Glam Shot

Photo taken by our friend Alix.

Happy Nappy

If only he was this serene all the time!

Naptime Sign Language?

Andrew continues to impress us with his communication skills as he sleeps. Check out his "A-OK"....outdone by his later Dr Evil's pinky!

Tummy Time

Here's Andrew at 7 weeks. We've been trying to give him some more tummy time; he's already mastered lifting his head, now we thought maybe he could add his arms to the exercise and get up even higher. So we nap him on his tummy, put him in his play gym on his tummy, and pictured here, put him over the armchair on his tummy. He hasn't gotten the hang of using his arms yet but he's very much improved his head control.

In other developmental milestones, he has discovered his hands and sucks on them; he swats at his toys, he smiles in response to people's faces, high voices, and things he likes; and he's growing out of his newborn clothes.

Funny Faces

Andrew has been an expressive guy since day 1. Back then he was limited to furring his brow and so forth - quizzical expressions. Now he's moved onto social smiling which is alot of fun. Check these out! He's hilarious.

Sprouts

Andrew's got some eyelash sprouts! They appear to be of a blond/red hue. Sadly no eyebrow or head sprouts yet...

Sleepy Guy

Father and son.

Big Smile

Big smile after eating...has a good appetite like his mama. 6 weeks old.

Aunt Jaclyn

We had a great visit. Jaclyn was a huge help - she bathed and soothed Andrew, cooked, cleaned and so forth. Thank you so much!

Grin!

Andrew has grinned since almost day 1, but its so hard to get on camera as they are fleeting. Luckily he seems to be grinning very readily these days. Here's one for your viewing pleasure - will post another variation tomorrow: the open mouth smile, just as cute :)

And in case you weren't aware, you can click on any photo in this blog and it will enlarge.

Voila

We finally figured out how to calm Andrew down during fussy evenings! We have to keep him in constant motion (dancing with him, walking with him, bouncing him on our lap) until he suddenly passes out - see photo :)

5 weeks

Just for kicks today we weighed Andrew at home -its an old school scale (not digitized) so our best guess is just an estimate...we think he's now between 11-12 lb and around 22" (by architectural tape measure)! So much for my concern that he still seemed really skinny to me. Guess I just have a slender, but solid, little boy.

He seems to be pushing forward very rapidly, development-wise. Since day 1 he's been trying to lift his head. Now he can hold it up on his own and turn it from side to side when he's laid down on his belly. If you hold him upright he will lock his legs and try to stand. He can focus on objects a few feet away, and seems to recognize Shawn and I.
He's even trying to roll over!

Fiesty!

It still surprises me how much different Andrew is when compared to Shawn and I. Shawn and I are pasty white, Andrew is sporting a midwinter tan (courtesy of the native american lineage on shawn's dad's side? flash photography makes him seem pretty pale in these pics). He doesn't really look like either of us aside from having my ears and shawn's feet. The most shocking is his temper! Boy can he get angry, quite a fiesty guy! It comes out of nowhere, going from 0-60 in 10 seconds. Starts as a whimper but then becomes a loud wail and really gets his body into it- kicking, thrashing his arms. Quite a sight to see. I tried to capture it in this set of photos....which for some reason posted in reverse order.

4 generations!

Today Andrew met his GREAT grandparents! Also in attendance were his grandpa and uncle. We took tons of photos. Andrew was in a good mood most of the day, making all sorts of funny faces. He does very well when passed from person to person which we're glad for. He's seen here sporting a beautiful blue sweater that Shawn's aunt knit for him (remember I promised some new fashion!)

Tiny Hands

We finally got around to filing down Andrew's fingernails. Until now we've ignored them and instead put mittens on. Its been so fun the past couple of days watching him discover his hands. He opens and closes his fist, moves around various fingers (seemingly independently, kind of bizarre) and has tried to stuff his fist into his mouth (no success). A has quite a strong grip and can hang onto our fingers for a while if he so wishes. We've tried putting toys into his hands but he hasn't quite gotten the hang of that yet. In due time....

I took this photo because there are very few I've taken which give a sense of scale. He's a TINY thing, despite being born at 8.5 lbs.

4 weeks old

All sorts of excitement here. Andrew is now holding up his head, focusing his eyes, and attempting to roll over. He giggles and smiles occasionally (can't wait to see more!) To celebrate we're going to dress him up in some big boy clothes and save the onesies for bedtime. So be on the lookout for new fashion! We have lots of cute outfits waiting for him to grow into. He's probably about 9 lbs now - I can certainly feel a difference when I carry him (he was down to 7.5 a week after delivery.)

"Hanging" Out

We've just started wearing A in a sling and front carrier. Life is ALOT easier when you have 2 hands to spare! The sling seems to mimic the womb in that he's all cozy tight, and the front carrier is more like a backpack you wear on your chest. The carrier seems alot more useful and less awkward for the parent than the sling. Either way we're glad to have found a few more ways to bring him around with us. He usually naps in them. Here's a pic of A in the sling.

Beautiful Boy

He's changing so fast! 3 weeks, 5 days.

Happy New Year!

Andrew didn't quite make it to see the ball drop!