comparing features

so yes, there's no doubt that davis looks like his daddy...
can't deny those features...
but he does look like his mommy, too!
compare him to this picture of me at six weeks old (that we found over thanksgiving weekend while we were at home.)
there is some mommy in there, too :)

davis: one month

wow, davis. in the last month, you've gone from this...

to this!
it's so hard to believe how much you've grown in the past month. not only did we have the opportunity to dress you up in halloween gear only a few days after you were born, we took full advantage of thanksgiving to get you in some turkey-themed outfits as well.

(this one says "baby's first thanksgiving")
we celebrated thanksgiving several different places this year--starting with the coworkers at mommy's office
(nothing says thanksgiving like bojangles!)

krista loved taking care of you
and eventually you tuckered out in mommy's lap
next was thanksgiving day at uncle scott and aunt melissa's, with all of your daddy's family. you were quite popular with the ladies, there :)
but aunt melissa was the one that really enjoyed holding you that day!
the next day, we traveled to fayetteville for your great grandma's 80th birthday party. i think you were passed through a dozen different arms that night--but you did great. mommy was worried that you'd be fussy, since it was the evening (and that tends to be your fussiest time of the day.) you proved her wrong and were sweet and content (and asleep for most of the time.)
sweet picture of you with your daddy
the next day was thanksgiving with your mommy's family. pepper always does a great job of overseeing the cooking in the kitchen :)
this side of the family is a little silly, but they love you to pieces.
and then you made it to church the next morning! you helped mommy and daddy light the candle on the advent wreath, and you did so well during the service. lots of people were excited to see you and your grandma and great-grandma couldn't have been more proud as they showed you off.
then it was one more drive...
for one more meal with your papa and his family.
what else have you done this month? well, you love to be on your playmat (until you don't--then you let us know--and loudly!)
mommy and daddy work with you during tummy time to get you turning your head back and forth. you do a great job with this and will turn it three or four times in a 5-10 minute period.
you sleep--a lot.
and sometimes in crazy positions.
you do let mommy sleep for about 3 hours at a time during the night, which is wonderful at this point. the 3 week growth spurt was rough for all of us, but it seems like you've gotten past that. you get swaddled at night, which seems to help, and we always have a sound machine going, too.

some basic facts--today, you weighed in at 10 lbs, 2 oz and were 21 in long. that puts you in the 50th percentile for height and weight. your head, however, was 15 and 3/4 in and was in the 95th percentile. whoa. you have, unfortunately, gotten baby acne in full force, and you seem to be losing some of that full head of hair as shown by your receding hairline. mommy says it's like you have a teenager and an old man on your cute little baby face.

you love your dogs--especially your wubba nub.
and this one, too. pepper-dog is affectionate to you and seems to tolerate you really well. she also gets kinda jealous when you're in mommy or daddy's lap and there's not enough room for her. but overall, she's taken to you.
and even though there are a lot of people in your life, you really seem to know who we are.

(which after you've been screaming for a while due to gas pains, it's reassuring to know that you recognize us--and that we can sometimes be the only ones to calm you down.)

i can't wait to see you smile at us--but until then, you've kept us smiling and loving every minute that you've been in our lives.
happy first month, davis! we love you and can't wait to see you grow...

last week with davis

so it looks like i'll be lucky to do a weekly post--and usually the past week. for those of you who are friends with me on facebook, it's a whole lot faster for me to put up pictures on facebook and narrate with captions on there, but i'll continue doing blog posts for everyone else when i get a chance.

life with a newborn is so completely different--i knew it would be, but i guess until you live it, you just don't really know. i think the biggest challenge has been the sleep deprivation, just because i'm one of those people that loves my 8 hours of sleep. i've never been one to nap, not even in college or during my summer in spain when the whole country shuts down for a siesta. there is something that i enjoy about our early morning feedings, though, and our lazy mornings in bed when he's waking up and making lots of fun faces and expressions. that big grin that i posted before is usually only seen when he's waking up or falling asleep--and it makes being up at 3 am worth it :)

i know i haven't posted a lot about our birth story--if you're interested, i will take time to write it out. just let me know!

okay, so here's the past week (roughly saturday to saturday)

he is enjoying time on his playmat much more. we do about 15 or 20 minutes on his back, then flip him to his stomach for tummy time. he can lift his head and turn it back and forth about 2 or 3 times before he gets fussy.
we had him all dressed up for the ecu game weekend before last against navy. ended up being a horrible game, but wasn't he cute?
hanging with daddy on the couch saturday morning. it was our first day at home with "just us," and we were enjoying the quiet while also testing our parenting skills :)
we've done another couple of baths--he's done so much better since he's healed up and we can get him fully in the water. he actually relaxes and seems to enjoy it--we have a couple of videos of his first bath and then one of his more recent ones where he's more pleasant. quite a difference. i'll see if justin can get those up sometime soon and i'll post the links.
we had another visit to the peds office last week for his weight check, and he's back up to birth weight! so we're cleared until his 1 month appointment in a couple of weeks after thanksgiving. that day, i also stopped by my work office and finished up the last bit of paperwork while davis got passed around with all of the girls there. he's definitely a popular visitor when we stop by!

