10 weeks

Sleeping in crib
Grayson is not only sleeping in his room, but also in his CRIB!!! I will work on getting a picture of this! What a big boy! So far, we have learned the trick of sleeping longer stretches at night...CLUSTER FEEDING!! Cluster feeding is when the baby eats a lot in a small amount of time...G wants to this on his own, but when we do this...it always seems he sleeps better!

Finding my hand
Grayson can find his hand now! I think he may be a thumb/finger/hand sucker. I was hoping he would just be a pacifier type of baby since it is easy to take away a pacifier and you cannot really take away a finger... He has also enjoyed shaking his rattle and eating it :)

Here are some pictures

Yummy!

Trying to decide which one to eat

Rattle wins!!

Baby G finding hand video

planking- planking is when people make their body completely straight on random objects. So, this is Grayson planking on Dad's hands

after a good plank

baby smiles

Grayson talking

El Paso visit
I am officially coming to El Paso! All my El Paso, Texas/NM family...hopefully I can see you! I will be in town for 2 1/2 weeks. Matt has a week of night float and really long hours in the ICU and my parents offered a trip to EP so here I come! I look forward to seeing everybody! Dates are looking like February 27- March 15th. 

2 months...9 weeks!

The Thrills in my life besides Grayson boy:

Manis and Pedis, Baths, Wine, and reading!

I got a nice manicure and pedicure with my friend Nicole. I think I speak for most girls when I say one of the best gifts is a good manicure and pedicure. I have also found the BEST massage therapist. I have told Matt that is what I want for Mother's day, birthday, anniversary etc. She is fabulous for all your Portland friends!

Here is the product of the mani/pedi:

PS It is not black. I am not emo...It is a dark purple!

This is from a "bath bomb". It is from an organic shop that I got shopping with my friend Taylor and my mom in the pearl (downtown portland). It has a bunch of different color mixed in and it is all natural. It smells heavenly and made my skin really soft. I took a picture because it looks like Jupiter (the planet) lol!

Man! Did I miss wine or what while being pregnant! I had no idea what a big Wine-o I became. My aunties will be proud I do not drink those fruity wines anymore. This is a glass of Shiraz . Perfect bath =  glass of wine + bath bomb + a candle+ juicy book + awesome daddy watching sweet baby g! It was heaven!

Mobile fun

Grayson loves his Winnie the Pooh mobile we got for him. WE have him lounge on his Boppy pillow and he will stare at it as it turns. Sometimes he picks a character and tracks it as it moves away or sometimes he will just stare. This will occupy him until the mobile stops moving and he is instantly over sitting there. If you wind it back up, he usually will continue to enjoy it. 

 
Bath Time
Grayson enjoys his bath time now. Here are a few shots of him in the bath. :)

Grayson has learned how to smile at people now. Before he would smile in his sleep or just randomly, but not it is purposefully. If you talk to him long enough or sing him little songs, he will give big smiles!

Some Random funny faces G has made!

Getting upset because he is not being held

Sticking his tongue out

Hey look at me! I am super cute!

snuggle time with daddy

Sleepy faces

Fighting sleep

yawning

Getting some good eye rolls

Yes, this is G fully asleep. I blame genetics. By genetics I mean my family (my mom and I sleep like this hahah...eyes open and mouth open)

Be on the look out for:

I have decided that Baby Grayson is going to be extra stylin' so I am on the hunt for cute bow ties/ties and outfits that would be cute with bow ties and ties...let me know if you find any good websites :)

Here is a video of Grayson kicking and a short one of him holding his head up. The holding his head up one was supposed to be a picture but it was on video. Oh well! Still awesome! Hopefully they load! I have another video and it didn't want to load so maybe next week? It is of Baby G talking! I know I have a baby genius he can TALK! haha ok, it is just cooing, but still awesome!

Matt's Minutes

This week I am staying in the outpatient (aka clinic) setting but I return to a week of my own primary patients.  This week is luckily also short as we have a holiday Monday and two of the clinics I was supposed to rotate through have been cancelled.  So this means two half days in addition to the Monday off.  However, after this week I start a string of very busy hospital rotations (always interrupted by a week of clinic) including VA inpatient, MICU, VA inpatient, a lighter geriatric rotation and another VA inpatient block.  This next few months will be rather challenging both academically, mentally, and emotionally as Grayson will be changing very rapidly and more interactive but my work will become more challenging.  But I look forward to everything that is to come and hope I can still make it home for as many baths as possible.

8 weeks- almost 2 months!

Checkups
Grayson is 10 lbs 5 oz. Reminder he was 7 lbs when he was born. He was in the 10th percentile for weight 2 weeks ago and is now in the 50th percentile! He is growing well :) These pictures were taken when we went to the doctor to discuss the possibility of him having reflux. Luckily, it looks like we are just being overprotective parents, and he is normal. Hey, that's a good thing in my mind. I would rather worry about him having something and him not having anything than him having something and me not knowing :)

He has started spitting up after almost every meal/feed and constantly has hiccups. He exhibits a lot of signs of reflux but like the doctors and Great Aunt Amy has said...G is normal. Most babies have a form of reflux and grow out of it. Thank goodness he is still gaining weight and not projectile vomiting...those are huge red flags. The doctors suspect him not sleeping well (this is a major concern because he started doing pretty well and then all of sudden wasn't). Hopefully within the next week, he is sleeping a little longer stretches so he can sleep long and have 2 parents that sleep longer and can take better care of him instead of being zombies. Matt also started work on Monday, so it would be nice to sleep for daddy!
**Update: As of Thursday of this week, little baby G has been sleeping through the night 9 + hours and spitting up less. Maybe you were right Aunt Amy....he is just a normal baby...ahhh new parent syndrome. Thinking your baby is the only baby to have these kind of problems and it is the end of the world!

