My Boys at Thirteen Weeks

Rowan, 13 Weeks


Miles, 13 Weeks

People often focus on how different Miles and Rowan look, but I see a lot of similarities in their faces here. Shave Miles' head and add a little heft to Rowan, and you might have two boys who look quite a bit alike.

Miles continues to be such a sweet baby. Talk to him happily, and you're sure to get a smile and a coo. He's becoming more skilled at grasping things and now attempts to bring things to his mouth. Oh, and the drooling has begun! Will a tooth soon be on the way?

Nine and Ten Weeks Old

What Miles was up to between 8 and 10 weeks old:

• Rolling over: At just over 8 weeks old, Miles rolled over from his tummy to his back for the first time. I can't really say that it was intentional, though. That big head of his tips him right over!
• Finding his fists and fingers: The boy can stare at his hands, transfixed, for... well, just for minutes. (He does have a baby's attention span, after all.) He's also begun to reach out and grasp at things with his fingers.
• Cooing like crazy: More sounds and gurgles every day!
• Growing...a lot: At his 2-month visit, he weighed 14 pounds, 4 oz. He was 23.75 inches long. And his head measured 16.5 inches around.
• Looking adorable: His little arms, legs and cheeks seem to be getting more and more chubby by the minute! (I plan to make the opposite happen to myself very VERY soon.)

My Boys at Eight Weeks

Rowan, Eight Weeks


Miles, Eight Weeks

(It's subtle, but you can definitely see that Miles takes up more space in the bouncy seat.)

In addition to the comparison shots, I am still taking weekly pictures of Miles with his little signs. We've had a great couple of weeks! He's smiling, cooing and napping like a champ. (He got a swing for Christmas! Hmmm... Was it a present for me or for him?)

Rowan is enjoying his brother more now that he's become more interactive. Today, when I told him to give his brother some space, he said, "But I can't stay away from him because he's sooooooo sweet!"

Hard to argue with that, isn't it?

Six Weeks Old

Week six brought more smiling and even a little cooing! And according to most of the baby sites I've visited, it also marked the end of Miles' newborn phase. He is now officially an infant.

Although I have no other babies to compare him to (and haven't had him officially weighed), my guess is that he's quite a bit bigger than your average infant. I now buy size 2 diapers and - as I reported last week - he wears 3-6 month clothes. I think I need to invest in a two-shoulder baby carrier that works well for infants. Although I love the fleece kangaroo korner pouch that I'm borrowing from my sister, it's starting to hurt my back!

But I am becoming stronger from carrying this guy around. He's getting stronger, too - holding his head up higher and higher every day!

Hmmm... Let's see.... What else happened during Miles' sixth week?

Oh, yeah! We endured the state's fifth largest snow storm and were stranded in our home for three days while we waited for the city to plow our street! (In case you're wondering: YES, I am still upset about it.)

The first two days were actually kind of nice. Cozy, even. We made Christmas cookies, watched movies and lazed around the house. By Monday, though, I was suffering from some serious cabin fever. School was cancelled, our street was stilled unplowed, and I was stuck at home all day with a stir crazy 5-year-old and a fussy baby.

When school was cancelled again on Tuesday, I contemplated promising the city that I would personally pick up any kids still stranded due to unplowed streets...on snow shoes, if necessary. But then I ventured out to Target with the kids and realized that the roads really were still too bad to have school buses driving around.

Thankfully, school resumed on Wednesday, the temps rose a bit and our road conditions improved (ever so slightly). Now we just have to hope for no more snow until the end of March. It could happen, right?

Five Weeks Old

Mr. Miles' fifth week brought a huge reward - his first real smiles! So adorable. This kid is becoming more babylicious each and every day.

I'd love to know how much he weighs right now, but it's not worth bringing him to the clinic during cold and flu season to find out. A very unscientific measurement on our home scale (I weighed myself alone, then holding him) suggested that he could be in the neighborhood of 13-14 pounds!

He is solidly in 3-6 month clothing now, although he can still squeeze into a few of his larger 0-3 month outfits. If he keeps growing at this pace, I will completely lose the advantage of having two boys born in the same season. Rowan's summer clothing simply might not fit his big little brother. We shall see...

We started introducing a daily bottle of expressed breastmilk to miles this week. Rowan wouldn't take a bottle, and we were determined not to have that happen again, if at all possible. (I'm going back to work part-time when Miles is 3 months old.) So far, so good!

Even Rowan got a chance to feed his little brother. (Is it just me, or does seeing them together only serve to highlight Miles' hugeness?)

Speaking of Rowan... we had a hard week last week. I don't know if it was cabin fever, sibling rivalry or impending Christmas craziness (or all of the above), but the whining reached a whole new level. Ugh.

