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:

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?

Naptime

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!

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.