Let It Snow!

Unless you have been living under a rock the past two days, you have heard about the Blizzard of 2010. While just north, east and south of us got up to two feet of snow, we ended up with about 8 inches once the snow stopped falling. So far it has been a very quiet winter in New England. We have only had about ½ inch of snow leading up to this storm, making this Logan's first snow fall. Of course, I had to document it with a few pictures. We cannot wait for the day he is able to really enjoy this snow with snowmen and sleds. Until then, I will continue to torture him by bundling him up and taking him outside just to take pictures of him. 

Zip me up - I am ready to go.

Our First Family Snow Picture

Mama, pick me up!

Logan started to lose his patience with the process.

Logan was worn out from the excursion.

A Perry Family Christmas

Things were really busy leading up to the holiday. We had holiday shopping and preparation to finish up, and then my best and oldest friend came up to meet Logan last week. Logan was very excited to meet his Aunt Kristin and had a great time visiting with her.

Logan celebrated his 7 week old birthday and Christmas on the same day. He has not been feeling well over the past few days. Matt has had a more aggressive cold, and Logan seems to have caught the same thing. He was not feeling well on Christmas Eve, and we could tell he had not improved on Christmas. He was fussy after we got up and while we tried to go through his stocking with him. Then he fell asleep, and he slept the whole day and night. I think the sleep was good for him because he seems to be feeling better today. 

Despite the fact that he slept through it, Logan had a great Christmas. At 7 weeks old, he is very spoiled. Below are pictures from the big day and other recent shots. 

Logan has started to grab things.  He likes the lion.

Finally got the smile captured!

Chillin' with Aunt Kristin.

Logan's new mittens and matching hat.

Christmas Eve with Mama

Christmas Eve with Daddy

Christmas Morning - Where are the presents already?

Christmas Morning - Seriously, where are the presents?!

Okay, I have seen my presents.  I'm done.

Logan's Christmas Day outfit

How Logan spent almost his entire 1st Christmas day

Here Comes Santa Claus

I really debated whether or not to take Logan to meet Santa this year. I did not know if I wanted to deal with the crowds for a 1 month old baby who will not remember the experience. But, as Matt pointed out, I would regret it if I did not have the picture of him with Santa for his 1^st Christmas.

So, Logan and I headed to the mall today to meet Santa. We tried to go early to beat any afternoon crowd. He fell asleep in the car on the way there, as he does every time we get into the car.  I was so excited when we got there to only see one family ahead of us in line. When our turn came, I handed Santa my little baby. The woman taking the pictures took about 5 of Logan in Santa's arms. I picked the one where his eyes are the most open, which is hardly at all. He pretty much slept in Santa's arms.

After paying for the pictures, I asked the woman running the register to take a picture of Logan and I together. She said she could not. I said I understood figuring that there might be a policy on that kind of thing. She corrected me saying that she just takes horrible pictures. She blabbed on about how her children won't let her take pictures and she won't even take them of her pets. I was crushed. I packed up our pictures and left Santa's Village.

Sitting just outside Santa's Village was a woman with a bunch of shopping bags, eating a pretzel. I walked over to her and told her that this is my little boy's first Christmas, I would love a picture of him and I together and asked if she would take it. She said she would be happy to and went on to tell me how she had been watching us and it made her miss when her grandchildren were little. She took two pictures, we wished each other a “Merry Christmas” and I put Logan back in the car seat. He was asleep within seconds.

Yet another holiday experience that is way more for Mama than Logan, but I am so glad we went.

Dressed and ready to go

In line to "see" Santa

The Big Event!

Still sleeping - this kid is going to sleep his life away

All Things Mouth

Logan decided to exercise his face muscles last week in the form of a few more firsts - conversations, imitations and smiles. I don't think that I can pick a favorite.

He started to “talk” last week. In his good, alert moments he will go back and forth for a little while. It is amusing to me what I now consider a good conversation.

Logan also started to imitate facial expressions, well, sticking his tongue out. I have been doing it for days now to see if he would do it also so when he finally did, I was not sure if he was hungry or copying me. Sure enough, he was imitating me. That is the only thing that I have gotten him to imitate so far, but it is a start!

While I said above that it is hard for me to pick a favorite, I think this one is it - Logan's smiles. As I said in a previous post, he has been getting close to smiling. He has been smiling in his sleep for weeks and sometimes while awake. He now has gotten to the point where he can control his smiles. Of course, I never seem to be able to do the same thing two times in a row to draw out the smile again and the camera is never around. But I know that he will start to do it more and more now that he has started. 

