Jingle Bells

Happy Thanksgiving!

My little turkeys with their cousin Reagan

Arthur at 7 weeks

Eleanor - in the same onesie - at 4 months

Pictures

Sometimes Arthur gets in bed with Mom and Dad around 5:30 AM.

SO sweet!

Who is that cute baby looking back at me?

Chubby baby smiles

Eleanor made this turkey hat at MOPS

Finger painting another turkey

(I need to get a picture of the final product)

Sweet Arthur

Wearing the outfit his mama made - he's almost outgrowing his 3 month onesies by now!

 

Eleanor was "reading" to Curious George, so I put Arthur over in the bouncy seat to listen.  A few minutes later I asked Eleanor if she was reading to Arthur, and I got a very firm "NO" in response.

She loves her new overalls - "like Corduroy"

I was looking at headbands on this site and came across this one that I loved.  All of their headbands have different girl names - Kate, Maria, etc.  After I found this one and was contemplating buying it, I noticed the name:  Ada.  What are the chances?!  I had to get it then!

Goldilocks

Goldilocks and the three bears - with voices! (She refers to Goldilocks as a "he" if you're confused.)

A boring post

Last night I went back and read some of my blog posts from Eleanor's first two months, and it was very helpful to me.  Hunter and I have had several conversations where we try to remember "When did Eleanor first ...?", but it's amazing how easily you forget all of those little details.  They seem so important at the time.  So, since we do hope to have another baby in a few years, I wanted to write down some of those details about Arthur's first 5 weeks.  This is really just for my own use and I know most people won't care about the little details, but of course you can read it if you want.

Since the time just changed, we've been putting both kids to bed at 7:30 (was 8:00 before).  Starting at 6:30 Hunter gives Eleanor a bath, helps her clean up her toys, reads her a story and puts her to bed.  Meanwhile, I give Arthur a bath and feed him.  (I can't wait until he can sit up and they can take a bath together!  So much easier.)  The other day I wrote about what times Arthur gets up in the night, but as soon as I wrote that he started getting up more often and not going back to sleep after 5 AM.  After reading my old posts I realized we were putting Eleanor to bed much later as a baby, so last night I tried something new.  Arthur still went to bed at 7:30 (I don't want to change that since it's so nice to put both kids down at the same time), but at 10 I went in his room and woke him up to eat.  He was half asleep, but ate anyway.  After that he slept until 2:00, then again until 6:30!  That's pretty much the exact same schedule Eleanor was on at this age according to my old blog posts.

As far as eating, he pretty much always eats for 30-45 minutes.  I was doing one sided feeds for a while and he seemed satisfied, but then he wanted to eat more often - like every 2 hours instead of every 3.  I guess either way is fine since he seems happy either way, but I'd rather not feed him quite as often.

For naps we have the same problem we did with Eleanor - he will only nap on me, in the car, or in his swing.  So, he ends up taking most of his naps in the swing like Eleanor did for the first 5 months.  I'm fine with that for now because he's still so young, but I would like to get him napping in the crib in a month or two.  He's fine with the crib at night though.

He does take a pacifier occasionally - we only give it to him when he's fussy - but if he's really upset he just spits it out.  We came up with a little trick when he's in upright in the swing though.  He's usually swaddled, so we just stretch the blanket up another inch or so to keep the pacifier in place.  It sounds kind of weird, but I promise it's not blocking his face at all.  He can still spit out the pacifier if he wants, but if it just sort of falls then the blanket catches it and it's still close enough to him that he can suck it back in.

Arthur spits up.  A LOT.  Yesterday I was on my third shirt by noon and that's not unusual.  I have to burp him often and I always have a burp cloth nearby.  I've tried cutting most dairy out of my diet (I can't bring myself to do it completely) since I know that can cause problems, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.  I talked to the lactation consultant about it and she didn't seem concerned, and I'm not either.  It doesn't seem to bother Arthur, but I do think this is why he prefers to be upright in the swing.  (Though he's fine in the crib at night...??)  Eleanor was exactly the same way, and it just kind of stopped on its own around 5 or 6 months.

He is smiling now, and he loves to be held and talked to.  I have tried reading some of those black and white infant books to him, but he is much more interested in the person holding him than the pictures!  :)  He also likes his little play mat and bats at the toys hanging down.  He is not a fan of tummy time, but he's pretty strong and can lift his head to turn and look the other way.

Pictures

Arthur is one month old!

Milk hangover

My favorite part of having a newborn

The silly side of Eleanor

Feeding George, of course

Handsome boy

Flashback to Halloween - my cat and mouse

One month!

Our little guy is one month old today!  Wow, where has the time gone?!

• We went to the pediatrician today and Arthur weighs 10.9 pounds.  I told him that he's growing way too fast for his mama and that he needs to slow down and stay little for a while longer.  That's the 75th percentile for weight and he's in the 95th percentile for height.  (I think they said 23.5 inches.)
• He seems to have a very similar temperament to Eleanor, at least at this point.  He's pretty easygoing most of the time but will definitely let you know when he's not happy!  He's also a good sleeper like she was, thankfully.  We start his bedtime routine around 7:00 (soon to be 6:00 with the time change...ugh) and put him down for the night by 8:00.  Most nights he wakes up twice around 1:00 and 5:30 to eat and then gets up for the day around 8 or 9.  Eleanor dropped that 1 AM feeding at 6 weeks, so I'm hoping Arthur will do the same.  Eleanor also goes to bed now at 8:00 and gets up around 8:00, but when the time changes we're just going to let all of these times shift back by an hour rather than trying to change anybody's internal clock.  Hopefully they'll gradually shift to be a little bit later though since a 7:00 pm bedtime makes it hard to go anywhere in the evenings.
• Arthur is also a good eater - obviously.  During the day he usually eats every 2-3 hours.  Unfortunately he's also big on spitting up, just like Eleanor was.  I'm talking what-seems-like-an-ounce-of-milk-flowing-like-a-river-down-my-shirt kind of spitting up.  It's not really a problem since he's gaining weight fine and it doesn't really make him fussy, but it can be a pretty major annoyance when I just got dressed and ready for the day.
• Arthur is definitely smiling some social smiles!  This is much earlier than I remember Eleanor smiling at us, and I didn't quite believe it for a few days.  Hunter kept telling me I was making it up...until Arthur smiled at him.  ;)  

Peter Rabbit

When Eleanor came to the hospital to first meet Arthur, he "gave" her a the complete collection of Beatrix Potter stories - and she LOVES them! Here she is reading one of her favorites.  She likes to embellish the stories a bit; as far as I recall, there are no doctors or nurses in Peter Rabbit.  ;)