Bath

Cale's had a couple of sponge baths so far, of course, but this evening he had his first baby bath. Now that Cale has lost his cord stump, he's cleared for baths. He wasn't sure about it at first. In fact, he started to cry. I assured him that baths could be fun, that he would love baths with his big brother when older. Cale stopped crying, so I kept telling him stories of bathtume fun. Easy!

Motivation

I knew Daddy would be home from work during Karston's nap. So when Karston asked me after lunch, where Daddy is?, I said, He's at work, and he'll come home once you fall asleep for your nap. Karston played with Legos for another five minutes, and then he climbed in bed on his own! I reminded him that he had to sleep before Daddy came home, and he curled up on his pillow. Wow! Easiest nap ever! Daddy is a powerful motivator!!!

Newborn to Infant

Cale just lost his umbilical cord stump during his nap. The good news is that we can now dress him in onesies instead of tees. His tummy should stay warmer during this springtime cool snap. The bad news is that I think it hurt. Cale was fussing quietly and kicking vigorously. He had a few drops of blood on the diaper I changed. Now he's cleared for size 1 diapers on all levels: weight, and not needing the umbilical cut-out. So our littlest boy is growing up!

Love

We've often said of Karston that he is All love, all the time. Today he showed one aspect of that several times. While I was holding Cale, Karston asked to hug baby brother. When I let Karston hold Cale, he very seriously said, I love you, baby brother. Yes, Karston is full of love.

After N

I put the last size N diaper on Cale earlier this morning, and I just put on the first size 1. By weight, he's been ready for this change, but we like the umbilical cut-out of Ns until the cord stump falls off. We used two packs of Ns with Karston, so we bought two for Cale. I think Cale goes through more diapers, and he still has his cord stump, but it's time for 1s because he's had a couple of leaks recently. Cale nurses well in clusters, then sleeps well for many hours. Karston never did that. So Cale has some diapers on longer ... and leaks. So we'll just fold down the top of his size 1 diapers for now.

Super Cale!

I don't believe this, but Cale just tried to sleep through the night! He's only 10 days old, and he hasn't even reached 11 pounds (when babies are supposed to be metabolically capable of sleeping through the night). Cale finished nursing at 11 PM, and he started rustling a little before 6 AM. Wow!!! Of course I was in pain by them. If he keeps this up, I am going to have to get up in the middle of the night to use the breast pump! This might also explain why he nursed constantly yesterday and I wasn't allowed to set him down for any length of time, not even 5 minutes. I'm just amazed ...

Playing and Weighing

Karston doesn't have playschool this week (Spring Break), but he really needs a normal routine to balance out the big change of a baby brother. So we improvised! This morning, Daddy and Karston went to visit Nadia and Tasha (a year older and a year younger). Nadia was just as excited as Karston about a playdate, and they had a grand time playing!!! Karston saw play-dough for the first time. After a morning of play that couldn't be beat, Daddy took Karston over to Mimi's house since that's where he goes after his regular playschool mornings. Karston was very happy to hear about Mimi, and insisted that only she could get him out of his car seat. When she did, Karston snuggled up under her chin as he does when he's very tired. Yeah, he napped right away, and slept well. Then he ate well. We all were very glad Karston had such a great time playing, and followed his routine. That's got to help him adjust.

Cale weighed 8.5 pounds this afternoon with a fresh N diaper, a tee, and a hat. Karston reached Cale's birth weight of 8 pounds just before he was 3 weeks old, and he was 9.25 pounds at his one month pediatrician's visit. So what took Karston between three weeks and a month to weigh, Cale has done in 9 days. Of course it helps to start with an extra 1.5 pounds at birth!

This evening I nursed Cale and cuddled Karstpn to get them both ready for bed. I can't have more children because I barely have room on my lap for these two! I enjoyed our snuggle time.

