I'm four weeks old..

It's not easy getting old...

So if you're born on January 30th, when are you one month old? It's trickier than you'd think -> february 30th doesn't work... So we'll just go with a celebration of turning 4 weeks old, and leave it at that.

Official weights, sizes and all that jazz will be done tomorrow. The ad-hoc solution at home with the food scale and the fruit basket just doesn't work very well anymore, but I'm betting that I click in around 8lbs, 8oz - which would be a respectable rate of gaining weight.

I'm eating well, and sleeping well still. This is a really good thing. I need to chow once between midnight and morning, but otherwise I sleep. Truth be told, I snore.

I'm increasingly alert, and for longer periods of time. I can focus on faces that are about a foot away from my head, and I'll turn to follow sounds. My eyes will track differences in contrast. I've been to a number of places in the last couple of days. I went to the library, and to the butterfly pavillion, and shopping, but I slept through all of the above.

That's about it for now. Look for a weight/size/official pediatrician report.

Love, R.

Fun With Bath Paints

You want open eyes AND a smile? No way

Hey there, everyone

I am bigger and better than I was before. That's right - I'm gaining about an ounce a day, although the makeshift baby scale at home has maxed out. I'm also sleeping well - last night I ate at midnight, then wasn't up again until 5:30am. Everyone agreed that I could keep on doing that.

Mom maintains that I've smiled at her, Dad thinks it's gas. Again, there's agreement that I can keep doing more smiling. There are some pictures of me with my eyes open, but mostly I squint.

I still spend a lot of my time eating and sleeping. My brother Daniel likes to hold me, and doesn't seem to mind if I'm awake or not.

Until next time.

R.

It's party-time!

Whew!

It's been busy around here for the last week. Grandma Babe went back to Houston on Saturday, and I sure miss her. She was fun, and it was nice of her to visit for almost 5 weeks. I hear my cousins were missing her, though, so I guess I'll share. I cried at the airport when Dad said I couldn't go with her.


That same afternoon, I went to Carly's birthday party. She's 4 years old. I can't say "birthday", but I can say "Happy to Carly".

The party was at a children's gym/activity center in our neighborhood and was a blast. I got to bounce on a trampoline, throw all sorts of balls around, slide down slides, ride a zipline and play in the ball pit. The best part was trying to figure out the water fountain. There were organized games, but they were really mostly for the bigger kids. For some live action shots - you know what to do. Click Here or on the image of the video.


Then it was Farmor's birthday on Sunday, and I got on a videoconference to sing happy birthday to her along with my cousins Leo and Jacob. That was fun. "Happy to Farmor".

And today, Harrison came over and we had a tea party on the newly snow-free deck. Whew - I told you I was partied-out.

I know a few more letters. When I count, I think the series goes 1,2,3,4,5,6,9,4. No-one knows why. This week, I've gotten much better at answering the question "what color is that?" - I used to always just say "wed" (red), even though I knew differently.

At storytime at the library, I've started participating in the games and songs more. I'm still at about 23 lbs, which makes me pretty darned skinny for my age.

Oh, and Rachel is still fun to hold - even if I did get in a bit of trouble for knocking her on the head.

Until next time.

D.

Move over, Elton John

I might not have told you that I sing and play the piano. Well, check it out for yourself by clicking here or on the photo of me at the piano.



There's otherwise not all that much to report since last time. I've been playing with Rachel, my cars, and Grandma Babe.



Yesterday I started throwing food at dinner time. I have an excellent arm. For some reason, the parent's don't seem impressed.

You also may not know about my fascination with shoes. Here's me hiding every single shoe in the laundry room.

One of my favorite games these days is hide-and-seek. I call it "Daniel-boo" when I'm hiding, and "Papa-boo" when I want him to hide.

That's about it for now. Oh, my excema is all cleared up.

Love, D.

I'm 15 days old!

Family, Friends

Today I went in for my 2-week checkup, and all is good. I'm back up to 7lbs, 7oz - basically my birthweight, which is what they wanted to see. That's 25th percentile for weight I'm also 21.5" long (90th percentile), and13.875" head size (30th percentile).

