Week 5 with Grandpa

Though he is only five weeks old, he is mouthing his first sounds. One would think he is trying to speak. No surprise there knowing how much his dad and mom like to talk!!!

And even mommie gets tired sometimes

Fourth Week

Well we have made it this far. This was Todd's first week back at work and Grammy Kirkbride arrived to assist with the transition. All were a bit tired as Todd sometimes pulled the 3-4am feed and was then up at 6:30 to head to the office (for a day of yawns and co-workers commenting on the 'baby adjustments'). Pravera however was the rock star and pulled feeding duty several nights for all shifts and then tried to catch a nap or two during the day as Grammy pulled grandma duty. He has gained almost two pounds and is filling out most his new born outfits now. He has developed a series of common expressions and sleeping sounds that never cease to entertain. We have found that he loves his tummy time during the day and often passes out for hours. We have had a couple marathon 4 hour sleeps even (unfortunately some have come during the day which makes for a long and active night). We have finally gotten the hang of packing him in the car seat or stroller for outside adventures which now include long walks in the warmer weather, a cafe, restaurant adventure at night with the cousins and some more shopping.

Getting Around

So, the days turn into nights which turn back into days. Our entire existence has cycled around his 3 hour EASY strategy of eat, activity, sleep and you (yea right). Pranvera gets in one to two naps a day to make up for having to pull two night shifts while I only handle one (at most). The only difference between a Sat or Wed is which doctor appointment we need to be at our which of our friends is stopping by to meet Adrian. As for our night life...well it is either a Netfix or bad TV, maybe a book or bedtime by 9. Kind of weird entering this world of being a parent. Not to mention freaking out and doing all the possible research on why he won't stop crying or how to get rid of extra gas.

We have tried to make a habit of getting out of the house once/day just to get the hang of it and see something other than our four walls. It has been quite cold in DC so as you can see we have varied his outfits accordingly. Kind of fun trying to dress him up. He is still so small it is kind of like a doll.

Getting the Hang of It (kind of)

Auntie Stacey saved us for our first week helping to prepare meals, clean, do groceries and play with him when mom and dad were dying for some nap time. Her sound machine made the loud late nights sleepable and she was always quick to help out with a change. With our small place it actually worked out quite well and we have been really enjoying all the visits from friends and family almost each day to meet our newest family addition. Cousin Rand and the girls paid one last New Years Day visit to open more Xmas presents from Haiti and to have more quality time with their new cousin. He so loves Sophia (11) and we have received a signed letter that she will be our on-call sitter when mom and dad are finally reading to venture out without him (hope within the first year ;-)

So I guess I have already become one of those dad's who can't get enough photos of his son and thinks he is the coolest best looking kid on the planet. Our second week has been full of exciting, new and often tiring surprises including projectile poop, discovery of arms and hands, sleeping with eyes slightly open, dream squeaks, and sudden outbursts with no clear reason in sight (yes we go through the 5 S's). But all and all we get through these rather quickly and he returns to his quiet or attentive self.

New Years Eve was VERY quite with us introducing Adrian to our very close friends Andrew and Emily and having them join us for a nice Thai take-out. Adrian is awesome with guests and will express his satisfaction usually with a very loud bowel movement. We put on our party hats and blew the horn and we rang in a perfect ending to an awesomely ever changing year and prospect for an even more enlightening one in the new decade.

We are starting to adventure more from the condo with Pranvera's c-section healing quite well. We have testing the baby bjorn and sling for short walks and will venture out today for the first time with stroller and car seat. He loves the wind and sun (not in his eyes) and can sometimes doze off so hard mommie gets paranoid in checking his breathing.