on wednesday, we met lindsay and collen out for a special "mommy and me" painting time at the local pottery place. they offer a discount during those hours, and we both enjoyed creating some handprint/footprint gifts.
davis slept through the whole thing--a common theme with our outings. very few people have seen him awake while we're out doing things. he sleeps really well in his carseat and when we go on drives. i also try to time these outings right after he eats and during his prime naptimes just to make it easy on all of us. he was willing to "lend a hand" this day, though, and we'll be going back this week to finish up some more Christmas gifts.
all of us together--it's been so nice to have another new mom to go out with (and to promise me that he'll start sleeping regularly and eating on schedule, etc., etc....)
on thursday, my mom, grandma, aunts and cousins came down for the veterans day holiday and had lunch with us. davis was all decked out in his UNC gear for them :)
my aunt nancy with him--he has everyone wrapped around that little pinky of his...
and another lunch he slept through...
friday, we took it easy by staying at home and going for a walk with pepper. i'll have to get a picture of us at some point--she goes ahead of us on her leash and looks like a little sled dog pulling the stroller. friday night, we managed to go out to dinner and make a target run before davis got too fussy and woke up. i know i will enjoy the times when he's more alert and awake, but i also love that we can get in a 2 hour outing without him even knowing we've left the house.

(one of our favorite onesies--worn in honor of megan and joel, who got this for him and had their own son, isaac, early saturday morning!)

on saturday, justin had the pleasure of giving him his first bottle. an overall success, though i'm going to check out some different bottles tomorrow to see if we can find a better flow for him. davis took to bottle feeding really well, and this will be great and allow me to leave the house without having to make sure i'm back in time for his feeding. AND justin can help with some of those night feedings on the weekend.... ;)
davis and justin sharing some quality time after the bottle feeding.
and then dad and joy stopped by on saturday afternoon to visit (another UNC outfit that davis got to wear.) davis was particularly captivated by dad's beard.
going through all of these pictures just reminds me how blessed we are to have so many family members and friends close by, to visit and to help us with davis. it's hard to believe he'll be 3 weeks old this week, and how much he's changed just in his short little life. we can't wait to see what else is on the way...
(is he not the cutest thing ever? i mean, i know i'm biased, but c'mon. adorable...)

davis's first week

davis was a week old yesterday! here's a little peek into what he's been up to...

we made it to our first pediatrician visit on tuesday! he went down to 7 lbs 9 oz (from his 8 lb 1 oz birth weight) and looks great. we're going back this coming week for another weight check, but the way he's been eating--shouldn't be an issue :)
while we were out, we stopped at my work office and at one of the local toy stores--already checking out the fun toys that we can play with as he grows.
really we were there to pick up one of these guys--a wubbanub--a pacifier with a small stuffed animal attached that was recommended by our pediatrician. this thing has become davis's new best friend and we all love it! otherwise, he would spit one of the soothie pacifiers out all the time.
he's also had his first sponge bath (and will get another one tonight or tomorrow--he's had lots of incidents of peeing on himself during diaper changes. we try so hard to be quick and use other diapers/burp cloths/cloth diaper inserts to block--and he still manages to time it just right.)
he's hung out with lots of family members and has shown us all of his many many expressions :)
this is one of my favorites :)
though this one melts my heart, too.

he's even gotten used to the animals--or rather, the animals have gotten somewhat used to him.
we did end up taking an emergency trip to the vet with grace (my oldest gray tabby cat.) she's been diagnosed with a possible urinary tract infection, but more than likely, it's stress-induced cystitis caused by all the visitors and the baby and the numerous changes she's experienced over the past few days. she's my cat and doesn't really care for justin, so i had to be the one to take her to the vet--and i'm feeding davis every two hours and didn't want to chance it by being away from him. so we were all at the vet on wednesday--and i fed him while helping to keep grace calm. nothing like multitasking as a new mom!

thursday we stayed at home and got a lot done. i finally got my clothes switched out, sorting through and putting up the summer clothes and most of my maternity stuff (i'm still wearing maternity pants for the most part, and a few tops.) then in the afternoon, i got davis to cooperate for a little in-home photo shoot....

i'd been wanting to do those before he got too big and before my family went home. success! i love how photogenic this boy already is :)

and then today, we headed out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants--a mennonite place about a half hour away that has the best breakfasts. davis did so well and let me feed him at the table when it came time for him to eat, too. afterward, we went back into town and walked around the holiday show while he was in his moby wrap. he got lots of attention, and many people were surprised to hear how old he was (and that i was out walking around!) i'm honestly feeling well and enjoy getting out and being social. we snacked on all the samples and then got the opportunity to have "2 minute touch ups" done at the estee lauder booth.
(this was when the woman was helping to cover up the dark circles under my eyes--imagine that!)

one more photograph before we headed home.
what a first week! justin and i will be on our own this weekend, and we're kinda excited to see how we do without the help from our family. justin's especially looking forward to spending some time with him since he went back to work on thursday. it's been amazing to watch him grow just over the past week and to learn all about him!