Saturday, February 2, 2008

Caleb's One Month Checkup

All right I admit it - I'm a bona fide blogging failure. Despite my best intentions to weekly update my blog, here I am thirteen days later, finally getting around to it. So much has happened in those past thirteen days that I don't quite know where to begin. On a positive note, we were able to move back into our apartment and we were so glad that my mom was here to help clean and reorganize our kitchen, bathroom, and living room while I was at classes. The timing of her visit was perfect, as I don't know what we would have done without her help.

As we were dropping my mom off at the airport, we then picked up Sharon's brother Brian for his visit last weekend. Brian had a great time here, and we even were brave enough to venture out to the JFK museum for Caleb's first museum visit. As you can tell by the picture below, he was obviously thrilled by the experience and is pondering registering to vote Democrat. Brian also included some more pictures of Caleb on his blog, so if you want to see them you can go to http://bmsmith.wordpress.com/. Last Sunday was also a day of firsts for Caleb, as he made his first trip to church with us that morning. Then in the afternoon, he made his first trip outside of Massachusetts when we drove Brian back to the Manchester, New Hampshire airport. That day was a bit of a stretch for him, but I really think it helped build some important character for him (or that's how we rationalize his obvious dislike of the long car trip).

Just as we were starting to marvel over Caleb's regular sleeping patterns, he decided in the middle of the week that he no longer liked sleeping in his bassinet. Fortunately, I also got my hands on the book On Becoming Babywise that proved to be a big help. Although we don't agree with everything in the book, we were reassured by its recommendation to let Caleb cry himself to sleep in the bassinet - something we've found is a lot harder to do with our own child. Thankfully, he's once again readjusted to sleeping in his bassinet and has been doing much better at night sleeping by himself. We also got some encouraging news from his one month checkup - in that his jaundice (which still is quite noticeable at times) isn't anything to worry about. We also were impressed to hear that our little porker gained a pound in the past week - so our self-dubbed milk cow (her words - don't shoot the messenger) must be doing a great job beefing up that boy. To make up for my tardiness in posting, I also included the first videos of Caleb - hope you enjoy it. That's all for now, stay tuned for the first entry from the new mommy in the near future.

Caleb all dressed up (thanks for the fun outfit, Lois) for his first stroll around the campus (which lasted all of 3 minutes due to the cold)


Caleb checking out his uncle Brian


Caleb expressing his excitement over the JFK museum


Caleb waving to the camera (anybody spot a resemblance to one of his cousins?)


Caleb just chilling after his one month checkup


Caleb when he's happy and awake (a somewhat rare occurence)

Caleb sleeping on my chest (if you listen close, you can hear him "purring")

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You made it a whole month! We also loosely followed Babywise/Ezzo, although most of it was more applicable after he was about 2-3 months. There is a very popular book about babies and their sleep habits in which Dr. Weissbluth claims that 4-6 weeks is often when babies are the most fussy and difficult, then at six weeks, they suddenly settle down a lot. So, if you're feeling discouraged, just hang in there and hope for the magical six week mark! Take care!

Anonymous said...

Loved the pictures. Although, I don't think that Caleb was very impressed with the JFK Library and doubt that he was influenced along Democratic lines. I could hear him purring. When it comes right down to it who would rather sleep in a bassinette when the could with mom or dad? Smart little guy. Just think ahead to the years when he will probably want to distance himself from those very parents. Love, Mom

Megan said...

Glad to hear he's sleeping better from when I talked to you. You really have a cute baby - I say it every time cuz it is true - he just looks so loveable!

LifeAtTheCircus.com said...

Great pictures! Caleb is sure a cutie!! We enjoy the updates. Congratulations! I remember crying when having to let our first baby cry it out in his crib... it sounded so much easier when I read about it before having my baby then it was when I had to do it with MY baby. :) Crystal Whaley

Anonymous said...

Caleb is a cutie! We hope to see you guys and introduce Toby to Caleb when we visit Boston in April. Our favorite sleep book was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. But, as with all parenting books - take it with a grain of salt and figure out what works best for you and the baby. You can find a copy at the Hamilton Wenham Library. Hang in there - it does get better! Much love, the Dings