Here is Jack at 4 weeks old…(February 23, 2012)

My friend, Emily, came for a visit this week and to do a newborn photo shoot with Jack. Here is a sneak peek at the photos…

This week we spent some time each day hanging out on the activity mat, which Jack isn’t always super thrilled about. He tires of it quickly and begins to fuss slightly when he wants to be picked up…

We also introduced short bursts of tummy time…

You’ll notice Jack’s thighs are skinny, which cause his cloth diapers to leak so we reverted back to paper diapers until he can get fattened up some more.

We took our first outing to a restaurant (Mexican food, yum), at which Jack did great! He slept most of the time, only starting to stir as we were finishing our rice and beans. For us, it was great to get out and enjoy some “normal people time”.

Some things about Jack at 4 weeks old are:
~ He now weighs 6lbs, 12ozs, which is more than his birth weight. (Hooray!)
~ He loves a tight swaddle to tame is active arms and hands.
~ He still does NOT love a diaper change.
~ His eyes are the most lovely shade of blue-grey. (We’re anxious to see if they’ll change)
~ He loves to fall asleep on a shoulder.
~ He does not appreciate being strapped into the car seat, however a car ride is a delightful way to nap
~ The Russian women who live in our building LOVE him and make quite a fuss when they see him, wanting to know his name and how old he his – they often speak to him in Russian baby talk. (These are women who have hardly ever greeted me in the elevator in the past)

In his final Week 4 photo, Jack contemplates the hiccup monster, who visits us quite often…

Jack continues to be a joy!
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Here is Jack at 3 weeks old…(February 16, 2012)

During week 3, Jack made visits to both grandparents’ houses! First, to my parents’ house, where he took a nice long nap with Grandma Jodie…

And the next day, he had his first Sunday Dinner at R’s parents’ house, where he got to hang out with Grandma Maureen…

While Jack still isn’t quite back to his birth weight, at his 3 week check-up he showed he was gaining an ounce per day, which is exciting. He is headed in the right direction!

At his 3 week check-up, Jack’s stats were as such:
Weight: 6lbs, 5ozs = 2nd %
Height: 19.5 inches = 10th %
Head: 14 = 50th %

Breastfeeding is a challenge as my milk production is very low, so we’re supplementing with formula when necessary. Jack-boy wakes up about every 1.5 – 3 hours, which makes me so tired. Here we are in the middle of the night…

Here is R demonstrating the “rooting face” that Jack makes when he’s hungry…

We continue to enjoy watching Jack become more and more alert and we’re making an attempt at a daily routine. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Images from week 3…

Marceau continues to accept Jack’s presence and likes to snuggle with the boppy pillow when it’s not in use…

And for his final 3-week photo, here is Jack in one of his favorite soothing positions…

Hanging out on Daddy’s arm and suckling on his thumb. So cute.
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Here is Jack Lawrence at 2 weeks old…(February 9, 2012)

During his second week, Jack spent the majority of his time tanning himself under the bili-blankets, which were helping to relieve his jaundice. He had to spend all his time exposed to the lights and get a blood test for his bilirubin level every other day. While he handled the whole thing like a trooper, we still felt bad that his first weeks home were so uncomfortably spent wrapped in weird glowing lights. It took some time, but his levels finally showed they were dropping at an acceptable rate after 10 days of light therapy. We were thrilled when the doctor called and told us we could take him off the lights!

Since he had to go to the hospital every other day to get his little heel poked for his blood test, he did get dressed to go out many times. Here he his working out his newborn style…

And, why yes, that is the same pair of pants – they are the only pair that fits our small boy properly, so they get put to good use!

Despite his having to tan himself during his second week, Jack had many visitors! He met Aunt Erin, Aunt Tara and Uncle Casey…

Jack was lucky to have Grandpa Jack come for several visits…

And Grandpa Jack helped get us outside for our first neighborhood stroll…

Here are some other things from Jack’s second week…

He still loves to suckle. A lot.

He got his first sponge bath! (But he hasn’t gotten his fingernails trimmed. I’m scared.)

