More tummy time and swaddled up tight.
He seems to like being on his belly. He also slept well in the pack and play this morning while bundled up in his new swaddling gear. I had to buy another box of newborn diapers at Walmart today. Ouch. Waiting for the rain to pass so we can get him back outside.
Tummy time, creepy cat, and more.
Apparently babies need to spend time on their stomachs. This helps strengthen their muscles and improve coordination. Naturally Lily had to keep an eye on things. Also below: a couple other shots from the past couple of days.
First stroll, second bath, and Grandpa time.
Today we took advantage of the lovely weather and a visit from our friend Emilie by going for a little walk around the complex. It was Luke’s first real foray into the great outdoors and he handled it very well. It was nice for Liz to get out too, as it seemed to boost her spirits considerably. Unfortunately rain is supposed to arrive tomorrow and possibly last for several days. But we will venture back outside as soon as it is nice again.
Luke received an overdue second bath last night. He started off calm but that didn’t last too long. At least we covered up his hose this time and didn’t get sprayed.
On Thursday my dad brought by some food that my mother prepared. Fortunately his visit coincided with Luke being awake, so they got to spend some quality time together.
Blocked up, pipe relief, and beautiful weather.
Two truck loads of block got delivered yesterday, along with sand and mortar. They were able to position all of the block on the inside of the footings. Unfortunately the surveyor didn’t come as scheduled yesterday to mark the corners, so the masons couldn’t start today. Hopefully tomorrow. We are using split face block for the exposed areas and regular block for the parts that cover. That saves a little money, although we still used a lot of block – over 2000.
Yesterday as I was trying to figure out how to get water for the masons I discovered the main water line coming in from the street. I had been planning on replacing it since I assumed it was in rough shape, but it is actually one inch PVC pipe of a recent vintage. I found where it branched off to the house and outdoor spigot, and cut the line there. I installed a valve for a garden hose. It was a very easy and cost effective solution to a problem I was quite concerned about. I couldn’t have just used the existing spigot because there were too many leaks on the line that fed it. So now the masons will have water, a key ingredient for mortar. I am rather pleased with myself, but think that I will rework everything by putting a 90 degree elbow onto the line, then coming up a couple of feet off the ground and then attaching the spigot. Otherwise it would be a mess after it rains and the hole that the spigot is now in fills up with water.
This weather has been amazing, but will cool down again this evening for a couple of days. It was warm but quite breezy today. I hope the wind lasts through the summer. Things are getting nice and green. Unfortunately that means the grass needs cutting. I don’t yet have an implement for my tractor. I actually need to repair the three point attachment before I am ready for a cutter. Lots to do around the farm.
The neglected older child.
I never imagined the day where I would feel even the slightest bit of sympathy for Lily, but she has cut a pretty morose figure around the condo for the past couple of weeks. Yes, it’s the classic case of the firstborn getting knocked off the pedestal by something newer, cuter, and less of a butt hole. Fortunately she hasn’t attacked Luke yet.
Two weeks!
Well pop open a refrigerated bottle of breast milk, because Liz and I have managed to keep Luke alive and kicking for two weeks now. There is a little bit of leftover Easter candy in the Fusion that I might celebrate with. Other than that it’ll be a pretty low key evening.
Three boxes showed up from Amazon today. They contained a bunch of plain white onesies (with hand covers, so he doesn’t scratch his face), extra pumping supplies and nipple shields, and a handy little drying tower. I am disappointed in myself for being so excited about all of this stuff.
Japanese tourists, tongue tie, and first bath.
My parents and came over this afternoon and were able to hold Luke for the first time. Tons of cell phone photographs were taken. Luke was pretty relaxed about it. Lauren came over a little later but he was already feeding by then so she couldn’t hold him. Hopefully next time. She did stay and chat with Liz for a while though.
This morning we took Luke to the dentist. I can’t believe how fast his teeth came in! Just kidding, he actually went because he had a little tongue tie. It was a very quick laser procedure and Liz actually cried more than he did. This will help a lot with breast feeding and with his speech later. Hopefully it will keep him from getting any sort of Michigan accent! The biggest issue is going to be doing his mouth stretches every three hours for the next 21 days. Those get him pretty agitated and it is difficult to see him suffer. But short term pain equals long term gain.
We were actually on time, despite some traffic issues. All the folks at the office were super friendly and helpful.We return in two weeks for a follow up. The lactation consultant is coming Thursday and next Monday to check up on everything. I’m optimistic that this procedure will really help improve the quality of his feedings.
Since the last piece of his umbilical cord and the circumcised end of his penis both fell off a couple of days ago, we decided that last night was a good time for his first bath. We stripped him naked and learned a valuable lesson…keep the fire hose covered at all times! No pictures of the spray down or his sponge bath, as the former shocked me so much that I forgot to document the latter. But he soaked half the kitchen and it took me a long time to wash and sterilize everything afterwards. At least it was really funny to watch.
He started crying about 1:30 this morning and didn’t stop until we were getting ready to leave for the dentist’s at around 7:15. I took over from Liz at about 4:30 and held him and walked with him and did everything I could think of to get him to sleep, to no avail. The closest he came was a fifteen minute stretch of silence after I gave him a pacifier for pretty much the first time ever. He spit it out though, and went back to fussing. I took a little nap after we returned to the condo, but am still pretty tired.
Not much is planned for the rest of the week other than the lactation consultant. The weather is supposed to be spring like again starting tomorrow and I will start spending lot of time working on the farm. Block is supposed to be delivered tomorrow and the masons start work on Wednesday. Soon it will start looking like a house.
Resting up before terrorizing again.
Actually he is pretty low key. I don’t have much frame of reference in regards to the amount of noise produced by various babies. Yesterday’s two week check up went well. He is gaining weight and growing. Eight weeks until the next appointment. He is now taking a bottle (with breast milk) after every nursing on the breast. We are trying to transition him to longer stretches of sleep during the night. He has a lot of facial expressions. Not much of a smile though. The closest he comes is a face he makes just before crying.
Concrete and Cruisin’.
Got an early start this morning and arrived down in Columbia just after sunrise. I drove by the farm without stopping and continued down one of my favorite back roads in the area. It was a glorious morning and I snapped a few pictures with my phone.
After going down a few new roads I arrived at the farm and received a surprise. The concrete had been poured already! Yesterday morning the foundation guys told me that it would be poured this morning – hence my early arrival. I was pleased that it was done and it looked good, but extremely frustrated at the amount used – 50 yards. They dug the trenches in a fairly sloppy manner and hit some soft spots so the volume was much higher than expected. My dad came down to get his lawnmower and we talked for a bit. He told me that in five months when we were moved in and enjoying the farm life I wouldn’t care at all about the cost of the extra concrete. I hope he’s right.
I ran a number of errands around town after he left. Downtown Columbia really is a cool place. I hope to spend some time walking around with my camera before too long. I spent the afternoon piddling around the farm – tidying up materials and preparing for the storm that’s supposed to be rolling in tonight. As evening approached the back field looked lovely in the soft light.
I took the slow, scenic route back to the condo. I again stopped a couple of times to take some pictures with my phone. I forgot how nice it is to take long drives on country roads. It will be nice to really explore Maury County. I look forward to biking a lot as well.
Footings!
I have never been so happy to see holes in the ground. The footers were dug yesterday and rebar was placed. This morning the county inspector came and gave it his approval. Tomorrow they pour concrete. Early next week the block goes in and framing should start the following Monday. There were a couple of soft spots where they had to dig deeper than expected and they need a pump to get the concrete everywhere, but otherwise everything went great. The soil is fantastic and they only hit a little bit of rock. Things should really start moving along now.