A little parent care

Lots of adult time and change of scenery is what the doctor prescribes for staving off the baby blues, and that is exactly what Jon and friends pushed Cortney to get.  So, armed with antibacterial wipes and gel, and a blanket to hide the baby, a nervous Cortney, and a less than nervous Calvin, had a lunch date.  The date included Cortney's friends Amy, Becky, and Liesl (you may remember Liesl as the baby tester for our dogs and our baby equipment a few months ago).  A good time was had by all, including Calvin who slept through the majority of the visit and lunch out.  It was fun to see him in comparison to Liesl, who is nearly 6 months old.  The difference is immense, on all developmental scales at this point, and yet the two will be in the same class in school.  Who knows... some day they might even date, though both mothers say it will be at least 30 years, right?

And parent care continued into the evening with a little couple time for the two of us.  Though our attempt to indoctrinate Calvin in Trivial Pursuit went largely unnoticed by the pupil, we certainly enjoyed ourselves.  Cortney would like to point out that Jon won by a landslide mostly because her brain hasn't returned from the pregnancy abyss.  We'll go ahead and let her hold onto that belief a little while longer...

To Calvin, who was not due until today...

Well, Calvin, you weren't supposed to be here until today. Of course they say that the early bird gets the worm, and just think of all the things you have already accomplished in those extra two weeks on the outside: You've already been held for hours on end, already listened to your mother sing to you, to your father read your first book; You've already had your first photo shoot, your first trip to your grandparents, your first walk through the neighborhood; you've already lifted your head, rolled over, slept through four hours straight; And you've already met so many loving people and seen the love and beauty the world has to offer—you wouldn't want to give that up now!

We cannot believe that you have been here for two weeks already. As each day passes we wish we could hold onto it for just one precious moment longer, or have one more chance to do each of those firsts again. Did we get enough pictures?  Did we take the right video? Will we remember this moment, so much more important than the last, like it was yesterday, even when we are twenty years older? But even though it is hard to watch the firsts pass us by before we are barely able to grasp that they have happened, we are so glad to have already had those two precious weeks, glad that there are so many more to come, and we hope that you understand, someday, that in those 14 days our love for you has already multiplied at least tenfold.  Aren't you glad that you came when you did?

June 15 - a little more rested

Wednesday night was a good one, on the scale of things.  We actually got sleep in one three hour and one four hour block, separated by only a half hour of fussiness and eating.  Not bad!  Which is good because Thursday was a busy day for us filled with lots of new things.  In the morning Calvin tried out his bouncy seat, which really does have that fantastic calming effect claimed by all the manufacturers!  Getting that achievement under his belt allowed Cortney to do some dusting and some laundry.  Ever seen a newborn try to match socks?  Check him out in his week one photo album!  Right in the middle of our day was Calvin's second appointment at the doctor's, where we hoped to get the good news that his jaundice was receding and that he had gained weight.  This kid took both charges seriously.  Since Tuesday he had gained 5 ounces.  That's five ounces in just two days!  the doctor was calling him little piggie, but we think that he just wanted to show up all those people who said that early babies needed formula in order to grow successfully.  Take that!  So all is well on the Calvin front!

Our afternoon was even busier than our morning, too.  In the afternoon, while practicing tummy time on his gymini mat, he rolled himself back onto his back.  Though we figure this was a fluke occurrence which we will not see again for a few months, we couldn't help but be overly excited.  We knew he was one strong newborn, but...  Then in the evening we tried out our baby wearing gear.  Yes, baby wearing gear.  Basically, we took our first walk through the neighborhood with Calvin in his sling.  We would call this a success and were really glad to be getting out of the house!  Here's to hoping for another good night...

June 14 milestones

We do realize that at some point we will have to stop updating every day on Calvin's achievements, but we just aren't quite there yet.  And the first thing we have to say is...if we thought Monday night was bad, meet Tuesday night!  Last night his alert time did not range from 1am to 3am, nor even from 1am to 4am, but all the way from 1am to 5am!  During this time he is a very pleasant baby, he just is so awake and alert that he is not ready to be put down in the bassinet to sleep, so you have to hold him, sitting there in the dark and quiet room watching his eyes drift back and forth across your face and the shadows along the walls.  This would be both beautiful and fascinating if we weren't so darn tired!

But, on a brighter sort of daytime kind of note, we had an eventful day.  On our list of achievements for today is:  Jon's first full day back to work; spending some sleep time during the day in the bassinet, as opposed to being constantly held (this is directly related to it being Jon's first day back at work and Cortney needing to go to the bathroom every now and again); A first look at his floor gym playmat, which did not cease to entertain him; And a first try at tummy time which was very successful, less because he liked it and more because he can already scoot himself forward and lift his head!  He's going to be strong!

June 13 milestones

So what we said about good nights...not so sure anymore!  It's not the fact that he wakes us up and wants to eat or needs a new diaper.  It's not even the fact that it might take a while to get him back to sleep.  The thing we take issue with was his being more alert between 1am and 3am than he was at any one time during the day yesterday.  He didn't even have his days and nights mixed up before he was born (Cortney never felt him being busy at night), so what gives?

That, however, is our only complaint.  On Calvin's list of achievements for June 13 is playing with Octunes (though Jon did most, actually all, of the playing), meeting Cortney's Godmother, Lonnie (who made a very long and special detour just to see him), meeting his aunt Ann, starting tummy time, and his first trip to the doctor, which deserves a little more said.  His appointment today was actually with his nurse practitioner, who is a wonderful lady.  The bad news is that Calvin's jaundice is a little worse, the good news is that it is still within normal ranges for an infant born nearly two weeks early.  More good news is that he did not lose any more weight, so he is holdig his own now at 6lbs 6oz.  And the especially good news is that we have an unusual newborn.  We figured that Calvin's take-it-in-stride attitude was normal for a newborn (how would we know heads from tails?) but the nurse made sure that we would understand how lucky we are - Calvin is, apparently, just really easy going.  Cortney says he gets that, just like his good looks, straight from his dad.