Tuesday, June 30, 2009

6 Weeks

Jacob is 6 weeks old! He is up to 7lb, 4oz, and about 21 inches long. He finally is starting to fill in those newborn sized outfits, and we even have a couple premie outfits that he has outgrown!

Every day it seems that he is more and more alert - if you can catch him between naps. His favorite things to do are:
  • Nurse! Upwards of an hour at a time, every couple hours...who would have guessed that our sleepy little newborn would turn into such a ravenous eater?! All this eating led to a very impressive growth spurt this weekend.
  • Stare at his Daddy. He never gets tired of staring up at his old man.
  • Look at books with bright colors and listen to stories.
  • Sit in his new swing.
  • Tummy Time! Okay, okay, tummy time isn't exactly his favorite - he'll only put up for about 5 minutes at a time. But once he yells at me enough, I turn him over and he LOVES back time. I think Tummy Time will improve now that we're getting some of his allergy issues sorted out and he's feeling a little better.
He is trying to hold his head up more and more, and is doing a pretty good job at it! And while reaching/grabbing is still a long way off, he frequently manages to get his grip onto bright toys, my jewelry and favorite blankets.

Jacob is sleeping from about 8pm to 7am most nights (getting up to feed at 12 and 3) and usually takes one real good nap in the morning and one or two shorter naps in the afternoon. All that growing is hard work! Having a consistent wake-up time and bedtime has really paid off - he is finally starting to develop a little schedule that allows us to have some structure in our days.

We are so incredibly in love with this little guy! Every day brings our little family closer together and it is truly amazing to think how far he has come in the last six weeks. The NICU days seem impossibly far away. I am so eager to discover what each upcoming phase has in store, but we're also cherishing the spot we're in right now and not wishing it away too soon.







Grillin'

First mini-Team Jost BBQ of the season! We had our South Slope friends up for some grilled delights and baby-cuddling. It was an absolutely perfect weekend and Jacob ate it all up. He is such a little show-off, flashing his big eyes at everyone. He has quite the local fan club!

Brunch


Team Jost went out to Sunday brunch, our first solo "date" in months. Jacob feel asleep in his stroller on our way to the restaurant, and stayed asleep for the entirety of the event as well as Mommy's trip to the nail salon after. It felt great to go out and enjoy a nice meal, just our little family. And it felt FANTASTIC to get my nails done! Jacob is six weeks old and finally ready to be out in public (Brooklyn public, anyway. The MTA is still awhile away...). We're enjoying getting back to some of our old activities and adjusting to the new diaper/nursing/stroller protocol. Look at us! Showered, dressed, and productive on a Sunday morning!

Brooklyn brunch:





Jacob sleeps through the entire thing:

Monday, June 29, 2009

Happy Monday

I give you all the first round of the incredible pictures that Jacob's friend, Michelle, took in the garden last week. He was alert, awake, and mostly cooperative with our picture-taking venture. A tiny bit upset at being made to lay around naked, but the ends justified his temporary lack of dignity.

Don't I have the most beautiful son in the world?

Friday, June 26, 2009

Naptime

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Little Jacob is almost 6 weeks old, and we're thinking it's close to time to start trying to create some sort of predictable routine in our lives. There is a theory that "sleep begets sleep" for little babies, but we sometimes get so caught up in playing and nursing and diapers and visitors that naps are just random occurrences. So we're trying to really work at having a long morning nap and a long afternoon nap, in the hopes that this daytime routine will lead to better night sleeping as well. Actually, Jacob has always been a good night sleeper - in the early days he was a little too good and we had to wake him up to feed. Now that we're wanting him to go 4 or 5 hours at a time, of course, he is starting to wake up more on his own, which is good for feeding but not so good for mommy's sleep. We aim to have bedtime at around 7:30 or 8:00, which works about half the time. Depending on his mood and determination to stay up and hang out with us, he will sometimes force himself to stay up till 10 or 11. Those are the tiring nights for all three of us.

