Who...Who...

We are still in the midst of our latest visitors, but I had to upload this photo of Gavin wearing an Owl hat his Aunt Laura got him. Also, below you will find a video of Gavin "talkin'" with Nikki.

Beyond these fun things and spending time with guests, Gavin has been sleeping in fairly decent chunks at night...though sometimes he is a bit of a bear during the day. Hopefully, we will all get together in some semblance of routine in the coming days, until then, we are enjoying the ride. :)

Introducing the Bumbo

After a few nights of the blissful 5-hour sleeps, we have since gone back to the every 3 hours approach, sometime less. And Nikki has been taking the brunt of it as I have been trying to make a push to get some work done (with my own sleep schedule of bed around 1am and getting up between 6:30 and 7:30am). As a result, we are both a bit exhausted--though I think she should be rewarded for her efforts. In case I haven't said it, she is a wonderful mother: caring, attentive, concerned, and 100% invested in Gavin. It is going to be difficult on us all when she goes back to work full-time.

But before then, we have another round of visitors coming in. Nancy and Joe will be returning this week, and then in a couple weeks Aunt Pam and Uncle Roger will be stopping by. Of course, our visitors will learn that Gavin is growing so fast. Aside from being longer than most of the clothes allow for his size, he is developing decent control over his upper body (as you can see from the images of him using the Bumbo). He is also becoming more responsive: he likes to play, his "cries" are becoming more distinct depending on what he wants, and he often smiles in ways that aren't just gas related. It is a joy to watch him grow. :)

Sleeps... ... ...

The other night he slept for five straight hours. I woke up to the sounds of a church choir singing hallelujah and little cartoon forest creatures dancing around me like they do Snow White. It was glorious. Nikki and I almost cried.

And much to our surprise, this 5-hour thing has been a regular staple of his sleep pattern since...of course, some nights it begins at 9 or 10, which means it's almost over by the time I go to bed, but I'll take it nonetheless.

Anyways, I've included some photos taken be Nikki and some taken by my mother. Notice the sad face I mentioned in the previous post as well as his enjoyment of bath time.

Grandparents (round 2)

It's been a bit longer than anticipated since my last post, but sometimes life just gets in the way. Between having guests, doing work, going to work, and a bit of a sore belly for Gavin for a day or two, things have been busy. But things should be returning to some sense of normalcy as his grandparents will be leaving us today--which, as always when our guests leave, saddens us. Much like the previous visitors, I'm sure both they and Gavin will miss each other.

As far as developments and cool things, in the past week Gavin has learned sadness as an expression. He occasionally gets so sad that he cries tears of sadness...it will nearly break your heart. He has also started to really enjoy bath time now that we have moved him into the big tub. And he is getting exceptionally better at responding to our voices and smiling. He finds joy in the most random things (including gas and the ceiling fan).

Who knows what joys this week will bring, but we're hoping he stretches out to a consistent four hours of sleep between feedings at night. We're still on the 3-hour pattern, but then again I think we may be getting a bit more used to it--if such a thing is possible. :)

Movin' on up

Life if moving along. In just the last day or two, Gavin has moved up to 4 oz per feeding, which we didn't think we'd get to for another month, but he seems to be a bit more content with the additional oz per round. And just last night he slept in a four-hour chunk and a three hour chunk (which we greatly appreciate), and we hope this is a correlation with the increase in quantity per bottle.

Gavin also seems to enjoy our nightly walks around campus (I think he can already feel the mystique of the football stadium), and he is starting to enjoy bath-time quite a bit more, especially now that we moved this operation to the tub (our sink was just a bit too small for his "bath" seat). And, aside from smiling a lot in his sleep, he even broke into a short fit of laughter while he slept yesterday. It was, to say the least, quite funny.

Anyways, his other set of grandparents come into town this week, so I am sure to have more things to post in the coming days. Until then, enjoy the photos!

The latest...

Gavin has been doing really well the last two nights. In fact, the night before last he slept from midnight to nearly 5 in the morning. What a glorious bout of sleep that was!!! But, for the most part, he is a 3-4 hour sleeper at night, which is manageable.

He changes so much so quickly that it is hard to keep up with everything. He is now holding his head up much better (though he occasionally tries to leap from one's arms as his strength gives way to gravity). We also think he will start making purposeful sounds any day now...or so we hope. If not, then all this talking to him and trying to get him to talk back would just seem pointless. But I am sure he will communicate (beyond crying and grunts) in his own time, and it will probably be sooner rather than later.

Beyond that, we are developing a solid life pattern of eating and sleeping, interrupted only by play time, diaper changes, and the occasional unexplainable fussiness. All in all, things are going fairly well for him being between 3 & 4 weeks old (though, perhaps I should knock on wood).

Memories (of sorts)...montage-style