More fun with food

Lewin is quite the fan of orange veggies. Sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots are huge hits at the dinner table. Peas have also passed the test, though they were received with far less enthusiasm than the others.

"Solid" food success!

After a few less than stellar attempts at cereal (first brown rice, then oatmeal), Lewin Coady downed his sweet potatoes with gusto. We'll keep working with sweet potatoes for a few more days, then move on to squash...or maybe peas...

Mom Goes Back to Work

...and Lewin and Dad have a wonderful day together! No anxiety for Melissa since the boys are so good together. Returning to the office on a part-time schedule (for a few weeks while everyone adjusts to the change) felt a little strange, but that was probably related to the momentarily light workload.

As much as Melissa enjoyed her return to the office, getting home and holding her little boy felt wonderful and she loved every moment of the four hours between the time she got home until the time he went to bed (which flew by!).

Thumbo!

We have contact! Thumbo is in Lewin's mouth. Hooray!!

We Must be Doing Something Right

Lewin and Melissa went to Cooley-Dick yesterday for the weekly informal lactation clinic and weight check. The little man tipped the scales at a whopping 12 pounds 5 ounces, a 12.3 ounce increase since last Monday (see weight chart). With his steady weight gain, Paula (CDH Lactation Consultant) gave the green light to stop setting an alarm to feed Lewin in the middle of the night. Melissa had messed up the alarm (wishful thinking?) on Sunday night by inadvertently skipping the 3-ish AM feeding. Lewin slept from about midnight until 5:45 AM when he started fussing (and woke up Melissa). Last night was pretty much a repeat...and there was much rejoicing!

We go to the pediatrician tomorrow for Lewin's 2 month (gasp!) exam. More details will follow!

Bath Time!

Lewin's first bath went probably as well as could be expected. We were given a tub by a friend and had waited patiently until little Lewin's umbilical cord stump fell off. The tub was the regular kind of plastic tub where you filled a few inches of the bottom of it with water and the baby reclined in it with only a few inches of his body in the water. The top 1/2 to 3/4 was out of the water and in the cool air. The parenting books we had been reading gave us lots of bath time tips to help keep the baby warm and calm during bathing. I think we did pretty well considering it was our first time. Some fussing, a little bit of crying, but no wailing. We got him cleaned and dried and then breathed a big sigh of relief.

The problem was that Gamoo (Lewin's Paternal Grandmother) had shown us this other style tub that she had seen online. We were very intrigued. It was what they called a "European" style baby tub, that was more like a bucket than a regular tub. The baby sat (or you held) the baby upright in this bucket and the water came up to the babies shoulders, keeping the baby warm. It seemed very womb like. All the reviews that we read online were extremely positive.

We decided to go for it, knowingly paying $25 for what was basically a 5 gallon bucket. Was it worth it? We will let the pictures and video tell the story. Do you think he looks relaxed?

Lewin's second bath went 10 times better than could ever be expected. If your baby does not like the traditional style bath, don't think twice about getting one of these they are great. Lewin has since taken quite a few baths in his Prince Lionheart WashPod, all which went amazingly well. Our buddy Joel likened them to Japanese soaking tubs.

It was not very difficult to use at all and it didn't take much to hold his head out of the water. Because he is kind of floating, cupping my hand under his chin was all it took to keep him steady and out of the water.

And yes, there were a few bubbles, but not from bubble bath.

Lewin's Birding Life List

We have decided to start Lewin's Birding Life list. That is, as you might guess, a list of birds speicies that one has seen throughout their life. We will hopefully be updating the list on a regular basis. You can get back to this post and list at any time by using the Life List link under My Links in the left had sidebar. The rules are that if we see the bird and say to Lewin "look Lewin, a Yellow Warbler," then that counts as Lewin "seeing" the bird. It is not our fault, nor do we feel that he should be penalized, if he decides that sleeping in more important.

With his head held high...

It seems like something that happened practically overnight. Lewin has started showing real strength in his neck and is holding his head high and steady...most of the time. It's a great relief for the parents to not feel like they're holding a bobble head.

Lewin Cried...

... and we let him. It was so hard. We felt like such bad parents. He had just finished nursing. I changed his diaper and burped him. We held him, rocked him, held him and bounced on the exercise ball. We gave him a pacifier. We gave him our finger to suck on. Nothing was calming him down. I swaddled him. Then I swaddled him tighter. He was still crying. He had been awake for most of the afternoon so we were pretty sure that he was really tired and just not falling asleep for some reason. Many wise parents have told us that sometimes you just need to let baby cry a bit. All the books we had read said that if all of baby's needs have been met and he is still crying that sometimes you just need to let baby cry.
Up to this point we have been able to comfort him within a reasonable amount of time, but not this time. I put him down in the middle of our bed & laid down next to him. I put my hand on him, talked to him and let him cry. It was only 5 minutes but felt like for ever...

[EDIT] This was a post that was written up the other day and we did not get around to putting it up until today. Lewin loved having his guests today and his mood was not affected negatively in any way by said guests. We will get around to making an entry with some photos of Lewin's recent visitors.

Lewin Surpassed his Birth Weight!

On Monday, Lewin, Dan and Melissa went to the lactation drop-in clinic at Cooley-Dickinson Hospital (where Lewin was born) for a weekly weight check. Lewin checked in at 8 pounds, 7 ounces. Success! After a couple weeks of "mediocre" weight gain, our boy gained 12 ounces in one week. Apparently all this nursing is paying off.

Big Days

Sorry, we forgot to let everyone know about a big milestone in Lewin's life. Our baby boy is growing so fast. He lost his umbilical cord stump on Friday morning. We apologize for not making this announcement sooner.

Also Lewin attended his first barbecue today. It was just up the road at our good friends Ross and Ashley Krause. It was their second annual Memorial Day Weekend Party. Lewin did very well. Although he did not fall asleep during the 5 minute carriage ride to their house, he did sleep for most of the time we were there. There were a few minutes of fussiness when we first arrived but our good friend Steve rolled him back and forth in the stroller until he fell asleep. But not before he got to meet Gus and Owen. Owen was born 2 days before Lewin, but in a different hospital and Gus was born the day before at the same hospital as Lewin. Gus' due date was the same as Lewin's.

Lewin's First Walk

Lewin, Dan and Melissa took their first walk as a family on Wednesday, May 13. It was a short walk around the neighborhood, but enough to get some fresh air and stretch Mom and Dad's legs. Lewin slept pretty soundly the entire time. The walk was marked by a sendoff from a baby catbird in the driveway and was protected by an Air National Guard flyover. He was pretty tired after his walk and took a long nap.