April 9: We’re back home after a really nice visit with our family in Wichita. We flew out on Friday and returned today (Monday). It was such fun to see Bryan’s parents, Melanie and Ben, and all four of Bryan’s grandparents. We even got to see Ben’s family as his brother’s quadruplets were celebrating their third birthday and we were invited to join the party.
Andrew had loads of fun finding the Easter eggs that his granny filled with fun treats, and we all enjoyed munching on the frosted Easter cookies she made. I wish we could see all the Dotzours/Harveys/Davis more frequently, but we sure do have a great time when we are together!
Extensive pictures of our visit are in the gallery.
Just back from a great trip to Wichita
April 11: It was a tough night tonight, but the little guy finally fell asleep. (I hope.) He couldn’t seem to get calmed down for bed this evening. One of those nights that I am so glad that Bryan and I can tag team and help get Andrew down together.
Andrew has graduated from saying, “Ba Ba BA!” to saying entire sentences in “Ba.”
Sometimes he seems to be telling a story or explaining a complex thought. We just need a translator to stick in our ear so we can understand what he’s telling us:)
We had a wonderful visit with Andrew’s great-grandparents in Wichita last weekend. Granny Lu, Grandad, Aunt Melanie, and Uncle Ben all drove up from Texas too, so we had a great time together. I loaded way too many pictures in the gallery of our visit
with grandparents and an evening we spent with Bryan’s pal from high school, Julie Anderson. Julie, Jerry, and their one-year-old, Grayson are such great friends. I’m glad we get to see them when we visit Wichita.
While we were in Wichita, Ben’s brother, Tim, took family pictures for us. I’ll put up a link when they are posted, but in the meantime, you can see Tim’s photography on his website.
I believe that spring has come to Wisconsin. The weather here is so balmy and sunny. I wish I could freeze these days and eek them out over several months (maybe February and March). Happy almost easter!
~Althea
Andrew’s Week 8 update
Andrew is two months old! He had his doctor’s appointment on Monday, and he seems to be growing right on track. The vital statistics: weight – 12 lbs, 10 oz; height – 23 in; head circumference – 40 cm. That put him at the 73rd percentile in weight, 64th percentile in height, and 52nd percentile in head circumference.
He’s been having a pretty good week in terms of evening fussiness, which makes his mama and papa breathe more easily:)
We went to Wichita to see his great-grandparents and great-aunts and uncles. We had a fabulous time, and he was as quiet as a sleeping baby on the airplane flights. Photos of our weekend are available in our gallery. We haven’t taken many photos in the last week, but a few are available in the gallery.
BabyCenter.com Two Month Update
The first real smiles
This month your baby will reward all your loving care with a beaming, toothless, just-for-you smile. This will probably disarm you, even if you’ve just had your worst night yet. For Ron Heckman, a new father in Piedmont, California, that first smile from his 6-week-old daughter, Hadley, brought tears to his eyes. “It was a lousy day at work,” he recalls. “I was sleep-deprived and the commute traffic that day was incredibly thick. When I finally got home and my wife handed me the
baby, who looked straight at me and smiled this gorgeous all-gums grin, I remember thinking, ‘She knows me’ — and nothing else mattered.”
A growing preference for complex designs
By 2 months of age your baby will begin to move beyond his early preferences for two-tone objects toward more detailed and complicated designs, colors, and shapes. Show your baby — and let him touch — a wider variety of objects now. Good choices include plastic cookie molds and soft balls.
Sleeping for longer chunks of time
If your baby is sleeping through the night now, you’re one of the lucky few. Most babies still want a middle-of-the-night feeding at 2 months.
But the good news is, he should be sleeping and staying awake for longer intervals instead of cycling back and forth so much. Most 2-month-olds have two to four long sleep periods and as many as ten hours a day when they’re awake.
Movements are less jerky
He’s no Fred Astaire yet, but your little guy is now coordinating his movements better. You’ll notice that the jerky arm and leg movements of his newborn days have given way to smoother, more circular motions.
