Today Jack is...10 weeks old.

This week started off with Easter Sunday which just seemed like an excuse to dress him in his most formal 3-month attire. There weren't many choices but I think he made it clear how he felt about his outfit.

"This is super lame Mom."

This week brought more of the same with a few changes. He's definitely a little bit more into toys though he's still not grabbing them. But he's batting at them and loves the noises. He loves kicking like crazy in his bouncy seat and making the whole chair go up and down. We introduced him to this super soft little dog blanket "Spot" that he seems to love.

I've tried to do a bit more tummy time and he's neck strength seems pretty awesome to me. But I'm biased. We take walks to Vons or Starbucks every day and the ladies at the store are quite taken with him. We have sleep training to do and bottle training, but we seem to always say, "let's start that next week." Not sure when we'll eventually tackle it.

And now, more photos from this week!

I guess he's telling me to "suck it, mom"

So our latest issue with the little guy (why use the word 'problem'?) is bottle-feeding. If you remember, we had some breastfeeding problems the first week of his life so we had to give him formula. At that time, he immediately took the bottle, no problem. And then he easily switched back to the breast. Before Jack was born I knew I wanted to pump so that John could take some turns feeding him and eventually we could leave him with a babysitter to, you know, maybe have a dinner that lasts longer than 10 minutes. Forget actual individual luxuries like haircuts and massages. I know those are out the window but I would like to hang out with my husband one on one at least once in the next 6 months.

Anyways, that was my plan. Pump so that we could use a bottle when necessary. Then I actually had a baby and started using the pump and guess what? Pumping sucks. And it's incredibly hard to find time to do it when you're holding a baby all day. But I have pumped and have a small frozen stash. Now, around week 5 I thought about trying to give him a bottle but things got in the way and it just seemed like a hassle. Besides, he had taken a bottle week 1 so it wouldn't be a problem. WRONG. Last week we tried to give him a bottle and he rejected it. Big time. Like, 'how dare you try to make me suck on this'. We've tried all different things...me giving it to him, John giving it to him, him in our arms, him in his bouncy seat, different bottles and nipples, etc. He rejects all of them. I suppose I should have seen this coming since he refuses to suck on a pacifier. Our next step is to have John take a day to just keep at it. Not give up after 3 minutes like we usually do. Which sounds terrible and hard. And I think he'll just get more and more upset and refuse to take it. We'll see. The worst part of all this? The damn waste of pumped milk. Every time I thaw a bag and he refuses to drink it I weep as I pour the milk down the drain and think of that crappy 20 minute pump session.

Nursery Addition

This is the latest addition to the lil' guy's nursery. A vintage miniature rocking chair. And by "vintage" I mean about 30 years old because it was mine when I was a baby. My mom found it in their storage closet and was nice enough to get it to us in Los Angeles. Hopefully one day Jack will enjoy rocking away in it next to his daddy's big rocking chair.

Visitors

We've been slowly trying to hang out with more people so that Jack can get used to behaving (ha!). We were lucky enough to get a visit from the Dean family where Jack got to interact with their little son Lucas. Of course, I completely forgot to break out the camera and capture the meeting.

And last week my amazing friend Jenny and her boyfriend Alex came over and were nice enough to make dinner for us. In exchange, Jack was somewhat fussy but did as best as he could considering he is, in fact, a baby. :) This time, Alex was nice enough to take some pictures of the visit.

Two Months Doctor's Visit

Yesterday was Jack's two month check-up and he was a serious champ. That pic above is from before the doc came in. When he was being weighed and measured. He was so happy. In fact, his extreme happiness made me sad knowing that he was about to get stuck with a needle three times for three difference vaccines. But I tried to enjoy the happy time. Besides, maybe Jack was beaming because his stats were fantastic.

Weight - 11 pounds, 4 ounces (50th percentile)
Height - 24 inches (90th percentile...way up!!)

