3 month update

Sam celebrated his 3 month birthday last week. He's growing steadily (in 6 mos. clothing now) and learning more each day. He readily smiles for mom and dad and often for others. He just today started adding a little 'he he' to his laughs that had before been silent big smiles. He's getting better hand-eye coordination and loves sucking on his hands and fingers (and licking whatever comes near his mouth) . He's getting better at reaching for toys, though it's not very smooth yet. He's graduating to the next size in Fuzzi Bunz. What else... He's vocalizing lots and starting to put together consonant and vowel pairs (he was going 'ba ba ba' in his crib yesterday morning). And last night he slept a record 9 hours in a row! Mom feels like a new woman. Oh, and his eyes are changing from blue to brown ever so slowly. I'll try to update more frequently as so much is changing!
-Christine

Aunt Angela under the blanket with Sam

Peanut visits his first brewery

Julia and Sam

Sam's aunt Julia was able to get Sam to mimic her raising her left eyebrow!

Aunt Amanda and Sam

Bug hat

Easter!

Grandma and Sam

Granddaddy and Peanut

Second month stats

So Sam just celebrated his second month of life on March 25th and had his doctor's appointment the next day (the one with all the shots, but he did well). He now weighs 13 lbs 12 oz (in the 90th percentile) and is 23.5 inches long (in the 75th percentile). For those who care, his head circumference is 39.5 cm (in the 50th percentile). For those counting, that means in one month he gained 3 lb 3 oz and grew 1.5 inches in length. He's getting to be big! He is smiling a bit more each day, has become pretty good at moving his hands where he wants them and tracks people across the room.
-Christine

Upside down peanut

Baby Sam Kenobi?

Peanut's 2nd house visit with Jose & Adrianna

Two generations skip one

Safely asleep with mom

Our daily routine

Another question I (Christine) get often as well is what my day is like with Samuel. It varies each day, but there is a pattern or routine starting to emerge.
Short version:
8hrs of breastfeeding
12 hrs of Sam sleeping day and night (Mom usually sleeps 5 hrs then 2 hrs at night and maybe a 2 hr daytime nap)
4 hrs of Sam awake in various states of alertness

Long version:
For starters, it takes about an hour to feed and change him and during the day he goes 1 - 3 hours between feedings and at night he goes 4 - 5 hours on average (he's slept 6 hours in a row a few times though, we like that). Usually his first morning feeding is anywhere from 6am to 7:30am. I feed him, change him, pump some breastmilk (storage for Dave to bottlefeed him occasionally), eat breakfast and get dressed, brush teeth, etc. Often after that it's time for the next feeding. Some days I'm super tired and he's gone back to sleep so I shorten my routine and sleep until the next feeding. Some days he's fussy and I need to walk and bounce with him or put him in the bouncy seat to get him back to sleep. Those kinds of days I often do household chores while I watch and make sure he's sleeping well. The next feeding is usually 9:00am or so and after that feeding I might make my trip to the grocery store or run other errands or go for a walk or meet up with people. This is also my time to grab lunch towards the end of his late morning nap. Then usually he feeds around 1pm and I might try to nap after that, though he generally feeds again around 3:30pm or 4pm. Often I have to wear him in the sling to get him to sleep in the afternoons though I can generally transfer him to the bouncy seat after carrying him for a half hour or so. After that I try to start making dinner...dinner preparation is usually done in segments, with feeding or changing or consoling him to sleep in between. Oh, and I might try to take a shower in that time as well. Then there's a competition between his 6pm feeding, dinner getting finalized and Dave coming home - it turns out differently each night. He sleeps lightly after that or not at all and eats again around 8pm. We are starting to put him in his crib for the night at 9pm (if he complies) and we go to bed by 10pm. Other nights he sleeps upstairs when we're awake and there's an 11pm or 12pm feeding and then we all sleep downstairs. If we're lucky, he sleeps from 12pm to 6am, but sometimes he skips the 12pm feeding and adds a 2am feeding (I don't like those nights). That's pretty much the daily routine. I find that it works best if I limit myself to one activity out of the house and make time for one nap. If I don't, I'm very tired and it's hard to catch up on sleep around here.

-Christine

Thank your mothers and fathers

Several people have asked me what I thought of giving birth. My most basic summary is it was like finding out that every mother in the world had run a marathon, or maybe an ironman. Seriously, it is a very arduous physical undertaking and it's phenomenal to me to think that all mothers have gone through that (with varying levels of difficulty, granted). So, sometime soon, thank your mother for giving birth to you...she deserves it. And thank your father too because taking care of an infant is very taxing and challenging and he lost lots of sleep because of you too! All that being said, the memory of the pain does fade with time and truly that first moment I got to see my baby made it all worthwhile.

Fuzzi Bunz

For those who are curious, we've been using cloth diapers on Sam for the last 5 weeks or so and have been very pleased. We're using a brand called Fuzzi Bunz - these aren't your mother's cloth diapers! They are polar fleece lined with nice plastic snaps (no more pins!) and a cotton cloth insert for absorbency. I primarily wanted to use them for environmental reasons, but I also believe they will be cost-effective in the end. He hasn't gotten diaper rash and seems quite content in them. It's a bit more work for me to wash them, but I am happy to do it (30 min cold water soak, hot water wash with an extra rinse, dry on low heat, stuff cotton insert back in). I generally do a load every day or every other (we have 17 size small diapers). It may not be for everyone but it suits me just fine!
-Christine

Cute kid!

Bear butt!

So we have a song to go with this outfit...
Bear butt, bear butt - you've got a bear butt!

Tory visited Sam!

Sam's latest

I have a moment here to update you on Sam's latest as he sleeps on my chest while I lie on the couch. He is very sweetly sleeping, but I must say typing with one hand is slow! Let's see, updates: Sam is starting to be able to turn his head side to side as he lies on his tummy (building up neck muscles is hard work), he managed to poop on the changing table five times one night at two in the morning to the amazement of his mother, he is starting to show hints of a smile, he discovered how to kick his legs alternatingly and proceeded to happily kick for the next 30 minutes straight, he helped me make little imprints of his feet and hands in clay, and on good nights he sleeps 4 hours in a row and on bad nights he takes an hour to go to sleep and sleeps for two hours.

For some more photos of him, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/ChristineCarta. I'm working on an email list so I can send out monthly updates when I put up more photos...should be done soon. That's all for now! Time to see if I can put him down in his crib.
-Christine

Ladies' man

Ready for Nintendo

Dads and Sons

Here's Peanut with Jon & Gabriel!

taking over Dad's job

At Daddy's office

Sam's Trip the the Zoo

Not sure how much
he got to see, but
Christine thought
it was a fun trip....


Only problem was
that Mr. Elephant
got excited when he
heard that Peanut
was going to visit.

Eli and Sam

So Master Eli Simon Chang is only two point five months older than Sam, but Sam sure seems like he has a lot of catching up to do. It is pretty neat that they are so close in age!

Kat and Peanut!

Doesn't Sam look comfortable in Kat's arms? All that training in the pediatrics ward must have helped!