- After a lot of hard work, practice, tears, and pumping/feeding, we were able to successfully begin breastfeeding exclusively a little after the 1 month birthday. We did run into some complications when we tried to introduce the bottle and it totally screwed up his eating for about a week, which caused a painful blister that Shally needed to heal from, but we're now in a pretty good rhythm. We're hoping that as he gets bigger and more practiced he won't take quite as long - he takes after his old man in that he can be a glacially slow eater sometimes. We hope to eventually retry the bottle now that he's more practiced.
- Sleeping is a bit more erratic with breastfeeding since we don't know how much he eats per feed (like when we were finger feeding). Most nights he wakes up 1-2 times, sleeping 3-5 hours at a time. During the days he can have some loopy days where he doesn't sleep at all, and then days like today where he's conked out the whole day. He's also been somewhat fussy the last 2 weeks, not wanting to be put down/left alone in a playpen or chair for more than 15 minutes at a time, which takes up a lot of Shally's sanity. We'll likely begin doing some sleep training this month, and might move him into his own room in a few weeks.
- A bit over 22 inches and over 11.5 pounds now. Everyone tells us to treasure him when he's small, and we're already sometimes missing when he was small enough to fit on 1 forearm. But with the eating, he's been chubbing up nicely, with at least 2 chins and extra folds appearing everywhere on his arms and legs. Plus people like to comment on the size of his belly, like a tiny Buddha statue. He also seems to have pretty strong legs and neck already - he likes to be held in a standing position, braced gently around his armpits, so he can take a look around.
- Once he got big enough, we began doing cloth diapers! We use them at home during our waking hours - when we go out and during night times, we still use disposable because of the convenience and extra absorption factor. Cloth has actually worked out pretty well - we've gotten the clean/dry cycle down and let the sun take care of any stains. We did notice that he seems to react more sensitively to wetness in the cloth diapers, so we're hoping that it'll help him potty train when the time comes.
- Personality-wise, thus far, he hasn't been that interested in toys, books, and the like, although he's starting to gain some affinity for the mobile. He is fascinated by people though. When we're around or when his grandparents are around, he's constantly watching, observing, and occasionally interacting with us. When we bring him out in public, he loves people watching - he was entranced by Valley Fair mall.
- In addition, his temperament is rather mercurial - he can go from completely chill and content to screaming loudly in 0.03 seconds. He doesn't have a medium volume level. However, he's usually a good-natured baby who only cries for a reason that we have to try to figure out.
- One recent development is that he's begun cooing, most often after a diaper change or his daily bath, perhaps when he's most relaxed. It's freakin' adorable. We end up cooing right back, and we end up having a "conversation" for a while. We want to try and record this so that we can look back on it in the future, but we get so caught up that we totally forget to grab the camera.
- After a month and a half of invaluable help, Shally's mom left last week. We're really grateful for how she eased our transition into parenting life, and Shally's now trying to get used to the isolation of caring for him at home without another adult to talk to while I'm at work. It's true that there's the potential for IM, email, and Facebook to feel somewhat plugged into other people's lives, but it's not quite a substitute for adult conversation.
- Shally will be bringing D to the BSF young mothers group starting in the upcoming quarter, so that'll be a good chance for him to get out of the house and for her to meet up with some other similar-life-stage folks. Spiritually, because we've been on his schedule it's been a bit difficult to make time for fellowship and we've been feeling a bit dry in that area, so we're hoping that as he gets older and more able to handle outings that we'll be able to reintegrate into community.
- For me, work has been extremely busy since I joined a new team just before Duncan was born. There's a lot to learn and a lot to get done, and at the end of each day I get to look forward to coming home to wife and son. There has been the occasional funk day here and there when my energy level and spirits are drained by the combo of work work and home work, but overall things are pretty great.
- With feeding times, we have been watching quite a bit on Netflix as Duncan eats away. Some recent and current shows:
- Battlestar Galactica (just started)
- Parks and Rec (just started, any fans out there?)
- Castle - we're big Nathan Fillion fans since his Firefly days, Shally is a fan of CSI-type shows, and this one doesn't have as much of the gruesomeness that turns me off of most CSI-type shows, so it's a nice fit for both of us
- Bizarre Foods
- Man v. Food
- 30 Rock (finished up through season 4)
- On our own time, Shally's also been watching Lie to Me, and finished Bones. I've been revisiting my childhood with cartoons I loved when I was a lot younger - the X-Men animated series, and Robotech.
That's probably enough for now. It's a lot of work being parents, but as he begins to move, interact, vocalize, and generally act more like a little person (who's awfully cute), it's making it worth it.
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