While in the early days grabbing was mostly involuntary and instinctual, your 2-month-old is also able to purposely grab objects now.
Andrew’s six week update
August 4: It’s been a fun week! Little Andrew is becoming ever more aware of his surroundings, and he’s really starting to make eye contact and to be entranced by toys and wall hangings and lights. He smiled at me last weekend for the first time, but that miracle hasn’t yet repeated itself. The photo on the right captures a fleeting sleep-smile…a nice idea of what smiles-to-come might look like. I added about 20 photos of Andrew this week to the gallery.In the past few days he has started “talking” a bit by saying ah-goo. He’s staying awake for hours at a time and spends quite a bit of that time interested in the world around him. The rest of the awake time is eating and fussing and getting his diaper changed.
Last week Andrew hit some sort of a growth spurt, and it felt like he ate constantly! I think he wanted to nurse every 20 minutes. His night feedings were close together too. But it just lasted a few days.
Last night he slept from 10-2 and then from 2:30 to 4:30 and then from 5 to 7. That’s been about his standard sleep/wake cycle except that the first chunk is getting longer. He used to wake up at midnight, but these days he’s sleeping for 3-4 hours straight, which feels incredible. I almost felt like getting up for the day at 2 am:)
We weighed him at our mother/baby hour at Happy
Bambino on Tuesday, and he came in at 11 lbs, 1 oz. I checked out a growth chart, and that puts him at the mean weight for his age (see a growth chart). We measured him, and I think he’s 21 or 21.5 inches long. He’s on the shorter side for his age, coming in at the 25 percentile.
We’ve been pretty busy this past week. Yesterday we went to Olbrich gardens with a few friends from our mom-baby group and then had them over to our house for lunch. We went to Concert on the Square both last Wednesday and this Wednesday. This afternoon we drove down to Monroe so Grandma and Grandpa Babler could meet little Andrew. See here for fun photos.
On Friday we go to Jack’s house on the Wisconsin River for the weekend.
We’re really looking forward to it! That’s Andrew’s six week
update. Have a great week:)
~Althea
Last week Andrew hit some sort of a growth spurt, and it felt like he ate constantly! I think he wanted to nurse every 20 minutes. His night feedings were close together too. But it just lasted a few days.
Last night he slept from 10-2 and then from 2:30 to 4:30 and then from 5 to 7. That’s been about his standard sleep/wake cycle except that the first chunk is getting longer. He used to wake up at midnight, but these days he’s sleeping for 3-4 hours straight, which feels incredible. I almost felt like getting up for the day at 2 am:)
We weighed him at our mother/baby hour at Happy
Bambino on Tuesday, and he came in at 11 lbs, 1 oz. I checked out a growth chart, and that puts him at the mean weight for his age (see a growth chart). We measured him, and I think he’s 21 or 21.5 inches long. He’s on the shorter side for his age, coming in at the 25 percentile.
We’ve been pretty busy this past week. Yesterday we went to Olbrich gardens with a few friends from our mom-baby group and then had them over to our house for lunch. We went to Concert on the Square both last Wednesday and this Wednesday. This afternoon we drove down to Monroe so Grandma and Grandpa Babler could meet little Andrew. See here for fun photos.
On Friday we go to Jack’s house on the Wisconsin River for the weekend.
We’re really looking forward to it! That’s Andrew’s six week
update. Have a great week:)
~Althea
BabyCenter.com Six week update
By now roughly half of all babies recognize their parents and openly prefer Mom and Dad to strangers. Your baby may actually smile when she sees you and coo and kick with pleasure.
In general, she’s become more sensitive to her surroundings. If you ring a bell, she’ll respond in some way by starting, crying, or even quieting. She’s beginning to take a real interest in music, whether it’s you singing to her or classical music coming from the radio. She notices things more acutely, too — staring intently at a plush toy, for instance, placed in front of her. For parents, it’s a gratifying experience, especially coming as it does after weeks of diapering, feeding, bathing, kissing,
and cuddling with little response.