Take all of that together, and I could be described as a tall, skinny girl with a small head. I see a career in modelling.

Every day, I spend more time in an alert state. I'm still eating well, and sleeping quite a bit - I only wake up once/night, which the parents think is awesome.

That's about it. Until next time.

R.

Share Baby!

Hey there, friends

Did you think that I forgot about you? Never! The editors just haven't had time to sit down and write much.

In any case - there are some updates from around here. I really like my baby sister, and that's not just bragging for the blog. My favorite new saying is "Share Baby", which means that I want to help hold her.

There's also an unexpected benefit to her showing up - a lot of people that sent her a present or card also sent me one. Yay! I like "pesents". I won't list any right now for fear of forgetting someone, but thank you!

As you can see from the pictures, it's finally getting warmer outside, and the snow is melting after almost 8 weeks. Playing outside is fun.


I know more letters than before - I recognize and can name: A, B, C, D, F, I, O, R, V, W and X - I think M is a W and that K is an X, which is actually pretty reasonable, I think. Today, I counted to six.

In other news, my excema is back on my leg, and has been flaming up for the last couple of weeks. It doesn't bother me at all, but we are back to treating it with desonide, which is a little stronger than the over the counter stuff.

That's about it for now. Have a great week.

Love, D.

Chunking up...

Hi everyone

So I'm 10 days old now - or 11 by the time you read this. Don't I look cute in my matching hat and blanket set? (Thanks, Farmor)

The title refers to my weight - as you probably know, all babies lose a little weight in their first week or so, and I'm no exception. I was 6lb15oz when I left the hospital, and 2 days later was at 6lb13.5oz. That was the same weight 2 days later when I was 6 days old. When we measured yesterday, I was back up to 7lb1oz. Really - the doctors want me back to my birthweight by 2 weeks, and that shouldn't be a problem.

I'm a pretty mellow kid - I sleep a lot, eat a bit, sleep some more. Sometimes I open my eyes and look around. I definitely like laying on mom or dad's chest the best.

I'm eating well, not crying unless I'm hungry, and sleeping quite well for someone my age, if I may say so myself. I've had a few visitors, but most friends have stayed away while the parents and Daniel clear out their colds. I think this will be a busy weekend.

I'm just getting presents from everyone. Thank you. Out of fear of forgetting someone, I'm not going to attempt a list or anything right here. Lots of cute clothes - I'm ready to go out in style.

That's about it. I went for a ride in a stroller to the library today, which was uneventful since I slept, but mom says that the conversion of Daniel's stroller into a 2-seater is awesome.

More soon.

R.

Settling into a routine

Hey there again.

I'm all of 5 days old now, so I feel considerably wiser than last time I wrote. I went up to visit Dr. Sara on Saturday to check for Jaundice - none there, so I'm cool. I had lost another 2 oz or so since I left the hospital - so I'm going back in tomorrow (monday) to make sure that trend is reversed. Certainly, from the way I've been eating, you'd think it would be.

Let's see - what else is new? I've been hanging out with grandma Babe. And I've been on video conferences with my cousins Leo and Jacob as well as Farmor and Grandpa. Or so they say - I think I slept through all of them. I spend a few minutes in active alert state between feeding and sleeping, which is what I spend much of my day doing.

Oh, and people have been bringing food, clothes and presents. I am set for life now (or at least until I'm 6+ months old.)

Everyone has a cold. They're hoping that I don't get it.

I'm Home

We're home.

They let us go home at about 1:30pm today. i did not like being put in this car seat.

Once home, I had a few minutes to get used to my new surroundings before Daniel woke up. He seems like a friendly guy - always wanting to hold me, and he constantly helps me figure out where my eyes, nose and ears are.




I'm eating pretty well, but even so I've lost a few ounces. No-one seems worried about that. I had a bit of a fever for a day in the hospital, and they took some blood samples, but couldn't find anything wrong. Anyway - I'm all good now.

Gretchen and Harrison Jr. came to visit at the hospital, and while it was fun to see them, it got a little crazy, so we asked the other friends to wait until I'm home. I'm home now - come visit...

Truthfully, I mostly eat and sleep.

More later.

R