Sticking His Neck Out

This morning, Mom left the house early to take breakfast to her teachers in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week and Dad stayed home with Caleb. It was much earlier than Dad would like to be awake but, of course, Caleb did not want to sleep so I had to get up and take care of him. I sat in my desk chair with Caleb on my shoulder. He kept pushing up off my shoulder and looking around. He eventually went to sleep on my lap until Mom came home.

This evening, Mom was reclining on the couch with Caleb on his stomach on her chest. Mom called me in to look at Caleb to see that he was holding his head up looking around and looking at Mom.

Caleb is not even six weeks old yet and he is already holding his head up. Tonight I sat Caleb on the back of the couch and held onto him so he could look around while Mom took this picture of him. His development is amazing. It is fun to watch his changes and I enjoy his determination as he wants to pick his head up. I guess it will only be a matter of time before he is sitting on his own and we can interact with him.

Living with Emma

One of the things which concerned us most prior to Caleb's birth was how our cat Emma would react to having him in the house. Some in our family were worried that Emma would be downright hostile to Caleb, maybe even to the point of harming him. I was hoping that her maternal instincts would kick in and she would embrace him, maybe even to the point of mothering him and watching over him. I was basing this hope on what TuTu and Poppy told me about how our cat reacted to my older brother's birth. However, our cat was just a kitten at the time and Emma is about 8 years old. We did have some reason to be concerned because Emma did not react well when MB (Mom's friend "Bug") was here with her children. I rationalized that she would treat Caleb different because Caleb would not be running around the house and would not be as loud.

Well, reality turns out to be somewhere in the middle. Emma has shown a little fear of Caleb and mostly steered clear of him. She did hiss at him a couple of times, but that was right after we brought him home. She has shown some curiosity about him. She will peek into his bouncy seat or she might come check him out when he is in my lap, much like she is doing in this picture. Mostly, she sniffs for a few seconds and then walks away. But she does seem to be getting more comfortable with him. At least I hope she is.

Caleb has recently developed the habit of grabbing things as he sleeps or as he eats. In this first picture, he is asleep on my chest and has a fisftul of my t-shirt. We took him to the grocery store and, of course, Mom carried him around in his sling. He always seems to sleep in there. That sling is one of the greatest inventions ever. Anyway, we were standing in line to check out when we peeked in at him and realized he had reached up and grabbed hold of the edge of the sling.

Nickname Correction

I had previously stated that I might start calling Caleb Chubbo. However, Mom has reminded me that we had decided to call Caleb Gordo in honor of his Latin roots here in Miami. So that shall be one of his official nicknames.

Speaking of Caleb's weight, Mom went to a nursing support group today at the hospital. She was able to weigh Caleb and found out he now weighs 10lb 1 oz. So Caleb has broken the double digit barrier. It also means he has gained four pounds since we brought him home.

Caleb made his official debut at church tonight. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures of the momentous occasion. Caleb was a big hit with everyone. It was also Mom's first time back at church since back in March, so she was glad to get back and everyone was glad to see her. But Caleb was far more interesting. He drew a crowd all evening. It was really fun to be able to show him off. It's going to be a real bummer when the newness wears off and noone coos over him anymore. However, we will be able to draw it out. We aren't passing him around until he has had shots, so once we allow other people to hold him, we'll get to go through the excitement all over again.

What a Morning

As we take pictures, I realize that there are three basic types of pictures. In the first category, there are pictures like yesterday's that really capture how precious and cute Caleb is. These pictures are kind of rare. In the second category are what I call "news" pictures. These are pictures that are really nothing more than a snapshot in time with no special significance. These are pictures we use to show an outfit Caleb was wearing or we he was taking a nap. "News" pictures report facts and not much else. The third category of pictures lies somewhere in between the first two categories. This is a group of pictures that does not capture that unique moment in which the essence of Caleb is readily apparent, but carry a special signifiance in our mind because of what was going on when the picture was taken.

This picture lies in that third category. Normally, Dad meets a couple of guys on Tuesday mornings to have breakfast and pray together. This morning, Mom woke me about half an hour before my alarm went off asking me to please take him for a wile. (He was wide awake and exercising his lungs.) I normally don't like to be awakened so close to the time my alarm is scheduled to sound. But I was willing to take Caleb because I was asked.

I brought Caleb into the living room for a while, but it was apparent he wanted to eat, so I took him back to Mom. Meanwhile, it was time for my alarm to go off. One of the guys was out of town and I was secretly hoping the other guy would have a reason to cancel. Well, he sent me a text message to cancel and I was excited to get back in bed and catch a few more Z's.

Mom had set Caleb on the bed beside her with his head in between our pillows. When I laid back down, Caleb was between us crying. I put my arm underneath him and was able to slowly rock him back to sleep. Once he was asleep I began to doze off so that all three of us were there on the bed together sleeping. It was so nice to sleep like that. As my time to get up and get ready for work approached, I did not want to get up and was wishing that moment would last forever. The picture above shows Caleb asleep in his spot on the bed next to Mom.

We continue to expose Caleb to different parts of our world in an effort to reintegrate Mom into some semblance of a normal life. We have a group of people from church that gets together on Tuesday nights for a bible study at Starbucks. We took Caleb tonight and he slept through most of the study. He woke up after a while ready to eat. After Mom fed him, Caleb was wide awake and ready to show off for the group. I held Caleb in my lap so that everybody could get a good look at him.

