Sleeping on the Couch

Grandma Lai held me and rocked me to sleep on the sofa. Then she and Mommy made a makeshift bed and put me on soft cushions on the sofa to take a nap.

Asleep in Grandma's Lap

It took me a while to settle down for a nap this afternoon. Mommy was trying to take a nap, too, since she was up with me a lot last night. When I wouldn't settle down and Mommy really needed a nap, Grandma Lai held me and eventually I settled down to sleep. I'm now taking a nap in her lap where it is nice and warm.

Grandma's Coming!

Grandma Lai is coming to visit me and stay with Mommy while Daddy goes out of town on business for a few days. Mommy, Daddy, and I are going to pick her up at the airport now. I am really excited and looking forward to seeing her! Mommy says I better behave myself because Grandma Lai has lots of opinions and won't tolerate bad babies. So I guess I will just have to be extra cute for her and give her lots of smiles, and then I can behave however I want. :)

Asleep After a Meal

Working for My Food

Mommy made me do some more tummy time in my Gymini today, even though I get grumpy after a few minutes. Mommy said, "Let's do some tummy time first, and then I'll feed you." Humph. It sure sounds like she's making me work for my food. I don't like tummy time. It's like doing push-ups. Would you like doing push-ups, either, especially if your head was 25% the size of your body?

Visit to the Pediatrician

This afternoon Mommy and Daddy took me to the doctor for another well-child visit. I'm now 11 lbs. 14 oz. in weight, 24 1/2 inches tall, and my head circumference is 15 1/4 inches. The doctor wrote that I'm 95+ percentile in weight, ">>95%" in height, and 75 percentile in head size. Daddy says I'm going to grow up to be an Amazon. :) Mommy was happy about my weight measurement, since she was a little worried I wasn't getting enough to eat. But the doctor said I was getting plenty to eat!

I wasn't happy to see the doctor and cried almost the whole visit. But I was justified in crying: the nurse came in later and gave me my second Hep B shot. I didn't like it at all and screamed even louder. The nurse put a Snoopy bandaid on. I like it, but it doesn't make up for getting poked with a needle!

Here is a picture of me in my car seat in the patient room waiting for the doctor.

Napping

I like taking naps during the day. Mommy is very happy when I take a nap, especially if it's during a mealtime. This morning I took a nap on the riverfront walk under a tree for 25 minutes.

Now I'm taking another nap in my Pack n' Play on top of my Boppy pillow. Mommy and Daddy are about to have lunch, but I'm already stirring!

Asleep Flopped Over

I'm sleeping flopped over on the Boppy. Mommy thinks I'm a crazy sleeper, but all I know is that it's pretty comfortable to me!

Faces

I like making faces. Here are some of the faces I made within just a minute or two:

A Very Good Day So Far

Mommy says this is not a hubris post, but that it's been a very good day so far. I took two naps this morning and afternoon and am now on my third nap today, on the riverwalk. In fact, she's slightly worried that something is wrong since I've been sleeping so much and have cried so little today. She wonders if I'm getting enough to eat. Daddy tells her not to worry since I'm peeing and pooping quite a bit; I've already had a peepocalyse and a separate combined pee- and poo-pocalyse today. Mommy also wonders if I'll be able to sleep tonight or whether she's going to have to pull an all-nighter with me. Again, I'm not going to tell her; she'll just have to find out tonight. :)

Afternoon Nap

I'm taking a nap by the riverfront. Daddy said there are small glimmers of hope as there is starting to be some consistency in how I react to things. Mommy told him to hush because it sounded like hubris.

A Blessing

Mommy took me for a walk this morning because I was crying as I often do. In less than five minutes I was asleep. Mommy thinks being able to go outside and take these walks which calm me down is a blessing.

Walks on the Riverfront

I like going for walks on the riverfront. This is my second walk today. Both times I have fallen asleep. Last time when the barge passed by, it blasted its horn and woke me up. I think Mommy gave the barge driver a dirty look. Hopefully I will be able to sleep longer this time around...but there's lots of noisy traffic, including sightseeing boats with megaphones, along the river.

Tummy Time Today

Today during tummy time, I raised my head about 3 inches from the floor! Mommy was really proud of me.

Of course, most of the time was spent with my face on or close to the ground. I'm still a very little baby, after all!

Ridiculously Tiny Clothing

Mommy finds it funny that some of my clothing is so tiny that they always get lost in the wash. It just happened to my pink fuzzy socks: in the picture above, there's just one sock at the end of folding all the laundry. The same thing happens to my mittens too, because they are just as tiny or, if anything, even tinier. Mommy doesn't mind, though, since the missing sock will turn up sometime, just like the missing mittens did, too. In the meantime, I've got two more pairs of fuzzy socks - one brown, the other purple - but I don't usually wear socks much, anyways. I always kick them off within 30 minutes of their being put on my feet. And besides, Mommy thinks my tiny feet are even more adorable without socks on than with, so she doesn't put them on my feet.

Tummy Time

Today during tummy time I was able to raise my head about two inches from the ground. Mommy was really proud of me.

Time with Daddy

I just woke up from a nap and am still drowsy but a bit fussy. So Daddy held me so I could nap a bit more and wake up gradually.

Asleep on Boppy

Today I've been very sleepy and have been sleeping a lot. Mommy is very relieved I am sleeping, so she has let me sleep on the Boppy pillow while she sits in the glider chair.

Up Close

This is a picture of me up close. Mommy couldn't get me to look at the camera because I was too interested in looking at her arm.

Cute Bunny Feet

Mommy realized they hadn't tried out the socks that Mommy and Daddy got for me before I was born. They saw them in the store and thought they were ridiculously small and adorable. Mommy thinks they look really cute on my feet.

