6 weeks and Merry Christmas!

So Teddy is 6 weeks old today!  Everything is roughly the same as last week, except he finally ended his growth spurt.  And now he's more agreeable to napping during the day as well.  I would say that was "usual" but that 2 week spurt threw him off and at this point that's a third of his life so I didn't know what to expect!  It's been nice to get some rest and have some energy left at the end of the day when Doug comes home.  Now if only I could get him to burp well.

So last Saturday was the church Christmas dinner.  Lots of good food and a good time.  We left the camera at the house and then our phones in the car so no pics.  But after we got home we took some in front of the tree.  We will have plenty more on Christmas day.  Christmas eve dinner with Doug's mom's side of the family, then Christmas day with his Dad's, then at my Mom's.  Then on the 29th & 30th we will be at the Beach visiting my mom's side of the family.  Teddy is my grandmother's 3rd great grand child but will be the first one she's gotten to meet and hold.  I'm pretty excited about that!  I hope the drive and visit will go well.  Teddy is pretty relaxed unless we actually need to leave the house at a specific time, then it seems that he figures out we're going some where he throws us for a loop.  We've figured that we need to start getting ready for church a lot earlier than we thought!  We may even need to schedule extra time for nursing in the car in case of a last minute melt down.  And if it's not needed then we'll just be early for church for a change!

Nicknames

Our baby's name is Theodore Robert Bowman.  We call him Teddy.  We are the parents.  The parents are the ones to pick the name.  As in, if you want to call him something else you're out of luck.  Go have your own baby.  I'm not sure how people don't understand this.  We've got family calling him Little Dougie, Theo and Teddy Bob.  Um, no.  If when he is older he wants to go by something else then we will have to deal with that, but for now he is Teddy.  Maybe I don't like what you named your kids, it doesn't mean I'm allowed to call them something else.  If you hate his name that much, then come up with a little nickname for him.  I also call him Teddy Bear, Chunky Monkey, Chunk a Monk, Wiggle Worm, Happy Baby, Beautiful Boy, Sweetie Pie, Sweet Cheeks, Lovey Boy, Angel, Honey, Sweetie, Darling, Child, Son, Boy, Child of Mine, Sonny....and probably dozens of others I don't remember right now.  If you hate Teddy, then call him Squirt or something and that can be your little thing.  But you can't decide to call him Little Dougie as if we named him Douglas III and you can't call him Theo instead of Teddy.  And you definitely can't call him Teddy Bob.  Seriously, we don't want to confuse him!

One month old!

Oh my goodness Teddy has changed so much already!  He's about 10 pounds now (probably more since I weighed him the other day).  He makes a little kissy face when he wants kisses- it's seriously the cutest thing!  He'll coo and stare at faces and objects.  He hooks him arm around mine now when I hold him, it's kind of like a little hug!  He can grab on to things.  On his tummy he can lift his head 45 degrees, sometimes even 90.  But he hates tummy time.  He can scoot his legs around, I think he's going to be an early crawler.  He holds his head up a lot when I'm holding him and prefers to be upright than held in the crook of my arm.  He's so strong.  He can push out with his legs and move his entire body- though not necessarily when I'm expecting it!  So, for now my hand is still holding onto his head or very near it.  He's really exploring his arms and legs and will move around a lot when he sleeps and even when he's awake.  He loves music and the other day he was wiggling all around while we watched Singin' in the Rain.  I tried gettig it on video but then he stopped, lol.  He is finally sleeping in his pack and play for a few hours at a time, but I must admit I miss snuggling him in our bed so I still let him come in sometimes.  He's a pretty noisy sleeper and makes all kinds of grunting and squeeling noises.  He actually remids me of Doug.  I rarely move in my sleep, and even then it's only after fully awaking.  The most noise I make is that I rarely talk in my sleep (aside from pregnancy snoring).  Doug is more mobile and is just loud!

And after having horrible back and shoulder pain for a few weeks I finally figured it out!  I realized I wasn't having any back support while sitting on the bed and that duh- there's things called chairs.  So now we actually use the nursery.  In the middle of the night I'll still nurse in bed though, unless Doug has to get up early. 

So we're still waiting on social smiles and I can't wait for him to laugh, giggle and dance around a bit.  Well, there's my baby alarm....

