My how time flies. Caleb turned six weeks old last Wednesday. Crazy!

Since his last update was at three weeks, this post covers weeks 4-6. They were busy ones, including his first time at the beach, his first real big smiles, and his first out of state trip to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa for the 4th of July.

He also had his one-month well-check and his current stats are: height 22.5 inches, weight 13 lbs 2 oz, and head circumference 41 cm. That puts him in the 84th percentile for height, 97th for weight, and (do I even need to say it) 99th for head circumference. He’s a solid little fellow!

Caleb continues to be a pretty easy baby. He sleeps well at night, usually doing a 5 or 6 hour stretch at one point or another. He also takes multiple 2-3 hour naps during the day as long as we are at home. However, he doesn’t sleep much when we are out and about, and if he’s not sleeping he wants to be held or kept in constant motion, so he’s not the most portable baby ever. But really, as long as he sleeps at night, I’m okay with whatever we need to do to get through the daylight hours, though I wouldn’t be upset if at some point he decides that 6:30am isn’t time to get up and at ’em.

We’re finding more and more that Caleb is a pretty social baby. When he’s awake he wants to be where he can see people. He will also holler at me if I’m not in the room when he’s going to sleep. He doesn’t usually need to be rocked or have me sing him a song, but I must be present until he starts to drift off.

He’s smiling more often now and with bigger expression, and it never fails to make my day. We also enjoy conversations with each other. His side consists mainly of “Oh!” and “Mmmm”, but he seems genuinely pleased with himself for communicating so well.

Mommy is definitely his favorite person, but I’m confident at this point that he also recognizes Peter. He really likes attention from Alethea and Lydia as well, although I’m not as confident that he would be able to differentiate between them and any other children, but maybe.

He still doesn’t love it when they “hold” him though…

His favorite things are eating, sleeping, taking baths, being swaddled and going outside. He doesn’t mind diaper changes anymore. He still won’t take a pacifier, so I’ve pretty much given up on that. Being buckled into his carseat is on the top of his “Things I’d Rather Not Do” list.

But overall, he’s a good-natured baby and we’re having fun getting to know him better as his personality emerges bit by bit. As the girls would put it, “We love our Sweet Baby K!”

Happy Father’s Day, to the best Daddy in the whole wide world!

With Love,

Your Three Little Stinkers

Caleb John turned one week old on Wednesday. Happy Birthday, Caleb!

When I told Alethea that Caleb was turning one week old, she wondered if we would have a party. No party, but we did do a photo session with my little muscle bound man…

Caleb had his first well-child check-up and at six days old he was 9lbs 9oz, 21.25 inches and had a 38 cm head circumference. That puts him in the 92nd percentile for weight and 94th for height. And naturally he’s in the 99th percentile for head circumference, because he is a Bobble Head Baby.

His pediatrician declared him “perfect” and said that since he’s doing well and already made it back to his birth weight plus an ounce, she doesn’t need to see him again until he’s one month. Yay!

And he is doing really well. He eats a lot (every 2 hours during the day) and is sleeping well during the night. I feed him before I go to bed around 10:30 or 11pm and then he does a 3am feed and a 6am feed and then gets up with the girls and me around 8 or 9am. I’m officially calling that up two times during the night, despite the fact that Peter says 6am doesn’t count as a night time feed. But whatever, I’m never up at 6am if I can possibly help it, so I’m counting it as two.

During the day he has an awake period in the morning and then around dinner time and one more during the late evening. He does prefer to be held when he’s awake, but he’s generally pretty good if you need to put him down for a bit.

And here is his “who are these people and please tell me I’m not related to them” expression…

Sorry kiddo, you are related to us. I think he most strongly resembles Alethea at this point, other than the fact that he has deep stormy gray eyes, as opposed to her bright blue. The resemblance is especially strong when they both are wearing their contemplative faces…

It can’t be all bad being related to us though. He’s got the whole family, sisters included, wrapped around his little baby fingers. The other night at bedtime, when we asked Alethea what the best part of her day was, she replied, “Seeing my baby brother.” Then she added, “That’s always the best part of my day now.”

Lydia thinks he’s pretty great too and will hover around him saying his name over and over and trying to get him to look at her. I’m excited for him to start smiling and laughing. I’m sure the girls are going to love that!

So far we’ve discovered that Caleb likes eating, sleeping, Mommy, and having his hair washed. He does not like being naked, having his diaper changed, or being asked to wait when he wants to nurse. He is deeply offended if you offer him a pacifier.

There you go. Our sweet Caleb John’s first week in a nutshell. Now on to week two…

Just a few not necessarily congruent thoughts on the last week…

We are home from the hospital. And so glad to be home. Peter and the girls surprised me and Caleb with a balloon bouquet on the mailbox for our homecoming. It was very sweet and the girls were super proud of themselves for their part in the plan.

Caleb continues to be a pretty easy baby. He likes to eat and he likes to sleep. And we like that he likes it.

The girls absolutely adore Caleb. They want to constantly give him hugs and kisses. So far there doesn’t seem to be any resentment towards him. Peter and I have had some emotional turmoil directed toward us however.

We have been trying to do some fun things that aren’t all about Caleb as a way of keeping peace in the house. One of those is the introduction of a bike trailer as a fun daddy/daughter activity for Peter and the girls. The girls have decided that it is their “carriage”. When Peter told me about their terminology, he added, “You know what that makes me, right?”

Some people have asked if Caleb’s nickname is going to be C.J. and the answer is that we are planning on just calling him Caleb. Alethea and Lydia however call him “Baby Brother”, “Baby Caleb”, or just “Baby K”. I actually favor the later as a nickname since it hints at a future career as a hip hop artist.

Overall, this first week of being a mother to three has gone as well as I could have hoped and better than I expected. I’m hoping that as we enter week two, we’ll be able to settle into a bit more of a routine and tame some of the emotional upheaval the girls seem to be experiencing.

Planning to take one-week pictures of Caleb tomorrow. In the mean time, enjoy these of the girls playing outside this afternoon…

Thanks for stopping by!

We are happy to announce the arrival of our son, Caleb John!

Arrival: June 4, 2014, 5:10pm
Stats: 9lbs, 8oz, 20.5 inches long, 15 inch head circumference

Big sisters think he’s a “sweet baby brother”.

Mom and Caleb are doing well. Happy to finally be an official family of five.

He already is showing a talent for getting his thumb in his mouth!

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers today. It helped to know there were so many people rooting for us!

More pictures tomorrow!