11 weeks!

While our family is still on the mend, things are slowly starting to get back to normal! Tatum has a cough and a stuffy nose, but the antibiotics seem to be doing the trick for me and hopefully he's getting a good dose each time he eats and will be feeling better very soon. We went to church this morning to celebrate Palm Sunday and took some 11-week photos of Tate with his faithful monkey pal afterwards:

This week we're hopefully looking at some 70-degree sunny days, so we can't wait to get outside and go for some good walks! On another note, mommy starts working again this coming Friday...GULP! I'm both ready to pick up some projects and get going and nervous at the same time. A former colleague of my mom's from the library will be coming by several days a week for 4-5 hours at a time; I'm curious to see whether that's enough to get me back into the swing of things. The girl who's coming to help out seems exceptionally sweet, and while she may not be a long-term solution I think she'll work beautifully for now (I say that only because she's seeking full-time work, so if something comes up of course we'll be excited for her!).

Ten Weeks

Ten weeks! Did I really just write that?! My little Tater has entered double digits in the number of weeks he's been on this earth!

What's new this week, Tate?  Well, you've discovered that your hands fit into your mouth, and you spend no small amount of time these days trying to direct them there.  You can't quite get your thumb to connect with your mouth on a regular basis, but you've gotten in there once and twice and when that happens, WOW!  Let the sucking commence!  Turns out Daddy was a thumb-sucker, too.  You sometimes settle for a knuckle or two index fingers, but ideally you'd really like to be sucking that thumb.  We'll see how long it takes you to figure it out.

What is this fuzzy creature, and what has he done with my hands?!

One of your new favorite things to do is talk to your books.  That's right, talk TO them.  Not read them (or be read them).  I can barely make it through a quick rendition of "Hop on Pop" or "Are You My Mother?" before you lose patience and want to move on to something else.  But you WILL lie on your side in my arms and grin and coo and babble and laugh looking up at your books on the shelf.  I'm not sure if it's the contrasting colors or what draws you to them, but you'll lie there and talk to them for 20 minutes at a time!  That's longer than you'll do almost anything!

Other new tricks: you've discovered that if you kick your feet vigorously in your bouncy chair, you can make yourself bob up and down!  And boy, is that ever fun!  You prefer the hard up and down bouncing movement to the gentle vibrations of the chair hands-down, and now I really do need to be sure you're strapped in or you might catapult yourself right out of there.

Your eyes are still the newborn slate blue-gray color, amazingly enough!  You've outgrown most of your 3-month clothes and are definitely into the 3-6 and often the 6-9 month clothing now.  Much of that is due to your length, and admittedly the bulk of the cloth diapers adds a bit of "junk in the trunk" that makes some of your pants a bit snug. But oh, are they ever cute on your tush!  And you LOOOOOVE to be naked!  That's the one time I'm sure to get a smile out of you.  If we're changing your pants and I let you air it all out for a bit on the changing table, you grin and laugh and smile your head off.  You love feeling the air on your bare skin, that's for sure--and really, who doesn't?

Happy 10 weeks, handsome boy.  I can't believe in a few weeks you'll be three months old!


Tate lounging with his monkey at 10 weeks:

Temporarily Down for the Count

Tate's blog has been suffering some side-effects of a bought with the flu last week followed by a respiratory infection of some kind. Apparently one in five cases of the flu end with a respiratory infection--pneumonia or bronchitis or something like that. FUN! Fortunately the infection can be treated with antibiotics, whereas the flu just has to run its course. All was fine until Tatum himself woke up a bit stuffy and coughing this morning; now I'm worried that I've passed this nasty stuff on to him. Needless to say, our photo-taking and story-capturing hasn't been as successful this past week.

I'll be back soon with new pictures of the kiddo and some good stories to share! Until then, wash your hands and try not to let the changing seasons catch you off guard ... :) C'mon, SPRING!

90th Percentile

Our big boy had his two-month appointment today, and he's definitely healthy! He measures 25 inches long and weighs 14 lbs 12 ounces, putting him in the 90th percentile in both categories. Considering he was in the 25th percentile at his first doctor's visit (granted he was three weeks early!) the jump in size is pretty dramatic.

Our doctor was cute about it. She said, "Having done this for as long as I have, it's clear to me that some women make skim milk, some women make 2% milk and some women make whole milk. You make cream!" It's always a boost to hear that you're providing for your baby successfully.

Poor little guy is currently knocked out from the vaccinations (or more likely from the baby Tylenol they gave him just before the vaccines were administered) and asleep in the baby carrier I'm wearing, so I won't try to take a photo of him in the adorable button-down plaid shirt and jeans he's wearing. Instead, some more pics from my phone that I took upstairs yesterday:

Congrats on the excellent health report, Tater!  I hope it's one of many to come.

Nine Weeks

Tater Tot's 9-week photos:

As ever, the serious young man

Though I do occasionally capture a smile!

Engaging in his favorite game of "Punch the Penguin" (no real penguins were harmed in this exercise)

And trying to crawl! I keep reminding the kiddo that he's only 9 weeks old, but he's not interested in things like that. He just wants to stand up and crawl and do all sorts of things his body (and mom!) isn't quite ready for yet.

A Quiet, Rainy Day

Because it’s a lazy Saturday afternoon and the skies are gray and drizzling, and because my boys are both sleeping, I thought I’d download some photos from my phone for Tate’s blog.

Tater Gator is trying his best to crawl:

Here he's modeling several SUPER cute gifts from our friend Kate G., who should really sell her adorable sewn goodies on Etsy!

