He Loves His Mommy

Yesterday, Seven started showing a preference for me. Seven was fussy in church and E took him to the back to calm him down. When they were gone for a while, I went back to check on them. Seven was still crying and as soon as I held him, he quieted right down.  E was embarrassed and said all the mothers back there probably thought he was a horrible dad since he couldn't calm Seven down but I did right away. I told him it was impressive that he even went back there.

Last night Seven was fussing again for E and I walked by and talked to him and he calmed down. But he started fussing again when I left and poor E said "Daddy loves you, too, Seven."

I felt bad for E because he was upset. But really, I loved it.

Seven on Seven

Seven is seven weeks old today. To celebrate, here are seven thoughts:

1. Yesterday, his cord stump FINALLY fell off. I stopped doing anything to it at all and it shriveled up quickly. I was so happy to see it gone. There was one tiny piece that was still there, but it is starting to get covered up by his belly button as it shrinks. Tomorrow he will get his first real bath!

2. I only have 2.5 more weeks until my leave is up. I am really enjoying our time together (and let's be honest, my time off work) and am sad to see it ending soon. I've also started the daycare search. My employer offers high quality child care on campus at a great rate, but the waiting list is long. We put our name on the list near the start of our adoption wait and are currently close to the top of the list. They sounded optimistic that we could get a spot over the summer, but we need to find something until then. I toured one place today that seemed good, but need something to compare it to.

3. Seven gets his first shots in 5 weeks, so we are using a combination of Daddy and grandparents to care for him until then. We have not been keeping him away from crowds until he has his first shots as I heard some parents do, but daycare is another story and we don't want to risk that.

4. We are planning Seven's baptism in 10 days. We planned it for the day after my sister graduates from college, so lots of family will be in town to celebrate. Some friends from church recently visited the middle east on a holy land tour and brought us holy water from the Jordan River to use in his baptism. I am making his outfit from material from my wedding dress (my grandmother made my dress, so there is leftover material). So it will be a special day all around.

5. I weighed Seven on our super-accurate scale (our Wii Fit). He was about 9.5 pounds. No wonder we are putting away his newborn clothes! He is growing so quickly.

6. A few years ago, E and I attended a weekend group session on dealing with infertility. I kept in touch with one woman from that group. They adopted a baby boy and were a terrific resource for us. After several miscarriages, they also just gave birth to a little girl. Seven and I went to visit them this week and had a great time. Or at least I did, Seven ate and slept through the whole visit.

7. My friend lives near E's office and so Seven paid his first visit to Daddy's office. E loved showing him off to all his coworkers!

Cloth diaper change

Here is Seven in his very first cloth diaper:

Today we participated in the great cloth diaper change. For those of you who haven't heard about, this is a network that is trying to set a world record of changing cloth diapers all around the world. We did have fun going, but E thought it could have been a scene out of a cheesy romantic comedy.* From the massive construction that blocked not one but two routes into that part of town to the musician playing her guitar and singing with a four year old, you can almost hear the screen writers in their planning room. He was waiting for Hugh Grant to walk in. The way we had to raise our hand with the diaper and then just our hand and then raise the baby with the cloth diaper on, it would have been great fodder for comedy. And then we finished the scene in our head when Seven got hungry at the end and I whipped out his formula packet to make a bottle. That seemed exactly the wrong thing to do with this crowd (although no one appeared to care).

This was our first outing with the cloth diapers. And since we didn't go home right away, we had to change another one while away from home. And it was a success. I think I've become used to the diapers, but now am stepping into the world of cloth wipes. I have been using regular wipes even with the cloth diapers. So that will be my experiment this week to try out the cloth wipes.

We then went to the big baby store and closed out our registry. Now Seven has everything he could possibly need. At least until he starts eating food, which come to think of it, won't be so long now.

*We will freely admit to being there, so we were making fun of ourselves as well in this joking.

Crunchy Mama Update

A few updates:

Breastfeeding has had its ups and downs. We were doing well for a while. By that I mean, I was enjoying it and with the supplementer, he was getting plenty of food. I can never really tell how much breast milk he is getting. But I cherish that time together (at least that time during the day, I'm half asleep in the middle of the night feeding).

I tend not to nurse him when we are out. I do sometimes, but mostly when I have someone else with me. I am too modest to get him set up in public without any cover. But since my b00b is exposed for longer while I'm dealing with the tubing and it takes a few tries to get the tubing and latch right, it is really hard to do under a cover. When I'm at someone's house, I can go into an empty room to get him started and then rejoin everyone. But out in a public place, it is too hard. I once had my mom hold up the blanket to shield us from the other patrons in a coffeehouse, but obviously I need another person for that. But we usually only have one feeding a day outside of the house, if that. So he is nursing most feedings.

We did hit a rough patch the past week. He had a stuffy nose and since it was hard for him to breathe, he didn't latch on right and my nipples were getting sore again. Luckily things are getting better now.

My other crunchy-mama activity now is cloth diapering. We are still using disposables at night and when we are out. But he was in cloth for most of Monday and today. I did my first load of laundry with the diapers and everything came out clean! This weekend I am going to one of those diaper changing events, so that will be our first attempt at leaving the house with cloth diapers.

I have not been able to get our diaper sprayer hooked up. I know it is a "no tools required" job, but really we are so un-handy, that we managed to screw up our toilet trying to do it. But since the first load came out clean with just the dunking method, I am feeling better about it. Of course, E is not such a fan of dunking the diapers, so we'll see if we can get it fixed.

Army

Some of you* may have seen the recent footage from some attacks in Afghanistan. It involved both NATO and Afghan forces. Well, it turns out my younger brother was part of that response. He is on his second tour to Afghanistan now. He doesn't talk about the details of what he does (and I would rather not know), but it has been clear that this time he is much more in the thick of things. Obviously it is never safe in a war zone, but showing up on the news for a big attack is not good. He is OK, but please keep him in your prayers, as well as all the soldiers over there.

