three weeks old.

three weeks old has been good to us.  little man is more & more awake with every passing day it seems.  and he is growing like a weed!!  we went to a breastfeeding class at the hospital this week & he weighed in at a whopping 7 pounds, 6 ounces on his three week birthday.  up from 6 pounds, 4 ounces at birth (plus the eight ounces he lost in the hospital).  what a good healthy boy we have!!  we didn't do much this week, just mostly hung out at home.  oh! and i did get away for the first real time without him - i got my hair done this week.  i contemplated cancelling the appointment because it's usually three hours long & we haven't introduced a bottle yet - but mike was gracious enough to come downtown with brady & me so that i could feed him in the car immediately before the appointment & then immediately after they met me at the door and all was good to go!  so thankful for a super helpful husband in all of this.  every day i've been intentional to get out of the house with brady, just to avoid going stir-crazy while mike's working...so we managed to fit in some errands, trips to the grocery store & target of course, a few lunches with friends.   i'm loving being home with him so much but i know myself and can't just stay in these four walls every day ;)  however, he's proving to be an easy laid back little guy and getting out & about with him hasn't been a problem at all.  he's really not been fussy at all except if it's getting close to time to eat.  he's pretty alert for the first hour after he eats & then he starts fussing and is ready for a nap.  he falls asleep easily wrapped in a blankie & with his faithful binky.  it's during these little naps that i'm able to easily shower, start laundry, or pick up around the house.  he's doing so well at night with minimum three hour sleep stretches (and occasionally the four hour stretch) that i feel pretty rested during the day and have only had to take an occasional nap.  i feel much more functional at three weeks post-partum that i'd expected.  again, we just feel so fortunate to have an easy going, sweet little baby that has seamlessly fit into our lives.  we are so so grateful for him.

here are the pictures from our week...

i love how snuggly he is in the mornings on our fluffy duvet cover.  he looks so comfortable!

it didn't last long though - he doesn't have time for photos when he's hungry!

self portrait of me & my boy.  i wanted to capture how tiny he still is.  he fits so easily in one arm, legs all pulled up in that sweet newborn way.

 we try to have a little tummy time every day.  this week his skin has started peeling a little.

tummy time is okay but he's much happier on his back looking around.

i love him in the mornings in his swaddle. he looks like a cute glow-worm :)

 sleeping on daddy is still his favorite activity.

sometimes just looking around while on daddy's chest.

speaking of daddies - my dad used to hold me in one hand and we were talking about it this week and decided to see if brady was that tiny.  and yep!  he fits in one of mike's hands perfectly.  and he was totally relaxed being held like this - reminds me of a cat when you pick it up by the scruff. they just go limp :)  i can't believe he is this tiny!!  before we know it he'll be a teenager probably taller than me!

we give the peanut a bath weekly on saturday nights or sunday morning - little boys have to be clean & smell good for church you know!  i think this might be his last week on the mat on the counter.  he's getting so long now & will probably fit well in the baby tub we have.

he hates his bath though - i think he just gets cold when we're done & he lets me know about how unhappy he is.  look at that sad lip!

 favorite baby reflex still intact - the monkey toes!

i love how he's starting to stretch his legs out straight so much more!  he still sleeps all curled up but when awake is kicking lots & extending his long legs.  crazy to see these little legs that were kicking inside me just a few weeks ago.  when we lay him on his back he immediately starts kicking and then startles himself and the startle reflex cracks us up.  arms & legs flail for a second ;)

brady is mostly into being very serious, and his little furrowed brows are about the sweetest thing ever.

i love his brown puppy dog that suzanne gave us before we even knew if brady was a boy or girl.  i'm going to start taking his monthly photos with this dog for one year to see his growth.  i put it next to him in the chair this week just to see :)  the other pic below is on the rug in his room.

baby naps are so sweet.

the curled legs!

 our peanut is VERY expressive.  he ranges from furrowed brow to sleepy (unintentional) newborn smiles in a matter of seconds.  i love capturing all his faces & laughing at how darling he is.

surprised at something aunt kate said apparently ;)

he sucks his lower lip in a lot & it makes us laugh every time!

sweet baby pirate!

 brady is the best thing we've ever done!  he brings with him a daily adventure of love, infatuation, wonder & laughter.  we are so in awe of how sweet our life with him has been so far.

two weeks old.

 being two weeks old is hard work, brady says!  his days were filled with lots of diaper changes, naps, good eats & hilarious expressions.  we fall more in love with him every single day and two weeks old brought lots of joy to our little family of three.

we like to start our mornings slow, with lots of snuggles in mom & dad's bed :)  waking up is hard to do, especially when you're too little to drink coffee.

