3 Months Old!

I can't believe Caleb is now 3 months old!

Last week on Friday, I had to go get my blood drawn because I was going to have a physical on Tuesday. Caleb slept 11 hours on Thursday night, which was great! Caleb did fine while I was getting my blood drawn and then fell asleep in the car on the way home, although he only slept 30 minutes, which is definitely his MO. This is what he looked like when we got back from the lab.

My parents brought over supper for us. Rad and Jen were in Myrtle Beach, so it was just the 4 of us. It is always nice to get together and I appreciate my mother making supper for us! Here is a picture of my dad and Caleb. Caleb loves looking at lights, so that is what he is doing in this picture.

 

Here are a couple of other pictures from Friday of Caleb smiling and playing on his playmat.

 

 

On Sabbath we drove up to the Billerica church, which is Caroline and Corey's church, because Steve's dad was preaching there. We actually had to wake Caleb up to get ready to go because he is sleeping so well now! We got to church around 11:30 and stayed in the mother's room the whole time, because Caleb needed to eat. Unfortunately, I only got one picture of Caleb and Aunt Caroline during our visit, but it was a nice visit anyway.

 

 

 

 

On our way home we stopped in Stoneham to see Neil and Tina, because they had never met Caleb yet. It was very nice to see them.

 

 

 

 

We left Neil and Tina's around 8:00, which is normally Caleb's bedtime, so of course he slept the whole way home. I decided I didn't want to risk just moving him to his crib while he was asleep, so I fed him again before I put him to bed. So, he didn't go to sleep until 10:30 and that worked out well for Steve the next morning, since he was watching Caleb while I worked from home. I got up at 6:00 and Caleb got up at 7:00 and I fed him and then put him back down around 8:00 and I started working. He didn't get up again until 10:30, so that was really good for Steve. I only worked until 2:00, so it was an easy day for Steve. I don't think we did too much else the rest of the day on Sunday.

 

Monday was a pretty quiet day at home as well. Monday night Caleb was really fussy while I was feeding him on the left side. He only ate for a few minutes and then started screaming and so after I couldn't get him to keep eating, I just put him to bed. It kind of worried me because he usually tanks up at night (he had eaten awhile on the right side, so I wasn't overly concerned), but oh well. I kind of thought he would maybe have a shorter night because of not eating as much and I was right. He got up at 3:15 on Tuesday morning and when I put him back down at 4:15, I decided to stay up and get a lot of my work done. He got up again at 6:45 and then I put him back down again at 7:30 and he didn't get up until 9:15. So, I was able to get a lot accomplished in those hours. We left for my doctor's appointment around 10:30 and Caleb was very good at the doctor. He was awake for a long time and needed a nap, but he hung in there and fell asleep in the car on the way home. While I was at the doctor, they weighed me (of course) and then they handed Caleb to me so we could get an estimate of how much he weighs, since it has been a month since we weighed him. The scale says he weighs 15.2 pounds, so that's about 15 pounds, 3 ounces. So, he is still gaining weight pretty rapidly, but he is definitely getting longer too, so I think he's pretty proportionate.

 

 

Yesterday I went back to work again and Caleb was good for my mom. I had to wake him up at 5:30 so he could eat before I took him to my mom's. When I put him back down, I put him in his car seat and he went back to sleep, so I was hoping he would sleep for awhile for my mom, but he was up less than an hour later. He didn't give her any long naps this week. Just a few short ones. I knew he was tired, so I was hoping he would sleep a long time last night and he sure did. He slept 12 hours for the first time, which was amazing!! Let's hope that trend continues.

 

Here are a few more pictures from this week. I love the Patriots outfits. Caleb is now in 3-6 month clothes, so I can finally wear the Patriots outfits, because I didn't have any in 0-3 months.

 

 

 

Getting his nails clipped by Daddy

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Week 12 & Back to Work

The rest of last week was not too eventful. Knowing that I would be going back to work this week, we started trying to give Caleb more bottles to try to get him used to the bottle. It started out a little rocky, so I was a little concerned. I gave him a bottle on Tuesday and he didn't want it at first, but then he ended up doing ok with it. On Wednesday it went a lot better and he drank 8 ounces! That panicked me because I know that I don't usually pump 8 ounces, so I was afraid that I would not be able to pump enough to feed him, but at least I am only working 2 days a week, so I knew that I would be able to pump extra on the other 5 days to supplement if I had to.

 

On Thursday, I had to go to the eye doctor in the morning, so I thought it would be a good test for my mother to watch Caleb for a little while. He conveniently was ready for a bottle as soon as I dropped him off, so Mom was able to practice feeding him. I was so mad at myself because I brought milk for him that I had pumped and I forgot to bring the nipple for the bottle. Luckily I was dropping him off earlier than I needed to for my appointment, so I had time to run home and get it while my mom kept Caleb. Apparently he had no problems taking the bottle so it was fine.

