Isaac at 9 weeks

Isaac 9 weeks

Isaac was 9 weeks old on Saturday, so I thought I'd give everyone a brief update on how he's doing. He's laughing and cooing more, enjoys playing by himself for longer periods, and is definitely seeing more detail in the world around him. He's fascinated by his hands, but can't quite figure out how to get them to do what he wants. He discovered the mirror at the piano on Monday and sat there in my lap for the longest time just staring at himself. We've also introduced a lot more color and detail into his play area and he seems to be enjoying the new scenery.

As great as all of these new developments are, I have to say there is none greater than the fact that he's been sleeping through the night for the past 2 weeks! And I don't mean just 5 or 6 hours, which some people consider "through the night"! No, our boy goes to bed around 8pm and sleeps until I wake him at 11:30 for his last feeding. After that he goes right back to sleep until 7 or 8 in the morning! It's so nice to get several hours of uninterrupted sleep - especially since I haven't taken an afternoon nap since the moms were here!

Before I go on, I want to comment on a couple of the pictures that you'll see in this gallery. First the little yellow outfit he's wearing in a couple of the photos belonged to my father, and was also worn by my brother. Thanks mom for sending the vintage outfit so that Isaac could wear it too! You'll also see a couple pictures of the beautiful Ragedy Ann and Ragedy Andy quilt that Baby Donna (my aunt for those of you who are confused by the nickname) made for Isaac. Thank you so much Baby D for the beautiful quilt! We love it!

OK, now for other exciting news. I've been looking forward to the end of this week. We're having our first official "play date" which at this point is certainly more for the moms than the babies, but that's OK. Whatever it takes to keep up all sane! I've also been working on a few craft projects, but that's another post. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of the finished products and get them up by the weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, we're looking forward to Grandpa Steve's visit! He's driving down on Friday or Saturday and staying for the weekend. I'm sure that he's looking forward to seeing his new grandson. I've got the camera charged up and ready to go for lots of photo ops, Steve!

My Life in Black and White

I've always been a color person - blue especially. So when we discovered we were expecting, I wanted to paint the nursery blue. Unfortunately, I didn't feel up to painting during the first part of my pregnancy. By the time I felt better, Michael had convinced me just to leave the room white (it had just been painted before we moved in). I was unconvinced at first, but eventually the idea grew on me.

Many studies have shown that newborns see black and white images better than color images for the first few months of life. Black and White provides a sharp contrast which allows the baby to better develop his visual acuity and convergence (getting the eyes to work together to focus on a given object).

So we got dark furniture and black curtains for the nursery. I pulled out the black and white rug we got in London. I did some black and white art projects for the walls. We hung up a mobile with black and white images for him to look at. I made black and white checkerboards for the corner and pulled out the black and white infant stimulation cards to give Isaac something to see when he was on the floor. Basically I just ran with the black and white theme!

Then other day I looked around and realized that the black and white had slowly taken over the whole loft! Almost everything we do is in black and white! No wonder Isaac wants to look around so much - there are so many things that are easy for him to see!

Because I thought it was funny how much the black and white theme has taken over my life, I took some pictures to illustrate just how much black and white I see every day! I left out the pictures of the nursery because I included them in the Isaac at 6 weeks post, so you can go check them out if you missed them.

Isaac's favorite black and white object is, by far, the piano! He loves it! He can be fussy, even almost asleep, but when he sees or hears the piano he's instantly awake and ready to play! I think that it's the best infant stimulation activity there is. It's great for auditory, tactile, and visual stimulation, plus he gets to sit in my lap and be cuddled while we play!

I think that the black and white theme has been as good for me as it is for Isaac. It's clean and simple and seems uncluttered, which is good because it inspires me to make the rest of my life simple and uncluttered as well. All in all black and white has been a good thing, but I'm also excited that he's seeing well because next week....Color!

