One Month Birthday

Yesterday was Aaron's one month birthday. I took this picture on April 16th, a day before he turned one month old. He had sacked out on the changing table (an unusual event since having his diaper changed tends to upset him) and I got this shot after transfering him to his bouncy seat.

I've been putting bibs on him after he eats lately since it helps avoid a wardrobe change if he spits up, which he has been doing more often starting about 2 weeks ago.

He has also been awake more often. Not much more often than before, but it is noticeable since he tends to be fussy when he is awake. Sometimes he just wants to be held and walked around, but even that doesn't always placate him and it is hard to know what he wants. It's still not to the point of being colic, so I can't really complain. (By the way, if any parents out there have any advice on what he wants during these episodes, please leave a comment at the end of this blog entry.)

Thank goodness for the bouncy seat in this picture! It is a hand-me-down from my sister. She says her kids never were into this seat, but this is where Aaron sleeps during the day. It has a vibration feature that he loves. In fact, he often wakes up and starts to fuss when the vibration shuts off automatcally after about 10 minutes, but if we just turn it back on, he goes back to sleep. We burned through a set of 3 C cell batteries in about a week. Thom had to order rechargeables online. They don't seem to make bouncy seats with AC adapters. Fortunately, he still sleeps OK at night in his crib (which doesn't vibrate).

On Tuesday, Aaron was 4 weeks old. There was a meeting at work on software licensing (one of my areas of expertise) and since I had been wanting to take him into the office this week anyway, I decided to go in on Tuesday. It was the first time we'd gone out by ourselves. Every other time he had been in the car, I've been in the back with him. But he has better neck control now and his head doesn't flop forward in the car seat anymore, so I decided it was time to start venturing out of the house when Thom is at work.

He did fine on the drive over and on the way back. He was fussy when we got to the office, so I fed him before the meeting. Unfortunately, he was still noisey while sitting in his stroller, so I missed most of the meeting. But most of my coworkers got to see him and it was good to see everyone and catch up a little on licensing issues. My boss even joked that I could start back to work now and just bring Aaron to the office with me. I think I'll wait another 6 weeks, though.

On Monday, my mother came over, giving me a chance to take a shower and get a nap while she made me some banana bread. I ate the entire loaf within two days.

On Wednesday, my friend Barbara came to visit. I know Barbara from some classes I've taken in Judaism at a local synagogue. She has been looking fowrad to meeting Aaron for some time and stopped by for a short visit. She held Aaron the entire time and he seemed to get along well with her.

We didn't have plans for the rest of the week, but Thom came home feeling sick on Wednesday and stayed home from work on Thursday, so we had his company. On Friday, he was feeling mostly better and he watched Aaron while I went to Trader Joe's to do the weekly grocery shopping. It was the third time I've gone out alone since Aaron was born and I definitely enjoy the freedom, even knowing I can only stay out 1-2 hours.

But within the next week, I plan to start pumping milk so Thom can give Aaron a bottle now and then, which will allow me to get out for longer stretches of time (and more importantly, it will allow me to get longer stretches of sleep). I'm crossing my fingers that Aaron will take the bottle without too much drama. So far he hasn't been too keen on taking a pacifier, which we started to introduce around 3 1/2 weeks. We've gotten him to suck on it about 3 times, but other times he just flat out refuses it. If you have any advice for introducing a bottle, please let me know!