Monday, December 2, 2013

10 Week Wonder

Ten weeks have passed! That means that Ian is almost 1/5 of a year old. And that's just crazy talk.

He's found his fingers! He's still occasionally gnawing on his fist, in attempts to find his digits.
This has been a big week for him in many ways.

First, the cradle is finished! His papa spent many an hour building this for him and he loves it. The cradle rocks to soothe him and is wide enough that he can still be active and flail his arms, as he likes to do. It sits in our living room and is filled with toys, at the moment, with a shoe horn overtop (hey, we use our resources!) holding some rattles for him to knock and make noise.

He has started to actually try to bop specific things in front of him. It's exciting and fun to watch him continue to knock the same item as he watches in amazement. He also does this in a bouncer seat we are borrowing and in one that we purchased.

One morning he became fascinated by the shadow of his hand against the side of the cradle. He moved his hand back and forth when the sun was shining directly across his cradle. It was a beautiful way to start the day.
Shadow play.





Ian loves to smile and giggle now. So far his giggle is not a full-throttled giggle, more of an extended sigh with multiple pulses while smiling. He smiles really wide, showing his gums, and then likes to open his mouth fully to really show his smile. I think he's mirroring us when he does this. Oh, these smiles can make any exhausted moment turn to sunshine and rainbows.

The most fun thing these days is that he likes to "talk" back and forth and will do so consistently. He will make a sound and then watch intently to see if you regurgitate it to him. When you do he is elated, smiles REALLY big, sometimes giggles, and then gets serious while he makes another sound. Repeat the steps above. He is normally quite calm during these "conversations" and his usually wild arms stay very still by his sides. It takes his full-body's focus to have discussions such as these! It's the most fun thing I've ever done.

This month we are living in Tennessee with our friends Andrew and Jessica and their two girls (3 & 1). Andrew is in his second year of residency in Bristol and they have talked to us about the program since before they even started there. Last year they invited us to come down for a month to audition for and experience the program. Little did they know that we'd be bringing a 9 week old baby with us! Fortunately that didn't deter them and now here we are, living with them for a month. They are such generous and gracious hosts and we are grateful for their hospitality!

After being uncertain of what our Thanksgiving would hold due to Jim's unknown schedule, and therefore celebrating with both families last week, we were actually given the holiday off and went home to celebrate as our family of three. It was oh-so-nice to be home in our own bed, in our own kitchen, and in our own familiar chairs for a few days.

Fortunately, for us, Ian is an amazing car sleeper and hike sleeper! We've been driving long distances during his short life and he's taking them like a champ. Oh, there have certainly been moments when his face turns purple with his screams of discontent (see picture), but it's then that we try to stop and take care of his needs. This mama can't take much crying from the boy. Other times he'll sit and smile. But most often he falls asleep and will stay asleep for a very long time. Granted, we DO try to time car rides for that purpose, if we can.

The same thing happened when we went on a hike the other day. He's a good hiking sleeper! I put him in the Boba and he slept for the entire hike. That was our first relatively long, difficult hike since Ian was born. It felt so good to be out hiking again and it was such a beautiful day for it. We had some good talks about our near future, with the residency match and locations we may want to live. It was nice to have some time to discuss while he slept. And it was nice for me to get some hard exercise, too. Carrying Ian reminded me of pregnancy and how I had carried all of that extra weight ALL THE TIME. Hiking like that will certainly help me lose the pounds and even gain some muscle back, too.

Jim wore him when we went out for a walk around our property. He introduced Ian to the wonders of horses, since we have many on the farm where we live.




We are doing cloth diapers full throttle now, except for at night. He does not like to have a wet diaper and so we use disposables at night so he can sleep longer. SPEAKING of sleeping, Ian has slept six hours for the last three nights!!!





There's nothing like having a sleeping baby on your chest. I'm convinced. Being a mom has changed me in many ways. One was apparent when we were watching a scene in the movie Australia, when Nicole Kidman is reconnected with the aboriginal child after each thought the other had passed away. I was in tears and Jim was about to make fun of the part in the movie when he looked over at me. He started laughing uncontrollably, with tears budding in his eyes, and I started crying harder, while we each laughed at ourselves in the moment. Whew.



Ian's paternal grandparents gifted him with a sweet pair of shoes with his name and birthdate on them. Jim and his siblings each were given a pair of the same shoes when they were babies and so they kept the tradition going.


Thank you Gramee & Grandpa! How special!




And why not finish the post with a few adorable pictures of him smiling?!? I cannot think of a better thing to do :)
Couldn't get this to flip... sorry!
Thanks Aunt Sherri, for another awesome onesie.
Heart-melter.
Happy ten weeks, Ian Forrester!!!

5 comments:

  1. I see a big change in him from a few weeks ago.. He's rounded out more and his face is more expressive. He's getting handsomer and handsomer :)

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  2. Just one more thing....when I Published the last comment, the word that I had to enter to "prove I'm not a robot" was POOGYPE. Fitting, isn't it?

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    1. Haha! Quite fitting. Yes, he's much more boy-like now. Losing the newborn look.

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  3. Yay for cloth diapering! We did the same in the beginning with paper at night.

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    1. When did you make the switch? Is this Amy? :)

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