Getting Through the Day

I have a simple picture to share with you tonight. Earlier today while I was at work, Caleb's Mom and I were conversing on IM. I asked about Caleb and Mom said he was sleeping in his sling. I asked Mom to email me a picture of my boy. She quickly snapped this picture of Caleb using her iPhone and emailed it to me. He looks so peaceful and beautiful. I enjoyed glancing at this picture the rest of the day and it made my afternoon go by a lot faster.

This evening, we took Caleb to Babies R Us to return some items. After Babies R Us, we went to Publix and Caleb rode around in the sling. He did fine in the grocery store, however he was pretty unhappy between Babies R Us and Publix. Caleb does well in the car, usually falling asleep shortly after we are moving. But he was hungry and cried just about the whole way between the two stores. He was happy when we got him home so Mom could feed him. Mom is trying to get Caleb into a deep sleep so he will sleep in the bassinet part of the night, be is having nothing to do with that tonight.

You never Know What You're Going to Get

This picture was taken just a few minutes ago. Right after Caleb finished eating. Why is that significant, you ask? Because that is not the pattern.

Usually, when Caleb eats, he falls asleep while eating. This has helped establish a routine. At night around this time, Caleb gets a clean diaper, gets swaddled, eats and is usually ready to sleep afterward, usually allowing Mom to get some rest. So this is a curve ball. One that Mom does not appreciate very much. Mom is now trying to coax Caleb to sleep and he is not cooperating.

Perhaps it is because of all the stimulation Caleb has had today. This afternoon, one of Dad's law school classmates and his wife stopped by on their way down to Key West for vacation. They dropped by to say high and leave a gift for Caleb. It was nice seeing them.

This evening was a monumental occasion for Caleb. He made his first appearance at our small group. This was an ambitious undertaking because of the amount of time Caleb was out. From the time we left the house to the time we got back, we were out for nearly five hours. This by far the longest stretch of time Caleb has been out. He was a champ. He slept part of the time, ate and hung out. He was a hit and everyone agreed that he is fortunate that he looks more like his Mom than his Dad. He did not take the opportunity to show off his lungs until right before we left. Riding in the car put him to sleep, so we did not have to hear him cry the whole way home. However, when we got home, he was more than ready to eat. Now that he is done eating, he is unusually alert and who knows how long it will be before there is anyone sleeping in this house.

At the Drop of a Hat

I really look forward to the weekends so that I can spend a lot of time with Caleb and be more helpful to Mom. I feel like I hardly see him at night during the week and I feel like I don't get to pitch in
as much by soothing him when he is upset, by changing diapers, etc. So the weekends are great because I get to hang out with Caleb and take on my share of the responsibility.

This afternoon, Caleb and I were spending some time together and I had laid him on my lap. He was gurgling, waving his arms around and generally doing well. But as we have learned, his mood can change on a dime. Mom took five pictures of Caleb on my lap. In that time frame, he went from content in the first picture to unhappy in the second picture.

Mom got some more pictures later in the day. We are really amazed at how much personality Caleb already has at just a few days over a month old. He has different expressions and ways of holding his head. This is one of my favorite ways to look at Caleb. He fully extends his neck and you can really see his jaw line. We've been able to spend lots of time together today as a family and have had a really good day.

Sleep Cycles

Speking of falling asleep, Caleb has not established a pattern yet, though he is getting better at sleeping at night. He still prefers his mom over his bassinet, but the last couple of nights he has slept in the bassinet for several hours in a stretch allowing Mom to sleep in the bed for those hours. When Mom is sleeping with Caleb, she normally has him tucked in between her arm and her body. However, this picture shows Caleb's favorit spot to sleep when his Mom is awake.

One Month Old

Well, Caleb turned one month old on May 1 and Dad fell asleep on the job, literally. It would seem that a month of having a baby around is catching up to Dad. I was on the couch reading for our life group Sunday and Mom reminded me not to fall asleep on the couch before I posted. Well, I did exactly that. I woke up at some point after midnight and was too tired to post, so I put it off until today.

We took remarkably few pictures yesterday considering yesterday was a milestone day. This is a good picture to show off, though, because you can sort of see the progress Caleb has made since we got him home. He is really starting to get plump and might deserving a new nickname along the lines of chubbo. He stomach is starting to pooch out and he is starting to really put the baby fat on his legs. His health is good and he has done so well since we brought him home that the jaundice/bilirubin/weight issues are a distant memory and seem like a dream.

It is hard to believe Caleb has been with us for a whole month. Time is already flying by and I am afraid that if I blink, he will graduate from high school tomorrow. But our lives are so much better having him. It is a joy to come home and see him each day. He is already changing and his level of alertness seems to be improving every day. Caleb is a blessing in our lives for which we will always be grateful.

Finding a Routine

Mom and Caleb had an active morning before slipping into a routine afternoon of feeding, changing diapers and sleeping. Mom took Caleb out for a long, vigorous walk. Caleb still does not like the bright mid-day sun very well. After coming home from the walk, Mom gave Caleb a bath. After Caleb's bath, Mom put Caleb in his bouncy seat and tried to take a shower. Caleb was fine right until Mom got in the shower and immediatley started crying. The kid has impeccable timing. This is Caleb in his bouncy seat before the melt down.