There are about a million baby-sleep books out there, and I've read my fair share. They range from "here is a minute to minute schedule that your baby must follow" to "just let your baby do whatever s/he wants and deal with it" and we're trying to work out something in between. Slowly but surely. He's still too young to REALLY get into a schedule, but he's close, so hopefully if we lay the groundwork it will come naturally. Our current strategy is to really focus on having a consistent wake up time in the morning in the hopes that it sets us on a consistent track throughout the day. So far, so good. He slept from about 9:30-7:00 last night, but he got up three times to feed. He took a nice, long nap this morning and a fairly decent one this afternoon, and now he's catching a quick catnap before we start our bedtime routine.

A couple of my books describe newborns as "disorganized" in their sleep and eating, but this almost certainly is meant to describe parents as well. I have an endlessly long list of things that I manage to get through each day without achieving, so if you are expecting a thank-you card, phone call, bill payment, birth announcement, clean kitchen, or for me to be showered, you might be disappointed a while longer. But they say that six weeks is one of those magical times when things start to sort themselves out, so maybe our attempts at "organizing" will start to pay off soon. In the meantime, Jacob is filling our days with lightness and joy. There is absolutely no better reason to have a messy house than because you spent the day napping on the couch with this perfect little creature on your chest. Nap on, little one, nap on!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Jacob and Daddy

Jacob loves his Daddy. He loves nestling on his chest. He loves staring at his face. He thinks that Daddy is the best diaper-changer and the best music-player. He loves when Daddy gives him a bottle and he loves cuddling with him in the mornings. For Jacob, every day is Fathers Day because he and his Daddy are best friends.

First Smile


Jacob gave his first smile to Daddy this morning for Fathers' Day. I had just nursed him and brought him back to bed to cuddle. I put him in his father's arms, and he looked up at Zach and gave him a huge smile. Of course I wasn't able to catch it on the camera, but I tried to capture the moment nonetheless. In a month of unforgettable and life-changing moments, this was one of my favorites.



Pictures on the Go

I have finally uploaded all the pictures from my phone. It is a little collection of moments when the regular camera was unavailable.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Shy Boy

Jacob's First Trip to the Zoo

Jacob went to the Zoo this week - not the big zoo in the Bronx, but our little neighborhood zoo in Prospect Park. He slept through most of it, but I think he still enjoyed it. We saw sea lions, kangaroos, monkeys, porcupines, and many many more fun animals.

Nana and Papa's First Visit

Jacob's grandparents came from Washington to meet him this week, as well as Auntie Carra and Uncle Jared from Boston. We ate well, caught up, and pretty much just spent a ton of time staring at the little guy and admiring his perfection. His Nana and Papa are over the moon for him, and who can blame them? He is getting more alert every day and is charming us all with his big eyes and delightful squeaks. He did give them a sneak peak at his temper when his binkie fell on the ground at the zoo and we had to wait to wash it off. We got a top-5 screamer and mommy learned a valuable lesson about always making sure the back-up binkie is still in the bag when we leave the house.

It is always hard to say goodbye to family when a trip is over, and we are realizing how hard it is to live so far away from Jacob's loving grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. We ended our visit by making exciting plans for our big West Coast Debut Tour in the late summer, early fall. The fan club deserves all the Jacob they can get!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

One Month Old



Jacob is one month old today! It hardly seems possible...in some ways the time has flown by so incredibly fast, but it also seems like years ago that we were in the hospital with him. We celebrated by taking him to the Prospect Park Zoo (pictures to come). He slept through most of the visit, but I think he was taking in a lot from behind his eyelids.

Some amazing things that he does now that he is all grown up:
  • He is starting to settle into a vague sleep/eat routine. I can almost predict what we might be doing in any given two-hour block.
  • He is starting to hold his head up more and more steadily, especially when he's frustrated with me.
  • He is using his hands a lot, to grab on to whoever is holding him or to put in his mouth.
  • We've been getting some sleep grins - I think an actual smile is just around the corner!
  • He's been starting to sleep from about 9 or 10pm until 8am (getting up at least two or three times to feed, of course).
  • He is feeding voraciously.
  • He is growing! His premie and newborn outfits don't look comically large on him anymore. He has a weigh-in on Friday, and I'm thinking he'll be close to hitting 7lbs!
This little being has filled every day of the last month with such incredible joy. I get endless delight out of watching his little face and hands move and explore and begin to reveal the person he is becoming. It is sad to think that the tiny little newborn I held a month ago is already changing so much, but it is incredible to think that this is only the beginning.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Keep On Keepin On...

