Five and a half weeks

This is Aaron after his 8:30am feeding today. He has been going pretty consistently about 3.5 hours between feedings the last couple of days (except Thursday when he was eating every 2 hours and was so fussy Thom was kind enough to come home earlier than usual to spell me). His stomach must be getting bigger. More importantly, his digestive track is also getting more efficient and he isn't having a bowel movement every time he eats, making diaper changes less of a hassle. (Sorry to embarrass you Aaron, but keep in mind that there are lots of details I'm not sharing for your sake - we'll tell you about those things when you are older.) I had read that breastfed babies will generally poop every time they eat for the first 30 days or so and then will start having fewer bowel movements, sometimes only one every few days. He is no where near that infrequent, but it is a big improvement as far as I am concerned.

Although we haven't had Aaron weighed since week 2, we can tell he is growing quickly because we will have to graduate to size 2 Pampers this week, which is a shame since we stocked up on size 1's from Amazon.com. Good thing we have pregnant friends that can benefit from our overstocking.

Speaking of such friends, Mark and Jill (another couple we know through Order Fusion) came by to meet Aaron last Sunday (after I had updated my blog with weekend visitors). They were coming up this way and called to stop by. They are expecting their first son or daughter July 9th and Jill looks great. They took turns holding Aaron and looked like they are ready for their own little one (although we understand they have a lot left to do to get ready).

Jill and our friend Jenny are due within 5 days of each other. It's strange - in our Order Fusion crowd, we will have 7 babies within 2 years of each other. Travis and Tara had their son Alex in Dec. 2005. Sandy and Shannon had Audrey last June. Mont and Jessica had Gabe last July. We had Aaron in April. Jenny and Chris and Mark and Jill are due in July and our friends Crystal and Eric are due in August. Maybe it is not such a big coincidence though, since our friendships stem not only from our husbands all working together 5 1/2 years ago, but from our similarity in age and our generation seems to be starting families in their mid-thirties.

On Wednesday, my friend Lili and her son Franco came to visit. Lili is the wife of Francisco, one of my coworkers. Francisco got to meet Aaron when I visited the office last week, but this was Lili's first time meeting Aaron. Franco will be one year old next month. He is almost ready to walk and wanted Lili to help him walk much of the time he was here. He is one of the happiest babies I've seen, with a smile almost always on his face.


We had a major milestone this past week. Aaron has taken a bottle (of breastmilk) 3 times. I pumped last Sunday so we could start to introduce a bottle, but Thom didn't get a chance to feed it to him Sunday since he was either outside doing yardwork or making dinner whenever Aaron was hungry. So on Monday when my mom was here, she offered to try. I sat in the dining room while she gave him the bottle. We made sure to do it when he wasn't overly hungry. It took him a few minutes to get going, but he drank nearly the entire 3 ounces and didn't feed again for 3 hours, so I'm guessing it was enough.


Thom gave him the next bottle after work one night last week. Aaron fussed a bit more than with my mom, but I think it was because he was too hungry. Although he nearly finished the bottle, he was still hungry and I ended up nursing him for another 8 minutes (which is often how long he will nurse even when he hasn't had a bottle). But Thom gave him another bottle today and although he only ate 2 1/2 ounces, he didn't need to nurse afterwards and he went 2 hours before his next feeding. I don't think we are to the point where I'd feel comfortable leaving the house with Thom to fend for himself, but we are making progress.

A couple of days ago, Aaron had spit up on himself and was crying and carrying on as I changed him into a clean pair of pajamas. As soon as I was finished dressing him, he calmed down and assumed the pose below. Thom grabbed the camera and took a few shots of him.

His baby acne is still fairly bad. His forehead is a lot better, but his cheeks are red and bumpy and the rash has spread to his neck and upper chest. Some days I think it is better, but other days I'm not sure. It doesn't make for the best photographs, but we still think he is pretty darn cute.