One month has gone by

I try to keep up the postings and the pictures as I know the Grandparents look frequently at the blog and with them living far away appreciate the pictures and stories. So far so good.

We have pretty much grown out of the Newborn/Infant clothes and are starting to wear the 0-3 month sizes. Some are a little on the big side, but I am sure he will grow into them soon. Mommy set up a little photo shoot last night, as he was too cute in his little Christmas sleeper that some friends of the family gave us.

Experiment: Pee-pee-tee-pee

My friend Kori from college came for a visit today as she was in WI for a training seminar. She was dying to try the Pee-pee-tee-pees Kori, Lisa and Belinda had gotten us as a gift. Both Kori and I thought that they wouldn't work, but decided at the next diaper change to give them a try.

The diaper came off, the pee-pee-tee-pee went on and not 15 seconds later the pee-pee-tee-pee went flying through the air, pushed by a stream of pee. I can't remember exactly how far it went, but it was soaked when it got there. Nice idea but I think they need to be weighted down to keep them from becoming projectiles.

With some quick work we got the stream contained in a wash cloth, but the damage was done, he peed on his head, Kori's hand, the onsie, his sleeper, and the changing table blanket. Its amazing how much pee can come from one little guy.

Thanks to Kori for being a witness and fellow experimenter. I should have snapped a picture of her while she was here holding William, but it seems to escape me when we have visitors.

Here's some pictures chilling with Dad after the experiment was over. In one I even caught the start of one of William's goofy little smiles.

Four Weeks Old

William is now four weeks old and doing well. He is a pretty good baby and cries when he is hungry, wet, tired or gassy, the trick is just figuring out which one it is. The hungry is pretty easy as he makes all kinds of mouth movements to eat his hand, or anything that gets in the way of his mouth. The diaper is pretty easy to figure out, just look for the handy blue/green line on the diaper. The harder ones to figure out are the gas and the tiredness, they kind of look the same: cranky baby.

Poor William's face is broken out with baby acne and has little scratches from his nails. I have only recently regained the courage to clip his nails. The first time I tried it a couple weeks ago I clipped of some skin and got a big howl out of the little guy. Needless to say I felt horrible, and so I tried a nail file for a while and even resorted to chewing the little nails off. But in the last week I have tried again and had more success. Even clipped though, they are still sharp little things and with all his hand movements to his face, he ends up with scratches.

We have opened up our floor play gym and William seems to like the lights and the rattles hanging from the cross tubes. It will be much more fun when he can focus on it more and responds to the toys, but it is good to get a start now.

Head lifting is going good. He is still not a fan of tummy time, but can lift his head for a good 5 seconds or so. He tends to bob his head around when we are burping him, which can make for some juggling between patting his back and controlling his head.

Here are some pictures from today...

Hop on Pop!

A relaxing afternoon at our house with all little creatures on Dad.

Yesterday Adam had training so it was just William, Murphy and I and it went pretty well. I missed my morning nap that I get with Adam around, but all in all we did good. I have to work on remembering to let Murphy out before I start feeding William, because once I do its a good 30 minutes where I can't really move around much. And the first couple of times Murphy decided he really needed to go out while I was busy.

I tried to take a nap when William did, but the phone rang then the mail man rang the door bell to drop of a watch package for Adam (he swapped a watch, didn't buy another one, thank goodness). Eventually I gave up and just focused on getting stuff done while he was sleeping.

We got quite a bit of snow last night and luckily the snow blower worked pretty well for Adam this morning, when it doesn't you can hear the curses inside the house! I think it does okay on moderate snow falls, but this heavy deep stuff it struggles with a bit. The snow is pretty to look at and I am glad not to have to drive to work this month and next!

You name it, it happened last night!

Last night was tough: all went well (feedings every 3 hours) 'til about 3 a.m. and then it all went down hill from there. William spit up all over the bed and the wonderful Kiddopotumus swaddler we got from our friend Laura (highly recommend them). I got those cleaned up and him settled back down again, then we let out a big loud poop just as I was about to leave the room to get some sleep.

So off came all the night clothes and the diaper got changed, in the process we were too fast for Mom and the wall got peed on. Then we got the new diaper on and we decided to pee again. Then the new onsie went on because, of course, we got some pee on the previous one. Then we spit up all over the new onsie. I can't remember all the details, but he managed to pee up onto his head at one point in time, so then there was a quick washcloth bath. This went on and on and on.

I called in reinforcements (Adam) around 5:50am and went and stuck a pillow on my head and slept for an hour. Now William is a sweet sleeping baby in the front window, only making a peep every once in a while. Go figure.

Adam and I both have to chuckle at William's belly shape, I think he looks like a little frog. He has these narrow shoulders, this wide belly, and then very narrow hips.

It's a good thing they make babies so cute, after last night's escapades you just want to throw in the towel, but one look at their sweet little face does you in again, and you're hooked. You know they don't do it on purpose, but boy does it make for a long night and sleepy parents.

Three Weeks and One Day

I meant to post yesterday but the time got away from me. William is now three weeks old and growing. He is starting to get a little double chin and chipmunk cheeks. Adam took these pictures this morning, he is just so cute when he is sleeping that we can't help but take pictures.

We had a nice visit yesterday from Suzy and Miss J, they stopped by between her naps. I think that is going to be our lives from now on, coordinating adventures between feedings and naps.

We got out to Target again today with William, he does well in the car and cart as long as they are moving and lulling him to sleep.

I took a comparative picture today in the police onsie. The first picture was taken at one week old the second at three weeks old. So you can see we are getting bigger, but have a ways to go before we have chubby legs and thighs.

On our own

We are now on our own; that is to say no Grandparents around. Adam's parents left this morning so it is just Adam and I to take care of Will. I really can't imagine how I would have done this alone. It was great having another set of arms and eyes around the first couple of weeks, and I am blessed to have Adam home till January. For all of you who did this on their own after a week, you are stronger than I am.

Sleeping is getting a little better. The last couple of nights there have been a couple of times that William has gone 3 hours between feedings (this gives me roughly 2 hours of sleep in between). Once he even went 4 hours. This isn't the norm, so I try not to get my hopes up for it to happen every time, but it is progress. That coupled with Adam taking the early morning wakefulness allows me a little more sleep.

Murphy is doing well with William, he sniffs him occasionally and has been a busy puppa following everyone around. He has enjoyed the extra lovings from the Grandparents, but I think will also enjoy a quieter house and a few more doggie naps during the day. Here's a picture of the boys hanging out in the sun in the window.
Trying out the boppy during tummy time; but we were more interested in sucking on our hand than lifting our head. I can tell his head/neck is getting stronger though, because during burpings he is now moving it all around, makes it a bit challenging to hold him, pat him on the back and watch where he is launching his head.
Chilling in the Moses basket by the window this morning.
In our swing, we thought he really didn't like it much, but then tried switching it from a side to side movement to a front to back movement and he likes that better. Put the cricket noise on and he is content.