  Establishing a routine- Everyone I have talked to has told me to establish a routine now that it is just me and G. Slowly, I am learning that he dictates that routine and I need to go along with it. So far:
* he sleeps all night (Thank goodness)
*he wakes up and eat
* he naps for 1-4 hours (usually on me because when I put him down he instantly wakes up, I am working on this...but cuddle time is usually nice except when my house is a mess)- this is where I am going to start putting him in the car seat for a walk outside or around the mall
*He eats
* He is awake and just wants to look at lights, the tv, or out the window, and then sometimes he sleeps or...
*He eats
*He is awake
*He EATS, EATS, EATS- this is apparently called "cluster feeding" I feed him 2 oz at a time (he usually eats 4oz in a hour) and during this time he will eat anywhere between 6-8 oz in a short time
*He is UBER fussy
*He bathes, gets swaddled, and fed...
*He sleeps through the night........................THEN REPEAT

** As soon as typed this he started to not sleep through the night...so I am amending the above to sleeping some hours an undisclosed amount lol!**

What I am trying to say is he is the one that is deciding the schedule for now and eventually I will catch on and make it stick.

Car Seat:
I really want baby G to enjoy the car. So far, so good. He is starting to fall asleep while in the car seat as long as he is either drowsy when he is first put in or has his pacifier. He also has to be well fed. He apparently has my temper when it comes to food. If he is hungry and you are not actively feeding him the minute he starts to let you know he is hungry...he gets MAD!!!

Drowsy baby- ps this is obviously too low according to the picture...

 baby bear fighting sleep

look at those tired eyes

Interesting fact about car seats. I found this picture on facebook. I wanted to share for all my friends that have little babies. Interestingly, this is the same car seat I have!

Sleep time:
I mentioned about he is sleeping through the night! Wahoo! After about 2 weeks of getting 2 hours of sleep 3 times a night...he is sleeping 9 + hours. WE have completely abandoned unswaddling him and taking him out of the room (2 things we were trying to do). WE will eventually go back to trying each of these, but one week of great sleep makes you not want to rock the boat with anything and leave everything alone. The only other "new" factor is that we put a shirt that I have worn that day into his bassinet, and he sleeps on it. We are not clear what brought on this change...was it the swaddling again? Was it being in our room? Is it the shirt? Who knows...if we ever decide to ween things out...we will let you know!

Naps are a bit of a toughy still. He will definitely sleep/nap for a long time during the day still; however it has to be on someone's body or right next to their body. I realized I have spoiled my child...By the Way...anyone who told me "You can never spoil your child too much by holding him/her"...you are a LIAR!!!! This child is spoiled rotten and I wished I put him down a LITTLE more often so he would be use to it....I doubt we would have changed too much, but still...it is nice to pretend that I would. We bought him a new swing in the hopes that he would like the more reclined position vs. the swing we have right now which is also a bouncer. 

Two days ago, was the first day he successfully napped in the swing. It was for an hour and I had to go in there 2 times, but nevertheless, he slept alone. I also put my shirt on him as a cover. I know what you guys are thinking. PUT THE CHILD DOWN. Several of you have told me this. WELL, it is a lot easier said then down. Matt and I tried to do this no nonsense thing about his napping. We would put him down after he fell asleep on us and those beautiful eyes would pop open and cry. We tried pick him up constantly, ignoring the crying for a little bit and then consoling him, putting him down drowsy. NOTHING WORKED/WORKS. I am taking suggestions besides the good ol' cry it out (which I will do when he is older.. Tamara.richards28@gmail.com

Smiles in his sleep

Sleep slack sleeping

 baby burrito..although he looks like a caterpillar to me...

he is napping in the ergo

new swing

Friends

This is a picture of my friend, Kate's baby and Grayson (her baby was 3 days late and is 5 days younger than baby G)

Kisses from baby Nora...she wanted to help her mama feed baby G

Smiling for the camera...are you sure she isn't my baby???

Hugs for baby G

Matt going back to work-

 just a cute picture I wanted to share...he is so much more alert and can track you as you move

Grayson sleeping/tebowing!

Funny pictures

Quality time with the Grandparents!

Grandparent pictures I forgot to post last week!

Yay for Grandma and Grandpa Richards!

Matt's minutes:
This week I have been working at several different clinics including dermatology, optometry, and addiction/recovery services. I also was working at a special facility that allows people to detox off their substance of addiction.  All of these were interesting experiences. I was also able to work at OHSU in clinic and urgent care. Urgent care is fun because you usually get to fix things, whereas in regular clinic that is not always the case. You are able to see changes more instantaneously in urgent care.  I will be continuing this same schedule for another week, working a lot of the same clinics.

One of my continuity patients gave me this Hanna Andersson monkey outfit. It was very thoughtful of this patient and really makes the hard work that much more worthwhile.

It was hard to leave Tammy and Grayson at home, but Tammy seems to be getting a groove. I still missed them both and am happy to have days off in between rotations so that I can spend some quality time with them.