The Ergo

Thank goodness for the Ergo baby carrier. We got one after Jon, Nadege and Chloe visited, because it seemed to work so well for them. It's wonderful. It's easy to use, comfortable to wear, and best of all, Conan falls asleep (and stays asleep) in it. In fact, as I type this he is sleeping strapped to my my chest in the Ergo. Combined with vigorous bouncing on the yoga ball, it is an irresistable sleep-inducing device. Ahhhh... this is what I like to see! We had tried and tried to get Conan used to the Moby Wrap that we had, but it just never really worked for him - he'd just cry and cry and struggle against it. And it was nowhere near as convenient for us. Not only did it require quite a bit of practice to get it tied on correctly, but on the few occasions we did get him to fall asleep in it there was really no way to get him out without waking him up. With the Ergo we can just sort of lean over until he's laying on the bed, and then sneakily unstrap from it and he doesn't even know he's been put down.

Besides wearing Conan around the house, we've taken him grocery shopping, for walks in the park, and he's even gone on the rope swing with Papa. Not only would I reccomend the Ergo to anyone needing a baby carrier, but I would also advise anyone not happy with their current carier to try some other options. I know several people (and babies) who have loved their Moby Wraps, but it just wasn't right for us. I'm really glad we decided to try the Ergo, instead of giving up on babywearing completely.

Making Friends

Conan is spending more and more time awake and active every day. One of his favorite things is to be propped up on the boppy pillow in front of some of his stuffed toys so he can smile and "talk" to them. We do this nearly every morning at about 7:30, after his first daytime feeding. He can hold his head up extremely well now, and is getting better at using his arms to push up his whole torso. Very advanced stuff for six weeks old!

Meeting People

Uncle Jon, Auntie Nadege, and Cousin Chloe came and visited us for the first time this weekend. It was really fun to have them here. Chloe is only four weeks older than Conan, so us new parents have lots in common right now! Chloe is a much mellower baby than Conan, I was a little jealous. Although Jon says Conan sleeps better than she did at his age, so maybe we're on the right track.

Lots of other family members came out on Saturday to see the double baby action as well. Grandma Joy came over and we realized we had all four of her great-grandchildren together (for the 1st time), so naturally we had to take a lot of pictures. Here are some of my favorite shots, in no particular order:

Chloe (9 weeks) & Conan (5 weeks)
Papa Jon and little Chloe
Cousin Jess and baby Chloe
Conan, Hazel, Hannah and Chloe
Great Grandma Joy with all four of her Great Grandkids
Cousin Heather, baby Chloe, and Grandma Joy
Auntie Dale with Conan and Chloe
On Sunday Grandpa & Grandma Mapes came out for a visit and brought Great Grandma Marjorie to meet Conan for the first time. He's her first great-grandchild, although he's going to have a baby cousin on the Mapes side this spring who will be her second. Sometimes it really feels like it's raining babies around here! So much fun to have both Conan and Chloe together this weekend. I'm really pleased that Conan will have cousins close to his age to grow up with, like I did. :)

1 month old!

Time sure has flown by... even though every individual day (and night) seems nearly endless, somehow we've made it through a whole month! Conan is changing and growing fast, he spends more time awake and alert every day, having "wiggle time". He is even starting to smile real, whole-face smiles at us. They sure do melt my heart, even at 4 am after a long restless night. :)

Conan took his first bottle (of breastmilk) the other night, and he loved it. It broke my heart a little to know that he won't be completely reliant on me for every meal anymore, but it also feels very liberating. Of course, I still have to pump...

We've been getting out for longer and longer trips into town, and we're getting the hang of getting him into and out of the car, and how long we can go for before we run out of time on the "baby clock". Later this week we're planning to go all the way to Sedro-Woolley to show him off at my office, so that's something I'm looking forward to.

He's a little over 9 lbs now, and growing out of clothes right and left. It's hard to find things that fit him properly because he's so long - things which are the right size around are often too short. On the plus side, he's big enough now to wear the "small" size cloth diapers I sewed for him (the 2 dozen newborn sized ones he grew out of in the first week, so we've been using disposables).

Unfortunately I only got 6 of those done before he arrived. Things are starting to settle down enough though that I think I will soon be able to snatch some bits of time to sew up a few more. The ones I made with gussets and FOE sure do work well, I'm very pleased with them. The inserts and baby wipes I made are also working great. We also have been using some flat-fold diapers with store-bought covers. I don't like them as well, but at least they get us away from using so many disposables. I find they leak more often and also they don't have any wicking layer, the wetness just sits on his skin, poor baby!

Speaking of which, he's awake again and not happy about something... gotta run!

The Thinker

Hmmm. What shall I do today? Eat, wiggle, cry, poop... then sleep? Or maybe eat, sleep, poop, cry and then wiggle? So many choices!

Mercy

It turns out there is something worse than being woken up by a crying newborn every 2-3 hours at night. It is not being allowed to go back to sleep at all by said crying newborn.

Last week Conan decided to show us silly parents just how total his control is. Thankfully now that we have recognized his power is absolute, he has decided to be merciful and has resumed returning to sleep after his night-time feedings. We are very, very grateful.