The Nursery

I just adore his room - its entirely furnished with handmade, gifted, and handmedown objects which exude baby love :) And yes, that's him on the changing table, safely strapped in.

Right on Cue

A typical moment in my life, caught on film.

Chatty McChattster

Teething?

Methinks he's teething. Drool everywhere, hands in mouth, but I can't see any cutting the gums yet. Thought 3.5 months was a little early for this but guess not.

15 weeks, Big Noggin

So A has a big head like his Dad. What do you say when someone points out that your child has a large cranium? My best answer is: big head; big brain. Any other ideas?

Party Animal

At Great-Grandpa's 90th birthday celebration!

The Big Boy

It always catches me by surprise, how big Andrew is! He is such an active boy and its been alot of fun so far watching him grow. Here he is showing off his strong legs.

14 weeks

After a series of roll-overs, Andrew decided to call it quits.

Techie Kid

Andrew has loved looking at the laptop from day 1 - its probably the brightness and color and motion on the screen, but perhaps its an inherited affinity for technogadgets?

Double Fisting

Andrew's latest habit - trying to stuff as many fingers (and fists) in his mouth at once. We suspect there's some early teething going on...

3 Months Old

At 3 months old, Andrew is getting stronger, and more mobile by the day. He's already rolled over, and is trying to sit up on his own. He loves being active so we bought him this Jumperoo to play around in since he likes bouncing and standing. As you can see, he's enjoying it...

Gloworm Love, Part 2

Chatterbox

12 weeks old

Andrew remains a happy baby on our new routine which is: nursing, diaper change, playtime, naptime. He's babbling alot these days and its funny because he uses all sorts of intonations (guess he's mimicing me?) We're hoping to start more outside walking now that spring is in sight - I can't begin to imagine what goes through a baby's head seeing the outdoors for the first time.

The Seasoned Traveller

He did really well on our trip to/fro NYC this weekend! Either playing with his toys/books, looking out the window, or asleep. Next up: plane travel? The thought of it still scares his parents.

Someone Found his Feet

11 week Portraits

In Ohio, my friend Meg took some beautiful photos of Andrew at 11 weeks old. Am sharing a few here for your viewing pleasure. Isn't he a handsome guy?

Back from Ohio

We survived an 11 hour drive with an 11 week old! Twice :) Our weeklong stay was a fun, relaxing one. Andrew settled in nicely on Pop Pop's shoulder for most of his visit.

Hi Andrew!

This is the face he makes when you look at him and say "hi andrew!"

Developmental Milestones

Include....

Sits With Support (see above!)
Grasps Toys
Stretches Legs
Brings Hands to Mouth
Follows Moving Objects
Recognizes Familiar Faces
Stares at Faces
Smiles When You Talk
Babbles
Imitates Sounds
Turns Head Towards Light/Sounds
Smiles When Smiled At
Enjoys Playing
New Facial Expressions

2 month Dr's Visit

We're back and happy to report that Andrew is in perfect health. He's 10lbs 13 oz (30th% in weight) and 22 3/4" (45th% in height). Surprise surprise a thin, average height guy, who would have guessed it :)

2 months old!

I can hardly believe he's 2 months old already! Then again, I suppose I can. He's so much different in such a short time. Andrew's latest feats include having the patience to just sit still and look around (much to the happiness of his parents who were very tired of having to bounce him 24/7). Also he's stuffing his hands in his mouth all the time with very successful eye-hand-mouth coordination. Loads better than last week when he'd just punch himself in the head :) And he's filling out - should be interesting to see how big he is at tomorrow's dr's appt.

Gloworm Love

The only toy that completely halts his crying.

Susan at Andrew's Age

See any resemblance?

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!