Smiles

We have been getting pretty regular smiles for the last week or so. It's so wonderful!!


Ben is also chattering more and sleeping better on his own, including putting himself to sleep with little to no soothing from me.

He doesn't like all the hot weather we've been having, and I don't blame him. He went to his first SCA event (classes) on Saturday and was pretty uncomfortable because of the heat, so ended up in nothing but his diaper.

One Month Old

Ben is one month old today. He continues to do well but is less and less willing to be put down right now, which has made nights a bit more difficult again.

Some milestones:
He has started grasping things, including fingers and hair (both my hair and Jeff's chest hair)
He continues to hold his head off our shoulder with longer and longer intervals.

I have uploaded all photos that we have taken or were taken by the grandma's onto a new Picasa account. Feel free to check them all out.

I will be loading some more pictures in the near future of one month old pictures :)

Four weeks old

Wow, time sure flies with a newborn. It's amazing to think that he was born 4 weeks ago. Life is still revolving around feeding him and just trying to get by, but I have more energy than I did even at the beginning of last week and was able to get out and do some needed shopping yesterday :)

Our biggest hurdle right now are some feeding issues. I had plugged ducts early in the week (ow), which lead to feeding off of both breasts during each feeding. This brought on some issues of hyperlactaion causing reflux for Ben. He would eat, be full but want to eat more because it calmed the burning sensation as he swallowed. This cause lots of spitting up and discomfort (both from reflux and being overful). He would also cry as if he wanted to eat, but not latch on and cry while feeding. After a bit of research last night we think we have found the problem. Things have been better the last 4 feedings, so hopefully that was the culprit.

While dealing with all of this, we offered Ben his first bottle last night. He drank an ounce, not a full feeding, but he had been nursing not long before.

I found one of the keys to getting anything done with Ben is to put him in the moby wrap. We first put him in it when he was 9 days old and he immediately took to it. It has been a lifesaver when going out to eat as we don't have a baby carrier carseat. He loves to be held and will often cry when put down, so it helps me to have free hands to do things like wash dishes and just generally clean up.

Well, Ben has woken up and needs some attention. More soon.

Our growing boy

A couple of quick things while Benji is sleeping:

He has outgrown his Newborn outfits that have feet because he legs are too long and his feet are too big. Our boy has large hands and feet and long arms and legs. His feet are over 3" long.

We finally made it back to the doctor's office for a weight check (yes, that makes 4 visits there in 15 days since we came home from the hospital). The doctor is very pleased. The rash he had has gone away, his eyes are looking good, he is healing from the bris well and he gained 13 oz. in 7 days. Ben now weighs 8 lbs. 2.5 oz (or he did at 4 something p.m. on April 3rd).

He continues to eat quite well and sleeps well too. The last two nights he slept in the co-sleeper instead of on mom or dad for the majority of the night.

In other news, we have a wonderful neighbor who has been cooking for us and is bringing over some casseroles to top off the cupcakes she made for us a few days ago.

Oh, and Benji had his first full bath last night. He really seemed to enjoy floating in the water with me just supporting his head. It's all the little things like that that are so amazing. **sigh**

Links to pictures

Pictures on Cat's site

Pictures on Kodak Gallery -- You don't need to sign in to view, just click view slideshow.