The Mutant Child

Isaac 2009-04-09

Have you ever noticed that some babies are just not cute? I had the misfortune of witnessing a woman having a meltdown in Wal-Mart this week because her sister's baby was "just not cute". She was lamenting that fact to her significant other and said that she was "tired of the lies." It was really quite comical, until she looked at my quiet, sleeping baby in the cart and declared, "There! Look at that baby! He's cute! Why couldn't she have a cute baby like that?!" before she dissolved into another round of hysterical crying.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Isaac isn't cute. It's just that I'm his mother and therefore my vote on such things doesn't count. The reality is that most babies - especially when they are newborns are not cute at all, but rather seem like some weird human/animal/alien hybrid.

My own child was not immune to this strange phenomenon. I remember holding him in the hospital the day after he was born, and telling my mother on the phone about his freakishly large hands and feet. I told her he must be part puppy and that hopefully he'd grow into them someday.

Then we brought him home only to discover that having large paws was not the only mutant gene he had. When you hold him close to you for more than a second he grabs a fist full of shirt (and in Michael's case sometimes its shirt and/or chest hair!) and hangs on for dear life like a little monkey! You literally have to pry his fingers apart to get him to let go - and even then you're prying one hand open only to find that he's reattached his vise-like grip with the hand you freed five seconds ago!

Then there's the frog gene. This one is really strange as we're not sure if its from a real frog, a video game, or Kermit himself! I have a picture of him lying on his stomach in classic frog pose - with arms and legs bent. When he does that I can't help but be reminded of playing Frogger on my brothers Atari as a child. Oh, and when he's hungry he does what we now refer to as "the bobbing frog". I swear he looks just like Kermit head-banging to some rock music!

Isaac will be 7 weeks old tomorrow. Yesterday we took advantage of his terrific mood and had a little photo shoot. As I was reviewing all the pictures, I noticed that his hands and feet don't look so large any more. Then I thought that he hasn't done the bobbing frog with as much gusto as he once did. Is he outgrowing his mutant genes? I wonder how long it will be before we say good-bye to the puppy-monkey-frog-boy and are left with just a normal little boy instead...

...but then again he is the product Michael and me, so there are probably no worries about him ever being "normal" right? :-)

Isaac at 6 weeks

Isaac at 6 weeks

The only thing I've blogged about lately has been Isaac, but that's just the major thing that occupies my mind and my time these days. Maybe someday I'll discover I have a life again, but in the meantime enjoy the stories about our son!

This was a busy week for us. Isaac went with me for my chiropractor appointment this week. Dr Edwards loved him, and he was just mesmerized by her. Her partner/sister, Dr. Hogan, got to hold him a bit too. They were both happy to finally get to meet him - they were both so supportive and encouraging throughout my pregnancy. I honestly don't know what I would have done without them over the past year!

We also went to see the midwife, Michelle, for our 6 week checkup on Thursday. He had grown quite a lot since Michelle and Scottie saw him last; he weighed in at 12lbs 11oz! He's growing so fast! He and I were both given a clean bill of health, and then we had a few photo opps before we had to say goodbye. I know that we no longer need Michelle's professional services, but hopefully we'll stay in touch!

At home we are settling into routines. I think we're training each other as we go along! I took a few pictures of Isaac on his play mat - a favorite activity, especially in the morning - and also a few of him sitting in his new Bumbo chair. He absolutely loves that thing! He likes sitting up and being able to look around!

I finally took some pictures of the nursery. I know some of you have asked me to, but I just kept forgetting. I will say that I'm happier with the Black/White color scheme than I thought I would be! It worked well - especially since it meant not having to paint! Isaac loves it - lots of visual contrast for him! I finished the art project for the walls right after he was born - another one of those things I left until the last minute! They turned out well, though, and were super easy. Isaac's favorite is the one right next to the dresser. He can see the big white dots very easily.

Last night we went out for what I've been calling our Friday night "Family Date". After our evening routine we take him out to dinner with us. He's so good - usually sleeps or just opens his eyes and looks around. It so nice to be able to get out like that and not have a screaming child the whole time!

Isaac certainly keeps us busy, but he's also helping to keep us in shape. We walk about 2.5 miles every evening, and lifting 12lbs 11oz of baby all day is certainly starting to strengthen my upper body.

That's about all that's going on in our lives right now. It will be interesting to go to the doctor in a couple of weeks for his 2 month check up and see how much more he's grown!