Jacob
Ross Lacewell was born!
He weighed in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce and is 20 inches long.
So far he has been a very mellow baby,
are biggest challenge has been keeping him awake through feedings!
More updates to follow!
We are hanging in here. Jacob had a 2 week check up and he continues to gain weight really well. Today he weighed in at 7 lbs, 6 oz, passing his birth weight he is gaining about an oz a day which is normal. He seems to have decided recently that short feedings every hour are the way to go for him. We will have to work with him on this because I am getting NO SLEEP!
Brian has been the best help, driving to appointments, cooking, cleaning...Jacob really responds well to him and they hang out together when he is not feeding.
Great News!
We had a Drs. appointment this morning and Jacob gained another pound since his last visit 2 weeks ago, making him a whopping 8 and a half pounds! He also grew 1 3/4 inches since he was born, now he is 21 3/4 inches! His head got bigger too, by 2 cm. He is in the 25th percentile for his age, which given his mother's (short) size is to be expected. But she said he's perfectly in proportion.
He also got his first immunization today which was very stressful for all of us! Such a big needle! But the good news is that despite all the problems I've been having with nursing, he is thriving! I am so relieved!
Mom has returned to work and now Jacob is hanging out with his Dad all day. They haven't gotten into too much trouble. Brian will stay home with him until September 3, at which time he will probably go to the daycare at Children's Village (were Brian works). He had a Dr's appointment July 10th and got a clean bill of health. He is now 13.2 pounds and 25 inches long. He is very alert and loves to "talk." He is working very hard to figure out how to roll over, but he hasn't done it yet! He loves to suck on his thumb or fist and has recently started to enjoy putting other things into his mouth as well. He is reaching and grabbing for things, primarily with his right hand. All in all he is such a sweet little guy, he smiles and laughs all the time. We are very blessed!
Tomorrow Jacob will be 4 months old!
He visited Dr. Toll yesterday for his latest round of immunizations and a general check up. He is thriving! He has more than doubled his birth weight, currently weighing in at 15 pounds. He has grown to 25 inches. His nurse told Brian he looked like he was going to be a tall one like his Daddy by the growth chart. She said we could start introducing some rice cereal into his diet anytime we want, but he doesn't need it. He seems quite satisfied with his breastmilk diet so we are going to wait a bit longer. He has lovely rolls of baby fat on him!
His eyes are still a brilliant blue, but they still could change. He is quite handsome and has a great smile and laugh. His hair is falling out and also looks sparser because his head has grown so much but he still has his lovely swirl of hair right on top. He is quite the talker! He coos at himself in the mirror, his crib toys, the pugs and most people. He also shouts for joy when tickled or if he sees Brian. He just thinks Brian's face is the most wonderful, funny thing. He still loves baths, but is undecided about the pool. He goes in without crying but looks like he wants it to be over the whole time. In fact he's not much of a crier. If he wants something: food, a hug, or a diaper change, he shouts for it in a very expressive tone of voice. Crying only happens when we don't get it after a while. He is rolling over (tummy to back, occasionally back to tummy), scooting, grabbing toys, hair, necklaces and anything in reach. Everything goes toward or into the mouth. He doesn't like the pacifier, but prefers his fist. He often goes to sleep with his fist in his mouth, happily sucking away!
He is sleeping much better. He has a good nap schedule and puts himself to sleep when placed in his crib. When he wakes up he rarely cries but likes to play with his toys and talk to them for a while. He's sleeping one 4-5 hour stretch most of the time at night but is still doing the 1:00am and 3:00am wake ups. We are working with him on this and I think he'll get better. He clearly knows it's night and wants to sleep but is needing to be held a few minutes and then he goes right back down to sleep.
Jacob is such a real joy to us. We couldn't ask for a sweeter little guy.
Happy Labor Day to all!
Jacob and I went to Oak Ridge this weekend to viist the Cumming Family and so that I could attend my 20th High school reunion. It was a great time. Jacob traveled beautifully on the plane! He is such a good natured baby, he even thought it was a funny game when they searched him and his carrier at the airport. No racial profiling there!
