Jude - Week 4

This week we started to get a schedule established. Jude likes to take a long nap in the middle of the day, but he is awake for most of the morning and the evening. We're learning to rest during his quiet time, because he is becoming more demanding when he is awake! The books say that babies reach their peak fussiness at the age of six weeks, and we're noticing that our boy seems to be becoming more needy as he approaches that milestone.

Eating continues to be a challenge. The good news is that he gained seven ounces last week. This week, though, he only gained three ounces in six days, which is on the low end of acceptable. We're trying a few new tricks to get him to eat better, but it's taking a lot of time and effort.

Jude continues to charm us with his many expressions and the beginnings of smiles. He's a really cute little guy, even when he's screaming his head off (which seems to happen more and more these days).

See below for some photos and comments from E Ben.

Jude is definitely letting us know a bit more about his personality. We have finally made all of the social rounds with friends and family, so now we are working out our schedule and domestic life.

Linden needs more down time, E Ben needs more action, and Jude is a mixture of us both (duh!). Actually he's just happy if someone is holding him and he gets enough to eat.

E Ben and Jude almost made it to the Pirate festival this weekend. Almost.

Jude - Week 3

Well, we had a little trouble this week at Jude Central. We went in for our two-week visit with the pediatrician, and Jude only gained three ounces in ten days, and was not back up to his birth weight. It seems that the baby is not demanding enough when it comes to eating. Since milk production works on a supply and demand system, my body responded by making less milk, and it was kind of a downward spiral from there. So, we've had to start supplementing his diet with 4-6 ounces of extra milk a day. In the meantime, I've been using the pump to try to increase my supply so that eventually we can stop supplementing. It was pretty upsetting for me to realize that we have not been feeding our baby enough, and giving him the first bottle was pretty difficult. However, he loved it and immediately fell asleep afterwards. We think that some of his fussiness has been due to hunger. He has seemed happier in the past week, and gained three ounces between Monday and Thursday. We go back in tomorrow to do another weight check, and hopefully he'll be up another four ounces or more.

We had some fun social events this week. On Thursday, we drove out to Hood River to see Jude's great-grandmother Cornett. We had a nice visit with her, and learned that Oma's great-grandfather was named "Judson". She wondered if we'd named our baby after him. Since we didn't even know he existed, we couldn't claim that we had, but it does make a good story!

From Jude, September 2008

On Friday, Jude met his second-cousin Justus. Craig and Julie and Justus came over for pizza and salads, and the boys had their first play-date. Both babies did really well that night, and it was fun to see them together for the first time. Jude has some work to do before he catches up to his cousin in size, though!

From Jude, September 2008

Saturday, Jude invited some friends over for beers on the deck. Aunt Kathy and Uncle Steve also came over to meet the baby for the first time. Jude had the honor of being the first baby that Chippy has ever held! She was sitting in his rocking chair, so she really had no choice.

From Jude, September 2008

From Jude, September 2008

Sunday we spent the day in Vancouver, first visiting Greg and Elizabeth, then spending the afternoon with Grandma Terry. A few of the Miller family came over to meet the baby while I got in a nice nap and managed to read for a few minutes. E Ben dressed him in a "golf shirt" onesie and everyone got a kick out of that!

From Jude, September 2008

From Jude, September 2008

In case you didn't figure it out already, our September photos are posted here.

The baby is doing well. He seems generally happy and healthy, and we're getting used to being parents. We have had a few challenging nights, but generally he's a really good sleeper and goes back down after eating during the night. I'm feeling good, although I would always like to have more sleep! That's all I can think of for this week...

Hearty Beef Stew

Man, oh man. We have had a busy few weeks. Everyone needs to meet Jude, and of course we want him presentable. At least not screaming his head off like he was this week at the pediatrician for his 2 week appointment. But still, he remains in good spirits and health.

The Boy and I have been spending some quality bonding time. Between feeding, eating, sleeping, and diaper changes, we have managed to have some nice days together. One day we went to the coffe shop. One day we went for a big hike in the baby sling. And today?

Today we made beef stew.

Jude - Week 2

The second week with our boy went smoothly for the most part, with some exceptions. He's eating really well, somewhere between 7-9 times a day, but he's not really on any predictable schedule yet. We're trying to follow the "Baby Whisperer" Eat-Activity-Sleep program, which means that he basically decides how often he needs to eat (although we won't typically feed him if it's been less than two hours, unless he's very obviously hungry). His pattern seems to be that as long as he has a good feeding late at night, he'll go for a good stretch (3-5 hours) before he needs to eat again, then he'll eat for almost an hour, then go back to sleep for another long stretch. He'll have a couple of feedings through the morning, then have another long sleep stretch in the afternoon sometime (although rarely at the same time each day), then want to eat every 2 hours through the early and late evening. We're pretty happy with this, since it gives us a good amount of sleep at night and the opportunity for me to take a nap in the afternoon.

Jude is a very sleepy eater, and if I don't pay attention to him while he's eating, he'll quickly fall asleep and then stop eating. This was the cause of our one really bad night with him this week. We got home from a somewhat late evening out, and I was exhausted so I decided to do his late-night feeding lying on the couch. I fell asleep, he fell asleep, then he woke up an hour later wanting to eat. I tried to feed him again lying down, and the same thing happened again. After a few more rounds of this (with E Ben trying to figure out if there could possibly be anything else that he was upset about besides hunger) we decided to bite the bullet and sit up to make sure he got a proper meal. After that, he slept for his usual long stretch. Lesson learned.

Jude tends to have a fussy period in the evening on most days. E Ben has taken to wearing him in the sling during this time. This is usually enough to quiet him down, although sometimes he does need to leave the house and walk up the street before he really gives up. Thanks Jamey and Erica for giving us the sling - Jude loves it!

From Jude, September 2008

We made a trip to the coast this week so that Jude could visit his Great-Grandma Miller. She made lunch for us, then held the baby while E Ben took a nap on the floor (this was the day after our rough night).

From Jude, September 2008

We also took a walk on the beach so that Jude could see the ocean for the first time. He didn't get much out of the experience since he was asleep the whole time.

From Jude, September 2008

Right after Jude was born, we thought we'd end up continuing to call him "Jeep" (that was his in-utero name). But now that we've gotten to know him and his sweet personality, we find ourselves calling him "Little Bird". He's just not enough of a force these days to be a Jeep.

From Jude, September 2008

Weight Check

Imagine my surprise when I weighed myself yesterday morning and discovered that I'm already slightly below my pre-pregnancy weight! I guess that's what happens when you have morning sickness for the first 20 weeks, then are required to eat a low-carb diet during the third trimester. I lost 22 pounds in 9 days. Wow.