3 Months

It's already difficult to remember what it felt like to hold him when he was a newborn. According to our scale at home (not a baby scale), he is something like 12 pounds 13 ounces. He's rolling over (stomach to back, halfway from back to stomach) and grasping toys, and he could totally maneuver himself out of his bouncy seat if not strapped in.


He started daycare two weeks ago. As PJ noted to people, tears were shed, but we're not saying whose. He is apparently quite the entertainer at daycare, talking and cooing at the other kids and Rachel. As soon as he arrives, Rachel's daughter and a neighbor girl who is there before school run to greet him. Rachel's daughter made him a "hexagon man" at school one day. He's definitely getting love and care, though I must admit that I miss getting the best part of his days. He's pretty worn out by the time we have him at home. I suppose the upside of that is that he is more snuggly, content to have me carry him with his head resting on my shoulder rather than demanding to be facing the world.


Last weekend was gorgeous, and we spent a lot of time outside. Lucky us, we were dismissed from work early on Friday and got in a sunny walk around the neighborhood. On Saturday, we spent a goodly amount of time at the Berkeley Springs Apple Butter Festival. Kieran hung out in the Bjorn, taking in the hordes. Sunday was the best, though. We took a five-mile hike to Pee Wee Point up in Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area and had a picnic of sorts out at the point. Then we took advantage of having Monday off and headed to Martinsburg for the sushi buffet at Asian Garden. Kieran really likes the spicy tuna roll.

On Not Camping

Okay, so we didn't actually end up camping a couple of weekends ago for a number of reasons, but the clincher was the weather. The days were forecasted to be beautiful - sunny and 70 degrees, but the nights were to be in the mid-40s. I have no doubt that we could have done it, but I just didn't want to make our first experience camping with Kieran any more stressful than it (I'm sure) already will be. Middle of the night feedings and diaper changes while trying to keep warm just didn't sound that appealing - especially on top of a fussier-than-normal couple of weeks. Can two weeks in the life of an infant be out of the norm, or is that simply called a change in habits? Luckily, it seems to have been (mostly) a jut out of normalcy. But I digress...


While we didn't go camping, we did have a pleasant hike up in Sleepy Creek and a great campfire dinner up in our clearing with Ali and Jim and their kids, Sawyer and Delaney. Really, with three of us holding sleeping or sleepy children, PJ was the one who did most of the cooking. We had pizza mountain pies, sausages (fake, for those meat-eaters wondering), and s'mores. Mmm. I love campfires.

Two Months

Kieran had his two-month appointment yesterday. He's now 11 pounds 8 ounces and is 24 inches long. I can't believe how much he's grown in just two months. His neck and leg muscles are really strong, he can move himself around quite a lot when he's laying down, and he's talking up a storm. He coos and gurgles and giggles; last night we even got a squeal. I figure in a couple years I'll be posting about how I wish he would stop talking just once in a while, but for now I just love to hear him talk.

Firsts

A couple of weeks ago, Kieran had his first "hike" out at Cacapon State Park. Actually, it was also my first hike post-partum, which left me sore but happy. Kieran mostly slept in the Bjorn.

Kieran also got really engaged with his play gym (or whatever they call it) for the first time the other day. Check out the video:

We have also scheduled Kieran's first camping trip. We're going to go to Shenandoah National Park in September, with the caveat that if it's cold and rainy we're ditching the plan!

For the Sake of Veracity

We had our post-partum meeting with our doula last weekend to process the birth and also the prenatal preparation. Celeste set us straight on the timeline of events a little bit. Things were so crazy that I got them a little out of order. So:

1. Convinced doctor to wait on the internal monitor.
2. Doctor checked my progress and broke my water.
3. Baby's heart rate kept dipping, and no change of position would help.
4. Doctor attached internal monitor to baby.

And the rest proceeded from there. I just couldn't leave inaccuracies floating out here!

The Six Onesie Day

We (and by "we" I mean Kieran) achieved a new record today: 6 onesies. Of course, this is presuming he doesn't lay waste to another one in the next two and a half hours. Sheesh. I got to deal with one blowout in the service center of a car dealership. One involved a clothing change for me, too. For PJ, one came seconds after he boasted that the baby had never had a fountain moment when he was changing him. Ha!

One Month

I can't believe it's been a month since Kieran's birth.