I'm trying to cut him some slack, since we've experienced a lot of changes over the past month. Still, there's nothing more frustrating than attempting to eat dinner while bouncing a fussy baby and listening to your preschooler complain about everything under the sun. Here's hoping this week is better. Rowan's Christmas break is coming up, and I'd really like to enter that time with some good days under our belts! Pretty please?

Four Weeks Old

It's actually quite ironic that this is the picture I snapped yesterday, because today Miles gave me what I'm counting as his first real smile! I hope to catch one of his happier moments on camera soon.

But of course, life can't be all smiles for a newborn. Sometimes, things are pretty darn rough. Your mom is always taking care of your every need...feeding you, holding you, and making sure that you're clean. You have to nap all day. People keep telling you how cute you are. Oh, and everyone thinks it's fabulous when you eat all the time and gain lots of weight. Sometimes you just need a good cry to deal with it all, you know?

One thing we're not crying about this week is my nursing oversupply problem. Things have calmed down a bit, thanks to some tips I learned on kellymom. The most effective strategy for me has been to keep feeding him on the same side for at least four hours. (Sometimes more!) I was doubtful that it would work, but it seems to be doing the trick. Apparently, it helps your baby get more fat-rich hindmilk (reducing fussines and gas) and signals your body to slow down production. Miles does seem less fussy now, and feedings have been much less stressful.

And now, let's devote a little time to this kid's hair. Can you believe it? I do not fluff if up like this, I swear! After I give him a bath, I comb his hair into a respectable executive style, but it sticks straight up when it dries. There simply is no calming down these unruly locks! (A sign of his personality, perhaps? Uh oh.)

His wild hair is pretty adorable (and distinctive), in my opinion. I do hope it calms down by the time he's an adult, though. I can't even imagine what a grown man might look like with hair like this...

...or can I?

Three Weeks Old

Who stole my perfect baby and replaced him with this fussy thing?!

Yep. The two-week honeymoon period has ended. Just like his big brother did, Miles started to exhibit a bit more fussiness in his third week. He's still sleeping well at night, thank goodness (and knock on wood), but he's been having fussy spells during the day now.

The culprit? I think I'm experiencing an overabundance of milk again this time around. You see, while some new moms struggle to maintain an adequate milk supply, I produce enough milk to feed all of the babies in Africa — possibly from right here at my desk, since that's how far the milk seems to eject. (In case you hadn't noticed, the concept of "TMI" doesn't really register with new moms and nursing moms.) The consequences of my oversupply for Miles: gulping, gasping, air-swallowing, gassiness and general frustration.

The good news is that I've been through this before and knew what we were dealing with right away. I'm following advice that I found on kellymom, and it already seems to be helping. My supply has calmed down a bit, and so has Miles.

Let's hope things continue looking up tomorrow. After all, I'll have a Thanksgiving dinner to prepare (and eat)!

Two Weeks Old

Little Mister Miles is two weeks old today. His second week proved bittersweet, as I was already forced to pull many of his little gowns and sleepers out of the rotation because they're too small. [Sigh]

I do love his chubby cheeks and roly poly legs, though. And I think that having a bigger baby carries some significant advantages. Miles seems more "finished" than Rowan did as a newborn (if that makes sense). He has no trouble eating, he has a fairly predictable wake and sleep schedule and he seems quite sturdy when I handle him. Still, I will admit that it's a bit heartbraking to watch my baby grow out of everything so rapidly!

Miles continues to be a fairly easy baby...so far. (He had a rather fussy evening today, so I'm wondering about the days ahead...)

He generally wakes up between 7:30 and 8 a.m. and has a nice, long alert period (lasting about two hours). When Miles first wakes up, Kyle and Rowan talk to him while I shower and get ready for the day.

Between 9:30 and 10, he nurses and sleeps until his next alert period in the evening (waking every couple of hours to nurse and have his diaper changed). Sometimes he wakes up fussy for a little while during the day because of a gas bubble or because he has to poop. But generally, he's a sleepy guy in the middle of the day.

His evening alert time usually happens around dinnertime. Again, it lasts about two hours. (This is when he was fussy this evening.) Then we get him into his pajamas, swaddle him up, and he's a sleepy guy all night (again waking every couple of hours to nurse and have his diaper changed).

Rowan is adjusting well to being a big brother, but I can tell that it's been a major change for him. Whenever I take pictures of Miles, Rowan suggests (or should I say demands) that he be in some pictures, too. I happily oblige, always eager to snap more pics of them together.

And then, of course, he suggests (or should I say demands) that he be in some pictures all by himself. Once again, I oblige. After all, he's pretty darn cute, too.

Wrangling a newborn and a 5-year-old certainly has us on our toes, but we're surviving...and having lots of fun along the way!