 

Friday was a different story with the bottle. I wanted Steve to give him the bottle so I waited until about Steve got home from work at 5:00 or 5:30 to try it. Well, the timing was bad because Caleb does get a little fussy in the evenings (not bad at all, though), so he was not interested in the bottle and actually started screaming. That really stressed me out, because I wanted to make sure he would take the bottle for Steve. I eventually put him on the boob and he was fine and then I was able to give him the bottle after feeding him on one side because he had calmed down by then. Sabbath morning we also tried to give him a bottle and he showed no interest in it and started screaming again, so I was still stressed out. Eventually he drank a couple of ounces, which I knew was not enough, but at least I don't have to worry about him going hungry since he is such a big boy! Here are a few pictures my friend Ina from church took:

 

Listening to the school kids practice singing

 

Love this family picture! Thanks Ina!

 

 

 

 

Sabbath afternoon we tried the bottle again and he still fussed but it was less this time and he eventually took it and drank quite a bit. Originally the plan was for me to go in to work on Sunday and Steve was going to watch Caleb, but we got another snowstorm Sunday morning so I didn't want to drive all the way to Woods Hole in the snow, so I worked about 5 hours from home on Sunday and then went into work on Monday instead. So, Steve was on duty on Sunday from about 9:00 - 2:00. Caleb didn't really want his first bottle from Steve, so he was just patient with him and waited until he was hungrier and then he drank it fine. The second bottle he took no problem, so I felt better leaving him on Monday, knowing that he would take the bottle ok. Steve also took Caleb to Harbor Freight Tools while I was working and it was so weird for me to be home alone without anyone else there! They were gone about an hour and a half and I missed them!

 

Monday morning I was going to go in to work around 7:00, which would mean I would need to leave at 6:15. I thought I would have to wake Caleb up because he had been sleeping until about 5:30 or 6:30 every day, but of course, the day I had to go to work he got up at 3:15 to eat. So, I fed him and then stayed up and exercised on my treadmill and ended up getting to work at 6:00 instead of 7:00. I cried halfway to work because it was hard to leave Caleb, but then I was ok after that. I put up a ton of pictures of Caleb at my desk and that got me through the day. I only worked until noon, so I was home by 1:15 (I stopped at the grocery store on my way home, which was really nice to do by myself). It was not quite as hard to leave as I thought it would be, but it was still really nice to get home and see Caleb again! Steve did great, though, and was happy to have that time to spend with Caleb.

 

On Tuesday, the only exciting thing we did was go to Babies 'R Us to get a couple of things for my mom for the next day. She wanted a mirror for her car so she could see Caleb in the car seat and I needed to buy a new swaddle because Caleb had started to grow out of the swaddle we had been using. The hat that Caleb has been wearing doesn't stay on his forehead very well, so by the time we got to Babies 'R Us, this is what Caleb looked like (luckily he fell asleep so it wasn't bothering him).

 

 

 

Here is another picture of him sleeping in the cart in Babies 'R Us.

 

 

Wednesday was my first full day back at work and the first time my mom was going to take care of Caleb. Once again, Caleb decided to wake up at 3:30 (Tuesday morning he got up at 5:45), so I stayed up again after I fed him and went on my treadmill and did 1/2 an hour of work before actually going into work. I dropped Caleb off at my mom's house around 6:45 and I teared up but didn't actually cry, so I was proud of myself. My mom texted me throughout the day to tell me how Caleb was doing, which was really well! He took all of his bottles fine and even took a 2 1/2 hour nap for my mom in the afternoon. I told her not to get used to that, because I'm sure it was because he got up so early and didn't get as much sleep the night before. I was really happy that he did so well, though, and I was so excited to see him when I got home. Unfortunately, he didn't give me quite the reaction I was hoping for. He was on the floor when I got home and I went over and started talking to him and he started to cry! I was so disappointed but he was ok after that. Wednesday night we put him to bed at 8:30 and then he didn't get up this morning until 7:10, which was so great! I am so lucky with how well he is sleeping.

 

A couple other things from this week. Caleb is continuing to suck on his fingers quite a bit and he is also starting to "talk" a lot more, especially when he is down on the floor on his play mat or when he is sitting on my (or Steve's) lap facing us. It is so cute to hear him cooing! We are also starting to make the transition to 3-6 month clothes. 1-piece outfits are starting to look like highwaters and his onesies are pretty tight around the belly. I'm not sure how much he weighs now, since he hasn't been weighed in 4 weeks, but I would imagine he is 14 or 15 pounds now. I have put away most of his 0-3 month clothes, but we are trying to get a few more times out of some of his bigger outfits. We are also just about to switch to size 2 diapers. I have about 25 more size 1 diapers to go through and then we will officially make the switch.

 

Here are a few more pictures from this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is now the desktop background on my work computer!

