Holding Head Steady

Over the past few days Luke has started holding his head steady. If we sit him up in our lap he does a pretty decent job of holding his head vertical. To best describe how he does it I would say that he is constantly correcting his head position rather than keep the position constant. For instance if his head starts leaning to the the left he will jerk it back right over center then jerk it left again because it was falling right. The adjustments are minor but frequent.

Luke's attitude is also improving. In the past at most we would get about 20 - 30 minutes of him being both awake and happy. Any other time he is either sleeping, eating, or unhappy. Perhaps his unhappiness came from boredom as his mood improved about the same time Luke started holding his head steady.

More important than his attitude improving is that Luke is losing his newborn cry. A newborn cry is hard to describe. I would say that it is a constant irritating noise meant to get through just about any other noise so that the parents hear their children. I'm sure this is some form of survival instinct. By losing the cry Luke is varying the types of his cries and the new cries aren't nearly as demanding. So rather than screaming at the top of his lungs for a bottle he now uses a quieter slower cry.

5 Hours

Sunday night into Monday morning we had a big event. Luke slept for five hours without waking. Mom put him down just before 10:00 p.m. And he slept until 3:00 a.m. He did wake at his usual feeding time (3 hours) but fell back asleep before Mom got out of bed.

He didn't reproduce the same results last night, but the glipse of what life will be like in the future was wonderful.

Getting Luke to Bed

Getting Luke to bed is getting easier. He has definitely gotten into a routine where between 8:30 and 9:30 at night he is ready for bed. Around this time he starts to cry, but it isn't as forceful/annoying as his hungry cry. Very simply we make him a bottle, bring him upstairs, feed him in a dark room, hold him for a bit, and then lay him down. Luke doesn't even fall asleep in my arms anymore. The longer I hold him the more uncomfortable he seems to get. The whole process takes around 30 minutes which is in sharp contrast to the hour it used to take. Unfortunately the time between feedings hasn't lengthened yet. He still goes a maximum of 3 1/2 hours between feedings. So that is roughly three feedings after we put him to bed.

Kicky Leg

Last weekend we took some video of Luke playing with his tummy time mat. While he doesn't have any tummy time on the below video we did get some great shots of him banging around a toy. While his aim isn't that great he is able to direct his arms towards and object and hit it.

Luke was also playing some kicky leg. Kicky leg is when a baby is laying on their back kicking their legs while swinging their arms. It is kind of like running while on your back. Alyce did it a lot when she was a baby and Luke likes to do it too. I figure it is their way of learning to use their extremities while gaining muscle tone. Try kicking your legs while laying on your back, it isn't easy.

Picking His Head Up

Over the past week or so Luke has started supporting his head and he has begun picking his head up. It started off kind of slow where he could hold his head steady for just a few seconds. Now if he is on our chest he can pick his head up, turn to another side, and put it back down. No small feat considering just six weeks ago he could barely move his head.

If That's Moving Up, Than I'm Moving Out

Last night Luke took his first steps out of the nest. He didn't take steps as much as I pushed him out. For the past 5 1/2 weeks he has been sleeping in a crib at the foot of our bed. It was nice having him near us so we could check on him with little effort. Not having to go to far for feedings was also nice. However, after a time having a screaming newborn in your bedroom gets old and the baby loses its welcome. So Mom and I are moving Luke into his own room. This room used to be Alyce's until we moved her into her big girl room. The first step to getting Luke into his room was to get the crib set up. It had been sitting in the basement for the past few months while Alyce grew attached to get new room. So far Luke seems pretty content with his new surroundings.

Mommy and I have a decent system for taking care of Luke at night. I work the shift from midnight to 3:00 a.m. and mom takes everything after 3:00 a.m. Luke gets up once during both shifts so both Mommy and I have one feeding a night. The downfall to a system like this is that once during the night you are wakened by Luke even though it isn't your turn to take him. This sleep interruption guarantees that you are only going to get at best three hours of continuous sleep a night. By tossing Luke into his new room and out of ours we still hear Luke twice a night through the monitor. Once either of us gets up for our shift we can turn off the monitor letting the other fall back asleep.

After the first night I can tell that my energy has improved from my better quality of sleep. I'm hoping that Luke's sleep habits will improve as he doesn't have to hear us moving around getting ready for bed while he is trying to get some sleep.

1 Month Checkup

Today Luke is 5 weeks old and had his 1 month checkup. Everything is going fine with no major issues to report. He is growing and gaining a lot of weight which explains why he has been so hungry.