Update:  The above was written earlier on Sunday Dec. 12.  Since then Teddy's been super hungry and clingy.  He's been not wanting to burp and spitting up a lot.  It's been a little difficult to handle!  But still all worth it.  Just so hard when Doug has to work so much.  I still haven't cooked a meal since he's been born and have barely been upstairs for more than 10 minutes.  I am essentially in our bedroom or his 24/7.  Well, our bedroom also functions as our living room, which used to upset me but I suppose it's a blessing now.  Slowly but surely we're getting used to this parent thing and are figuring out what works for us.  The new plan is for me to cook enough food for several days when Doug has the day off and then I can just reheat as needed.  That way I don't need 30 minutes to an hour to cook a meal for us and I can heat it up whenever Doug gets off work, which varies and is never when he's scheduled.  And hopefully once Teddy settles into his own schedule a bit more I can figure out how to get more things down and have some free time.  Right now just when I think I can get something done and actually feel up to it he decides to wake up!  But of course he puts on good behavior when anyone else is around!  Hahaha.  I guess I can't complain too much about that.

A pic from Saturday when he was 1 month old:

3 weeks old today!

Teddy is 3 weeks old today!  It seems like it's been both a short and long time since he's been born! 

He's soo grown up already!  He can roll onto his side from his back, the tummy will be coming shortly.  He hates tummy time, but can lift his head quite a bit, about 90 degrees sometimes.  In the last few days he's started cooing, smiling back at us and making good eye contact.  He also stays awake for a few hours every day.  Usually once in the morning and then once in the evening, so no matter Doug's schedule he gets some good Daddy time in.  Hehe, and his Grandpa still has rarely seen him awake, but Grandma got to play with him awake yesterday.  At his weight check this week he weighed 8lb 12 ounces, meaning he's gained 12 ounces in one week and is past his birth weight.  So he probably hit it pretty close to the 2 week mark, which is right on average.  We could definitely tell just by looking at him, his face and belly seemed to get more chunky by the day!  His next appointment isn't until mid-January for his 2 month check up and to begin immunizations.  I still need to research those!

Right now our Christmas plans are to be here.  Doug has off on Dec. 28-31 and so the plan is to go to VA Beach and visit my family then.  Maybe we'll slip up to Baltimore and visit my family there.  It takes a lot longer to plan things out since we get our train of thoughts interrupted a lot.

This week has gone a lot better with sleep.  Teddy had a few fussy days where he wanted to be held or near me in order to sleep, but we survived.  It's a good thing he's been sleeping a bit longer (3-4 hours) because it's been a long hard week for Doug at work.  It's his first week as Kitchen Manager at the Applebee's store in Staunton and it's been pretty stressful.  He's been scheduled 7am-5pm this week.  That means he has to get up around 5:30 am in order to get there in time.  But he's not getting off at 5.  I think 7 is the earliest he's made it home, one night it was 9.  So we've only got a few hours together before we need to hit the sack.  It's hard to find time to relax, take care of Teddy and everything.  Poor Doug has only been getting about 6 hours of sleep and then he has to go to work and when he comes home he does things for me around the house. 

I'm still not really doing much but caring for Teddy. I haven't cooked a meal or really cleaned.  I tried doing a load of laundry the other day and it backed up the stupid toilet down here.  Don't get me started on what a hassle all of that has been!  I put away some clothes.  I'm not really sore around my incision anymore but I'm still sore underneath it all, so I'm still trying to take it easy.  The day generally goes like this (with an hour or two on either end on the time): 

6:30 am Doug leaves for work; Teddy usually wakes and eats for about an hour.  Then sleeps.
10:30 am Teddy wakes for a short feeding and returns to sleep
12:30 pm Feeding, play for an hour or two (Bible time, music and excercise time, tummy time)
2:30 feeding, sleep
4:30 feeding, sleep
7:30 feeding, play for 1-2 hours (play with Mommy and Daddy, tummy time)
9:30 feeding, sleep
12:30 feeding, sleep
3:30 feeding, sleep

And repeat!  It's getting closer to 3 hours becoming standard between feedings during the day, but it varies by how he is feeling.  I typically nap when he's asleep too except when Doug is home and for an hour or two before he is home.  I feel so lazy doing it like that but the other day I took him to the pediatrician and then ran into Target for a few minutes and was really kind of hurting later that night.  And there were a few days last week when I didn't get to nap during the day and really paid for it as well.  There is definitely a connection between sleep and emotions!

Ok, need to get off!