And he’s still getting bigger…

David is now seven and a half weeks old.  I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed.  He’s still growing.  In fact, Chris pointed out yesterday that he’s almost doubled in weight already!  Since our last posting, several fun and exciting things have happened.  Most notably, Greg and Camille came to visit.  I promise to post pictures soon, but they’re all unfortunately stuck on Chris’ laptop which is having a few technical difficulties.  For the record, Chris is fully capable of fixing said problems, he just hasn’t had time … you know … with the full-time job, 8+ hours of David duty each day and being the sole dishwasher for several weeks.  In the meantime, I’ve posted a few videos of David being David.  
I’m also thrilled to mention that my finger is healing nicely.  We were a little worried by the talk of potential tissue death and/or surgery, but it’s completely healthy and will be fully functional.  It should be as good as new in a few days!

We might make it after all …

We’ve officially survived over a month – David will be 6 weeks old on Friday.  It’s hard to believe how fast the time has gone and how big he’s gotten!  It took a 6 year old boy at target telling me to “enjoy my baby” for me to remember that this process is supposed to be enjoyable.  It’s getting there… I do think that these last few weeks can be summed up quite nicely by the saying on a onsie that Chris’ work gave him: “Please satisfy my unreasonable needs immediately.”   🙂
Thank you very much to all of our friends who have helped us this last week!  We had some very dear friends who came over to provide moral support and help Chris with the dishes.    I can confidently say that there’s no way we would have made it through this week without you.  (My finger is healing nicely, but I still can’t get it wet.)
David is doing well.  He’s starting to sleep better, though this hasn’t really translated into more sleep for Mom and Dad, yet.  A friend of mine told me that her boys started sleeping better around 11.5 pounds.  Since David is right around 11 pounds, I’m really hopeful that he’ll continue to get better at the whole sleeping thing.
He’s gotten a lot more “active.”  My cousin sent us an adorable pumpkin hat that he loves to pull off of his head. 
And then, there’s the mystery of the sock:  I laid him down on his blanket with both socks on.  I turned around and 20 seconds later, his left sock was up near his right elbow.  I’m not sure how that happened, but I’m betting he had something to do with it.

He’s enjoyed some time chilling.  Chris thinks the title of this next pic should be “Dave’s not here, Man.”  I prefer to think that he’s just wishing us all peace.

And finally … below is what I call success:

He’s growing (and growing and growing)

We’ve survived 3 weeks, and David keeps getting bigger and bigger.  He’s gained 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks!  He’s also been getting much more alert during certain times of the day, which is really fun.  A few highlights of this week include his first real bath, sleeping with Grammy and Grandpa Don, and playing with Dad.

In addition, I’d like to share a few of David’s funny faces.  Hope you enjoy!

Yoda face

The grumpy old man

The turtle

The thinker

The rapper

And last, but not least – the chubby Asian baby impersonation.  Yes, Claire, this one is for you!

Turns out that you have to feed them…

Well, we’ve officially survived two weeks!  Last week we thought that we had a fussy baby who didn’t like to sleep … well, it turns out that we weren’t feeding him.  Well, we were feeding him, but not quite enough.  We started supplementing with formula (just a little), and voila, our prayers have been answered!  Since then, he’s been a perfect angel.  In addition to the supplements, we invested in a new bassinet-like thing (the Fisher Price Rock and Play Sleeper), and he’s sleeping very well! We celebrated the first night when we could ALL sleep at the time time.  Granted, David still wakes up every 2 hours during the night, but we’ll take what little sleep we can get. 

In addition, we also went on our first outing this week!  (Well, if you don’t count the few doctor’s appointments that we’ve been to.)  We went to our favorite Chinese food restaurant for lunch, and David was pretty well behaved.

Some of David’s other activities this week:

Playing with Dad

Snuggling with Dad

Snuggling with Dad II

Reading a book with Mom

Having a deep conversation with Mom
Sleeping on Grandpa Don
Helping Dad work

Lifting head during tummy time

Hanging out with Dad

We’ve survived one week, and he’s still alive!

