Bear Update

One Month!

 

We Can't Believe It Has Been A Whole Month Already!!

We don't have an appointment with our doctor until next month, so our measurements are probably not very accurate... At one month old Russell weighs about 9.5 lbs and is about 21 inches long. This is compared to his 2 weeks appointment when he was 7lbs 13oz and 20.5 inches. That means that his constant desire to nurse is doing something and he doesn't just spit up everything he eats!!

At one month old:

• We are on no schedule whatsoever. Sometimes he wants to nurse every hour, sometimes we can go up to four hours without. Sleep is always a pleasant surprise. We can usually count on a good 3-4 hour chunk after he decides to sleep for the night. Then I can see him every hour after that or if I'm lucky get another 3 hour chunk. Naps also vary for 45 minutes to 2.5 hours. Every day is a surprise.

Takes nap in various spot around the apartment

• He is finally sleeping in his cradle at night instead of his swing or on my chest! (Until last night when he decided to scream every time he was put in it.) 
• Is a big wiggle bottom. Constantly moving his arms and legs! This means that swaddling is generally a must if I want him to sleep even though he hates it.

• Grunts/growls when stretching or trying to get his hands out of the swaddle. Starting to "talk" to us.
• Hates tummy time, but usually gets some pretty good head lifts in each time. The angrier he is, the more he lifts and moves his head!

• His startle reflex is still going strong. His daddy loves to scare him and see the reaction.
• His favorite thing to do is look around our apartment. He really likes staring at our black picture frames. He even tries to look around the room when it is really dark and we are trying to get him to fall asleep.

• He has a very expressive face... Likes to put on his crazy eyes in pictures. We think he is starting to try and smile at us. They don't look like his normal gas/milk smiles.

• Speaking of gas... This little boy can pass gas like a grown man. I'm just waiting for the day when he farts really loudly during church.

We are loving having this little bundle of entertainment. He keeps our life interesting. It makes up for the lack of sleep, but I am looking forward to the day that I can get 5 or 6 straight hours of sleep!

We Love You Little Russell!!

Halloween

With our family growing to 3 before Halloween, we decided we needed to coordinate costumes and  do a family thing. (Last year we tried to do a couples thing, but since I was sick that day we didn't do anything that night to dress up for.) I decided to let Stephen pick because he would be more opinionated about having a cool/ manly costume. After much googling and costume browsing via Amazon he decided and announced it with a sweet video.

His costume was not too hard to put together thanks to DI and its great selection of random clothing items. Luckily Dr. Who is cool enough now that we were able to find Russell's on Amazon. We did have to get a size 6 month onesie, so it was huge on his tiny body. But let me tell you, shopping for a Halloween costume when you're 9 months pregnant and have no idea what size you'll be in 4 weeks is not easy. So I just guessed and hoped for the best. I only had to spend two days using my nonexistent sewing skills and lack of a sewing machine to make my TARDIS dress modest. Overall, I think our costumes turned out pretty sweet! 

  

A few days before Russell was born Stephen was put on the activities committee, so we then knew that was would be going to our  ward's Halloween party. For his first real social outing Russell did great. After having been a terrible napper the whole day, making getting ready so fun, and screaming the whole car ride to the church, we were delighted when he passed out as soon as we got to the church. He didn't sleep through the whole thing, but was pleasant until we had been there 2 hours and he decided he was hungry. It was a pretty fun time. I was impressed by the costumes that people showed up in. It was also crazy to see how tiny Russell is compared to the 2 other babies in our ward! 

Russell's first Halloween was a success!!

"Most Ballin'" costume competition