As the days go by...

Today Jacob got to meet a couple more members of his family. Until now, he'd only met his parents, his grandma, and a few friends. His Uncle Derek and Grandpa Pops came up today (along with Derek's girlfriend, Allison) and spent some time looking at him and holding him. It was so nice to see them both up here becoming part of his life. Allison brought her crochet supplies and whipped him up an adorable little soft, brown teddy bear hat in a matter of an hour or two. She had already made one and brought it up, but - having never seen Jakey - it was a bit too big. So, now he'll have one for this winter and one for next fall and winter, too!

He had a check-up on Friday and has gained an average amount of weight since his first appointment a little over a week ago. He's back up to his birth weight of 6lbs. 6oz. and has grown an inch already!

We're stumbling through parenting learning as we go. We've encountered diaper rash and just had a recent worry about him possibly being contipated and not knowing what to do about it. :P (Everything's fine now - we think.) I'm trying to stay persistent with working on the breastfeeding issue I mentioned in my last post. I have him "try" for five minutes or so before each bottle, and he's starting to improve a little. He's actually sucking several times before he starts showing signs of frustration and disgust whereas before he would suck maybe once or twice and then scream/cry and push himself away from me. So, fingers crossed that this keeps improving. Besides the fact that breast milk is the most nutritious option for a baby, formula's frickin' expensive! Plus we generally end up wasting some of it each time he eats because he's never consistent with eating the same amount at each feeding. :/

Sleep is a rare commodity, but I think we're finally starting to get used to sleeping when he sleeps... or else we're just starting to get used to LACK of sleep. :P He seems to have a little schedule of own going already. He's been having a last feeding around midnight and then waking up around 4am and again around 7 or 8am. We usually prepare a batch of formula at night and then I'll try breastfeeding for a few minutes in the morning while the bottle heats up.

Jacob delights us every day. He's so adorable and has the most beautiful, hilarious, and endearing expressions... and he definitely lets us know when he's not happy! He hates being laid down unless he's sound asleep and will crack his little eyes open at random apparently to peek at us to make sure we're still holding him and not trying to lay him down in his bassinet before he's ready. His other hatred is having his diaper changed. You'd think we were abusing him from the way he cries and wails when we're trying to clean him up! I'd held out letting him have a pacifier all of this time, but I relented today and let him suck on one during a change. Talk about a 100% difference! Dave used it when he changed him later on and loved how smoothly the task went. The last time I changed him, I did it without the pacifier and he was pretty quiet. I'm sure that could have been because he was half-asleep, though. :P Oh, I almost forgot... he hates having to take a break from feedings to burp, too. I'm not quite sure WHAT to do about that yet. If he doesn't burp, he spits up a lot of his food. I'm sure that's not good for his tummy, and it's definitely not good as far as the money that we spend on the formula.

Anyway...

We're both so in love with him. How can anyone NOT be? :P I'm really not looking forward to going back to work, but I don't see any way around it at the moment. I guess "you gotta do what you gotta do", right?