The Last Week in Photos

Just You Wait...

"They grow up so fast." "Treasure every moment because they'll be grown before you know it." "You'll blink, and the next thing you know, he'll be a teenager." Everyone who has children has told me to really appreciate the time I have with Luis and to enjoy each of his stages. Certainly, I had no reason to doubt these people with first-hand child experience. But I somehow didn't realize that at only 10 weeks, I'd already see the wisdom in their words!!

Let me back up a bit. Yes, Luis has grown ~ 3" since birth and has gained 4lbs, 7 oz. He has good neck & head control. He smiles and coos and almost giggles. He watches people intently and likes to grab onto stuff. Yes, he has changed and gown in lots of ways in the last 10 weeks. I realize this. But this afternoon, when I started a storage bin of clothes that Luis has ALREADY outgrown, well, it kinda took my breath away. Some of these sleeper outfits were a little room when he started wearing them.

This afternoon, I was reading about weight gain. The apparent rule of thumb is that Luis should double his birth weight between 4-5 months, and triple his birth weight by a year. Yawza! He's half-way to the first milestone.

Of course, when I think about how this shocks me - me who spends the most time with him - I wonder how it will be for Diego when he comes home on Friday. This trip ended up being almost exactly four weeks. Luis was only 7 weeks when he left. I think Diego will hardly recognize him.
This is a photo taken of Luis the day Diego left. Big changes for this guy...

Hold On Tight

Luis's newest trick is holding on - to EVERYTHING he can get his hands on. On the changing table, he grips the clothes that are folded up. During feedings, he grips my shirt (or sometimes my side). When I'm burping him, he grips my hair, necklace or shirt. He loves to hold on to my finger when he sitting on my lap. And this evening, while laying on the baby gym, he was holding on to one of the dangling toys (as opposed to hitting it which is what he's been doing).

Mr. Green Eyes

Yesterday morning, I noticed that Luis's eyes are now green. I'm not quite sure when it happened. While I would really like for Luis to have green eyes, I'm pretty sure that this is just an intermediate stop on the way to brown eyes.

(Before Luis was born, I was reading up on eye color. Apparently, babies eyes can get darker in the first several months - but they never get lighter. Blue eyed newborns can stay blue or turn green or brown. Green eyed newborns stay green or turn to brown. And Brown eyed newborns will stay brown.)

If You're Happy and You Know It...

Luis has been all full of smiles these last couple of days. And considering that for several days, he went about 8 hours during the day without napping, these smiles went a LONG way with me.

Speaking of sleep ... Last night Luis slept 8 1/2 hours before getting up for a feeding at 4a. While he's been having longer and longer sleeps at night, this was by far the longest. And for the last couple of nights, he has gone down easily and without a fuss. (Of course, even as I type this I can hear him grunting and whining a bit through the monitor.)

Luis at Two Months

Luis had his two-month check up today. His stats are: weight 12lbs 6oz (75th percentile), height 24" (85th percentile) and head circumference was 40th percentile. The baby vet (I have a hard time remembering pediatrician) declared him healthy and happy and developing well. He got his first round of vaccines - four shots in the thighs. I do have to say that he was a much better sport about these than Diego was about HIS vaccines earlier this month! :)

Luis is smiling and cooing many times throughout the day (not just in the mornings). He has longer stretches of being awake in the day -- and longer stretches of being asleep at night. Luis looks more intently at people and toys and follows movement with his eyes. I like that he'll hold onto my hand or shirt while he's nursing. And on occasion, when I have him snuggled up over my shoulder and I'm patting his back, he'll pat MY back. In general, he continues to be a delightful child!!

(I posted all of the the good recent photos yesterday and thus have none for today. I'll try to get one or two tomorrow.)

Luis - 9 weeks

The best way to get "action" shots of Luis is while he's laying in the baby gym, or in the swing. I apologize if these pics look like ones posted in previous weeks...

Maggie shared her Sunshine Care Bear with Luis.

Luis, so far, is not a big fan of "tummy time."

Sleep Over

Dodie & his family came down this past weekend to visit Luis (see next post). Maggie Lou decided to sleep over on Saturday night (the rest of the family was staying at a friend's nearby). We watched two movies (Shrek & Cinderella) and read almost every book that Luis has been given. Maggie helped a lot with Luis, watching over him, putting back in the pacifier and even helped give Luis a bath. It was a lot of fun having her here.

The 1" of snow that we were expecting on Sunday morning ended up being 6". The McDow/Norris clan decided to wait until Monday to return to NH, CT - and Maggie decided to stay another day with Luis, Ashley, Muffles and me.

Maggie has never been a self-proclaimed dog fan, but she did very well with Ashley. Muffles, on the other hand got lots of loving and petting.

Cousins

It's been a busy week! The day after we returned from Atlanta, the New Haven cousins (and their parents) arrived for a visit. Maggie Lou, Franklin and Solomon were super sweet with their newest cousin.

Franklin loves animals, but mostly prefers to appreciate them from a safe distance. Here, he snuggles up a bit to Ashley. Solomon seems to greet most things with a squeal. Alison tought him to say "Hi Ashley" every time Ashley went by.

Here, they help test a toy that Luis can't quite manage yet...

Dodie keeps a pretty hectic pace in New Haven and took a 15 minute cat nap to catch up.

Solly was FULL of smiles!!

Atlanta

Luis and I returned yesterday from a 4-day trip to Atlanta. I was very careful to remember my digital camera -- but not so careful about remembering the battery. Thus, there are only a few pics that Randolph & Lauren took and shared.

Luis was a great traveller; sleeping almost the entire trip down AND back. He woke mid-flight for a little food, and then back to sleep. It was wonderful!! In Atlanta, we visited with Jason, Cara and Evan Terreri (www.terrerifamily.blogspot.com) before heading up to Randolph's house. The main point of the trip was for Grandfather to meet Luis. Unfortunately, Grandfather had the stomach flu while we were there, so our visit was cut short a bit. I took a picture with my phone of us and Grandfather. If I can figure out how to get it from my phone to the blog, I'll post it.

We spent two nights with Randolph and Lauren (who do not have kids). Luis did a wonderful job as their guest. Lauren did not hear him cry once!!

Dog Lovers - Every One of Us

Our vet gave Luis this outfit (covered in puppy dogs)!

Sleeping Beauty

Happy Guy

About a week ago, Luis started to smile. What usually happens is this: Luis gives me a smile when I least expect it. I smile back at him and then tickle him a little. He smiles again. I coo at him. He smiles some more. I laugh with him. Then, after several minutes, I think to go get the camera. By the time I return, Luis is done smiling. I'd like to say that today my brain worked a little faster. But what really happened is that the camera was right next to the swing.

Even More Snow...

Almost every horizontal surface around here has about an inch of snow, an inch of sleet and an inch of ice (all from Tuesday). I chiseled the ice off of Diego's car on Thursday and it took about 45 minutes. (My Prius would never make it over the 2' snow bump at the end of the driveway - courtesy of the snow plow).
I don't know anyone who loves winter and snow more than I do - but I was a little depressed when I looked outside this afternoon to see these big, huge flakes coming down furiously.

Ashley went outside for about 30 seconds and came back in with LOTS of flakes on her (no that's not dandruff).

Luckily for us, the snow ended almost as aburptly as it started, leaving no noticable accumulation.

Baby Gym - The time has come

Last night, Luis spent about 30 minutes playing in his baby gym. He seemed to enjoy watching the toys move. On occassion, he'd even hit one with his hand. I think I had the better time - watching him smile and wriggle and grunt. On a bigger scale, it's fun to watch him DO something besides nurse and sleep. A big thank you to Sunny for sending us the baby gym!

Happy Valentines Day

Being half way around the world did not stop Diego from scoring big points today. These flowers arrived for me today (inspite of the snow, freezing rain and sleet that is currently blanketing the area). Luis's gift to me was sleeping 7 1/2 hours straight last night. What great men I have in my life!!!

Morning Snooze

Luis seems to be more cognizant of our voices these days. This morning, while I was making breakfast, Luis was hanging out in his swing in the dining room - but he was fussy. The pacifier didn't pacify, burping him produced no burp and his diaper was clean. I moved the swing into the kitchen, and he settled down immediately! Coincidence? Quite possibly, but I'd rather indulge my fantasy that he just wanted to be with me!

Daddy & Luis

It will be a couple of weeks before I can post any more pictures like this: Diego leaves today for Mumbai, and will be gone between 2 and 4 weeks. I tend to get a lot of sympathy from friends who hear that Diego will be gone, but my heart goes out to Diego. I miss Luis when I'm out of the house for a couple of hours. I can't imagine being gone for days or weeks. Diego and I talked a lot about the Mumbai choice and we are certain that this is the best decision for our family (even though the beginning will be a bit rough). I admire Diego - for I feel that he has the much harder task.

For Diego's sake, I will do my best to post LOTS of pictures of Luis and to include commentary on what he's up to. Maybe I should change the name of this blog, b/c it's really only about LUIS!

Just Chillin'

Luis received this New Zealand sheep skin "baby blanket" from my college friend, Matt. Diego tested it out this morning (Luis's best time of the day in terms of energy & temperament) and Luis seemed to really like it. He hung out there for about 30 minutes, just smiling and kicking.

The Swing

Luis (and Diego & I) love this swing that Kim gave us. He holds his head up great ... until he dozes off.

Six Weeks - Pictures

Visitors

In the last week, we've had two visitors. Midge came over on Thursday - she brought lunch and spent the afternoon with Luis and me. We chatted away most of the afternoon. She got a couple of good snuggles with Luis (one of them shown here).

Then, this weekend, Jeanette came down from New York to meet the little guy. Jeanette jumped right into our hectic schedule of watching Luis, feeding Luis and changing Luis. While she acted as though WE were doing HER a favor, Diego and I appreciated the help that Jeanette gave with Luis (snuggles and feedings - we spared her the diaper change). Jeanette sang lullabies to Luis in Spanish, which both Luis and I enjoyed.