Spring at last, Spring at last...

If it only took warm temps to mean spring had arrived, it would have been spring in January -when the thermometer hit 60. But, mid-March, we got an inch of snow. The daffodils and the tulips, in my opinion, are a much better indicator that spring has arrived. Of course, the 80-degree temps yesterday helped...
I am thrilled for the warmer weather. Luis and I are meeting up with Sarah, Will and Matthew Rimicci at Meadowlark Gardens (the very beautiful park where Diego and I got married) for a stroll this morning. If I remember to take and use the camera, I'll post some pictures later.

(I would have included a shot of the crocuses - croci?? - but they have all either been trampled during frisbee playing or eaten by some mysterious thing. Trust me though, they were quite lovely.

Luis's New Trick

I first noticed it a couple of days ago - Luis was holding his own hands. And in the last couple of days, he's done it quite a bit (see photos below). Sometimes, he pulls his legs up and grabs at his knees, though he's shown no interst in or knowledge of his feet.

Do you thumb your nose at me??

Luis's First Boo Boo

All I am going to say here is this: it's a lot harder to cut the finger nails of a baby than you might think, and I'm pretty proud that I made it this long without needing a band-aid!!

Luis is THREE MONTHS

Thursday marked Luis's three month ... birthday? anniversary? He is doing great - growing and growing. He's officially out of his 0-3 month clothes. He has one outfit left, but it's a little tight when he stretches all the way out. I weighed him on our scale at home and he's 14lbs, +/- 1/2 lb!


He continues to grab at things - toys, clothes, my hair - and now actually stops to LOOK at what is in his hand. His head and neck control are great. Luis often holds up his head to look around when I'm holding him. While still not a fan of tummy time, he is getting the benefit of the exercises.



By far his best trick is still his smile. When I go into his room to get him up from a nap, he is beaming from ear to ear, his eyes light up and he wriggles his whole body. It's a joy to behold. A couple of times, when he's had his legs stretched out, he's rocked a little to the side, like he might want to roll over, and then the moment is gone.

Diego was home for almost two weeks. It was so great to have him home. He spent loads of time with Luis and me. It was fun to watch Diego and Luis get to know each other. They played all of Luis's favorite games - sky diver, baby gym, smiling, cooing, and snuggling. Diego gave Luis his bath almost every night (a treat for everyone).

Unfortunately, Diego got to experience Luis's less-happy side. One evening, we took turns holding Luis as he cried hysterically for more than an hour (yes, I concede that Luis isn't perfect). Luis eventually settled down, but we'll never know why he was so upset. Another evening, Luis was extremely fussy after his bath - a time when he is usually his most peaceful. Diego tried everything in the bag of tricks to settle him down, but no luck. About 30 minutes later, Luis projectile-vomitted his entire dinner, and then fell straight to sleep. It was a mess - I had to change my entire outfit, including my socks!! Just when I think I know Luis, he reminds me that there is still some mystery!!


One of Luis's new tricks is sticking out his tongue. I have no idea why he does it, or when he'll do it next - but it's really fun to watch.

And my last Luis-Fact of the day: He is into a bedtime routine. (For those of you who know me, you may or may not know that I'm a BIG fan of routine!!) Starting about 5:30 or 6:00, Luis has dinner, plays for a small bit, takes a bath & puts on PJs, gets a snuggle and then goes to bed. Most nights he's in the crib and asleep by 7p. He'll then sleep until ~ 4a, when he wakes to feed. It's then back to bed until about 7a when he's up again. It's glorious. I put myself to bed by 10p, giving me 6 hours of straight sleep, with another 2 hours of snooze. The daytime sleep is not quite so organized, but I cannot complain. I'll take good night sleep over good day sleep anytime!!

Luis!

We have tried several times to put Luis in this bouncy chair. While he would tolerate it, he didn't seem to enjoy it until this week. This photo isn't so great (i.e. you can't see Luis's face), but it does show how he enjoys the bouncy chair. He will sit for a long time and play with the hanging toys (in infant world, 3o minutes is a long, long time). Yesterday, I put him in the bouncy chair on the front walk while I did some yard work. Luis soaked up some sun and played. He loved it, I loved it, and Ashley loved it (she played Frisbee - sometimes with me and sometimes by herself).

I am really looking forward to the warmer weather of spring. Luis, so far, enjoys going for walks in both the stroller and the baby jogger. And now that the bouncy seat is almost as much fun as the baby gym, I have two activities for him when I want to do some yard work.

You can see here that Luis is losing his hair on top, thanks to a little cradle cap. Diego sympathizes greatly, though is a little jealous that Luis will grow that hair back. :)

The Last Days of Winter

On Sunday, Diego, Ashley, Luis and I went out for a nice afternoon stroll. Even though the first day of spring was just two days away, you can tell by Luis's outfit that it was quite chilly here. In fact, two days before this, we had almost an inch of snow!!

A big thanks to Diego's work group at Booz Allen for this awesome Baby Jogger. Although I feel that I should rename it to Baby Walker. I have aspirations of once again being a jogger. For now, Ashley is the only one doing any running when we go out. We've taken the Baby Walker out several times - including a 90 minute walk. Both Ashley and I have baby weight to take off...

More Photos w/ Little Commentary

Diego has been home for 10 days, and it's been great. Here are some photos from this last week. Here we have a cuddle with Dad, Luis and his "sibblings" and Luis waking up from a nap that started in the babby jogger (and the warm bundle outfit).

I'll work on an update on Luis after Wednesday, when Diego has gone back to Mumbai.

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.)