Seven Weeks

Piper is seven weeks old, as of this past Friday.

Time flies.

Krissi and I are still sleeping on our couches. I don't know if I'd mentioned that here. When we came home from with our newborn, we slept in our bed, with Piper in a little cosleeper dealie between us. We quickly learned that while she would cry if we set her down on her back to sleep between us, if we held her while we slept, she'd sleep fine. We stayed in the bed for about two weeks I guess, before moving out to the couches. The couches made it easier on Krissi to get up and breast feed at night. And I still think like a seven year old sometimes, and so the novelty of slumber party in the living room was enough for me. And we've tried moving back to the bedroom once or twice, but with Piper still needing to eat a few times during the night the couches still work better. And we've completely spoiled her. She sleeps on one of us. Sometimes I'll set her on her back in the crook of my arm, other times she goes to sleep on one of us, stomach to stomach. I know- we're terrible people for letting her sleep not-on-her-back. You're welcome to come to my house and tend her while she cries.

Piper loves being sung to, or read to, or talked to. Sometimes (not all of the time) it will even quiet her if she's fussy. Over the weekend we threw in our They Might Be Giants, "No!" album, and sang to her, and she loved in. In fact, my heart nearly broke into a zillion pieces Sunday morning when we woke up at 8 and Piper was fussy, and I turned on the CD and started singing to her and she smiled and giggled like I was the funniest dude in the world. Oh man.

She's getting better and better about being aware of her surroundings. We can get fifteen minutes, sometimes more, out of the mobile above her crib, or the animals on her swing or activity mat. She's been either oblivious to them, or uninterested in them previously, but now she sees them, and sometimes smiles and makes noises at them. Inevitably though, she gets bored or frustrated or hungry and play time is over.

She'll make eye contact consistently, and watch you, whether during bath time, or on the changing table, or when just hanging out. She's just starting to respond to stimulus, turning her head to see you when you make noise to attract her attention.

She's still making little noises sometimes, not quite consistently yet. But it is mighty cute when she coos at one of us, or at a bright stuffed animal.

We've begun to outgrow some of our outfits, much to Krissi's chagrin.

Four Weeks

Well, we are just over a month along.

Things are going pretty well.

We weighed in today, and she is at 10 pounds, 4 ounces. Growing like a champ.

Its funny to see how she changes. Every week its something a little new or a little different. She's awake and alert even more. She locks in on things a little better, and now has begun to start verbalizing more. Where before she made some baby noises, they were mostly seemingly inadvertent gurgles and such. Now, in very small amounts, she's making little noises. She's given Krissi a few happy squeal sounds. And we've had just a few grins.

We were in to see the pediatric cardiologist today over the small hole in her heart. Its called Ventricular Septal Defect. They told us about it when she was born, and so of course we worry over it. We went in and were hoping that they'd tell us that it was cleared up and apparently gone, but the doctor says that it seems to have gotten smaller, but is not gone. We'll be back in two months for scans and so forth to check on it. The doc said that it was not something to be especially concerned about, and he says that he feels that it will take care of itself within the next few years. Still, we worry over it. We'd far rather she had a 100% clean bill of health.

Oh and in other non-meh-heart-related-stuff, we're up to size 1 diapers now. And our eyes are still rather dark, and so its hard to be sure, but I'm thinking that we'll have green eyes, or possibly hazel.