Week Seven for Mr. Devon

This week has resembled an EKG print out in our world - lots of really good highs and really awful lows all in about 7 days. Luckily the highs do outnumber the lows. So here we go –

Devon can add the Monte Carlo to the list of places he has been. Auntie Becca, Nanny, Russ and I took munchkin out last Sunday and he enjoyed it so much he slept the whole time. Nice. Note to metro area folks, the brunch at the monte is full of meat, all you can eat and super cheap on Sunday mornings.

We’ve been watching some of the Olympics and Devon has been cheering for folks rather inconsistently. Sometimes he squeals for the US athlete, sometimes the Swiss, sometimes the French etc. We’ll have to work on his American pride thing at some point.

We went back to the lactation lady this week for a check in and are doing well. He is MUCH less rambunctious when he is eating and has even started being happy afterwards instead of mad all the time. HOWEVER – He was beyond mad the day we got home from this appointment. The entire afternoon he was literally inconsolable. I tried everything – milk, burping, swinging, singing, swaddling, noise, etc etc etc and two hours into it I made Russ come home and give me a break. We eventually calmed him down by taking him to the basement bathroom and turning all the lights off. It scared me quite a bit as he has never had such an event before. I was really worried something was terribly wrong. So glad that was not the case. That night he slept from about 1030 until 530am! We were so happy with that but not willing to have a repeat performance if that is what it took to have such a long sleep.

Luckily, it doesn’t appear that we have to. Last night he again did 11pm until 530am with just a brief cry at 230 for his nook which I gladly gave him and went right back to bed. This week marks his graduation from the bassinet in our room to his big boy crib in his own room. He’s not so good at taking naps in the crib yet, but does really well with nighttime sleeping. Hence, no pictures yet of him asleep is his crib. Maybe next week.

Friday night we had some grown up time with Maggie and Nick hanging out with us. Champagne and pizza and the Olympics, what else do you need? Nick wrote a song for Devon which he got to present at the end of the evening. It’s fantastic. Can’t wait to have a recording of it!

On Saturday Devon and I went to tour his daycare and meet his teachers. He will be in a classroom with 13 other infants and this place. Is. awesome. Not a cheerio out of place, they make all their own organic food on side (for when he eats food), use cloth diapers, have a room called the Gym where the kids can run around when the weather is bad and the whole place is beautiful. Here are some shots of his Infant Classroom:


Perhaps it’s the additional sleep, but I have really started to notice changes in Devon in the last week. I realize he has gained 3 pounds since he was born but this week I could really tell for the first time. Also, he seems to know when we are nearby and will get upset if we leave his view at times. His eyes track very well and I see him watching me as I move about the kitchen. He is becoming less fussy during his awake time and talking a good deal more, including my favorite monkey noises. For the first time I put him under his Jungle Gym and he entertained himself by looking about for a solid 15 minutes.



He is not holding objects yet or smiling at people but you can encourage a happy face. I can’t WAIT for that huge solid smile at me when it happens!

Ok, I hear a hungry peeper calling from his crib…

Week 6

The only thing better than the looks you get at the liquor store when you are 8 months pregnant are the looks you get pushing a stroller with an infant out of a bar at 10pm. I’m pretty sure that woman thinks I’m the worst mother in the world and will up until she has her own babies and realizes that this is the perfect age to take them out.

Devon experienced his first Superbowl (or Superb Owl as Russ says) party and made lots of new friends. He also perfected his ‘it’s good!’ move and did this most of the game:


We’ve continued to make treks to the Y alternating between walking on the treadmill and the track with the stroller. I noticed last week that the babysitting service at the Y takes the kids out in these 3 kid big strollers and rolls them around the basket ball court. You would think being the Y, the staff would actually ‘walk’ with the strollers, but no. They set themselves up in a triangle pattern and push the strollers to each other. Huh. I noticed when they let the kids out to run around there are a variety of personalities the kids display– some immediately RUN FOR THE HILLS, some sit right down and start playing, some want to push the strollers or explore them in more detail and some hang on to the grownups. It makes me wonder which camp Devon will be in and what personality traits will be most prominent.


Just this week we started putting him into the Baby Bjorn in the hopes that we take walks or just have him in there in the future. So far, he hates it. Maybe once he gets a bit more head control it will be ok, but for now it’s akin to Tummy Time and we all know how torturous that is.
On Tuesday, Devon and I visited a lactation consultant to get some help. He has been a VERY rambunctious eater. He latches on just fine but then flails about, pulls off the nipple frequently and bites down a lot which as you can imagine I am not a fan of. I was also concerned because he would only eat for about 5 minutes at the most and even though he appears to be gaining weight fine I was nervous that this would hurt my milk supply.

