Monday, May 30, 2011

Sleeping All Night

Paxton is officially sleeping through the night!  He has been for about two weeks now.  He eats around 9:00 then takes a bath and gets his pajamas on, then hangs out for a little while and goes to bed around 10:00.  The earliest he gets up is around 6:30...usually when he hears Jared's alarm go off for work.  Sometimes he sleeps until 9:00.  He hasn't woken up in the middle of the night ONCE since he started on this schedule.  I've heard it's rare for them to sleep that much this early...and I was a little worried about it a couple of times...like one time when he went for almost twelve hours without eating....so I asked the pediatrician if it's ok for me to let him go that long and he said that it would happen so rarely that I shouldn't worry about it...except Paxton does it almost every night...

We had Paxton's TWO MONTH check-up on Monday and he's doing great!  He weighs 12 pounds 9 ounces and is 23 inches long.  He was in the 75th percentile for height, weight and head.   Here he is before his shots:



First the nurse gave him his oral vaccine which went really well.  She was impressed that he didn't waste a drop of it....what can I say...he's a good eater!  After that, things went straight downhill.  She had all three of his shots laid out and bandaids ready.  He was perfectly happy and smiling the whole time she was getting everything ready and sanitizing his leg...but as soon as that first little needle went in he started bawling.  It was terrible.  I just had to stand there, knowing there was nothing I could do for him as she gave him the next two.  They were just as bad.  As soon as she finished she told me I could pick him up.  He finally stopped crying as I held him.  Aside from the crying during the actual shots, the experience was fine.  He slept a ton the next day, but then was back to normal.






Sitting up like a big boy!
 
Of course now that he's two months old, we had to take his picture with his bear from Aunt Teighynne:


Take 1...we accidentally caught Daddy's hand...and a not-so-happy face



Take 2: he's kinda falling but he sure looks cute
And Take 3: An adorable smile...not looking at the camera but maybe we can work on that next month.

In the past week, Paxton has changed a lot.  He is so much more interactive.  He has been smiling for about a month now but lately he smiles every time we smile at him.  He also "talks" back when you talk to him.  He's in such a good mood when he wakes up in the morning (after he eats of course) and it's so fun to prop him up on my legs and just talk to him and watch him coo and squeal and grin.  Jared and I thought we would really miss newborn Paxton who slept all the time and looked so sweet swaddled and asleep...but two month old Paxton is our favorite so far. 

We are going to Tulsa for our anniversary next weekend.  We are staying for two nights and three days.  It's exciting to be getting ready for our first family vacation! 

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

It's the Little Things

My favorite things about being a mommy are the little things...things that before having a baby I never would have thought about....things like:

  • When he's eating in the middle of the night, Paxton always reaches up and grabs a piece of my hair and holds it while he eats.  I feel like it's something special that he just does with me.  He realizes that it's his mommy and he reaches for that piece of hair.  I love just sitting there watching him hold it.  It makes up for the lack of sleep (which by the way is getting better...Saturday night he slept ten and a half hours!)

  • His sweet smell after a bath.  Everybody always talks about how great babies smell...but it's different when it's your own little baby.  

  • How much he loves to cuddle.  Sometimes he gets fussy and all he wants is to be held...and sure it's inconvenient but it's so nice to just sit and hold him for awhile.  The house isn't always clean and the dishes aren't always done, but I know I'm going to miss these moments where I'm all he wants.
  • Watching Jared interact with him.  I love how excited he gets when he comes home from work and gets to hold Paxton.  I love how much he loves his son.
    There are so many amazing things about being a mom...it's impossible to list them all.  I'm having a great time with Paxton and I have really enjoyed these first eight weeks.

    Monday, May 9, 2011

    Daddy's Little Boy

    Going back to work after spending two weeks at home for Paxton's birth was not easy for Jared.  Not only did he have fun just hanging out with us all day, he also really missed his new baby.  To try to make it easier for him, I sent him several pictures of Paxton from my iPhone every day.  Well some of them turned out really cute...so here are a bunch of not so great quality but really cute pictures of daddy's little boy:
    Paxton with Granny Pat




    Sweet baby feet














    Smiling!


    Playing in the crib

    Adorable crying face








    Other than missing Jared, staying at home with Paxton is great!  He is finished with his 6 week growth spurt which has made things much easier.  He was eating every two hours sometimes...and was really fussy in between.  Then yesterday, the growth spurt turned off like a switch.  He slept for 7 hours and then went five hours between feedings which gave us time to spend time with both of our moms.  Jared took me to McAlister's for Mother's Day lunch which was really nice.  He and Paxton got me a manicure/pedicure and a really sweet card.  Then we went to Jared's Granny's house where we spent time with Jared's mom.  Then we met up with my mom and sisters for dinner at Outback.  Paxton was so good the whole time!  He didn't cry even though it had been five hours since his last meal. 

    I had a great first mother's day and I really appreciated Jared taking over baby duty for the day.  It was nice to have a break but still be able to be with my little family. 

    ~Caitlynne

    Sunday, May 1, 2011

    Paxton's First Easter and the Rest of Week 5


    Last Sunday was Paxton's first Easter.  His feeding schedule worked out so that we were able to go to church for the Easter service. 


    It was Paxton's first time at church and we were a little nervous about how he would do.  Luckily when we got there, we were able to sit in a special section in the back reserved for parents with little babies.  Paxton did great!  He slept through pretty much the whole thing.  He woke up a little for a few minutes during a loud part of the song service but went back to sleep immediately.

    After church we went to Jared's grandma's house for a family Easter lunch.  Some of his family that was there hadn't met Paxton yet.  After lunch and some socializing we went home.


    At almost 6 weeks Paxton is great at holding his head up.  When he is laying on his stomach, he can completely lift it up and look around.  It is a little wobbly when he is sitting up but his neck is definitely getting stronger.  He loves baths.  Even when he is fussy, a bath cheers him up immediately.  He loves kicking in the water and looking at the baby in the mirror.  He isn't really socially smiling yet, but he is making some expressions that are close.  It won't be long now.  He loves the bee mobile above his crib.  It's another thing that makes him happy when he's fussy.  He is wearing 0-3 month clothes and has pretty much grown out of all his newborn outfits.  He started wearing 3 months a few days ago, some are a little big still but most fit him.

     Family Picture

    In this picture his hair looks red!  Jared had red hair when he was little and I was excited about the idea of having a little red head.  It looks like it might happen!

    I think today he has hit the dreaded six week growth spurt.  He has been fussy all morning and nothing makes him stop except eating.  Hopefully he gets past it quickly because tomorrow I will be on my own with him and if it's like today, I'm not sure it will be a great day.  I also have my doctor's appointment on Tuesday and it would be amazing if he would just sleep through it.  But, even if he's fussy, he's still the cutest little baby ever.