Below are pictures taken over the past week.

Hanging with Daddy

Such a cutie (not spit up on my chest but water from washing my face, just so you know)

Passed out - still love it!

Trying out the Bjorn

I have my eye on you, Grinch.  Don't take my Christmas!  (Thanks for the new friends, Aunt Kristin)

The Sniffles

Despite my efforts to keep my baby from the germs of cold and flu season, Matt came home with a cold last week. For two days, we limited Matt's contact with Logan to try and keep him from getting sick. In fact, the day that Matt was the worst, he slept in the guest bedroom. Overnight Monday and into Tuesday morning I noticed that Logan's breathing sounded congested as he was sleeping. It continued off and on during the day yesterday and last night before bed it sounded a little worse.

This morning, after taking his temperature because I figured the nurse would ask, I called the doctor's office. When the nurse called me back she said due to his age, it was best that I brought him in. So we were off to the doctor instead of to Target to finish our Christmas shopping.

The doctor said that while he does have a cold, it is very mild and nothing to be concerned about. She told me how to treat him at home if his symptoms got worse and what signs, in the event I see them, should prompt me to call them again. He should make it through his first illness without a problem.

Since he was in the office, they weighed him. He weighed 8 lbs almost three weeks ago. Today, he weighs 10 lbs!!! He was in the 27^th percentile when born and he is now in the 58^th percentile. The doctor assured me that I could not overfeed a breastfeed baby, which was good to hear. But the really exciting part is that the doctor said that since his weigh gain was so good that I no longer need to wake him up during the night to feed him. Yeah!!! Tonight will be the first night since he was born that I will not set an alarm to wake him up to feed him. I have been waking him up every 5 hours. I am very curious to see how long he will sleep on his own. Fingers crossed.

The Swing

So far, every time I talk to an experienced mom (mine included) about a fussy baby, there is almost always the same reaction - “does he like the swing?” We received a great swing as a shower gift (thanks Sarah). I put it together, along with everything else, months ago. So, the second week of Logan's life, I tried the swing. He was already upset when I put him in it and the 5 point harness and I were not getting along. It was not a good experience. Matt and I tried again over Thanksgiving, but again, he was already upset so it did not go well then either. There was a large plastic tray on the swing that was an extra speed-bump to getting Logan in the swing smoothly. I waited for Matt to get the tray off before I tried it again. Matt was able to do so Sunday.

He has a newborn rocker (which you have seen a million pictures of him in it below) and he enjoys when I rock it for him. Given that, I was convinced that Logan would like the swing. My plan was to put him in when he was calm. Now that he is spending more and more hours during the day awake, I got my chance Tuesday morning. Below are a series of pictures taken in the first 3 minutes he was in the swing.

Doing good so far . . .

Checking out the mobile and 3 seconds later . . .

Get me out of here!

I am hoping he was just in a mood to be held. I plan on continuing to try to get him in the swing. I think he may need some time to adjust.

Oh Christmas Tree

Despite the fact that Logan is too young to form memories, having a newborn in the house gives Christmas a different meaning. So I am sure this blog will be littered with many holiday firsts as the holiday approaches in the next 3 weeks. This weekend's first was a Christmas tree.

Along with Christmas quickly approaching, so is the winter temperatures in New Hampshire. Despite the fact the high on Saturday was only supposed to be 35 degrees, I really wanted to take Logan to pick out his first Christmas tree. Matt and I debated what was the best way to take him out in the chilly weather: in the baby carrier worn by me under a winter coat or in his stroller under a bunch of blankets. We thought it was silly to get him out of the car seat and into the carrier for something that should take 10 minutes so we opted to dress him warmly and cover him with blankets. The clothing part was easy since we could just layer him. Keeping his head warm was also easy because we have hats. But then it dawned on me that we don't have mittens for him. So I did what any crafty mama would have done, I put socks on his hands!

Socks on the hands!

Once I was sure that Logan was dressed warmly, we were off to the farm to pick out a tree. I put his car seat in the stroller and covered the entire thing with two blankets because I did not think that one was enough. It took us about 10 minutes to pick out a tree and the whole time I was worried my baby was freezing. But a peak under the blankets revealed he was fast asleep. While Matt got the tree tied up, I picked up a wreath and we were off.