Hi all, Zach here. Lauren's been taking over the blog posts since I went back to work, but I thought I'd update you on recent developments.

Good news around the home front - there really are no major developments to report, and no news is good news. Jacob is gaining weight (finally!) at about the rate we and his doctors want him to, and he and Lauren are really starting to master this whole breastfeeding thing.

We're starting to see if we can start to get Jacob on a sleep schedule, with mixed results. It seems he's just too darned excited to stay awake and hang out with his folks than to go to bed. We'll keep you posted there too.

But mostly, we're all just settling into our wonderful new life, enjoying the lovely New York weekends (and tolerating the gloomy/wet/dismal New York weekdays), and getting to know each other and how we all work. It's great, we couldn't be happier.

Here's a few pictures of the last several days - we had a visit from Lauren's aunts Tina and Monika and cousin Aileen, and we spent some time in Prospect Park with Angela and Nicole. All in all, quite a lovely weekend.

Be well!

Team Jost

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Replaced?


There have been a couple requests for an update on how the cats are dealing with the arrival of the new little emperor. We were a little disappointed, because they largely have just been ignoring him completely. It is as if they have decided that he is getting all together too much attention as it is and are boycotting any further contributions to this attention-giving. Every now and then I catch one of them slowly slinking up to him and trying to sniff his head, but as soon as he squeaks or moves at all, they run away as quickly as possible. Are they scared or just ashamed of their own curiosity? I don't know, but it is pretty cute.

If you come over to visit, you are likely to be bombarded by cats hoping that someone has finally arrived who realizes that fuzzy and beautiful beasts like themselves are so much more delightful and pet-able than fuzz-less noisy creatures like Jacob. So far, however, they have been very disappointed.

Poor cats. I hope that sometime down the road Hank and Stella and Jacob will all be the best of friends. And in the meantime, we are trying to remember to love them as much as we can.
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Visitors and Fleeting Faces

Wow...all of a sudden it has become much more challenging than I expected to keep the camera battery charged, load pictures on the computer, upload them online and create a new post. I'm not sure exactly what it is that we are doing all day that takes up all my time, but the days are just flying by. Feedings, diapers, naps, visits from friends, and every now and then trying to squeeze in a personal activity like teeth-brushing or lunch-eating. I hope that I get a little more efficient/proficient before he starts waking up more and needing to be entertained!

Some notable developments:
  • He is making more and more non-fuss baby noises - not quite cooing or anything, just grunts, but it so sweet to hear him make squeaky noises.
  • Jacob's quest to shove his entire fist in his mouth is looking like it may pay off any day now!
  • There are a couple books and art cards that have become a big hit - I don't know how much he can see since his eyes are still developing, but he loves the black and white pictures, he just stares and stares and stares. Yesterday they completely pulled him out of a fuss and captivated him for about ten mintues!
  • He's still getting a couple bottles a day, but he is not only breastfeeding with great gusto, he is actually initiating almost all his feedings each day!
  • Jacob doesn't seem to care that he is only 3 weeks old and a little on the scrawny side, he is SURE that if he tries hard enough he will soon be able to hold his neck up! I think I am going to have a slightly obstinate son...
  • They are fleeting, and they are ambiguous, but the shadows of smiles are starting to appear, and I think that by next week we might be seeing the real deal!
We have slowly begun having some more visitors, beginning with his Great Grandma and Great Great Aunt Terri and Great Grandpa and Great Uncle Adam. Lots of greats. They were stunned, as are we all, by how precious and beautiful and tiny our Little Bean is.