He still does not appreciate getting his diaper changed. In fact, he doesn’t really like getting dressed or undressed. Here is a photo of how red in the face he gets in protest…

But – he isn’t always screaming. In fact, he is really a sweet, quiet boy most of the time. Check him out…

Jack’s nicknames during his second week shifted as such…
From Mom…
– Boo-goo // Boog
– Jack-boy
– Munchkin Rumpkin
– Cherub
– Glow Worm (when on the light therapy)

From Dad…
– Buddy
– Kid
– Cylon Baby (when on the light therapy)

This is how he looked most of the time toward the end of this second week — wrapped up brilliantly by R with the glowing lights inside his swaddle so he could sleep soundly…

Since he kicked the jaundice and was removed from the light therapy Jack’s weight gain is still slow, but we’re working on it. The next order of business is: Operation Weight Gain!
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Here is Jack at 1 week old…(February 2, 2012)
*please pardon typos and grammar errors; this post was written in the middle of the night…

Of course, Jack spent the first 5 days of his life in the hospital with me while I recovered. We spent time getting to know each other, negotiating breastfeeding and generally settling into life together as a family. Naturally, we kept falling more and more in love with our little guy.

Here are some memories and photos from his first week…

He met both sets of Grandparents!
First, Grandma and Grandpa B through the nursery window on his birth evening…

And Grandma and Grandpa K the next day…

Did you know our boy is named after his two grandpas? My dad is Jack and R’s dad is Larry (Lawrence).

In the hospital, Jack was such a good boy — sleeping well and looking so darn cute all the time. We took photo after photo after photo! Here are some of my favorites from Jack’s first few days…

When we were released from the hospital, we were so excited to take Jack home. He was so much smaller than I expected that none of his clothes fit, so his “going home outfit” was slightly over-sized. He slept the whole way…

Upon arriving home, Jack got to meet Marceau the cat. So far, they don’t mind each other, though Marceau bolts when Jack cries. Here is one of Marceau’s first sniffs…

During Jack’s first visit to the pediatrician, the doctor expressed concern over Jack’s jaundiced appearance and his lack of weight re-gain so we were sent to get him checked out. They checked Jack’s bilirubin level and since it was relatively high, he was prescribed “light therapy” to help prevent problems with jaundice. Fortunately, we didn’t have to take and leave him at the hospital for this treatment, but instead were able to treat him at home. Jack spends all his time on “biliblankets”, which work to rid Jack of his excess bilirubin. To read and understand more about all of this, click here. Being new parents, I admit, we were very stressed out about this treatment and spent a great deal of energy worrying. He has to be exposed to the light 24 hours a day, except when feeding. Negotiating his sleeping with the lights took some time. Here are a couple of photos of Jack glowing from his biliblanket treatment…

In addition to the light therapy, we had to get Jack eating more in order to hopefully increase his weight gain, which was very slow going. It was suggested that we supplement Jack’s eating with formula, which felt devastating to me. Thankfully, I had a helpful heart to heart with my friend, Liz, who reassured me that adding formula didn’t mean I couldn’t breastfeed successfully (bless you, friend). We supplemented Jack’s meals with formula from time to time and remain hopeful that he will ultimately be exclusively breastfed at some point. Here is R feeding Jack some formula (which luckily, we had gotten as free samples)…

So, as you can see, it was an eventful first week for our sweet Jack during which we learned he is an extremely patient boy.

Here are some other things about Jack from his first week…

Jack loves to suckle for comfort.

Jack does not love having his diaper changed whatsoever. He screams through the whole process, sometimes until he is red in the face.

So far, his nicknames are:
From Mom…
– Boo-goo (sometimes Boog, for short)
– Jack-boy
– Munchkin Rumpkin
– Pumpkin Rumpkin
– Squeaker
– Cherub

From Daddy…
– Buddy
– Little Man
– Little Monkey
– Rutabaga (when he roots for breastfeeding)

His favorite hand gesture is ‘The Fist Pump’…

And for his final week one image — Jack got his first milk mustache on the day we left the hospital. Can you see it?

We love you, Jack and are so happy to have you at home with us!
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