We met with a very nice lady who weighed him and watched as he ate. We did our usual on/off/cry/on/cry etc routine and in between she would weigh him to see how much he was eating each minute. Well, the problem is not that I don’t have enough milk or that he is a lazy sucker – I actually have so much milk it’s basically being poured down his throat. So he has been just trying to keep up. In 5 minutes he could easily drink about 3 ounces of milk (4 is what he should be eating at the most per meal right now). She also thought since it was so fast he was getting tummy cramps and that the foremilk was causing him a good amount of gas. Since then, we’ve made some adjustments that help reduce the amount of foremilk, changes in positioning and more use of the nook and it has definitely made a difference. It’s not perfect, sometimes he is still restless and upset but overall I feel like this is more doable than I did a week ago. We go back this Thursday for a follow-up visit. Mine as well since that out of pocket maximum is done for the year…

Devon’s Nanny (the lady formerly known as Gramter) flew up for a visit on Thursday for a few days. I got to catch up on some stuff and some naps and cooking which was great. She got to see how much he has grown since her last visit! This week’s big advancement is he has started to notice when I play peek-a-boo with him. If he’s in the mood, he’ll smile and wiggle once I pop up and he sees me. Mornings appear to be Devon’s Happy Time – that’s when he talks the most and has the most smiles to share. Perhaps he has to tell us all about the dreams he had last night. This morning in particular it was like a talk show going on in the dining room while I fixed myself some breakfast.


Friday night Russ and I left Devon with his Nanny and went on a date!

We had an excellent dinner at the Craftsman up the street (have the pheasant sandwich, it’s awesome) and then stopped home quick so I could pump a bottle and then laughed at Comedy Sportz for a few hours. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stay awake the whole time, but I did and enjoyed the evening. Hopefully we’ll start trading date night babysitting with some friends so we can make sure to continue.

Devon hosted his first dinner party last night with the Browns, our neighbors (for the moment) Andrea and Adam and Nanny and Auntie Becca. Happily he slept through dinner in his swing and then made a social appearance after for a bit.

It was great to have so many folks over to the house and enjoying themselves. All in all, this was a very good week. It’s a quiet one coming up and then Grammy Jan comes to town for several days so she and Devon can get to know each other.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Week Five

I'm wondering when I will feel it's time to stop titling all of our posts by Devon's age in weeks...

Everyone says to us (repeatedly) that the time goes so fast when babies are little, but I did NOT feel this was the case for his first month – it’s hard to believe it has only BEEN a month. I felt like I was taking each day as it came and they were really long and sort of indistinguishable from one another. Feeding, changing diapers, try to shower and sleep in cat naps. The second hospital stay sort of set us back farther than if we hadn’t had that interruption. Now we are finding more of a groove.

Devon is routinely sleeping from about 1030pm until 4am and then again from about 430 until 7 or 730am. He had his first Well Baby check up this week and did very well. He was:

a) Awake and happy the whole visit, even when the doctor put him on his tummy which he hates with a passion when his parents do it (see below)


b) 9 lb 6 oz which is right on target

c) 22 inches which is also good for him

Our big issue at the moment however is eating. We start off great and then a few minutes in its like someone put him underwater – he gasps for air and flails about like he’s trying to swim. Often he then refuses to go back on the boob so his meals are super short. I know he’s getting enough to eat, but this is hard on me. So we’re going to get some help with that next week to see if we can find a solution to calm him down.

The other not so great news is I’m not entirely healed yet. I have some sort of tear in my colon and I’ll just let you imagine what that means for daily life. We’ve got a plan and hope that all is healed in about a month. If not, there may be more details in this blog in the coming weeks than you really want to know about. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. It appears that pregnancy is not an issue for me, but the post partum time is a real kicker.

This week Devon met a few new friends and had some new experiences. He went to his first Monday Night burgers (baby in a bar!) and showed everyone just how much he loves being a monkey:


The look we got from a woman as we pushed the stroller out of the bar around 10pm was priceless.

Emma Boren and her parents paid us a great visit this week too. Emma was less interested in Devon and more interested in magnets, ribbons and running about. It’s amazing to think Devon will be about her size in just 11 months. And eating mac and cheese! Then on Thursday he met his new best neighborhood buddy, Benjamin. They are a month apart in age but many months apart in size! Devon is a bit of a peanut and Benjamin is a bit of a lumberjack. Both are healthy kids and happy kids, just completely different body types. It was hilarious to hold one and then switch to the other. Benjamin’s mom Jody and I are certain they will be the best of friends. Can’t wait to have play dates in the park!

Devon watched his first episode of Lost this week with some buddies. I really don’t think it matters much that he hasn’t seen the previous seasons. I have and I was still rather confused about many aspects of the ‘plot’. But he really enjoyed the chair. I guess we'll have to let him grow into it a bit - tough to reach your bottle when it's like 2 feet from your hand.



Bathtime has been a tough time for Devon in the last few weeks, but on Monday we had our first Quiet Bath. Which is very different than the past Oh-my-god-they-are-drowning-me-and–isn’t-anyone-coming-to-my-rescue-Baths. Maybe we’ll try the pool in a few weeks…
Tonight we are headed to a Superbowl party (Devon can’t wait for the commercials) and this week is fairly quiet for us until my family comes into town next weekend briefly.

As expected, Devon is learning about his vocal cords for activities other than crying. Here’s a video I just adore of him exploring making these noises. I call them his monkey noises. If you have a baby in your house, bring them to the screen for this as I hear they often talk back.