Silly Old Bear

I love it that a baby can seem to have a completely different personality based on the clothes he's wearing. Case in point: Mikey is SO FUNNY in his bear suit. We've used this a couple of times now since it has been in the 30s when we've taken him outside to run errands. It's perfect for the carseat because it keeps his hands and feet so warm, but we can still buckle the strap between his legs without bunching it around a blanket. We have Natalie or Cheryl to thank for this little number (sorry I can't remember which Old Navy clothes came from which of you two!). I just giggle whenever I look at him in this outfit!

Here's a little photo shoot moment of the bear on the black futon. I changed it to sepia tones, so the futon looks brown too. I just can't get over how adorable he is.

And here's a picture from about a week ago; Mikey fell asleep with his hand suspended in mid air. It was an awesome trick. His hand was literally floating there for several minutes before he twitched again and it came down. It amazes me how deeply he can slumber sometimes.

Third Week Milestones

Mikey's spending more time awake now. We love getting pictures of him with his eyes open.

He is now sleeping in his crib every night (as opposed to the bassinet in our bedroom). I like how tiny he looks for his MINI crib in the shot above. Where is he??

Oh, there he is.

He gets to take actual baths now instead of sponge baths since his umbilical cord finally fell off and his circumcision is all healed. I hope he forgives me for putting a naked picture of him up... but at least it's not a close-up, right? Look how small he is compared to his daddy! Mikey loves hanging out in the warm water.

Getting his shampoo rinsed off... happy as a clam. Today when Kevin and I were bathing him, we had to change the bath water three times because Mikey decided to pee and poop three times in the bath water! Little stinker. We didn't take pictures of that bath. :)

The only part of bathtime that Mikey doesn't like is getting out. That's when he starts to complain. Can't blame him. I hate getting out of a warm bath too.

First trip to a National Park! We took him to Canyonlands NP yesterday (Friday) and he loved it! Well, he slept 90% of the time in the car and at the park, but we could tell that the few times he opened his eyes, he was loving it! We can't wait until he can support the weight of his own head so we can take him on some longer hikes in a child carrier.

Father and son with a beautiful canyon backdrop.

This is how Mikey hikes right now. He rides in style. He loves that sling! He falls right to sleep when I put him in and start walking. There was still snow on the ground up there in a lot of places, but the weather was beautiful. The high was in the upper 50s and the sun was shining all day. Perfect hiking weather!

My hands-free bundle of joy. Notice I'm wearing my Chacos. That means spring is coming! Oh, it makes me so happy!

Last but not least, we just LOVED this photo. I'm considering making it into a baby announcement. What do you think?

The Long and Arduous Process of Waking Up

If You're Happy and You Know It

I have yet to catch him on the camera smiling with his eyes open...

Like a Weed

Our little boy is getting too long for his newborn sleepers now, at the ripe age of 17 days. I'm taking him back to the pediatrician on Thursday to check how his circumcision is healing, but I don't think they'll measure his length then. We might not get him measured again until his 2 month checkup and shots. It seems to me he's growing long much faster than growing fat. Not only are his legs getting longer, his fingernails might be setting some kind of record!

Look at these freshly trimmed fingernails (from 2/27). I clipped them all the way down so there was no white showing. I just had to trim them again yesterday because he was scratching himself again! That's nine days. Will I have to trim his nails about every week?? It just seems like a lot. I don't have pictures from this week up yet, since they're still on my camera, but this shot below kind of exaggerates Mikey's length.

Last but not least, I had a sweet moment with Michael last night during our middle of the night feeding. I had just changed his diaper and he was pretty alert, getting ready to eat on the second side, and he was looking me right in the eyes. I smiled at him because he was so stinkin' cute, and HE SMILED BACK! Right on cue! It was like he was actually responding to my smile. And it was the cutest, widest toothless grin! It made me laugh out loud. Then he did it again a few seconds later. It seriously made my night. I haven't been able to get him to repeat the trick today, at least not like he did last night. The best I've gotten him to do is a half-smile, kind of like the one pictured below. That one I caught while he was asleep... must have been a good dream.

