rex and I haven't gotten to see too much of Rob lately- here's where he has been hiding.



I think I mentioned a few months ago when the snow started to melt that we discovered we had a leaky roof over a portion of our garage/four seasons room. The power to our house also came in at that area on the roof and into the attic so we had to get all our electrical undergrounded. Now that the undergrounding has been completed, Rob has been working on re-roofing the leaky half of the garage. We got some quotes from roofers to do it but with Rob doing it, it's saving us lots of money. LOTS. Still, I think if he had it to do over again, he may have opted to just pay someone because it turned out to be more difficult and time consuming than he imagined. He's stopped giving me estimates of when he thinks it might be done but I really think it's going to be soon. None of us have enjoyed him spending all his free time in the evenings and weekends up on that roof. But yay for saving money and him almost being done!

Rex continues to be doing very well. He's getting something of a schedule going now which includes two 2.5-3 hour sleeping periods in the night. He goes down around 11:00 or 12:00 at night and then wakes up around 2:00 or 3:00. Feeding and related business usually takes about an hour then it's back to sleep until 5:00 or 6:00. That's not so bad- I can definitely live with that. And some mornings he'll even sleep a little more after that feeding but not for so long. I watched an episode of Baby Story on TLC today- something I never did while I was pregnant and for good reason. The lady on there today looked like she was about to pass out because of all the pain and then it turned out she was only dilated to 2 cm! She was asking for the epidural already. Then it kept wearing off and by the time she got to 9 cm, they couldn't give her any more drugs because she had already asked for too many. Yikes. She ended up having a boy that was almost exactly the same size as Rex. I don't know if she was a total wimp or if I was just pretty tough or I had it easier but my goodness- my labor experience seemed to be a ton better and easier than hers. Glad I didn't watch that show before Rex was born or I probably would have been terrified!

Here's a photo of Rex from this morning. He's gotten so much bigger and his legs and arms and face- everything really- are all filling out so much. I wish I had a little baby scale at home to weigh him but I guess we'll just have to wait until he goes back to the doctor for his 2-month check up.

Just the Two of Us

Rex and I have been on our own during the day for a little while now and we're doing pretty good. He's learning to make friends with the swing and his bouncy seat, I'm happy to report. In fact, he's napping in the bouncy seat right now. It was a little scary to be on my own with him at first but we're doing tons better now. He still doesn't really have anything resembling a schedule but he's not even 3 weeks old yet. I'm sure that comes with time. The sleeping at night is going pretty well. He sleeps good, just wakes up (very) often to feed. I read that breastmilk is absorbed a lot quicker than formula so that is the reason he gets hungry more often. Oh well- I can sleep later. Here's a few photos but I put a bunch more on Flickr this afternoon- you can click the panel on the side to get to those.

Getting Reacquainted with the Bouncy Seat


Having some Doctor-Mandated Tummy Time

Pillow and a Vending Machine

That's about all I feel like these days- a human pillow and a place to get some food. I am afraid Rex has gotten into a bad habit where he only wants to nap if someone is holding him. He does okay at night now in the bassinet- thank goodness. He just doesn't seem to like his bouncy seat too much anymore. At first I thought he couldn't possibly understand that if he cries when he's in the seat, someone will pick him up. He's only 2 weeks old and I just didn't think he could figure all that out. Oh, but he has. When the house is empty again and it's just the two of us, we'll fix that. He has to be okay in the seat because I can't hold him all day like I do now once my helpers are back in California. And I don't want to take him to day care when he's two months old and tell his caregiver, "You have to hold him all day or he'll cry." It just won't work and we'll have to fix that.

He had his 2-week check with the pediatrician on Thursday and he aced it. He is back up to 9 pounds after dropping to 8 lbs, 3 oz the week before. He lost his cord stump the night before the appointment so the doctor checked that out and said it looked just fine. Everything else checked out well and it felt good to know we had successfully got through the first two weeks without damaging our child.

In other news, his sleeping pattern- well, it has no pattern. Some nights go really well and some nights he is wide awake and wants to eat every hour or so. In pooping news, we did have a pretty funny incident the other day. I had just finished feeding him and was changing his diaper when in the midst of the change, he had to poop. It didn't just dribble out though- it shot out in a big arc and got all over the place. I yelled for Rob to come back to his room and the two of us were just laughing and laughing. It was totally gross, but it was so funny too. Rob said, "I don't even know where to start" and I said "Get the camera!" We got it cleaned up eventually but here's one of the photos. I'll put up some other Rex photos from the last week too after that.

His changing table in the foreground with the chair we nurse in- it was all on the floor in between too.


Tummy time with dad


Having some success trying to figure out how to suck his thumb


Napping with Dad and Gramps during a race (back last Sunday when it was still okay to be in the bouncy seat)