Growing for sure!

Calvin's next doctor appointment may be tomorrow, but we can already tell that he has grown.  The outfit that nearly fit him today did not fit him two weeks ago before his first appointment.  He's not necessarily rounder, but he sure is longer - look where his knees are (or aren't) in these pictures - the first is from two weeks ago today (6/13 - 4 days old), the other from this morning (6/27 - 18 days old).  The pants came below his knees two weeks ago, but fall above them today.  Oh, so he does have knees!

 
In other news - Calvin made his first trip to campus this afternoon, but, unfortunately, was not able to partake in Stucci's ice cream along with his mom and dad.  Oh!  And before we forget...Calvin's bellybutton tag finally fell off!  We suppose this means that he is no longer returnable.  Either that or his uplink to the main system has been disconnected and he is going to malfunction.  We'll have to wait and see.

Look, Calvin is learning to dance!

Or at least he is getting a good workout.

A day of returns

Today marked our return to church following Calvin's birth, which means it also marked Calvin's first day at church.  We were very excited about introducing our son to our church family - all throughout Cortney's pregnancy the different arms of the church were arguing about who held more claim to the Ophoff baby - the office staff?  The deacons?  The choir?  To us they are all one big family, and today Calvin got to meet many of them.  It was a successful return, too.  While Jon played for the 8:00 service, Cortney and Calvin parked themselves in the lobby area and got to greet a lot of choir members and ministers as they came in the door.  During the 9:30 service we sat in the very back, which made it easy to step outside to feed the little guy when he got hungry and then back in again when we were done.  And Calvin was a big hit during coffee hour, too.  In fact, it just so happened that today was Calvin's introduction day, so he was announced in the bulletin and greeted by a red rosebud on the organ as well.

Today was also a return on two family fronts.  On Calvin's maternal side because we stopped at Cortney's parents for what used to be a regular post-church brunch of scrambled eggs with hash browns and salami, toast with jam, and good coffee.  This was something we haven't done in a while, and something Calvin, of course, had never done, so it was also a wonderful return.  It was also a day of returns on Calvin's paternal side because Jon's parents had just returned from a trip to The Netherlands and got the chance to see Calvin for the first time since they visited him in the hospital.  So Calvin got to hear all about this other country and even got to see his aunt again while we were there for dinner.  Yes, it was definitely a day of returns for us and firsts again for Calvin.

Celebrating two weeks!

Well, we are now two weeks old!!!  Calvin really started celebrating this milestone overnight by sleeping for nearly six hours straight - yay!  It was the first night that we did not set the alarm in order to wake the sleeping baby and force him to eat.  Since he's been gaining well we decided to let him dictate the night time schedule, especially since Cortney is now dictating the daytime schedule.  So far so good... Then during the day today Calvin celebrated his two week old status by visitng the church office, where they had been awaiting his appearance just as eagerly as we had been awaiting the chance to introduce him.  Though he slept through the whole visit a good time was had by all.  Following that stop he was treated to a nice French Quarter style lunch in Ann Arbor by Cortney's parents.  Of course, all he got out of the lunch was a flower and a nap, but we didn't hear him complaining.  After lunch he showed how mature he was by spending nearly an hour in a very alert state, taking in the sights of the world around him, especially the back side (that being the hypnotizing black and white side) of Baby Whoozit.  Who knewzit that toy could be so entertaining!!!  The day of celebration was capped off with a wonderful visit by his Aunt Ann, who was kind enough to take him out for a walk in his sling and hold him on her lap all evening, even when he decided to be a little ornery towards the end of the day.  Of course, ornery is what his parents are looking for at 11pm in hopes of another long sleep overnight.  Here's to keeping our fingers crossed...

Firsts for Calvin, regression for his parents

Calvin is definitely growing.  He just feels heavier.  Most people who see him still think he looks like a preemie, but we are pretty sure we can see a growth difference.  Not that he fits into anything any better, he just seems bigger to us.  And he is definitely growing in other ways, too.  He has gradually become more vocal - not crying, just more talkative - and today he started talking while eating.  His amount of alert time has gradually increased every day, and he has really started to look at things now.  Actual firsts for today included napping with Cortney in his sling and going for a walk in his stroller.  It was also his first day of regulated living - Cortney started introducing a feeding/sleeping/activity schedule today.  Right.  We'll see how that goes.

But while Calvin is progressing by leaps and bounds, his parents seem to be regressing, at least where the menu is concerned.  Though Jon did grill a couple of hamburgers last week, our meals lately have consisted mainly of little kid type dinners - frozen fish sticks and tater tots, frozen pizza, and, the ultimate, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with hot dogs.  Call it what you like, we call nostalgia.