 

 

 

 



 

 





 

 



Week 11 & Blizzard of 2013

This was quite a week for us, mostly because of the blizzard we got on Friday. The week started out not quite so exciting. Monday we didn't do much of anything. I think an outing to Trader Joe's was our big excitement for the day. On Tuesday my parents were finally home from their big trip, so they came over to see Caleb and I for lunch. Here is a great picture my mom took of Caleb and Grampy both happy to see each other again!

Wednesday we went to the office for lunch, which is our big social outing for the week. Here are a couple of pictures from the office.

 

 

On Thursday, Steve ended up being home with us all day, although we didn't see him much. He had scheduled a furnace cleaning and an upgrade to our Dish Network service in the morning. The Dish Network guy didn't come until after 11:00 and had to install a new dish on the garage and change a lot of other things, so he didn't leave until after 2:00, so Steve didn't think it was worth it to go into work that day. Steve gave Caleb a bottle Thursday evening for the first time in awhile and he took it, but he was fussy with it, so we are going to have to make sure we do more frequent bottles before I go back to work. It would stress me out so much if Caleb decided he didn't want to take a bottle for Steve or my mom. I think he'll be fine, though. If he's hungry enough, he'll take it!

 

So, Friday was the day of the big storm. We knew it was supposed to be bad, but we weren't sure what to expect. It started snowing early afternoon, but not bad. The Governor ordered a travel ban effective 4:00 pm on Friday, so Steve got out of work early. We were planning on going to my parents' house for supper on Friday night, so we ignored the ban and went anyway. Aunt Sherrie and Uncle Kevin were here for the weekend, so they and David and Yully decided to come and stay at my parents' house to ride out the storm. By the time we went home that night, the snow was pretty heavy and had started to really accumulate.

 

 

 

 



We lost our power around midnight on Friday night. Caleb woke up to eat around 4:30 and Steve started a fire in our wood stove to take the chill out of the house. We are lucky to have the wood stove, but it is a lot of work to keep going.

 

 

Everyone wanted to be close to the fire

 

 

Around 1:00, we ventured out to my parents' house for the rest of the day. They had lost their power as well, but they have a gas stove for heat and that works when the power is out, so their house was still toasty warm. Rad and Jen never lost their power, so they were very lucky.

 

 

 

Love this onesie given to us at the hospital

 

After it got dark, we went over to Rad and Jen's house for a little while and then went back home to tough out one more night with the wood stove. It ended up being a very long night for Steve. He was up every couple of hours to restock the stove and barely got any sleep, so when we got up Sunday morning, we decided if we didn't have our power back by Sunday night, we would not be spending another night in our house. Sunday morning we went back to my parents' house and Steve cooked breakfast for everyone on a camping burner, which he was really excited about. He felt like he was on a winter camping trip. He made scrambled eggs, hash browns, and little links. Everyone was very impressed!

 

 

Breakfast is served!

 

My parents had to go to Taunton for a funeral Sunday afternoon, so Caleb and I went over to Rad and Jen's house while Steve went out to Home Depot and Harbor Freight to gather more supplies. We watched a movie with Jen while Rad studied. Then we went out to Thai food with Rad and Jen to say thank you, because we were going to stay there that night. I kept checking the NSTAR website to see how the progress was going in getting power back to the town of Barnstable, but I wasn't very optimistic, because our neighbor had a power line down because a tree fell on it. Sunday night Steve went home to check on the fire and some of our neighbors had power but we still didn't, so we stayed with Rad and Jen. Monday morning Steve had to go to work, although he did go in late so he could build the fire again. I went over to my parents' house for the day, which ended up being a really good thing, because my mom kind of got to observe what I do with Caleb during the day, so she feels a little better prepared to babysit him now. Someone offered Steve a generator to use since they had their power back, so Steve actually left work to go get the generator and was going to hook it up, but he got home around noon and our power had just come back on!! I was so happy, because it was very frustrating having to go from place to place with Caleb. I should just be grateful that we had someplace else to go, but I was frustrated that we were without power for 60 hours!! Last night we slept in our warm house again, and I was very happy to be back to normal. Here are a couple of pictures from being at Grammy's house on Monday!

 

 

Grammy's first attempt at the swaddle - notice the fingers sticking out!

 

Such a big boy!!

 

A couple other things from this week. Caleb has been taking some short naps in his swing, which is nice. He has never really liked it that much.

 

 

Caleb has also still been sleeping well at night, so I think this is his new pattern! He actually slept the longest he ever slept on Saturday night when it was kind of cold in the house. He slept over 9 hours from 9:00 - 6:15. He must like the cold. We double swaddled him to make sure he was warm enough and he was fine (obviously).

 

Caleb also has found his fingers this week and is sucking them all the time, even when he's not hungry. He makes really loud noises and it is so cute! I think that's it from this week. Here are a few more pictures.