The first week of Blue's life he spent mostly asleep. Apparently this is common as they are recovering from the birth experience. But gradually he has started to emerge from his sleep coma and often needs a little help getting back to sleep (babies don't have the ability to soothe themselves until they are a couple months old). So we have fallen back on various props to help put him to sleep when our arms need a break. Here he is sucking on his pacifier while the swing rocks him softly to sleep.
You may also be able to tell that his eyes are still open. The tricks don't always work! But at least here he seems calm and content.
At Blue's second pediatrician visit on Monday he registered in the 90th percentile in both weight (9lbs 2oz) and length (21"). Everyday he seems just a little bit longer, a little more chubby. We are advising him to enjoy his "big man" status while it lasts. Graham and I both were regularly placed in the 10th percentile back in our baby days and we expect he will join us soon enough!
And since he has gained back his birth weight plus some we have the go ahead to let him sleep up to six hour stretches at night. So far he hasn't taken full advantage but at least we get to follow his lead and let him sleep for as long as he can.
My sister-in-law, Ashley, is a great photographer (ashleydavisphotography.com). She is coming in a couple weeks and I had been planning on holding out until then to get some fun shots of Blue. But apparently they lose their newborn look fairly quickly so a good friend came over on Saturday and we did our best to capture the moment. Here are some of the highlights....
Our midwife recommended giving Blue a bottle before two weeks, so he wouldn't pattern too strongly to the breast. She said that if we waited until we needed to use the bottle option it may be too late. So at one week we gave it a try and he did great. Took the bottle and still continues to take the breast.
Here we have Aunt Mallory taking over bottle duty.