Growing Update

Our little porker, Ryan's endearing term for our growing son.

We went to the pediatrician this morning and Ben is definitely growing! Ryan and I could tell he was filling out and seemed longer as well. And both of those were true. The nurse measured his length twice, not quite believing how much longer he was. She said, "Neither of you will be able to guess how long he actually is!" We don't go back until Ben is 2 months old.

Here are the stats:
Weight
2 weeks ago - 7 lb 8 oz
today - 9 lb 4 oz
Height
2 weeks ago - 20 3/8 in
Today - 21 3/4 in
Head
2 weeks ago - 13.5

Today - 13 7/8

This is his first time in his jeans. They are still a bit big. The mirror is just to his left on his changing table, so he is looking at himself in this picture. It is hard to get him to look up at me when he is lying there. He likes to look all around the room through the mirror when he gets changed.

We continue to love our new roles as parents. We are settling in well to our new routine. Ryan spends as much time working from his home office as possible, but is gone off and on throughout the day. We are so grateful that he can come and go so much and see Ben and me each day.

Ben is also settling in to his routine. He generally eats every three hours faithfully throughout the day. In the evenings, he gets pretty fussy and will eat more often and refuse to lay down in his pack-n-play or crib, but instead will need to be held to sleep. If he is going to be fussy, 5-10pm is as good a time as any. We are both home and just around the house so we love holding him then. He usually gets a feeding at 10pm and will be down for the night, like a totally different baby suddenly. Throughout the night, he usually does 1am, 4am and then we are up at 7am to start the day. 7am seems to be his most alert time. He is somewhat hard to keep awake after feedings during the daytime, but loves to be awake at 7am. That works for me since I like to start my day then anyway and Ryan is usually up getting ready for the day.

Speaking of Ryan, he has been the best dad a little boy (and new mom) could hope for. Ryan gets up at the 1am and 4am feedings, brings Ben to me in our room to feed him and then takes him back to his room, changes his diaper and puts him back down to sleep. I certainly don't complain about this arrangement. Ryan loves to hold him and play with him anytime he gets the chance. I can't say enough good things about both the men in my life! They bring me great joy!

3 Weeks Old

Ben is 3 weeks old today!

Here are some comparison pictures.

Ryan and I can really tell that he is filling out. When we brought him home, he could only wear Newborn clothes, none of his 0-3 month stuff fit. Now, he perfectly fills out his Newborn clothes and can fit some of his 0-3 month clothes.

First Haircut

Ben was born with really long hair in the back and we finally gave it a little trim.

Before the cut
After the cut.

Already a Big Boy

So sweet!

No, he doesn't usually sleep on his tummy. He has been having a very rough morning and this seems to work. Don't worry - I check on him regularly!

No, let me out! I don't want to be in my big boy crib!

Ben is only two and a half weeks old and he got booted out of our room last night. He makes a lot of noise while he sleeps and it keeps us up. We bought a small little heater for his room since it is consistently much colder than the rest of the house and put him in his crib last night. He did fabulously. His room shares a wall with our room, so he was easy to hear, every 3 hours, waking to be fed and changed. Ryan and I slept better since we weren't hearing his cute little sleeping sounds all night. I was afraid I would wake up all night wondering if he was ok, but I actually slept and that made it much easier to wake up and feed him.

Yeah for our big boy! I can't believe it! He is already growing up too fast.


Below is the view from my front door this morning. This storm started yesterday at 11:30am. It is now 11:42am while I type this. In 24 hours we went from sunny and cool to freezing cold and lots of snow. In the picture you can't tell that the snow is still falling very quickly and in huge flakes. And, under the snow, we have about 3 inches of ice from yesterday. I am so glad it is Saturday. The little spot in the bottom middle of the picture, just left of Ryan's truck were my beautiful yellow bulbs, but now they are covered in snow.

5 outfits and 3 pants

In the last 24 hours Ben has worn 5 different outfits and Mom is in her third pair of pants.

Outfit 1 was put on after bathtime.

Mom and Dad decided to make his handprints in plaster at his next waketime and didn't fully consider the mess.

So, outfit 2 went on.

During a feeding, mom's leg felt awfully warm. Explosive diaper.

Outfit 3 on for Ben and Mom got new pants.

Early morning feeding was spewed all over the place (not usual for him).

Outfit 4 for Ben and new pants again for Mom.

Up for the day feeding and once again, mom's leg felt a bit warm.

Outfit 5 on for Ben and new pants again for Mom.

What are we doing wrong???? It must be the weather - we are completely covered in snow!

First Real Bath

Bathtime!

Here is the obligatory bath shot with the washcloth that all moms must have just in case she needs to really embarrass her son one day :)

Ben in his too cute bath robe.

I survived my first real bath! It is snowing today (yes, I thought it was Spring too), so I am in comfy clothes today.

Stretching Ritual

When Ryan is home, he will get Ben up when it is time to eat. Ben goes through quite a stretching ritual as he awakens before I get him to feed him. It is quite funny to us. We thought we would share a tiny bit of it with you.