I want to load a video or two, but I make no promises as to when that will happen. Baby steps, my friends, baby steps. Oh yeah, and in other news, Mikey graduated from his bassinet to his crib last night and he did wonderfully. I also found that I get back to sleep a lot quicker because I don't hear every little whimper and noise he makes in is sleep. Kevin and I are still trying to finish decorating the walls in his nursery so I can post pictures of the finished product. We need to hang a heavy mirror, so I got a stud finder yesterday. We'll see how long it takes us to get the rest done... "baby steps." [Bonus: name that movie!]

Simon Says

Touch your ear!

NEWS FLASH

So, my midwife came today for my one-week postpartum visit, and to weigh Mikey and do the second half of his newborn screen. Well, to my surprise, when we weighed Mikey, he was 3560 grams, which is slightly lower than his birth weight, and when we converted it to pounds, it was 7 lbs 13 oz!

Is something not right with this picture? We thought Mikey was 7 lbs 12 oz at birth, and now he has lost some weight and he's 7 lbs 13 oz?? We went back to the birth record and recalculated his birth weight from grams to pounds and found out we made a mistake. Mikey's birth weight was 3630 grams, which is actually 8 POUNDS EVEN. I'm gonna go ahead and take credit for pushing out that extra 4 ounces. I'll go down and edit the weight in my other blog post too. But this is the official word:

Michael Gannett Lewis
Born 2/20/10 at 7:31 PM
8 pounds; 22 inches

Newborn Hearing Screen

This was Michael's second adventure leaving the house. The first was his pediatrician visit on Tuesday, then to the hospital on Thursday to get his ears tested. He likes his carseat. Well, he slept through the whole trip, so I can only assume he liked it. He made a lot of funny faces while the hearing screen was being conducted. At times he looked really focused and other times he looked bothered or confused. It was entertaining for Mom and Grandma to see, since we are always having fun imagining what he's thinking based on his facial expression.

Mikey and Mommy

This was taken on Mikey's one week birthday (the 27th). He almost smiled for the camera with me. I'm wearing a new shirt my mom got me. Kevin brushed and braided my hair after I got out of the shower. He also rubbed lotion on my legs. A little pampering can do a lot for a tired mother! I'm feeling in pretty tip-top shape. My mom also watched Mikey for a few hours while Kevin and I went on a lunch date and then got some groceries.

I like to take naps with my baby and feel his little chest rise and fall. I accidentally gave him an imprint of a button on his cheek in this picture because he fell asleep on top of one of the buttons on my shirt.

This is Michael trying out the sling for the first time. He fits as snug as a bug! I got this on clearance from Babies R Us for I think $17. (It was actually free with gift cards from my CA baby shower. :)

Look! No hands! I think I might name this sling Grandma, since it may be holding Mikey a lot when Grandma goes back to California. Or I might name my baby swing Grandma. Or the bouncy seat. Mikey's gonna have a lot of substitute grandmas.

Mikeypoo and Kevypoo

I just love to see these two together. When Kevin holds Mikey, it emphasizes Mikey's teenieness even more. I'm finding that the more I look at Mikey, the more I see Kevin's face.

I also have a theory that Michael will grow some really dark hair when his non-newborn hair comes in. He has a few hairs on his head that are longer and darker than the rest. A sign of things to come?

Most of what Mikey does is sleep. He has two wakeful periods during the day, once between around 7 and 9 in the morning, and once around 7 to 9 PM. He's a really good nurser, and my "bottles" as my mom likes to call them, are feeling much better now. Almost no discomfort whatsoever when he feeds! I don't even need my Lansinoh anymore.

Kevin is a wonderful daddy. He never really changed a diaper in his life before his son was born, and it only took one tutorial from me and he is a natural! Good manual dexterity really helps when you're trying to secure a diaper on a wiggling newborn. I'm glad he's picked up on the skill so quickly because I can hand him off to Daddy for changes and not have to worry that he'll come back with a saggy, leaky diaper.

This looks like a game of "Leeeeeeettt's see who has the biggest head!" (Courtesy of Aunt Ceri). Kevin wins.