At 5 Weeks:

• Height 22 3/4 inches: 90%
• Weight 11 lbs, 12.6 oz.: 90%
• Head 39 cm: 75%
  

Luke at the Zoo

We took Luke for his first trip to the zoo. He slept through most of it except for waking a few times for feedings.

Is Luke a Vulcan?

With the new Star Trek movie coming out I couldn't help but notice that Luke has some pointy ears on him. Is Luke part Vulcan? You be the judge.

New Formula

We are making a change with Luke's formula. We are going to try using soy based formula for the next few days. We are doing this because after each feeding Luke is getting gassy, agitated, and spitting up even if we use gas drops. We are taking a guess that his digestive system is having trouble with the lactose based formula.

So far things have been working out well. Luke is more calm after each feeding and his gas and spitting up have been minimized. Soy based formula does have some downsides; it has a weird smell that gives bad breath for a while after each bottle and it isn't very pretty when it comes out the other end. It is a small price to pay if his eating is less problematic.

Another interesting thing about Luke's eating is that at times he can't be satisfied. Over the weekend on two occasions Luke couldn't get enough to eat. For Mother's Day out at Grandma's house Luke ate 10 oz of formula in 4 hours when he should have just had 6. Perhaps we are not feeding him enough as we thought that feeding him too much in a single sitting could lead to him getting an overly full belly and spitting up. As of right now we feed him 4 oz. then have to feed him another 1 about a half hour later. This doesn't sound so bad except that it takes 20 minutes to feed him the first 4 so feeding in total takes around an hour. Three hours after the start of the whole process he is hungry again leaving Mom and I only two hours to get anything else accomplished.

Luke's First Trip to the Mall

Luke had his first trip to the mall today. It must have not excited him that much as he slept through the whole thing.

Very Potato Like

We had dinner this past weekend with some family on my side to celebrate Grandma's Birthday. We had a great time and got to show off Luke to my Aunt and Uncle. Luke was on his best behaviour which was in sharp contrast to earlier in the day.

On Saturday Mom went with Grandma to see a performance leaving me alone with both kids. Normally this wouldn't be anything special to write about. Alyce did very good for me. She played with some soapy water and cups in the sink up until nap time. Luke on the other hand was out of sorts. I can't describe how he was. Words like agitated, needy, hungry, and intestinal distress would be a good place to start. At the time I was very agitated with him as I only wanted a little break to decompress and he wouldn't give me longer than 5 minutes of peace.

Luke's issues are really just newborn stuff. He wasn't doing that on purpose or even to make me angry he just needed something and either I couldn't provide it or nothing could have given him what he needed. The real issue I have with newborns is that they don't give anything back. For the first few months they take, take, take, and don't give anything back. My Uncle Eric quoting a nephew on Saturday said it best, "Babies are very potato like". Over time Luke like Alyce will become less potato like. Once I get that first smile from Luke it will have all been worth it. However, until that time comes babies, especially your own are no fun. No offense Luke just saying like it is.

Crazy Hungry

Last night Luke was a crazy hungry baby. Typically Luke will go around 3 hours from the start of one feeding to the start of the next. With feedings including diaper change taking around half an hour it doesn't leave much time to do other things around the house. So if and when Luke decides to get hungry before time it can be frustrating.

Last night I fed Luke around 7:00. This was about 3 1/2 hours after his last feeding so he should be hungry. Grandma came over to visit and to my surprise Luke was hungry again at 9:00. This didn't present any real problem because Grandma got to feed Luke and I got some down time. Both of these two feedings were 4oz. each. After we said goodnight to Grandma it was 11:00 and past time for Luke to go to bed. Putting him down he started showing signs of hunger... again. "You've got to be kidding me." came from my and Mom's mouth. So I made up 2 more ounces and sure enough he took down the majority of it. So in recap Luke has consumed around 10 ounces of formula in a time frame where he should have really only eaten 4.

You would think that with that much in his belly he wouldn't be hungry again for three hours right? You would be wrong. Luke with his bottomless pit stomach woke up again at midnight and ate 2 - 3 more oz!

We thought with as much as he was eating he would surely spit some of it back up. Not a drop came out of him the wrong way. I can only assume that he is going through some growth spurt and he needs some additional calories. At his next doctors appointment I expect to see some significant growth. The silver lining to all of this is that the quicker Luke gains weight the longer he will last between feedings. Thus laying the groundwork for waking up only once a night or the holy grail, sleeping through the night.