The front of onesie #1 (personalized for Tate!):

Onesie #1 on the flip side:

Onesie #2 (Kate knows we love monkeys, and the sailboat and anchor are special because Daddy was in the Coast Guard!):

I just love the expression on the face of the monkey Kate sewed for us!

A few cute close-ups, just because I have them on my phone.

I’m not sure whether this will work or not—but here’s my attempt at catching Tate on film using my phone. He has all of the mechanics of trying to crawl down. He lies on his tummy and kicks furiously with his legs, but so far he doesn’t have the strength to push himself up so he doesn’t go far.

Two Month Comparison

We thought it would be fun to do some comparisons between Tatum at 1 week and Tatum at 8 weeks. Wow! What a difference two months makes.

What’s so funny?

You woke up chortling to yourself this morning, Tater Tot. This was the first time I’ve heard you laugh, and it was intoxicating! We should all wake up that way, laughing and excited to greet the day. This is pretty typical of you—you wake up sweet as can be and have several hours of total pleasantry before you consider fussing. Sometime after 7 PM your mood often takes a turn, with some crankiness here and there—but that’s pretty typical of babies, from what I understand. My sister calls it the “witching hour” and says she always sees families out walking with their little ones in the stroller trying to soothe them when the tension gets high right around this time.

We’re still trying to figure out what’s typical of most babies and what’s specific to you. You managed to cut your face up pretty well the other night. I try to keep your nails trimmed and filed to avoid such shenanigans, but I guess a stray one got away from me and during the night you managed to slice both your cheek and the bridge of your nose, right between your eyes. The cuts looked awful in the morning, vividly red. But within a few hours they were almost imperceptible. I’m not sure if all babies heal that quickly or if it’s just you!

The diaper trials continue. This week we’re determining which cloth diaper option will work best for us in the long haul. At the moment I’m a BumGenius fan, closely followed by FuzziBunz. But I need to use the full assortment in the trial package we received from Jillian’s Drawers for another week or so and wash them several more times to really get a read on what works best for us. I haven’t even attempted the Chinese or Indian prefolds with a cover yet! Who knows—maybe they’ll be easier and more effective than I think. I’m happy to say you haven’t worn a disposable diaper in two days! Woo hoo! Now if I can just get our composter working again, we’ll be well on our way to being a greener family.

You continue to be well on YOUR way to rolling over from back to tummy!  You were trying so hard this afternoon, and having so much fun.

Week Eight

You’re two months old, my big beautiful boy! Fourteen pounds this morning—wow. Your neck is so strong, you spend much of your days riding around with mom in the Baby Bjorn while she goes about her day. We do laundry together, vacuum, make countless trips up and down the stairs, prepare salads and sandwiches, tidy up, make beds, let the dogs in and out, and so on. You love being in motion and often fall asleep as I’m bustling (lurching?) about. When you’re not sleeping, you hold your head up high and turn it this way and that to take in everything as it goes by.

Here’s the delectable view I have when you’re riding about in the Bjorn carrier:

You spent several hours with Gramps and CeCe the other night so that mommy and daddy could go to dinner together. What a treat for everyone involved! We got home to a very content Tatum being carried around by his Gramps in Gramps’ famous sideways airplane hold. Your tummy looked quite round and full, and CeCe pointed to an absolutely empty-to-the-last-drop bottle on the table and said that you’d downed 4 ounces of breast milk while we were gone. You’d eaten right before we dropped you off, so I was a little surprised! But not entirely, you’re still a VERY good eater, and quite robust in your efforts…as evidenced by your weight at 8 weeks old! You don’t appear overly chunky at all though, because you’re also VERY long. Much of your 3-month clothing is getting too small, only because you’re too long for it. The shirts seem too short and your belly pokes out between shirts and pants, or in one-piece outfits we’ll slip your feet into the footies only to find that the top won’t pull all the way up to your shoulders. On to the three- to six-month clothes we go!

You went to church with us for the first time this week. All of the little gray-haired ladies swarmed us after the service, exclaiming over how sweet and good you were (you were quiet as can be, only making your voice heard at the very end of communion!). Several called you the Gerber Baby. I can see where they would get that, your cheeks are so round and pink and you exude a glow of health and contentment.

That Gerber Baby smile is still elusive, but guess what?! It’s popped out a few times over the past two days. I find that if I gently tickle your cheeks and chin, every now and then you’ll allow a little grin. You remain a very serious little guy over all, but your range of facial expressions is such fun to see.

Some of your expressions are straight out of the Sopranos. This one cracks me up!

“Hey, you. You’re gonna give me the milk. ALL the milk. And that’s the way it’s gonna be. Capice?”

Despite the Soprano-esque expressions, there’s no Italian in your blood, little bambino. No Irish either, although when we were out walking the other day a friend’s mom stopped and exclaimed over your cute button nose, saying, “His nose is Irish!” (Need I say that this family is a very Irish family?!) But no, despite the cuteness of your apparently Irish button nose, there’s no Irish family waiting to welcome you home at a pub overseas. You have French heritage (oui, petit monsieur, as evidenced by the adorable shirt you’re wearing in the photos today!). You have Hispanic blood (your dad is Hispanic on his mom’s side, not that he looks it or speaks a lick of Spanish!) and Jewish background on your mom’s side (Chooch and his parents). In other words, much like our pups, you’re a classic American mutt!

Your TWO MONTH photos:

Tony Soprano never had to pose with a stuffed monkey, you know what I'm sayin'? You can make me do it, but you can't make me smile!