Our little boy is growing up so fast! He turned 5 months old on September 11th. he has now been at daycare for 2 weeks and he has done very well with it. He had his first fight with a girl, although it wasn't his fault! 10 month old Sarah found his face just fascinating and grabbed a big piece of it! She scratched him up a bit, which Jacob did not like at all, but soon forgave (and forgot) all about it. His teachers Trisha and Antoinette just love him.
Developmentally, Jacob easily rolls over either way and is becoming more mobil by scooting himself backwards for several feet at a time. He can sit up without support for a minute or so. He is "talking" a lot and has lately gotten into giving "raspberries" over and over. He seems to be teething a bit and so we'll keep an eye out for some teeth! He is getting more and more handsome, his eyes are still blue and his hair is coming in blond. Maybe switched at birth? We don't mind, we'll keep him!
Jacob turned the grand old age of 6 months this Friday, October 11, 2002. It went by fast! He is doing just great!
Jacob had his 6 month Dr. visit on Friday. Dr. Toll-Griffin pronounced him very healthy. He weighed in at 18 pounds, 10 oz and is 25 and a half inches tall. He got 3 more immunizations too. His next appointment for more immunizations is in 3 months.
He is a beautiful baby with big blue eyes, rosy cheeks and reddish blond hair. He continues to get more mobile, and is regularly trying to crawl but only goes backwards. He can sit up on his own and is very sturdy. He loves roll around. He grabs everything very fast, so you have to be careful with glasses of liquid, plates of food, eyeglasses, hair, etc. He is eating 3 meals a day and nursing in between. His favorite is fruit or squash. He also has become quite the music lover and if he is in the mood will do a little bouncy dance that is very cute.
So far he hasn't gotten sick, other than a little stuffy nose at times. He is really struggling with teething, his little gums are swollen but no teeth yet!
Jacob is continuing to refine his physical skills. He zeros in on something and grabs it in the blink of an eye. Some of the things he's grabbed you don't want to know, lets just say we have pugs. For the last few days he has been practicing getting into the "crawling"position. Once there however he rocks his tush back and forth as fast as he can and then looks puzzled why he doesn't go anywhere. He is pretty good at moving to the side and going backward, although not crawling, but using a combination of pushing himself on his tummy and rolling. He's not fast but he's good. Just now I turned around and he put himself under the futon. It won't be long now until he crawls and then the games can really begin. I went ahead and bought the safety gates.
The big news however is that he said his FIRST WORD! Of course it was DAA-DEE (not even dada). He said it 3 days ago and gets big kick out of our reaction. He's been pulling it out every now and then when we least expect it for all kinds of fun. He said it to the waiter at a Japanese restaurant on Friday for example. He hasn't figured out that daddy is specifically Brian yet. His preferred mode of communication is still the "raspberry."
He is still very happy and really social. He loves people and when I take him out for errands he flirts and charms everyone. His gums are bothering him more and more. Thank goodness for teethers! No teeth yet (of his). Another little girl took a bite out of his shoulder in daycare. It's big bite that broke the skin and left a perfect imprint of her 4 teeth on his shoulder but he didn't even cry! All the girls love Jacob!
Well, we had quite a scare last night! Jacob has been running a fever the last 24 hours and last night it spiked to 104.5. We didn't know what to do; so I was reading out loud from the Dr. Sears Baby Book while Brian was running around with Jacob trying to follow all the instructions. Of course this was at 2:00 in the morning. The poor little guy was so sick and just burning up with fever. We got through the night and he was still running a fever this morning so the on call Dr. saw him today. She said he had a virus and to let it run his course. He is much better this afternoon but I'll stay home with him tomorrow to make sure. He also, incidentally has a bad case of thrush again. The Dr. said, doesn't it hurt you when he nurses? Well, it does at first, but I thought he was biting me! He has 2 beautiful new teeth on the bottom, so cute, and I thought he was practicing using them! So we are back on the medicine for the next 2 weeks, back to boiling everything he puts in his mouth...yuck!
Still no crawling forward, he still prefers to roll. He goes backwards very well. He is picking things up well with his thumb and forefinger, the "pincher' grasp. OK gotta go, he's calling "mama"!