Swing Time, Swaddled Up

A Very Good Day

I took two naps this afternoon, for a total of 3 hours. Mommy says it has been a very good day.

Car Seat Rocking

Mommy spends much of the day trying to get me to go to sleep. One of the methods Mommy and Daddy have been using is to put me in the car seat, put the car seat on the glider chair, and rock me vigorously. In this picture I'm falling asleep but not quite asleep and will wake up in a few minutes.

And Now "Mommy... The Ride"

That's Mommy, not Mummy, the ride at Universal Studios Orlando. To soothe me, Mommy rocks me on the pillow using her knees and feet on the ottoman. She can also do a circular motion with her knees, both clockwise or counterclockwise. Best of all, the ride is interactive: if I start fussing or look like I'm about to fuss, she notches up the intensity. If I'm dropping off to sleep or asleep, she reduces the degree of motion and eventually stops.

Miracle

Daddy was able to get me to fall asleep within about 15 minutes this afternoon, and with almost no crying. Mommy watched to learn his techniques. She thought it was pretty amazing.

She thinks the most miraculous thing was my being awake and not eating, and not crying. I almost always get fussy if I am awake and not eating. I usually can't just be not crying. In this picture, I am having quiet time with Daddy before falling asleep.

Asleep on a Green Pillow

I was fussy and wouldn't go back to sleep and stay asleep early this morning, so Daddy took over at 7:30am to let Mommy get some more sleep. Daddy can usually get me to go to sleep and stay asleep in 10 or 15 minutes. He needs to show Mommy what his methods are. :)

One thing he does is avoid or minimize jostling me by having me on a pillow rather than hold me in his arms. When Mommy holds me in her arms or has me on the Boppy and needs to transfer me to bed or a flat surface, it wakes me up. In this picture, I'm sleeping peacefully on a pillow that Daddy had me resting on before I fell asleep.

This is a close-up of me sleeping on the pillow. Mommy says that it is for moments like this and pictures like this that makes it all worthwhile.

Sleep = Car Seat + Pacifier + Rigorous Rocking?

Other than a one-and-a-half-hour nap around lunchtime and another 20 minutes of sleeping a few minutes ago, I haven't slept since 7:30am this morning. So Mommy and Daddy finally put me in the car seat and gave me a pacifier. It took about 15 minutes of vigorous rocking with the car seat in the glider, but Mommy finally got me to fall asleep. She said something about "if this keeps up, I'll have bigger deltoids than a heavyweight wrestler". She also turned on the Bose to play the CD with static white noise.

The Monkey Sleeps This Morning, Part II

Mommy says I sleep like a monkey with my head tilted way back because of the curvature of the Boppy. But Mommy doesn't want to try adjusting me because then I'll wake up. I've been awake since 7:30am this morning, and I've finally fallen asleep for more than 5 minutes.

Singing Patty-Cake

Last night Daddy and I showed Mommy how well we sing patty-cake. Mommy thought it was ridiculous but ridiculously cute. She was also amazed that Daddy knew all the lyrics to patty-cake.

Sleeping on Boppy

I like to fall asleep on my Boppy. This is a picture of me asleep on my Boppy on Friday afternoon.

Tummy Time Nap with Daddy

This is me with Daddy on Friday afternoon. Daddy had me doing some tummy time but then I fell asleep.

Experiment

I'm a three-week-old baby and already Mommy and Daddy are experimenting on me! Mommy says it's something called the "scientific method" but I don't see that they're approaching this in any scientifically rigorous way. They are basically just testing out the idea that I don't get enough sleep and that I go into my screaming fits because I'm overtired, and that the way to minimize the total amount of time crying in a day is actually to put me to bed when I'm not overtired and let me fall asleep or stay asleep on my own. In the past, they've responded to me and picked me up immediately whenever I cried or whimpered. They rocked me, put me in the swing, sung to me, or tried a number of other things. The problem is, they just keep me from falling and staying asleep. Most days, I am awake from around 9am to 6pm, and then crash until about 10pm. Today they are trying the strategy of letting me cry a little to fall asleep so that I don't get overtired.

This is a picture of me semi-asleep. A moment ago I had my eyes semi-open but I wasn't crying.

Mommy says she would welcome any tips/thoughts for preventing babies from getting overtired and or on minimizing the total amount of crying in a day. She says this would be a "win-win" for everyone. If you have some advice, please write a "Comment" to this entry.

Burp Time with Mommy

This picture was taken three days ago. Here Mommy is burping me. I like looking all around when being burped. Sometimes I make funny faces, too.

Snuggled Up with Daddy

This picture was taken three days ago. I'm snuggled up with Daddy on the Boppy and taking a nap. He's just pretending to take a nap for this picture.

Swaddled

Daddy swaddled me in a Miracle Blanket. The wrap circles around me about three times. Mommy and Daddy hope that it will help settle me down and get me to sleep.

Taking a Business Call

I'm hanging out with Daddy while he's on a business call. I'm a lucky baby. I get to see Daddy during the day and I get to experience what Daddy's job is like. Every day is potentially "take your son/daughter to work" day for me.

My Grumpy Face

Mommy and Daddy say I'm a fussy baby. Grandma Lai says I cry as loudly as a five-month-old. I know I just like to let off some steam. I can't crawl, walk, or run yet so this is the best way for me to get a workout.

Nap Time with Daddy

Mommy was up five times to change my diaper and feed me last night, so around 6am when I was crying, Daddy picked me up from my bassinet and rocked me back to sleep so that Mommy could catch more Z's. Mommy thought that was a nice thing for Daddy to do.