 brady has had so much more alert time this week.  he's awake usually for about 20-30 minutes after a feed, and it's been awesome to see his little blue eyes more often.  his expressions CRACK us up...i've heard several times how much more expressive he is than most newborns.  i guess he gets that from momma ;)  i love his little bird mouth, the furrowed brow, and his serious but calm demeanor.

and nothing beats a sleepy newborn smile.

also new around the homestead: patio furniture!  we have long been craving a shady spot to sit & enjoy our backyard and we finally pulled the trigger on this set.  we LOVE it.  being home more this summer with a new baby makes this especially handy to have.  and thankfully we found it on sale at target!  score.

one morning while pouring my first cup of coffee, brady took a moment to remind me how HUNGRY he was by mouthing my arm :)

we were so blessed to have our first out of town visitors come when brady was15 days old!  my mom & aunt jane made the trek from the midwest to spend a long weekend with us and we soaked up every second of their time here.  it was wonderful to introduce them to my little tiny and to spend hours just visiting & laughing & enjoying time together.  of course i was in the pit of depression when they left & can't wait to have them both out again soon.  i think it's safe to say they fell in love with little mister.

jane wasted no time offering brady his first candy :)

"talking" to grammy one morning!

being with daddy is by far brady's favorite activity so far (besides eating of course ;))...

i love this one of his little hand on mike's.  i think they'll be two peas in a pod as he grows up.

 we started really doing tummy time (and side time as you can see) this week and so far brady tolerates it okay.  he's very alert & just looks around and when on his tummy is able to move his head back and forth.  i don't know that he focuses much on anything but he seems to be fine laying face down & just looking around.

we weighed him at a lactation appointment at ten days old and he was 6 pounds 10 ounces. after losing eight ounces in the hospital, he'd gained altogether 15 ounces in his first ten days of life.  not bad for a little guy!  momma's milk must be good!

"touchdown brady!"

not so sure about the newborn napper attachment on the pack-n-play for naps...

okay, i guess it'll do.

what a difference a week makes!!  this is brady at just a few days old and at two weeks old.  he looks so much longer as his legs are really stretching out!

 one of my favorite things in LIFE is a sleeping baby on my chest.  A+ is my own baby sleeping on my chest.  we spend a lot of afternoons like this on the couch.  he is the sweetest thing ever & i can't get enough of this time with him.  mike agrees!

my little buddy accompanies me while i get ready in the mornings.  he's content just chilling in his rainforest bouncer.  seriously he is the most mellow peanut ever!

mister serious.  i could eat him up!

the eyebrows!  he's getting so big in his carseat only two weeks in!  he doesn't seem to mind getting in & out of it which i'm grateful for - have met many a newborn who freaks out when getting in or out :)

little man has decided this week that he LOVES being awake just when momma is ready for bed!  his favorite time of day is 10-11pm when i'm winding down & he's perking up.  these are a few pics of him this week at bedtime.  DING!

(p.s. i love love love our video monitor. best purchase we made! this is the night vision mode...great quality.  even better in daylight.)

 we celebrated mike's first father's day this week.  sunday was a really sweet day just the three of us.  church, followed by mike's pick for lunch (taco bell! man after my own heart!), presents galore, and then an afternoon snuggling on the couch watching golf.  it was perfect in his book, and actually in mine too.  i loved our day together & LOVED celebrating what an awesome dad he is already.  brady celebrated by taking a nap on daddy :)

 enjoying his patio lounger with sun shade :)

watching dad while dad watches golf.

 my new life: coffee & a binky on the side table.  perfection.

he got his second at-home bath & still isn't a fan.  thankfully his distress over bathing is nothing a binky can't fix!  we introduced a binky at the end of week one, after his nursing was well established and we discovered that our little peanut just likes to suck.  he is greatly comforted by his bink.

mister bright-eyes in the morning.  i love when i put him on his changing pad to get him dressed for the day, after the first feeding of the morning.  he's just super alert, quiet, calm and adorable.  his expressions still kill me and he gives me lots to laugh at first thing in the morning.  it makes the sleepless nights TOTALLY worth it :)

week two has been amazing.  we are so ridiculously infatuated with this little human and all his sweet ways.  he is such a blessing.  he's sleeping really well, doing some longer stretches at night most nights - minimum of three hours but sometimes makes it four or five - and the doctor said as long as he's gaining weight well like he has been those longer stretches are okay.  he eats well when he wakes up in the nighttime and goes back to sleep easily.  we take almost daily afternoon naps together, but i overall feel really functional during the daytime because he's not doing 1-2 hour sleep stretches at night like i was worried about.  so far it seems he got the price sleep gene, not mike's side of the family ;)

so excited about what each day brings us with our peanut.