1 month

Conley is 1 month old today.

According to our own scale, he weighs almost 13lbs.

He holds his head up really well and does a fair share of headbanging against mom and dad.

Loves his hands and has to have them in front of his face.

Has sucked his thumb a time or two but definitely loves his hands by his mouth.

Makes more noises than I can believe (which we NEED a video camera to document!!!)--those that have heard his array of noises are quite amused by them.

Likes his swing and his bouncy seat.

Does not like his carseat if he is awake (but has slept 4 hours in a row the past 2 nights in a row in it!).

Seems to like music and dancing around to it with me :)

Does not like his crib much these days. He's been congested the past few days and I'll use that as the reason (hence the sleeping in the carseat).

Is often content being laid down in his pack and play while he's awake where he can sit and make his noises and wiggle around.

He has 2 signature looks that I LOVE-- 1 is the little bird look where he opens his mouth and does a little "elvis lip" action....usually when we tickle his cheeks or his chin; the other he crinkles his eye brow revealing a "dimple" he has above his right eye.

Has the MOST AMAZING blue eyes ever and eyelashes that are growing and are now longer than mine (not a difficult feat, believe me...he didn't get my lashes!).

Smiles often and has let out a few giggles.

Likes to be held on his side/belly with our hand on his belly.

Likes to rock in the rocking chair.

Likes to eat. Duh. ;)

Likes his changing table.

Loves baths.

Generally is a really laid-back baby, but lately he DOES NOT WANT TO GO TO SLEEP AT NIGHT. During the day he is fine, but as soon as I lay him down for what I want to be the last time that night, he decides not to and it takes about an hour and a half to finally get him settled. Ugh.

Loves to be held and can fall asleep most anytime in our arms.

0-3 outfits still fit for the most part, but we have already retired a few items that he has outgrown. He can wear a few 3-6 outfits as well.

Tolerates tummy time well.

Not a big crier-- mostly only when he is hungry or gassy.

That's it for now...I'm sure I'll think of more as we go. I got his first scrapbook page done today...yay!!!

Even when he is crabby and crying and waking me up in the middle of the night, I am madly in love with the little man and still can't believe he is ours. Those smiles melt my heart!!!

Pictures...finally!

I have taken daily pics of the little man (too much? I just uploaded 438 pics...) since he was born and it is about time i get a few of them up here. Now, SIGH, if only I could scrapbook them, right? Oh how I want to scrapbook. I see it in the near future though...I cleaned the house today while he was napping (is napping!), so tomorrow should give me a few free hours...maybe?! Otherwise, Christy and I have a scrapbook weekend in the works for Jan/Feb.

I'm starting back to work VERY, VERY, VERY part-time on Monday. Yikes! It's kind of a spur of the moment decision, but my job is flexible enough that I will only be out of the house for a day or so for now(with Conley!) and that way I can save up some of my PTO for when he is a bit older (and less easy to work with) so we can do things like go to the zoo in the Spring and other non-blizzard weather things. The fact that I can work with him is such an amazing thing--I'm looking into drop-in daycare, but other than that, I'm just hoping to start work slowly so I can easy my way into doing both.

He's 1 month old tomorrow. I'll post more about him then, but here's some of my favorite pictures for now.

PS- I know I'm supposed to be keeping him awake during the day as much as possible, but HOW IN THE WORLD am I supposed to do important things like eat lunch, do laundry/dishes, and keep up on my blogs without his good noon time nap? I'll sacrifice a little in the middle of the night sleep for the couple of hours I get now. :)



Cousin Allison who is 3 weeks older. This is the 1st year or many years to come of matching Christmas PJ pics!







Allison again.




There ya go! Just "a few"! How to choose?! :)

My good little sleeper

...is only a good sleeper during the day.

He can lay down and sleep like a rock for hours upon hours during the day. Then when he falls asleep at night when we rock him or feed him, he is out like a light...until we lay him down. Then he stays sleeping for another 5-15 minutes or so and wakes up grunting and groaning and making all kinds of noises. We don't pick him up until it turns into an actual cry.

He's waking up almost every hour during the night for the past week or so. Feed him, rock him, sleeps, lay him down, sleeps, wakes up soon after, repeat. It's pretty exhausting! He doesn't CRY much though, just makes all of his crazy noises and cries if he is hungry.

So, mamas, I need some tips! He's too young to let him cry yet (right?) and I have a nice soft blanket he lays on in his crib (very safe--all tucked in!!!), soothing music, a warm room, tried the pacifier, etc...what's next?

I would love some ideas of how to get the little man's schedule turned around so he isn't sleeping so much during the day and is actually sleeping at night. :) Help?

Christmas Vacation

I'm blogging from my parents' house in Wisconsin where we have been since Saturday and will be til Saturday. Things have been going great with the little man and there have been numerous times over the past 2 days where Ryan and I have had to literally get out the calendar to confirm that he is really only 3 weeks old. That part isn't what is SO surprising, but the fact that he has only been with us for 3 WEEKS?! Unreal.

It seems like a long time ago that I got to experience that joyous delivery.
(ha. ha. ha)

I feel like we've had him forever.

It just seems so right.

So, it's been fun sharing him this week with family and friends (especially when my mom comes to steal him around 6am each day where I then continue to sleep for another 4 hours. Heavenly.).

Conley has been smiling a ton this week and I'll say they "officially" started on Saturday. Nothing could be better. I wonder if his smiles signify that he wants to live in Wisconsin?

I have a zillion pics to share at some point, but let's just say my parents' internet is less than stellar, ok?

Merry, merry Christmas!

2-Week Appt

Conley is 2 weeks old already! How many times will I end up saying "Conley is _____ ______ old ALREADY!"?. A lot.

Here's the stats:

Weight: 11lbs (96.9 percentile)
Length: 1'10.24" (93.54 percentile)
Head: 15.55" (93.39 percentile)

Everything looked great and it looks like we have a nice and healthy guy on ours hands. Weird to think we don't need to go back until he is 2 months old!

The appt today was the first time I've ventured out by myself with him. It was tiring! We were in the car for a whole hour, stopped at Ryan's work to pick up some paperwork and show him off there, he cried in his car seat the whole 10 minute ride to the clinic, then was an angel for the appt, then to the house we used to live at to visit the staff and residents. He has pretty much been sleeping ALL DAY LONG which terrifies me when I think of the night ahead. Yikes! I sure could use a nap myself!

Overall though, a great day and it was nice to be out and about. We have plans again tomorrow and then we're heading back to my parents' on Saturday for a whole week!

Super Cute Video from YouTube

Look out Jason Mraz

Daddy

I got this picture on my camera when Gina was hearing doing her pro pics. I absolutely adore it.