*Actually, if you only listen to US news, you may not have heard of it. The BBC is covering this much more than any news programs here. But that is a topic for another post.

Growing

1. Operation cloth diapering has begun. I guess it is fitting to start this week since it is cloth diapering week. I appreciate all of your encouragement. The final straw was that he leaked through a disposable (and it was really, really dirty too). I figured if I could handle that, then I can handle whatever came next. He's had 3 cloth diapers today. Of course, so far they have all been dirty and wet. I suppose I needed that for my introduction.

2. He has officially grown out of his first outfit. We put him in the sleeper in which we took him home from the hospital in and it was too short. He is growing so big! The cloth diapers also make him seem so much bigger.

3. Another sign that he is growing is that he is unfurling now. I'm not sure if that is the right term or not, but while he still enjoys the fetal position (I don't blame him, I do too!), he no longer insists on being in a ball no matter how we are holding him. His body is getting straighter and he is stretching out more.

4. This past weekend was our first "normal" weekend since Seven was born. We didn't have any visitors, any holidays, or any other new-baby-specific activities. It was just our time to settle into our new routine. And I loved it! We had breakfast on our new patio and saw a movie on Saturday. We finally saw Hunger Games. Both E and I loved the books and would have been at the midnight showing of the movie if we didn't have a newborn. We knew we were taking a chance, but thought we could get the timing right for Seven to sleep through it. Of course he woke up as we were buying our tickets and fussed through all the previews. Luckily, I was able to quiet him down and he fell asleep again right as the movie was starting and slept through the whole thing! Sunday we went to our favorite coffeehouse after church and took a walk to the local park in the afternoon. What a perfect weekend!

Cord

Thanks for the encouragement. I like the plan to try just a few each day until I get the hang of cloth diapers and see if they will fit well. I am a little worried about him being too small. He hasn't been officially weighed in a few weeks, but I'm guessing he is about 8.5 pounds. He is starting to really grow out of the newborn and fill the 0-3 months clothes. I've also noticed that his diapers have changed. In the first few weeks, nearly every diaper was both dirty and wet. And now he has mostly wet diapers, with only a couple of dirty diapers a day. So I'm taking that as a sign that his digestive system has settled into its groove somewhat.

I realize I haven't given any update on how Seven is doing. Overall, he is still perfect. He only cries when he is hungry or has gas. He gets a little fussy in the evening, is usually easy to console. He has gotten a little cold these past couple of days. I'm not worried about as it is just making him congested, but there is no fever or extra fussiness (except for when I'm trying to clear his nose) or anything else unusual.

Seven is spending more time awake and playing. He focuses on us well and has started reacting to us talking to him. And the best thing in the world is to see him smile at us! He is so adorable and gets cuter everyday.

There is one thing I am concerned about. He still has the stump of his umbilical cord! It was supposed to be gone 4 weeks ago. The doctor said we shouldn't be concerned unless it is infected, which it isn't. We've been taking care of it like we should, but it is hanging on strong. I know that everything is supposed to happen in its own time, but really, it is time for this to be gone.

Cloth diapers

OK, I have a changing table full of cloth diapers and cloth wipes and wet bags galore. But I am scared to take the plunge. We decided to get all one-size diapers so we wouldn't have to worry about cleaning in the first few weeks. But now those first weeks are over and I'm nervous about making the switch. What if I can't figure out how to clean them? Or what if he is still too small for the one size diapers and they leak? Any words of encouragement you can give me?

First Easter

This was the best Easter ever! Truly, it was a great day. Actually, it started last night with the Easter vigil mass. I had sponsored someone in RCIA who was baptized and confirmed last night. Seven was an angel through the entire (very long) mass! And it was a great moment for my sponsee (is that a word?).

Seven did not have such a great sleeping night. I'm sure he was just so excited for the Easter bunny. And, yes, Seven got a little present in his basket.

My ILs and my sister and her family came out for Easter brunch. We have a new patio and brand new patio table. The weather was absolutely perfect and so we ate outside. Our annual Easter egg hunt was a lot more fun now that we had actual plants and other things in our backyard. We played some games and just enjoyed being outside in the beautiful weather. Our backyard is very shaded, so Seven could be outside without really getting too much sun.

We finished it off with some iPh.one F.ac.etime with my mom and everyone at their Easter dinner. Perfect day!

One month

Seven is one month old. I can't believe it has already been a month. And at the same time, I can't believe it has only been a month as it seems so much has happened. Seven continues to be a perfect baby. He is getting a bit fussy in the evenings, but nothing we can't handle. He was starting to develop a routine with his sleeping, but that is changing. I am just continuing to follow his lead.

He is awake for longer periods now, and is starting to make faces and smile at us. It is so much fun and such a joy to have him in our lives. There are still times when I just stare at him and wonder at how we got so lucky.

We love you Seven!

Busy, Busy

We have been pretty busy around here, with many milestones. Not really any milestones for Seven. He pretty much just eats and sleeps and poops. Although he is spending more time actually awake now. No, the milestones have been for us. With my mom leaving on Wednesday, I had my first entire day alone with Seven by myself on Thursday. Things went very well.

And then on Friday, I had something I could not get out of and so Seven had his first time alone with his grandparents. And my first time away from him. After I left, I was thinking it was not so hard at all. But when I returned I couldn't get enough snuggle time with Seven.

On Sunday, my friend and sister put on a baby shower for me and Seven! It was so much fun and I am so thankful they did this. Seven received so many beautiful presents. The shower had an owl/bird theme, and Seven dressed for the part. Here are a few pictures: