Ginormous Child

We are back from the west and are trying to get back on East Coast time. I am beginning to feel like Liam is a night-owl like his dad because going to Pacific time was a pretty easy transition for him, but lately he has been sleeping in and going to bed later than usual.

I continue to be amazed at the rate of Liam's growth. Whenever I take him out, people will ask how old he is and be amazed when I say four months--they say things like "he is strong" and "what a healthy baby", but I know they are thinking "what a ginormous child". Before we left for the trip, we had Liam's check-up and he was 18.28 pounds and 27 1/2 inches long. This put him in the 97th and 100th percentiles respectively. Much to the doctor's surprise, he even has two little teeth coming in.

While we were in Portland, the we put the moby through its paces--when you have a big baby, sometimes you need a little assistance carrying him :) Sadly, we did not get a picture of everyone who tried out the moby, but here are a few. I also wanted to share a picture of my mom's side of the family. We were there to pay tribute to her and it is so nice that she comes from a big family...they say it takes a village; here is just some of Liam's village.

Liam's First Trip

Liam had his first trip out of state Thursday and his first plane trip. He was upset in the airport as we waiting for our delayed flight, but went to sleep soon after we boarded and stayed sleeping for the entire flight. It was a bit awkward to have so much stuff along with carrying the baby, but overall, it really wasn't bad. I think Liam was pretty happy with it and barely cried any more than he would normally at home. We arrived really late Thursday night and, after a short introduction of Liam to our hosts, we went to sleep. Liam only got up once during the night and then we got up and went for a 6 mile walk with the extended family. We strolled along the esplanade and saw downtown Portland a little. That evening we went to a wedding and Liam was, once again, very "well-behaved" (i.e. quiet and happy) during the ceremony and slept through most of the reception. He was up for a while though and got a fun ride in the Moby with his "fisherman" hat. He slept through the night last night and continues to be wonderful on this trip.

Nurser(y)

I took some time off to watch Liam while Annika went back to her office today. Liam slept for two hours and then woke up hungry, so I put him in the Moby and gave him a bottle, which he chugged like a frat boy chugs beer. Now, he only drank about 3-4 ounces, not a pint (or yard), but still, he was hungry. After some activity time, he got tired and eventually fell asleep in the swing. It went very well and is the longest Annika has been away from Liam so far. He's got enough of a routine that we were confident that he'd sleep for most of the time she was at the office and only need one or two feedings (which we had enough milk for). I'm sure that once we get a routine down, he'll change it on us though.

Liam's activity times are still getting more interactive by the day. He "smiles" more each time and is more fun to interact with. Chicken Dance Elmo is still a favorite of his (thanks Beth) and, of course, he loves to stare at lights (and don't we all... we just switch from bulbs to LCDs and Plasma).

My mom bought a crib bumper and bed skirt from the Pottery Barn collection we used to decorate the nursery and worked with my dad to create a window valence and curtains for the nursery window. The valence is a section of the bumper pad that shows scenes from the Hey Diddle Diddle nursery rhyme. They look quite professional and custom-made to fit our window and the decorations of the room. They also got us a diaper stacker and sewed a section of the bumper on it to tie it in with the theme as well. Thanks mom and dad!

One Month

Its been one month since we met Liam for the first time on his birthday. He's already grown so much! If he continues growing in length and weight like he has been, he'll be 131 feet tall and 1,568 pounds by the time he's 30! If he maintains his current length-to-weight ratio, he'll weigh only 36 pounds when he's 6 feet tall! That gives you an idea of how quickly babies grow at this age.

Over the past three days, Liam has gotten much better about sleeping. Its probably due to a combination of us figuring out how to meet his needs better, and him getting old and big enough to handle longer periods of sleep. Our friends Nate and Kris came over Saturday night for a wonderful dinner they prepared and a fun round of bridge. Liam was terrific throughout their stay. My parents came by Sunday and also brought Mexican take-out for dinner, which was delicious. As always, Liam was generally very sweet with the occasional crying fit. He seems to be cranky as we transition up to the bedroom at night and downstairs in the morning. He also seems to have an afternoon crankiness sometimes. Having just those 2 or 3 times a day is much more manageable than the less predictable patterns before.

We're also getting more competent and confident in soothing him. We've got the swing, Moby, rocking chair, pacifier, swaddlers etc. all ready to go as needed :) Taking him on a daily walk in the stroller also seems to help him calm down and sleep, and it helps us by giving us time to just talk like we always used to on walks. I think we're also finally starting to differentiate his hungry cries from his other cries which is helpful in quickly addressing his needs (and thus minimizing the crying). I'm very impressed with Annika's ability as a mom and I feel really lucky to have her taking care of Liam so much.

