Happy Father's Day

To Daddy,

 and Pop,

 and Grampy!

Love,

Chase & Brice

(and their Mommy)



Brice at 4 weeks

It's amazing how fast the days pass in a sleep-deprived blur. It's hard to believe our little guy has been here for 4 weeks already. He's growing and learning about the world around him as we learn about him and his personality.

At 4 weeks, Brice is...

-Still nursing all the time- every 45 to 90mins- with cluster feeds before bed.

-He had his first bottle on Sunday night and did pretty well with it. Because he can't nurse Brice (a constant eater) and is often entertaining Chase, Stephen hasn't spent nearly as much time with Brice. So we're both happy that he'll be giving Brice a bottle about once a day now.

-He's done so-so with the binky. He seems to like it, but has instances of being super-hungry when it comes out. So it's a work in progress.

-His body had pretty much finished the newborn peeling by 3 weeks, but then his cradle cap started.

-Going through puberty and old-age all at once: He's losing his hair and his hairline is receeding, plus he's got baby acne. I thought he might get away with just four pimples on his cheek but it's all over his cheeks now.

-A little cranky lately- early this week he was crying when he wasn't fed fast enough and he was eating all the time. Looking back on Chase at this point, we realized he's probably going through a growth spurt.

-Smiling sometimes  and starting to make eye contact. (Smiles aren't necessarily at a person, but they are a start!)

-Sort of on some kind of schedule. His typical day (right now) includes waking up between 7 and 8am, hanging out for while, taking a few cat naps before taking a long afternoon nap (like 2-6pm), waking up to nurse just as Mommy is sitting down  to dinner, playing with Chase and reading with the family before Chase's bedtime, and then spending time with Mommy and Daddy and cluster feeding before going to sleep between 10 and 11pm. He typically wakes up at 2am, 3:30am, and 5:30, but those times and the length that he is awake varies from night to night. Monday night he and Mommy were awake in every hour.

-Moving! I'm not sure I did this justice in the last post. This boy moves! He moves all over the co-sleeper, holds his head up and throws it around when we're holding him, cannot go in the swing because he throws his boy around, and yesterday he rolled onto his back during tummy time.

-Met his Nonnie and Pop! There will be a full post on this (the photos haven't been downloaded from the camera), but here's a picture of Brice and Nonnie to hold you over...

Watching his brother, who still loves to give Baby Bicey kisses.

Wore his first Duke shirt yesterday (thanks to Kristin, Brice, and Delaney!) and tried out his brother's big chair.

Nap time with Daddy

Post-partum update: I'm doing pretty well. I realize I haven't yet posted Brice's birth story but I (spoiler alert!) wound up having another c-section. So the first couple of days I was in a lot of pain and was frustrated that I couldn't do more because I kept thinking my first recovery had been "so easy," but had forgotten that was compared to the terrible recovery I expected. Once I got past the frustration, my recovery was about the same as with Chase so really not too bad. At my 2 week pp appointment, the doctor said I could resume all activity, including running. I started walking (for exercise) the next Monday and went for my first jog at 3 weeks post-partum.

So this is where I was supposed to write that I'm doing great and able to do everything and running everyday to work off the 11lbs I still have to lose...But Friday I was laid up in bed with a headache and on Sunday I had a blocked milk duct, a fever, and spent the day in bed. Both of those reminded me that I still need to take it easy and rest when Brice does. And even though at times I might get frustrated, it's hard not to soak up these quiet moments and just enjoy our precious time together...

(pics in this post are mostly in order from oldest to newest so you can see how he's filled out in the last 2 weeks)

Ne-naws!

Saturday morning Veronica forwarded us an email about two childrens' festivals that day. One was big and had all kinds of vendors and activities, but the other one at the local library promised fire trucks. Our decision was easy!

Chase was a little overwhelmed at first. He LOVES ne-naws, but he's only played with his toy ones or seen the real ones screaming down the road. These were the real live things. Not only were we close, but they were big.

Daddy went on the trucks with him and Chase gradually warmed up. He was shy around the firemen, but I'm not sure he understands their role-- his toy fire truck is staffed by all of his Little People, some of whom are dressed for Hawaii (they are from his airplane).

 In addition to Chase's excitement, Mommy clearly fell into the paparazzi role...

 Chase was especially excited about the ne-naw with the ladder on top, that goes "up up up up!"

 Family picture!

 (Note: Chase can say fire truck, but like his Daddy, he has a lisp that makes the latter word sound like a curse. So we'll just call it a ne-naw for now.)