John immediately started planning his NCAA basketball career, dreaming of a 6 foot tall son. I'm not so sure he's destined for great heights, but I was pretty stoked. Anyways, the doc was super nice as usual. We sheepishly admitted that we basically spoiled the little guy, didn't try any sleep training, sometimes he slept in our bed in our arms, and constantly rocked and bounced him. She assured us that was all fine for Jack, it would just make our life harder as we went along, so.... We told her we knew that but we loved punishing ourselves. Though really I just don't mind coddling my little boy because I know he won't always want to sleep with me.

After the doctor said that he seemed to be developing well and looked great, she exited and left the dirty work to the nurse. The nice lady walked in with 3 shots. At that point the little guy was already crying on the table so I had to look away as he got jabbed three times. He let out shrieks of pain which I expected. But we immediately whisked him out of the office and started walking him outside and he calmed right down. Amazing. But we knew it wouldn't last because the next place he was going was the car seat. Then SHOCKINGLY, he fussed a little as we drove away and then passed out hard. Really hard.

Not the greatest picture but there he is, passed out in his little mirror. With his car seat toys in the foreground. Which I constantly say look like suicidal animals who have hung themselves.

Moms meeting moms

The problem with having kids in Los Angeles is that I really don't know many people that have kids. Okay, I have two friends that have kids (hi stacey and karen!) but one of them is moving away and the other works during the week. So I want to try to meet other moms who are around during the week so that Jack can make friends and I can get out of the house. I joined this online group through meetup.com that's a bunch of moms in the Valley. And by "bunch" I mean like 500 I think. A little overwhelming. But last week I noticed that one of their meetups was for Baby Tummy Time at the park for babies under 6 months. Figuring that I better get this process started, I decided to go. Sure, my baby wasn't about to do tummy time and sure, he hates driving anywhere, but I figured I'd try. And it appeared that it was going to be a little group so it wouldn't be too overwhelming.

So we went. It was...okay. It was good, but just in an unnatural way. Like a blind date (I imagine). New first time moms who are strangers trying to awkwardly make conversation. We all had our little space on each of our little blankets. We all awkwardly shared the snacks we had brought. There were long periods of silence, which were then followed up by questions about the babies. How is your baby sleeping? How does he like going out? How is she breastfeeding? All the women were very nice. I honestly don't know if I'll ever see them again but at least it was good to get out. Jack even behaved pretty well. And of course he was the cutest baby in the bunch. ;-)

Today Jack is...9 weeks old.

Week 9 has not been a banner week for the little guy. First, he got a nasty eye infection which sort of hindered his cuteness. And now something unpleasant seems to have switched on in him. Extreme extreme fussiness. Or maybe even colic. I don't know. But he's only sleeping about 2 hours a night and then awake and just inconsolable from 1am to 7am. In the past he's certainly woken up for feedings but he's never cried like this. Anyways, it's finally starting to take a toll on ol' mom and dad. As far as I can tell, we could have about 4 more weeks of this type of behavior. We're just trying to remember that, eventually, it'll end. We're not asking for him to sleep through the night, just to quit the non-stop overnight crying. I'll keep you posted... In the mean time he's really mastered the lower lip pout.

In other news, he seems to be increasingly delighted by noises from toys and rattles. Not the actual toys per se, just the sounds they make. He's got all the toys in the world but his favorite thing is still the chandelier.

Still no grasping yet but that'll come. He is still endlessly entertained while laying on the changing table and staring at his colorful nursery wall. That and watching mom and dad sing and dance.

He's got his two month check-up on Monday (a little late) and then we'll have some height and weight stats to post. Until then, enjoy more pics from this week!

Shushing!

First Sick Visit

Jack made his first sick visit to the pediatrician this week. He's had a bit of eye discharge since he was born but a few days ago it turned seriously thick and crusty and his one eye got red and swollen.