At the farm

Proof Logan was present under the blankets.

Logan was present for the selection of his first Christmas tree, but slept through the whole thing. But that's okay. Right now I think the memories are more for Mama then they are for Logan. 

Logan and Rocky in front of the finished tree.

1 Month Old!!!

Logan turned one month old today. I cannot believe that he has been with us for a whole month so far. I know it is a very over said saying by all parents, but the time really does fly by. At the same time, I can hardly remember my life without him. Below is his 1 month old birthday shot and a cute one of him taken after his bath the other night. 

Little Man did not want his photo taken

Just too cute. 

Just the Two of Us, Again!

Here is what is new with Logan this week.

While Matt and I knew that a baby could change our relationship, we did not expect our newborn to break us up before his 4 week birthday. But it happened this week. With Matt's return to work, the muppet noises Logan makes in sleep and while feeding where too much for Matt to sleep through. Matt started to sleep in the guest bedroom. He will start the night with us, but will usually move when Logan and I get up for his early morning (3am or so) feeding. While practical because Matt has to get up and go to work, it was a sad moment for both of us. But, Logan will not be in our room forever (I am not one of those parents) and the weekends come every 5 days so I guess it is a trial separation with an end date in sight.

Logan saw his first snow flakes this past weekend. We had some flurries on Saturday. Matt and I both cannot wait until he is older to play in the snow with him.

Logan saw his first GA win! He was born on the day of the Idaho State game, but we were not watching that day. He slept through the Auburn game, as did the team. But he was awake for the first 3 quarters of the Tech game. How sweet it is to beat Tech and finally be bowl eligible!

Game Day outfit

Logan developed a blister in the middle of his upper lip. I was afraid it was causing him pain when he ate because once or twice a day he would pull off the breast crying. So, I called the lactation consultant at the hospital. I mentioned he had a blister and before I described where, she described it to me. I found out it is very common in babies who are breastfeed and who eat aggressively (I could have told you that without the presence of a blister). She said it is causing him no pain. I guess she has interviewed newborns on the subject before. She said his occasional crying is due to gas. Oh, my gassy baby. His gassy-ness does seem to be getting better though or I am getting better at relieving his gas.

Logan's blister and all of his chins.  He likes to eat.

Working on that gas.

Logan has developed the ability to follow faces with his eyes. It is really fun to watch him grow and develop each week. While he can now follow our faces, sometimes he still prefers to stare at the light. Matt thinks he is part moth. Logan has been developing his sense of touch also. He loves to stroke the fabric on the couch.

Logan's Ray Pruit outfit

Pout Face

Logan's Trip to the Big City

Logan has only left the house twice since arriving home from the hospital and both times were to see the doctor. I know there are mainly two different schools of thought on taking a newborn out of the house – don't do it and it's fine. I birthed a baby weeks before winter in New England during cold and flu season. Bottom line, it is cold outside and people are sick. So for me personally, I have decided to take him out as little as possible. Daddy takes on full Logan duty while I go to the grocery store on the weekend where I shop for the entire week (something I did before Logan was born).

But the situation arose this week that no longer permitted Logan and I from staying in our warm, germ-free home. I needed something for Logan to sleep in. This has been a struggle in our household for about a week now. While I want to continue to swaddle him because it seems to calm Logan down, the receiving blanket is no longer working because the doctor mentioned it is not as safe as a Velcro one at our last appointment. Matt, being the kind of dad he is, said goodbye to the receiving blankets for bedtime. I had a sleep sack/swaddle me combo, but it seemed too small and I only had one. Rule of thumb with a newborn, never have one of anything. So, Logan and I were off to the store for our first outing. 

Now I have not mentioned that besides the time of year not being great, there is one other thing that causes me anxiety when it comes to leaving the house with Logan. I am afraid that we will get into the store, he will start screaming crying and I will not be able to get him to stop. Yes, I would not be the first mama to have a screaming baby in a baby superstore, but I would like to avoid it at all costs. However, my little man is a champ. He fell asleep in the car before we were out of the driveway and did not really wake up until 5 minutes after we got home (at which point he starting crying to be fed). He made what Matt and I affectionately call his “muppet noises” that he makes when sleeping while in the store, but that was the only sound I heard out of him. I was able to buy what I needed without a screaming baby. And Logan now has a few Swaddle Me's to sleep in at night.

Just got back home - stop blinding me, Mama!

Before - with the receiving blanket

After - My little pea pod.