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Newborn Photos from Auntie Wendy

Hard to believe, it's been almost 7 weeks (Wednesday)! Andrew was weighed yesterday: 14 lbs
and measured: 24 1/2"!!
And last night, he had an all-time record for staying asleep: 7 hours, 20 minutes!!
It's tiring work, growing this fast~!

Sanity Breaks for Mom

Yesterday, for the first time, he took the bottle! Granted, it was Mommy's beverage, but it worked!! Now we'll see if I can make an 'escape' one of these days.... He actually took 2 bottles, 1 in the a.m., when I was experimenting, and then at his last feeding, with Dad. Both times I had to "step in" with the real thing to give a little extra, and perhaps, reassurance.
Ahhh, the swing~ This, as it turns out, has been a "life saver"! I can now do things like cook, eat, shower, run down to the laundry room- basically, leave baby unattended for lengths of time, without him fussing! I set up the radio on classical, 99.5 f.m. so he's getting a music education at the same time. In fact, he's in there right now, as I update the blog! Thank-you to Auntie Wendy for letting us borrow it! :D

August 22nd

Today, Katie came to visit us and meet Andrew for the first time! It wasn't easy for her: she lives 2 hours away in Greenfield + had to find a sitter for all 3 kids! Thankfully, Nathaniel and Ella will be starting school so we'll be able to see each other more often.My little munchkin. Katie loves lions & tigers so Andy wore this outfit. He outgrew his newborn outfits & now is out of most of the 3 month sizes... Onto 3-6 months!

We went for a stroll along the Charles (swamp in background, coffees in hand).

And saw this cool painted turtle (a few of them!)...

This morning, look what Andrew accomplished in his play pen!

He was very excited! His favorite thing to look at is the frog :D
He likes its eyes and coos and smiles at it.

Maternal Family

Dad, Andy, Mom, GiGi, Grandpa, Auntie Wendy, Vivien, Uncle Matt

1st Month Pediatrician Appointment

What a big boy!

Alex and I went with Andy to see Dr. James and we were impressed- he is in the 95th percentile for all his measurements!

His weight: 11lb 15oz
Height: 23 1/2"

Dr. said he would be in the "average" range if he were a 2-month-old!
Andrew, of course, was showing off his neck strength.
While on his belly, he was holding his neck up very well~
I also reported that he had his first "genuine" smile a couple mornings ago!
We also hear him cooing more often now.
Dr. said we should see more of those smiles in the next couple weeks- time to get the camera ready!
I've not had as many photos (probably b/c his complexion hasn't been so great w/baby acne) but it's pretty much cleared up now.

He'll be spending more time playing here:

First Month Reflections

It's been a busy first month and it has all gone by so fast.
There were definitely some challenging moments- mostly, those familiar ragged-tired ones all new parents go through and then somehow (maybe b/c lack of sleep...) forget about.
Andrew has been such a wonderful love, and as we say repeatedly, "A very good baby!"
His challenging days (today was one of them) are when he eats a lot- it was every hour!
I voluntarily cancelled all plans for leaving the house to pay attention to his growth spurt.

Let's see- just in the first month we've been out to eat... How many times?!!
We've had sushi lunch at Asahi (our debut), lunch at Legal Sea Foods and the Sea Dog Brewery, and dinner at Henrietta's Table and at Fire & Ice.

It seems most of his outfits have been worn only once or twice-
Hey, he is Mom's dress-up doll, after all! ;D
But really, he's growing so fast,
right before our eyes!
We weighed him on my parent's digital scale: he's 12 pounds now!

I grabbed the camera quickly for this one- the t.v. caught his eye for the first time!
If you read the t.v. screen you'll see it was a news clip about poison ivy.
I hope he paid very close attention!

Our 3rd visit to B.L. Makepeace. Michelle Doherty finally gets to meet Andrew!
He was very comfortable with her- in fact, with Cathy, too!
They have the mother's touch and he could sense it~

Little froggie!

Happy 1st Birthday Vivien! & Our 1st trip to Maine.

On our way up , we stopped in Kittery to visit with friends

Todd, Erica & Madison
at their beautiful new home.

Grandma (GiGi) got to spend some precious time with her grandson.

Vivien noticed Andy's binky right away!

Viv and Andy are already buddies -getting into mischief soon enough...

Raiding the beer cooler!

Let's get these open...
Take a sip first...

Sharing with Andy.... Busted!

Viv's birthday festivities started the day before at GiGi and Grandpa's.

Grandpa spent lots of cuddling time with Andy~
Mommy even got to spend the night by the fire pit with Daddy, thanks to Grandpa!
We saw lots of shooting stars (Perseids Meteor Shower).

On Sunday, Wendy & Matt had a birthday party for Vivien, friends & family in attendance.
4-year old Evan liked baby Andrew. He and the baby have the same color hair!

Vivien couldn't wait to get her hands on this present!Vivien got some ca$h for her birthday!Aunt Wendy got to spend some time getting to know Andy.

Vivy looks on: Mom? Holding a baby?
Andrew had Auntie feeling a little uncomfortable
as he checked out "a different restaurant." Look at that grin!

Sunday

Since Andrew was looking so angelic in all these postings, I had to show some of his "finer" moments. His cry does have a funny cackle to it when he gets really worked up (as in, below). Right now he is in my lap crying with hiccups at the same time.
All I can say is, good thing this doesn't happen in the middle of the night when I'm trying to get back to sleep!

Crying is a great workout! All the arm and leg flailing is helping him get STRONG!
Oh yes, and the cry volume has gone up, too...

Relaxing with the Red Sox game on.

Tired Mom cracking a smile.