First Soccer and Zoo Adventures

Mayson went to her first "Little Kickers" soccer class this weekend!  She went on the turf with her dad and kicked the ball around, played games, and did a great job listening to Coach Jeremy.  She's really good at running and kicking the ball in front of her.  Keri is the first to admit that she started to lose interest about a half hour in, but he said he had a hard time paying attention for that long too.  We also took Grayhm on his first zoo trip where we had a great elephant sighting.  Mayson was really into checking out the big boa constrictors.  I kept my distance.

Grayhm 2.0

Here are some pics of Grayhm in his second week of life!  He definitely got over the weight loss of week one and is eating heartily.  He is still sleeping a lot, but we have some more alert hours than before where he is looking around and checking things out. I think I have seen some faces resembling a smile, but I think it still may be wishful thinking. 

The Two States of Gray

We're still getting to know Grayhm, and so far we have been reminded that new infants don't do much more than sleep.  We're trying to figure out all of his nicknames, but I think we're going to have to wait and get a better sense of his personality.  We've been switching between Grayhm and Gray to get a feel, and Mayson calls him Baby Gray  We have captured his two states of being: asleep and awake to remember what he was like when we first met him.  His schedule is pretty full these days; about three hours of sleep, some milk, and then more sleep. 

Night Out

We're trying to get into some of our normal habits and at least get out of the house once a day.  We've made some family outings to the playground, library, and coffee shop.  And of course we had to check in at our favorite sushi place so everyone there could meet Grayhm and I could finally eat the salmon I've been watching Keri eat for 9 months.  Tonight we finally made it out of the house and walked down to Flying Squirrel Pizza.  Grayhm slept through the event, and Mayson had a great time coloring, playing with stickers, and eating a ton of pizza.  After a day of multiple "time-outs" it was a really fun way to end the evening with good behavior. We even did dinner without the iPad!  Normally that's Mayson's way (and ours) of enjoying a visit to a restaurant.  But I have to admit we had way more fun without it.  (It may also have had something to do with the first glass of wine I finally got to have). 

Photo Shoot

Grayhm had his first "official" photo shoot!  Unfortunately Mayson wasn't home at the time so she couldn't warn Grayhm about how his mama likes to get in his face with the camera.  He'll get used to it.

At Home

The Hassmann's came to meet Grayhm and play with Mayson.  Hope and Joey now have two little ones to entertain.  Grayhm has been settling in to his routine, although we would prefer to tweak it a little bit.  We try to officially put him to bed around 10pm, and he'll sleep until 1am.  Then after we change his diapers, and all of his clothes (due to our pee problem mentioned earlier), and feed him it is usually about 2am.  He will sleep until 5am, and then we do the whole routine again.  It seems like he sleeps the best after that feeding, but then Mayson is up anyway by 7:30.  She's been running in our bedroom every day like she usually does after we get her out of her crib, but I haven't been quite as ready for her as I usually am.  We tried to keep Grayhm up more during the day today to see if he'll sleep more tonight.  I'll let you all know how that works out for us. 

The First Week

Grayhm's stay in the hospital was good as I was working on my recovery.  Keri and I pick our favorite foods every time we stay.  Last time it was the omelets, and this time I was loving the chocolate milkshakes and jello and Keri found the Vietnamese sandwich.  Okay, back to Grayhm: He wasn't loving the food I was providing as much as we liked the hospital food.  Like Mayson, he lost more than his share of his birth weight and we had to make several visits to the Dr. to make sure he was gaining again after we left the hospital and started supplementing his milk.  He's almost back up to his birth weight now again so things are going well.  Even though he is 8lbs, he still feels so tiny.  We love holding him and cuddling. 

Mayson has been doing well getting to know him.  She looks at him sometimes and talks about him.  She'll point out that he is crying, and checks out what he's doing once in a while.  Otherwise, she hasn't been all that interested in him. At home, she has been playing like usual.  Although I think it has been hard on her that mommy can't do as much as she usually does.  I haven't been able to lift her or get down on the floor to play, so she seems a bit sad.  Keri is doing an absolutely amazing job.  He has been doing triple the amount of work around the house, taking care of Mayson, being her taxi, cleaning up, and serving me tea.  We are so lucky to have him as our dad and husband.  I am amazed by him every day and how much he is helping our family maintain our normal activities. 

Mayson did also start going to Ava and Aliza's house a couple of times a week in addition to continuing at Angie's once a week.  She is taking private swimming lessons with them and is staying super busy with daily trips to the library and bookstore.  She is pretty worn out by the time she comes home.  With that change and adjusting to Grayhm, we have had some more time outs than usual.  Today we went to frozen yogurt as a treat and she apparently wasn't ready to leave.  She screamed three times at the top of her lungs and clung on hugging the garbage can when I threw away her (empty) yogurt.  I think it will take some more time to adjust to all of the new changes...hopefully not in public.

Happy Birthday Grayhm

Baby Gray is here!  He was born on Tuesday, January 29th, at 12:56pm.  He weighed 8lbs, 3oz and was 20.5 inches long.  We were so excited to meet him and were delighted to hear his cry and see him for the first time.  Mayson, Grandma, and Grandpa came to visit and meet him later that evening in the hospital, and Mayson loved the presents that Grayhm brought her (Dora and Lincoln Logs...he already has good taste).  We brought him home on Thursday evening and have had a week getting to know him.  This is what we have learned about Grayhm so far:

When he is really mad, his cry sounds like an outraged pterodactyl. 
We listened to his concerns and found a wipe warmer for diaper changes.
He really likes to sleep (waking hours are few)
He really likes to drink milk (wants 2-4oz every three hours). 
He is definitely a boy, which is different than a girl when changing diapers.  We're not quite sure how to work this out yet and protect ourselves.  Grayhm has taken a stream to the face, and I've deflected a few squirts with my hands.  Every diaper change seems to shoot pee in a different direction, and we have to change his full outfit every time.  We've tried covering with the wipes and diapers, and so far Keri is convinced that wadded up toilet paper both absorbs and deflects the best.  We're open to suggestions. 
He's pretty mellow so far.  He only really gets upset during the diaper changes, but as you can see, they are traumatic for all of us.