The doctor prescribed some eye drops which was no surprise. (but was happy to find out it wasn't pink eye or something contagious.) In fact, the only interesting part of the visit was when we were waiting in the waiting room. We had a long wait in there and for some crazy reason, the little guy was very well behaved. So much so that one mom said to me, "wow, he seems like a dream baby." Dream baby indeed. This is the kid who only slept 3 hours last night. But, yes, he is a dream.

Here's a blurry pic of wonky eye himself.

Hit the road Jack

I'm sure down the road I'll look back at this post and think how funny it was that one little trip to Target was so stressful. But, for now, as a first time mom, that's how I feel. A few days ago Jack and I ventured out for our first real solo outing. Now, we've walked to Vons and Starbucks, we've driven around town, and we've gone with daddy to run errands. But this was my first time driving somewhere with him, getting out the stroller, popping in the car seat, and navigating the mall and the Target aisles by myself.

The trip started as all our car trips do - with crying. He cried the whole 10 minute ride and by the time we pulled into the parking lot, it had reached a crescendo. I parked, pulled the stroller out of the back, got in the back seat and pulled out his car seat. I popped the seat in the stroller as he melted down. Now that he was out in public, he really let it rip. Heads turned toward me, eyes accusing me of abusing my baby. And since when do so many people sit in their car in parking lots? Seems like we were surrounded by them. Since I was determined not to surrender and head home (and skip Target?!) I decided to take a few laps around the shopping center before going in the store. The long walk combined with white noise blasting on my iPhone made him eventually fall asleep. I went in and had a lovely time at Target. Though I didn't know where to put everything without a cart so I piled a billion things into my one reusable shopping bag. And I couldn't figure out why I was getting strange looks as I wheeled the stroller thru the aisles. Then I realized that my iPhone was tucked in with Jack and was blasting white noise. People apparently couldn't figure out where the waterfall noise was coming from.

He slept through the check out and even through putting his car seat in the back seat. But the minute I started the car, he woke up and went off the deep end. Sobbing, screaming. No amount of white noise, music, dangling toys, windows open, could help. At one point he started choking so I pulled over to make sure he was okay. He was. But when I finally got home his hair was soaking wet and he had sweat through his clothes. All with a 10 minute drive.

And that was our first solo outing. The car was painful but the store was a dream (as usual). And if you're interested, Jack and I came back with new onesies, tortillas, greeting cards, make-up, ice cream, and deodorant. I love Target.

Pictures from Grandma

My mom was up last week and managed to capture some great photos of the little guy. Thought I'd share...

2 Months Old!

I did this little photo shoot with the intention of only posting one photo for his monthly birthday. But, of course, there were just too many cute ones to post just one. So you get some outtakes too.

Where I take a break from cute Jack pics.

I am interrupting my regular programming of adorable Jack pictures to direct you to my sister's cooking blog. If you haven't checked it out, it has awesome (vegetarian) recipes. And right now she's doing a giveaway for this delicious gourmet popcorn which I've had and is very very tasty.

Oh, okay fine. Here's one photo of the lil' guy to hold you over.

Today Jack is...8 weeks old.

Eight weeks old today which apparently isn't two months old. That won't come until the 19th. I may have to reconsider these birthday posts...we'll see. But at eight weeks Jack is getting cuter every day. Good thing because he is also getting more difficult in some ways. He hates, and I mean HATES, going on car rides. With very few exceptions, he'll scream bloody murder and sweat through his clothes and start to choke. It's not the most fun. He also still won't allow me to sit still. If he's in my arms and awake, he's got to be bouncing on a ball, walking around, or doing step aerobics outside (that's John's job mostly).

But, on the plus side, he is getting more adorable every day. His face is so expressive and sometimes he has such laughing and smiling fits. He is becoming more interested in toys and their sounds, though he still won't hold them or grab them.

He's still enthralled by mirrors and is warming up to the bath with each consecutive day. Or I assume he's warming up to it because now he's relaxed enough to pee in the bath most nights. Hey, as long as I don't get hit with it.

