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.

June 12 milestones

Wow!  The first night was way easier than either of us had expected!  Calvin only woke us up once, and we had to wake him up to eat the second time.  Of course, coming off of 5 total hours of sleep for the whole weekend means that we are still ridiculously tired, but we won't split hairs.

Today was full of new things and adventures for young Calvin.  He ate and then he explored the backyard with his dad (mostly with closed eyes) then he ate again.  This was followed by a frustrated turn through his dressers and closet looking for clothing that would actually fit.  These things looked small before he was born, but pretty much everything hangs off of him except a couple of outfits from Cortney's mom and a couple from Cortney's aunt, so today he played dress up in a onesie delivered all the way from Peru - lucky baby is so loved and spoiled!  Then the afternoon consisted of more eating and sleeping, a visit from our lactation consultant (she's really cool), a trip to the mailbox (video taped by Jon), trying to get used to the idea that the carseat wouldn't kill him, and a first sponge bath at home.  Jon equates the bath, and pretty much any diaper or clothing change, to the concept of working on a car while the car alarm is going off.  Other than that, though, Calvin is a pretty easy going baby - he usually gets used to new things about the second time through -  and has been quiet and cuddley all day.

I now understand what before I could not.

We knew that we were excited.  We knew that we loved Raspberry.  We knew that we were ready.

We did not know that he would look so beautiful to us, or smell so sweet, or steel us away for all we were worth.  Our weekend in the hospital was magical.  No honeymoon could have been any sweeter.  After Calvin was born at 10:11pm on Friday we stayed in the Labor and Delivery Room for a couple of hours so they could monitor both Cortney and baby.  Calvin, who scored a 9 on the APGAR, was in Cortney's arms within 35 minutes of birth and was nursing shortly thereafter (scoring a 10/10 on the nursing scale), so he seemed content, and we were content just to stare at him.  The world was lost to us and we kept wondering "can this be real?"  We walked (well, Cortney was wheeled) to our hospital room around 1am and that is pretty much where we stayed, rather contentedly, mind you, for the next 37+ hours.  Calvin was a quiet newborn, alternating between states of alert quietness and deep sleep.  He only left our sides once - for a bath and state mandated testing.  When, on Saturday night, the nurses asked us what our "plan" was, we looked at them a little dumbfounded.  Did we want them to take our baby to the nursery for the night?  We never even considered it.  We were visited by a handful of wonderful people - Calvin's grandparents, our friend and Pastor, Andrew, and his wife Erinn, and our church choir director, Susan.  We ate hospital food, sort of, and had some food  brought in (like pizza, Saturday night).  Mostly we just cherished those moments - the two of us drinking in the triumph and beauty of our perfect new son, and baby Calvin taking in this large new world around him.  It may have been a hospital stay, but when we left for home at 2:30 on Sunday we felt as though we were saying goodbye to a vacation made in heaven.