Week 9

Seems like little Austin is keeping us busy enough these days that updating the blog weekly is getting harder and harder!  He is definitely growing quickly and is already 2 months old!  He seems to be holding his head up a bit better when he's on his tummy, and doesn't really need much head/neck support when you're holding him upright.  Soon enough he'll be holding it up all by himself all the time!

Last week was a pretty good week, all in all.  We're still working on naptime in the crib - I'd say most days last week he napped in the crib for on average 2 out of his 3 naps/day.  There are definitely times where he just doesn't settle down and holding him is the only way to get a good nap.  But, its definitely progress!  He is getting bigger and stronger, and the old Miracle Blanket swaddle isn't such a miracle anymore.  I wish I had a picture, but several nights in a row I would wake up to feed him and find him with his legs and arms completely out of the swaddle.  He's a little Houdini!  I searched the internet for another suggestion since he's definitely not ready to go without the swaddle...and came upon the Woombie.  This thing is brilliant - its essentially a tube with a zipper so its impossible to break out of.  Its stretchier than a swaddle blanket so he can move his hands around - which should be good for his age.  It should be a nice transition to no swaddle down the road.  It took a few days, but he definitely seems to sleep fine in it, and looks awfully cute too.

All zipped up!

The best part of naptime and the morning is when he's waking up.  Starting last week when you unswaddle him, he does the cutest stretch as he's waking up.  Mike caught it on video the other morning:

We continued our bottle feeding efforts last week with some pumped milk in a bottle about once a day. Its definitely stressful feeding him this way - he chokes and gags and gasps for air. We've tried different bottles, different nipples, different flow...and he still struggles a bit.  I guess the little guy just needs some more practice.  At least he'll drink the whole bottle though, even if it takes some effort.  He's drinking around 5.5oz, which is probably a little higher than average for his age but he's a big guy so we're not concerned. 

Since it was Memorial day weekend, Mike took an extra day off to make it a 4 day weekend.  We definitely enjoyed our long weekend.  It was super hot out, so we couldn't do too much outside, but we did go over the Bay Bridge to Kent Island to our favorite dock bar on the water and then on a walk on a nearby trail.  Austin was pretty good out and about for the day.  His hatrid of the carseat seems to have subsided.  We're not sure if its because he just got over it (he's been crying non-stop in the carseat the past week or two), or if its because we removed the infant head rest in the car seat and gave him a bit more room.  Either way, we'll take it - car trips are much more pleasant now!

Not so sure about my hat!

Hmm...beer looks good!

Daddy and Austin on the water!

All tuckered out after a long afternoon in the sun!

We also got a new stroller, which has made trips through the neighborhood and nearby trails much more fun.  Even the sidewalks around here are pretty bumpy...which our new BOB stroller can handle without much effort.  Austin and I took it for a spin a few times through the neighborhood.

My new wheels

I'll leave you with two more videos - I mentioned last week that he seems to have found his fist and likes to suck on it.  The sucking can get pretty strong, as demonstrated in this video:

He's also reacting to us alot more than he had been.  Smiles used to be kind of random, but now he will smile back at us when we interact with him.  This video from last week is one of the first times that he really seemed to smile and react to us interacting with him.  It was too cute: