iBaby

Jack's Feet

Jack's feet smell like...well, like feet. Stinky feet to be more precise. The rest of him smells like a sweet little baby (with the occasional exception of his back end) but those cute little tootsies smell like ten-day old gym socks.
They are also ticklish. He didn't used to react in the slightest to our tickling attempts, but today he started to twitch his feet away as Josh would tickle them. It was pretty funny.

It's been a rough day.

That's right, my baby is sleeping on his head. What's it to ya?
Jack was screaming at us mercilessly this afternoon. We were at a bit of a loss as to what to do. He had been fed, burped, changed, rocked, held, given Gripe Water - all to no avail. Hip-hop music worked for a while, but only when combined with Josh dancing with him, and sadly Josh had to get back to work. So, I strapped him into his carseat to take him for a drive. He could imagine nothing worse, and let his opinion be known...loudly. So, while I was trying frantically to collect my purse and keys and get out the door, I left him with Josh. When I came back mere moments later, Jack was sound asleep...in the position you see him here. I'm not sure how his car seat ended up in this position, or why Josh saw fit to tip him on his head, and to be honest I don't really care. It made him not only stop crying, but fall asleep (for a few minutes anyway).

Jack is sporting this season's hottest design in diaper covers...

Now that Jack weighs in at a whopping 11 pounds, he is finally big enough to wear cloth diapers. I know, I know...back in the days before disposables, babies wore cloth diapers from the time they were newborns...but back then there was no other choice. When Jack came home from the hospital, I tried to put a cloth diaper on him and it was just ridiculously huge. I could have diapered him from head to toe with room to spare. So, I decided to wait a while for him to grow into them. For his part, Jack seemed unfazed by the change. He promptly peed in his new diaper (with no leaks, I was pleased to discover). The diaper cover is a bit stiff, and it seems to make it harder for him to move his legs, so perhaps we'll try another brand. Overall though, I would say that it was a successful first foray into the world of cloth diapering.

2 Months (and still going strong...)

I have been pumping more successfully lately, so Josh is now able to give Jack a bottle every day. It's so sweet to watch him feed the little man. Look how he stares up at his daddy while he eats. I love it.

He had his 2 month checkup yesterday with Dr. McGuinness. He weighed in at exactly 11 pounds, and is now 22 1/2 inches long (his birth weight was 7 lbs. 7 oz. and his length was 19 1/9), so he has been busy growing. Based on oodles of statistical data, the doc was able to predict Jack's adult height with 90% certainty to within +/- 2". Any guesses? It was taller than I expected based on his parents' rather puny statures (but still not exactly what you would think of as tall).

Apparently, he has positional plagiocephaly of the right occipital (which is an unnecessarily frightening term for flattened head). Luckily, it hasn't caused any migration of the right ear, which frankly sounds a little scary to me, but he does have a big flat spot. We're supposed to try to convince him to sleep with his head turned to the left (yeah right).

He did great at the doctor's office, bestowing his big goofy grin on passersby in the hallway, the receptionist, the nurse, and his doctor. He laid on the table looking around the room and cooing for most of the visit. He was in such a rare good mood that I was really wishing we didn't have to ruin it by giving him his shots...but such is life. He got four immunizations - one orally and three as shots. The oral vaccine was for Rotavirus. The first shot was a combined Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (Whooping Cough) vaccine (DPT) as well as Hepatitis B. The second was for Pneumococcus, and the third was for Hemophilus Influenza (HIB). He didn't care much for the shots. That's all I'm going to say about that.

The doctor warned me that he might run a slight fever and feel achy for the next 24 hours or so after getting his vaccines. He suggested that I give him infant Tylenol as soon as we got home, and every 4 hours if he continued to act like he didn't feel well. He slept most of yesterday, and is still pretty sleepy this morning. I gave him another dose of Tylenol already today because when he woke up he laid in his bed quietly fussing and crying big crocodile tears. So sad. He also feels a little warm, but nothing too serious. He bled when he got his shots, and got little tiny Snoopy band-aids to cover up his battle scars. He still has little lumps where the needles went in (two on one thigh and one on the other). Poor little bug. I wish I could have just gotten the shots for him.

*Update* I was just reading through the handout that the doctor gave me to take home. It includes a section on nutrition, behavior, and safety - what you can expect at this age. In the safety section, it says, "Do not leave your baby unattended on a bed or changing table or with your siblings or pets." So, I guess my sister won't be babysitting anymore. Good thing they warned me - I had no idea that it was so dangerous.

Happy Birthday to Me

Jack put on his spiffiest outfit for my birthday dinner.
Last Thursday was my 30th birthday! My sister came up for the day to help take care of Jack so that I could get a few things done. I cleaned up the house, made a dinner plan (my parents were coming up for dinner to celebrate with us), and was feeling so on top of things by noon that I decided to go to the gym and incapacitate myself for the next three days. I guess I like to make things hard on myself.

I started exercising again in earnest after my 6 week postpartum checkup, which is when the doctor makes sure everything is all healed up and gives you the go-ahead to resume all normal activity. I am anxious to get back into shape, and it's nice to get out of the house and do something for myself every day. So, on my birthday I decided to try a new class. It sounded a little intimidating - it was one of those group weight training classes - but I was feeling brave. By the end of the hour, my muscles felt like jello, and I could barely walk up the stairs. I knew I was in trouble. The next morning I could barely walk. Oh well. Nothing a few days and some rest won't cure. Unfortunately, I don't have time for much rest these days... At any rate, I'm going back to the class this Thursday, I'm just going to try to take it a little easier. If I'm going to run around after a mini-Josh all day, I'm going to have to be strong!

Jack fancies himself to be a boating sort.

Captain Jack - ready for an afternoon paddle in the canoe or a trip out on Grandpa's boat to bring in the crab pots.