9 Weeks Old!

Yeah, I can't believe it, either! Time sure flies nowadays. My maternity leave will be over at the end of April. I'm sort of looking forward to going back to work, but not looking forward to being away from Tyler all that time. :( Will he still know that I'm his mom when he's spending most of his waking hours at a day care? I'm going to miss him so much...I won't be able to hug and kiss him whenever I want to, and right when I have to go back to work, he'll be smiling more and sitting up more. I will probably miss a lot of his firsts, too...I'm starting to get teary-eyed right now just thinking about it! I can definitely see why a lot of women decide to stay home with their kids, even if they didn't plan to before.

Anyway, Tyler's starting to hold his head up more, now! When we hold him under his arms, he likes to push himself up with his legs and he can keep his head upright for several seconds at a time. He really loves laying under his play gym and batting at the toys with his arms and feet. He lay there for at least an hour while I put up new curtain rods and curtains in the living room!

He's also getting pretty chubby...we only feed him when he cries to be fed, and if it's too close to his previous feeding, we try to distract him and hold off until it's been 3 hours. Most of the time, he drinks 5 to 6 ounces at a time now. He's just so adorable, I'm kind of glad he's chubby so I can give him hugs instead of little pats on his back :)

Pictures!

Here are some pictures from our visit with Mike's brother and his wife, Dave and Rebecca:

This is Rebecca with a very content Tyler

Here's Tyler checking out his Uncle Chad

Tyler and I were pretty tired the next day

Finally, a group picture before we had to leave :)

Time Flies!

Wow, I can't believe it's been less than a week since my last post. Tyler will be 8 weeks tomorrow...craziness! So much has happened! We took Ty on his first road trip over the weekend to visit Mike's brother and his wife in North Carolina. Dave (Mike's brother) is in the Marines and will be deployed this summer, so we wanted to make sure we were able to see him and let Tyler meet him before he left. The drive was a little over 4 hours, and Tyler made the drive beautifully! We stopped once on the way down to feed him, and didn't have to stop at all on the way home. Luckily, the car ride lulls him to sleep, and he's good for 4 or 5 hours :)

We were only in NC for one night, but Dave was able to show us the helicopter he flies and Tyler was also able to meet his Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Chad for the first time, as well as see his grandparents again.

Tyler has also been sleeping in his crib every night, so far! We put him down around 9 pm and still go in to feed him about every 3 hours or so. Sometimes he goes for 4 or more hours between feedings, but it's usually 3 hours. Right now, Mike is doing the midnight feeding, and I'm doing the 3 am feeding. It's working really well, because once Tyler's in his crib, Mike and I actually have some alone time together in the evenings! One night, though, we didn't realize the baby monitor's batteries had run out and neither of us got up for Tyler's 3 am feeding. Mike was the one who heard him crying at 6 am! I don't know if Ty woke up at 3 am, but I assume he did and cried and cried himself back to sleep :( We felt so terrible! The next two days after that, I made sure I was at his side the second he started crying. Anyway, we didn't make that mistake again, and the monitor has fully charged batteries!

Today, Tyler was holding his head up while sitting. I had to support him sitting up, of course, but he was holding his head up for several seconds at a time! I held him up by his underarms and he was pushing off the ground with his feet to a standing position AND holding up his head! My boy is so strong :) I told his Daddy all about it, and when he came home, Tyler showed him, too!

Seven Weeks Old!

Tyler is seven weeks old today. Wow, I really can't believe it. I was looking at pictures of him from just a few weeks ago, and he looked so tiny! He's so big now...and fitting perfectly in his 0 -3 month clothes. I expect he'll be wearing his 3 - 6 month clothes way before he's 3 months old!

We bought this really awesome diaper "bag" for short daytrips. It's called the Essentials Diaper Bag. We got ours from Target, but I'm sure that you can find it at other baby or department stores. It's great, it has room for a couple of diapers, wipes, an insulated bottle holder, and lots of pockets for keys, wallet, etc. The best part is that it's worn across your chest, so that both hands are free, and you don't have to worry about a bag falling off your shoulder while bending over to pick up or talk to your baby!

Two nights ago, we started putting Tyler in his crib at night. We need him to get into a schedule before I go back to work at the end of April. It was really hard at first. He would cry and cry (and I cried, too, while holding the baby monitor), but I went into his room to comfort him and kiss him every 10 minutes or so. Eventually, he stopped crying and fell asleep and only woke up to be fed during the night. I couldn't believe it, but I also missed him so much already, and he was only in the next room! When he woke up at 6 am to be fed, Mike picked him up and brought him to me so I could snuggle with Tyler for a little bit. I fed him and we read a few new books together in bed. Last night was pretty much the same thing, but I think both Tyler and I cried more! Eventually, Tyler did settle down and fall asleep, again only waking up to be fed at night. I hope this gets easier :(

This morning, I wanted to see if Tyler could track objects with his eyes. I showed him a squeaky toy, and once he caught sight of it, I moved it around and he followed it with his eyes and even turned his head to it! I did it several times just to make sure it wasn't a coincidence the first time.

Almost 6 weeks

Tomorrow Tyler will be 6 weeks old! A month ago, I thought we'd never get to this point. I don't dread nights so much anymore, even though Tyler went through his 6-week growth spurt earlier this week. He was waking and eating every 2 hours on the dot.

On Monday, I had my post-partum doctor's appointment. Wow, I really missed my doctor! She's so nice and understanding...it was nice to be able to see her so often when I was pregnant, but now I'll only see her for my yearly checkups! But I did have a great talk with her during my appointment (and she got to meet and hold little Tyler). She made me realize that I hadn't gotten a full night's sleep since he was born. She suggested that I work something out with Mike for one night during the weekend where I sleep a full 8 hours uninterrupted. She even gave me a prescription for Ambien (though I don't think I'll need it). I talked to Mike about it last night, and he said that he would let me sleep through on Friday nights. Ahhhh...that will be so nice! Nowadays, when I get 3 or 4 hours of sleep at a stretch, I'm feeling pretty good!

After my appointment, Tyler had his 6 week check-up. He weighs 10 lbs 6 oz! And he got another booster shot for Hepatitis B. He was so good during the whole day! The pediatrician is really happy with his growth and muscle development. Looks like Mike and I are doing something right :)

Yesterday afternoon, Tyler and I even made it out early enough to meet Mike at work for lunch. We stayed for a couple of hours so that some of Mike's co-workers could stop by to meet Tyler. Last week, Mike had realized that a lot of people at his office were sick, so he got a hold of one of those anti-bacterial gel dispensers and installed it on his cubicle wall! It was pretty handy yesterday, because I didn't mind anyone holding Tyler once they used some of that anti-bacterial gel :)

Today, my goal is to work on some birth announcements...we'll see how that goes! The rest of this week is supposed to be gorgeous, so I want to get that stuff done today and spend all week outside with Tyler!