Here are some pictures of visitors over the weekend and my constant quest to try to capture some of the adorable and amazing faces that are starting to show us a little bit of who this little Jacob is.



And these are the art cards that keep him fascinated these days:

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Big Eyes



Some pictures from hanging out around the house over the last couple days...

Adventures in Breastfeeding

You may want to skip this post if you aren't fascinated by the nutritive function of breasts. But breasts are pretty much all I think/talk about these days, so it seemed necessary to fill y'all in.

On Monday, the three of us went to go see Freda, a Lactation Consultant. We had been looking forward to meeting her for awhile - in fact we'd had an appointment a week earlier that we had had to cancel because of Jacob's second hospital stay. After two weeks of struggling with breastfeeding, battling Jacob at every feeding, and living with constant pumping and bottle-feeding, I felt like nothing short of a miracle would set us back on track.

I've been looking forward to breastfeeding, and committed to making it work, since I got pregnant. I read books, I took classes, I talked to other breastfeeding moms. But nothing prepared me for the challenges we faced with when Jacob showed up with medical issues that required constant bottle supplements. Once a newborn goes to a bottle, getting him off is its own special challenge. And Jacob was so sleepy and disoriented for the first couple weeks that it would take us up to an hour at every feeding just to get him awake enough to try breastfeeding, but by the time he was awake we were all so tired we struggled to figure out how the whole thing was supposed to go. I met with lactation specialists at the hospital, and talked to many nurses, but all they offered was general advice that didn't seem to help us make any progress. Once or twice a day he would have a great feeding that would give me hope that we were turning a corner, but then the next three would be near-failures. There was a point last week when Zach and I seriously faced the possibility that he may never be able to exclusively breastfeed, which is a hard thing to deal with when the general consensus of the breastfeeding community is "If it isn't working, you aren't trying hard enough."

So when we met Freda, I didn't know what she could possible do other than wave a magic wand. We had tried everything. When we walked in, I had prepared the whole blow-by-blow story for her to fill her in, but it was completely unnecessary. I got as far as "I was induced..." and she said "Oh, I know exactly what is wrong. How long was he in the NICU?" Then she felt his mouth and let him suck on her finger for 10 seconds and said "Yup - here is what we are going to do" and within five minutes he was happily sucking away on my breast and hasn't stopped since! She gave us a series of exercises to do with him at ever feeding and a schedule of down-to-the-minute feeding rituals. Monday he started waking to feed on his own, using a nipple shield. Tuesday we got rid of the shield. Wednesday we went down to only supplementing every other feeding, and today we have not had a bottle since 8:30 this morning! He's still very sleepy at some feedings, but now they are the exception instead of the rule, and we are finally discovering how feeding can be a restful and enjoyable process, instead of a stress-filled battle. I am amazed at how quickly my whole experience of parenting is shifting. I don't know what we would have done if we hadn't found Freda - I'm not sure we would have made it. We are so fortunate to have the resources here that we do.

Tomorrow I'm going to get Jacob weighed again to make sure that he's still gaining without the supplements. Even if he has slowed his growth a little, I'm sure that it will only be a slight adjustment to our current schedule to get him back on track. I cannot believe that such a huge change has occurred in such a short time. If I ever hear anyone again say "If you can't breastfeed, you aren't trying hard enough," I will give them a peice of my mind. There are so many challenges that even the most dedicated mothers can face, and it takes so much more support and effort than I ever could have imagined. I feel truly blessed that it seems we are coming out of this with a healthy, breastfed baby, because it just as easily could have gone the other way, not from our lack of effort, but because 90% of the resources out there weren't able to help us with the specific problems we faced.

Thank you, Freda!! The legend of your miracles will go down in Team Jost mythology for generations to come!

Victory!!!!

Jacob has a really funny and cute thing he does when he's disturbed while sleeping. Check it out:


Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Jacob's First Tummy Time


Daddy is back at work this week, so Little Bean is home alone with Mommy and Grandma. We had some tummy time today for the first time. I didn't realize that he was old enough for that yet, but the Lactation Consultant (more on that later), said that he should get it as much as possible! I think he likes it...