Happy Birthday, Baby David!  I can’t believe that he’s one week old today.  Needless to say, we’re all thrilled that we’ve survived.

For those of you who haven’t already heard this story, David had to spend a few days in the NICU.  Immediately after having a conversation with my doctor about both of us coming home from the hospital early because we were doing so well, a lab test came back indicating he was developing an infection.  Infections in newborns are taken very seriously since they have very immature immune systems.  They transferred him into the NICU and started him on a 48 hour course of IV antibiotics.  Now, you may be thinking that IV antibiotics aren’t that big of a deal, but it seems as if David has inherited his fathers veins, which are notoriously difficult to find.  He ended up needing two IV’s – one of which required seven different attempts.  After two days, his lab tests returned to normal, and the infection never materialized.  So, he either never had an infection, or the antibiotics worked.  We’ll probably never know.  Either way, we’re elated to have him home, and he was given a clean bill of health by his pediatrician during our first visit this week.

Caring for David at home as been an adventure to say the least.  Luckily, my parents flew in from Georgia to give us some much needed help.  (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)  David is a pretty good baby, but has created a few “challenges” for us.  First, he sleeps like a champ … if he’s being held.  He doesn’t like sleeping if not in someone’s arms, and definitely not in his bassinet.  This had led to quite a few sleepless nights for Dad.  Finally, he seems to have his days and night confused.  He’s awake and alert at night, ready to play, but really sleepy during the day.  I’m sure we’ll figure this out in time – but right now I think we’d all benefit from more sleep.  Hey, at this point, we’d settle for any sleep!

He looks like he’s sleeping … but this blissful face only lasted a few minutes.

We’re all hoping that he’ll like this new sleeper, at first it looks like success!

Baby Dave and Grandpa Don

Baby Dave and Grammy

The Fortune Cookies Never Lie

Today, I met up with Chris for lunch.  His fortune cookie contained the fortune on the top, while mine contained the fortune on the bottom.  Taken together, he reasoned that my water will break soon.  Only time will tell.  🙂

The Nursery!

 Here are some obligatory pictures of the nursery.  I figured that this may be the cleanest that it ever is.  Hope you enjoy!

The alphabet flash cards and monkey painting

The crib

Close up of the monkey

Airplane painting in the bathroom

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to our blog!  Chris and I created to share pictures and stories of our little boy, who at this point is still on his way.  The title comes from an adorable onesie that Chris got from Think Geek that says “TCP/IP but mostly IP,” which is an internet joke for those of you who aren’t members of nerd night.  Please check back from time to time, as I’m planning (hoping) to update fairly regularly.  But …we’ll see how this goes, especially given my previous track record with house plants.

St. John USVI

Wildlife:

  • Deer
  • Mongoose
  • Quail
  • Humming Birds (iridescent blue and green)
  • HUGE spiders
  • Donkeys
  • Iguanas
  • Lizards
  • HUGE butterflies (bird-sized)
  • Hermit crabs
  • Land crabs
  • Other weird looking crabs
  • Coral banded shrimp
  • Barracuda (up to 5 ft)
  • Sea turtles (8)
  • Sea cucumber
  • Squid (hundreds)
  • Crawfish
  • Rays
  • Conch
  • Flounder

Tuesday, June 23rd

After anxiously waiting for Chris to wake up, we packed all of our hiking gear and started to town, choosing the harder trail because of the nicer vistas.  Well, the vistas were magnificent, but the hike was really hard, even for two seasoned hikers.  Turns out that there are two key differences between California hiking and St. John hiking: (1) in St. John, it’s hot and muggy; and (2) it’s uphill, all of it.  Nevertheless, it was beautiful and fun!  Good thing we brought extra water.  We saw our first Gungalo, a millipede that will, according to the locals, “pee in yo eye and blind yo.”  After reaching town, we found a nice outdoor cafe for lunch and got directions from the waitress to a grocery store.  We picked up some provisions (sunblock!) and took a taxi back to Caneel.  After lunch, we donned our snorkel gear and headed over to honeymoon beach.   The snorkeling was fantastic. Continue reading