The Week of Growth Spurts

Lucien is now 6 weeks old and in the books they call week 6 a growth spurt week.  He ate a lot more and a couple of times he needed some formula to supplement his eating.  Lucien was very busy this week getting ready for holidays and meeting a lot more family members.  The Folkers came in for a visit with their new nephew/cousin.  We also visited some friends for a holiday gathering.  It was a busy week for growth spurt week because little Lucien was hungry almost every hour and had to be excused from the festivities.  He loved all his Christmas gifts!  Thanks everyone!  He especially loved his tummy time toy from Uncle Vic and Aunt Soraya...    

All I want for Christmas...

We visited Santa on Christmas eve.  Lucien was very excited.  He got everything on his wish list...

Longer eyelashes like Mom

Fuller eyebrows like Dad

More Milk

A stronger neck to hold up my big head

Mom to sing to me more  

The Week of Digestive Difficulties

Lucien has made it strong to week 5.  We went to the pediatrician for his one month check-up and he gained a lot of weight.  He weighs in at 9lbs. 12 oz.  and fits the height weight and head size for an average baby his age.  He has been eating like a champ and has thus had many digestive difficulties.  He has ben eating much faster and ingesting a full meal half the time than it took at birth.  It sounds especially painful in the early morning when he has gas and liquid coming out of every end.  His sleep habits haven't changed yet and he keeps Mom alert every few hours for a feeding.   I have decided to incorporate myself into a big novel during feedings and burpings and received the first 2 books of the Twilight series (Thanks Jessie!).  We also ventured out to the mall for our first indoor outing.  He loved it!      

Lucien has started to smile a lot more this week.  He can also hold his head up straight when held upright.  His arms and legs are moving more freely and he's getting strong.  He can kick at us now when he's frustrated and is not getting what he wants immediately.  Oh the joys of parenthood!

Next week will be Christmas and I have one thing on my list...a silent night. 

 

The Week of Pacification

Lucien has almost made it one full month.  It is week four - the week we discovered the pacifier.  It barely fits in his little mouth but it definitely helps his late night sucking tendencies and pacifies Mom and Dad's nerves.  We have started to see a routine forming with Baby Lucien but the feedings are still every 3 hours.  Dad has been helping now tremendously with feeding him by bottle whenever Mom needs a couple more hours of sleep.  

We had another visitor this week - Aunt T.  She was a natural with the baby and helped Mom and Pau Pau get some time off of baby duty.  Lucien especially loved his time with Aunt T. when he spit up all over the place like something out of the Exorcist.  We noticed big changes with Lucien during Aunt T.'s visit.  Besides his constant weight gain he is now tracking objects with his eyes.  He reacts to voices and will gaze at more objects like his safari mobile.

Sunday we took Lucien out for his first walk around the neighborhood.  The bumpy road really put him at ease and made me think that we should take these walks at midnight.  About half a mile from the house he started to feel hungry so we rushed back to the sanctuary of home. 

Mom is doing well.  I went for her doctor's visit and her health is back to normal.  Most of the baby weight has shed right off leaving only 10 lbs. to work on to get back to my pre-baby weight.  

The Week of Reflux?

Baby Lucien has just turned 3 weeks old.  And what a week it was.  Just when you think you are starting a routine the 3rd week comes around with more crying, gas, and fussiness.  The spit up also started this week.  Also, congestion set in and little Lucien had trouble breathing a few times.  We contacted the pediatrician and made an unplanned visit to the doctor to check on the congestion.  The only advice that we received to clear his head was to give him saline drops.  The spit up was of more concern to the doctor.  She noted that if he is spitting up most of his meals then we should probably thicken the breast milk with rice cereal.  This was a shock because I thought solid food should not be introduced until the 6th month.  We also haven't even tried using a bottle yet.  The doctor also suggested using Enfamil AR.  Formula!?  I think I will continue with the breast milk and keep an eye on the spit up to see if he is experiencing reflux.  We did notice a huge weight gain (maybe because he is sucking me dry), the nurse even weighed him twice to double check.  Lucien weighed in at 8 lbs 8oz.  

We decided to see how Lucien likes the bottle.  After some time at the pump, Pau Pau gave him his first bottle.  He had no trouble sucking it down.  That's a relief - now Mom can get out of the house.  I just have to figure out how to produce more milk to pump.   

Disconnected

Day 16 - the umbilical cord fell off.  Ahhhh!