And now, more pictures from this week!

"The Killing"

The husband and I pride ourselves on watching "good" television. Sure, I still enjoy the random mainstream show like "American Idol" or "Castle", but mainly we've been glued to the television with shows like "The Shield", "The Wire", "Breaking Bad", etc. A few weeks ago a show called "The Killing" premiered on AMC. It had all the markings of a show we'd enjoy so I recorded it and we watched the first two hours the other night. It was great. Strong acting, directing, production design, and writing. And we will never watch it again. Turns out that once you have a kid, you don't really want to watch a show that starts with the murder of a girl and follows her grieving parents. Just too much to handle.

I do recommend the show to all you non-parents out there but I'm wondering what other TV and movies will be off limits to me now.

Children's Books

Here's Jack with his current favorite book. Probably because it's just very basic black and white pictures of animals. High-contrast images and cute illustrations. The only writing on each page is "Hello, [insert animal name here]!" Makes it hard to really give it my all when I'm reading it to him, but I try to embellish a little. The thing I noticed today was the cover. And for some reason it struck me as hysterical. It says the book is "by" Smriti Prasadam and "illustrated by" Emily Bolam. Seeing as how the book is all pictures with only "hello leopard" and "hello dog" written over the illustrations, I'm thinking Smriti had a pretty easy time with this one.

Mama's Boy

While it's often hard staying at home all day with a crying baby, it's also pretty awesome in many ways. And one of the big payoffs is that the little guy seems to know me pretty well. He'll follow me around the room with his eyes, he'll give me a great big smile, and he doesn't mind my singing. Sometimes. All in all, he's a pretty cute kid and we have fun together.

You think I'd actually let you see a breastfeeding photo? No.

But this is generally what he looks like when I look down.

Spider-Baby

Jack was lucky enough to get cool Spider-Man gear from the movie crew before he was born. He doesn't know how cool Spidey is yet, but I'm sure he'll be a fan. And there's something about little boys wearing superhero stuff. So cute.

No more white onesies

I suppose it was inevitable. Newborns generally all look alike, right? Especially when they're in white?

Nice lady customer in Starbucks: "Aww, what a cute baby. So adorable. What's her name?"

Me: "Jack".

Today Jack is...7 weeks old.

This week I took one of my favorite pics of the little guy (above). One of the most adorable smiles I have ever seen. It's amazing how different he can look in every picture.

Well, 7 weeks old and he is still going through his 6 week growth spurt. Or I can only assume he is because he's still pretty damn fussy every day. We've been trying to take one outing a day, usually to visit his daddy at work and grab lunch, but Jack has pretty much failed these tests. When he's not screaming bloody murder in his car seat on the drive down, he's crying too loudly on a restaurant patio to continue eating. So we usually end up getting the food to go and chowing down in the car while he protests and then heading home as soon as possible. We're hoping his screaming car episodes start to wan or else we can't imagine driving all the way to San Diego. But so far he has gotten to see what a film cutting room looks like. Fortunately, he doesn't seem to be into editing as a career.

His bedtime routine seems to be helping his nighttime sleeping. Or at least his first stretch of sleeping. He'll sleep around 9:45 to 2:00 am which is awesome. I suppose I should take advantage by going to sleep when he does, but it's the only time of day I have two hands to do chores (or blog posts). Unfortunately after 2am he wakes up every hour or so. Oh well. Maybe by week 10....

The little guy's head control has been getting better and better. And, I'm not saying I deserve Mom of the Year award, but check out Jack doing tummy time. That's right. I did something the doctor asked me to. Twice.

He's still not interested in toys or rattles, though my BabyCenter weekly newsletter says he should be. Now, my gifted son can't possibly be behind the curve so the newsletter must be wrong. :)

And now, more pictures from this week!

"Look, I'm sitting! Pretty sweet, no?"

"Okay, I'm done sitting. And I spit up on mommy's silk pillow."