Bedtime for Baby

A couple nights ago, we started a bedtime ritual for Liam. To get a sense of how its going, the first night, the sequence started at 8pm and he finally went to sleep at 5am. The time in between was spent in shifts failing to console Liam between sporadic naps. Liam put us through our paces by only sleeping while we rocked/swung/patted him. The moby was one of the few techniques that worked to temporarily calm him (thanks again Nate and Kris). If I weren't busy during those times, I'd video tape them to scare soon-to-be parents and make the experienced parents happy those nights are over. I should at least get an audio recording of it and then use that to wake Liam up for school in a few years :)

Last night and tonight have gone much better. As I write this at 11:30, Liam hasn't really cried for about three and a half hours :) Of course, there was a little crying during his outfit change, but hey, its as good as it gets! Of course, the night is still young and we'll see how it goes in the wee hours of the morning (that phrase now has more than one meaning for me).

Liam is quickly growing physically and mentally. He's 22 inches already (grew one inch in one week) and is really starting to look around and react more to his environment - especially to faces that are close enough for him to focus on. Even though he's only three weeks old, he's changed a lot since those first few days... at least in our (biased) eyes.

We struggled to watch Atonement tonight. Note to soon-to-be parents: watch any complicated movies you want NOW because you won't be able to follow the plot once you have a baby. The multiple interruptions and intermittent baby cries left us wondering what that movie was about.

lulla bye-bye, hello rock n' roll

After a few weeks of trying to soothe Liam with the lullaby music that is emitted from his swing, pack n' play and papasan chair, I have come to the conclusion that he doesn't much care for it. I thought about it for a while and it makes sense. When he was in the womb, he was exposed to my spin classes 4-6 times a week; he was bombarded with Kelly Clarkson, REM, Justin Timberlake and Jamiroquai. (I have only made 20 spin cds and I confess to using a few more than than the others). So, now, instead of playing lullaby music to help him fall asleep, I hold him close to me, either in my arms or in the moby, and I dance with him while playing one of my spin cds (The picture was taken by me after a dance session). He seems to enjoy the movement and the music much more than a swing or a vibrating chair. Unfortunately, he doesn't fall asleep instantly and we generally have to go through a whole 45 minute routine before he will close his eyes. Whether he sleeps or not, it does tend to stop the crying, which has grown in the past few days. Can we say colic??

Suspicious Sleeper

If you ever have occasion to try to get Liam to sleep - beware! He is a suspicious sleeper! After all kinds of soothing tricks and calming machinations, you might look down to see a seemingly sleeping Liam with eyes shut. Not so! Liam is too smart for that. He knows that your soporific session is simply a sly trick to get him to sleep and then put him away somewhere like a bassinet! So, just to make sure, he opens his eyes a little every once in a while to make sure you're still there and he's still where he was when he was really awake.

Today my mom stopped by bearing gifts (as usual) including many new cute outfits for Liam from her and some more adorable clothing from my sister, who couldn't make it due to a cold. My mom stayed for a few Trivial Pursuit questions and a nice visit while holding Liam for us (as pictured in this entry's photo). She also brought a photo album of pictures of me as a baby and we compared to see in which ways Liam takes after me. We also got out a photo of Annika as a baby and did the same for her and Liam. We'll scan them in and put them side-by-side for comparison at some point.

I walked around a bit with Liam in the Moby again today. It seems to help put him to sleep, so I'm adding it to my list of sleep-inducing tools. I've also read that babies who are held for 3 hours a day are less prone to colic, and those who are kept upright longer have less gas. The Moby helps accomplish both goals while keeping our hands free.

Moby

Today, we put Liam in the Moby Wrap that Nate and Kris got us and went for a walk. It was like swaddling Liam with me inside. The wrap is basically a long sash made of jersey material that you wrap around your waist, up over your shoulders and then around the waist a couple more times. It ends up making a little pocket with two diagonal sides and a bottom into which you can slip your child in various ways depending on how old the baby is. For Liam, we used the Newborn Hug Hold which seemed to work quite well. Liam and I kept each other nice and toasty warm and he was shielded from the sun once we pulled the pocket sides together. At first, I was a bit worried about his ability to breathe in there, but there was enough of an opening above his mouth for him to get air.

Annika's sister and father came over and we had a traditional Easter dinner of take-out Indian food and played Trivial Pursuit and Nymble. It seems that Sri Lanka stopped a 17-year war to give first aid to an elephant - hope that helps next time you play Trivial Pursuit.