Ant diary: 5 weeks

Growth check: At his 1 month doctor's appointment, Ant had put on more than three pounds over his lowest weight, tipping the scales at a whopping 9lb 10oz! He also measured at 21.5 inches, a gain of 1.5 over birth. Both of which we can see in his clothes which he fills out a lot better, and his diapers - he's just about outgrown the newborn size. He also has cute little plump calves, not the chicken legs he was born with.

Tummy-time: I keep meaning to have him spend more time on his tummy, but he gets fussy very quickly when he's there so I don't do it unless he's in the "calm-alert" state which doesn't last very long, so we don't get to it much. He does lie on M on his tummy, and is already able to hold his head up (albeit briefly) at a 90 degree angle. Very cool.

Focus: Yesterday was the first time on his gymini when Ant actually spent time looking up rather than having his head to one side or the other. Still not really looking at the toys, but getting there. Today I went over to a friend's house (our first car trip on our own), and there he actually followed me out of the room with his eyes when I went to get something. Shwing!

Smiles: They're still involuntary, mostly after he's finished eating, but they are SO adorable. He's going to have dimples!!

Hands: He's started grabbing onto things - mostly my skin, while he's feeding. Boy can he give me a good pinch. Ouch!

Feeding: We've started him on the bottle, he doesn't like it as much as he likes me, but he'll take it. He's taken a room temp bottle a few times, but M isn't pushing as hard for him to go room temp / cold as I would. Since he's doing the bottle feeding, I'll go with it. Although somehow I'm always the one who prepares the bottles, so perhaps I should push a little harder. It would be really nice if he would take them cold!

Pumping is going incredibly well - I don't know what it is, but I truly am a milk factory. I pumped four hours after feeding him last on Monday, while I was out, and got 9oz. In FIVE minutes! It's totally crazy. It also means that I'm a champion leaker. I was talking to my mom on the phone, and had forgotten to put a nursing pad in. All of a sudden I noticed I was feeling damp - looked down to see this!. With a puddle on my leg. Ha!

Eyes: They're currently a medium blue. I wish they would come out that way in pictures, but they really don't. I'm so curious to see what color they end up being. Mine are green, M is brown-green. I think they've gotten a little lighter since he was born, but it's so hard to tell.

Complexion: His milia have all disappeared, which is nice. He's getting a bit of cradle cap though - eww. I'm trying to keep him well-moisturized.

Sleeping: Really lucked out on this one - he's sleeping really well at night. After his last evening feed we'll often get five hours until he wants to eat again, which I really count my blessings for. After that it's three hours between feeds, which still isn't too shabby. He's still sleeping reasonably well during the day, although sometimes will only sleep on me, which makes it hard to get things done! He has been fussier in the evenings, but we're slowly learning how to calm him. I found that he really liked going up and down stairs, which translated into deep knee bends also calming him. That's tough on the knees though - but my mom reminded me that we have an exercise ball that we can bounce on, and he really seems to like that as well. It's hard on the back though! M came up with the good idea of using the boppy while bouncing on the exercise ball, which does help with the back quite a lot. Funny-looking, but when he's screaming, whatever it takes!

Me: Only one pound to go before I'm back at my pre-pg weight. Of course then I still have to lose my IF weight after that. I still have a decent sized baby belly, which I didn't think had been getting any smaller until I found I was able to put on a pair of pants today that didn't fit me last week. I also went for my first bike ride yesterday - it felt fucking fantastic. It had been almost five months since I was on my bike last, as I stopped once my contractions started at 25 weeks. I was surprised at how good my stamina was - hopefully that bodes well for when I start playing hockey again in a couple of weeks!