Best Big Brother

We were pretty confident that Karston would be a good big brother because he is so sweet and loving. This evening's diaper change proves it. First, Karston had to help. (This was not particularly effective help as I noticed later that the diaper was not pulled over Cale's butt.) Second, Karston said No shoes! when he noticed Cale didn't have on his slippers. So Daddy said, Can you find his slippers? Karston ran from the room, and returned 30 seconds later with those slippers, saying Put shoes on! Karston's very helpful like that; Cale's lucky to have him as his big brother.

Easter Eggs

Karston and Daddy decorated Easter eggs this evening. (Karston doesn't know Sunday was Easter.) Karston says he likes the aqua blue eggs best. He even ate most of the two hard-boiled eggs that he peeled! Of course he loved putting stickers on his eggs, and you've never seen a hollow chocolate bunny disappear so quickly! We're happy that he ate so much in the evening (often means we get a better night for sleep when he eats well), and that some of it was healthy (although the ingredients for the Palmer's bunny weren't scary; fast food is way worse). Happy Easter Monday!

Diapers

Cale's not quite to the one week mark, and he's already gone through the first 40-pack of size N diapers. Weight-wise, he's ready for size 1 diapers, but we like the umbilical cut-out of Huggies N until Cale's cord stump falls out. He's a pooping wonder! We change a poopy diaper pretty much every time he nurses. We always knew (by nose) when Karston had a poopy diaper; we have to look to know with Cale. I stand by my original theory about Karston: he must have gotten my lactose intolerance, and that's why Karston had colic.

Easter Delight

Karston's playschool meets on Tuesdays and every other Thursdays. Now that he loves going to see mo' babies, the Tuesday-only weeks are very sad. And March: last Thursday was part of their Easter holiday, and this week is Spring Break. Playschool follows the county schools' schedule. So Cale's birth day was the last day of mo' babies this month! Ouch.

For Easter, we had lunch with Daddy's extended family: parents, sister's family, and cousins visiting from Las Vegas. Although the other children are much older than Karston, he had a ball playing with them. Two of his cousins are pretty blonde girls, and that makes Karston flirt. And I'd have to say that a trampoline is universal. Karston was laughing pretty hard! He really needed a good dose of playing with kids. He went well past naptime, and seeing him play that happily was worth it. Plus Karston loves his new super-soft Easter bunny that's in bed with him right now.

Mimi's Here!!!

Karston was totally delighted this afternoon when my mother came over. Karston hopped down from his seat where he spotted her car through the window, beamed, and started yelling Mimi's here! Mimi's here! with joy. I guess he likes her! She barely got to see Cale, or my grandparents who were here to meet Cale, because Karston monopolized her time. I'm glad she made Karston's day (and that she got him down for a nap with much less trouble than we've had lately). I think he needed time with his Mimi.

We had a great time introducing my grandparents to Cale. Newborns don't have any good tricks, but he was awake to make a few good faces and to nurse before passing out in a "milk coma" again.

No Teeth

This morning, Karston was playing with his Spogebob toothbrush (his front teeth are very clean, but we did not make much more progress than that). Karston wanted to brush Cale's teeth, but I showed him that Cale doesn't have teeth. Karston was very surprised, and had to tell Daddy, baby brother has no teeth!

This afternoon, we took Cale to his first well-baby pediatrician visit (the three day visit). He has lost 7% of his body weight, checking in at 7 pounds 8 ounces now. However, he also appears to be gaining weight already, so the pediatrician isn't worried. And, as the doctor pointed out, we're a lot more calm this time around; I said that's just sleep deprivation.

Where did he go?

Karston seems to have a pretty good handle on pregnancy (baby in Mommy's belly) and he knows Cale, our new baby, is part of the family, but I think he's missing some subtle points. This afternoon he stuck his head under my shirt and felt all around. He said ta-tas!!! when he got there. But after a quick inspection, Karston looked at me and asked, Where did baby go? I quickly showed him where Cale was sleeping. Thank goodness there's no return policy like that!

Welcome Cale!

At 2:55 AM on March 18th, we welcomed Cale Spero Keller. He is 7 pounds 15.8 ounces and 21.125 inches long, with 13.875 inches head circumference (or roughly 90%, 50%, and 25%). His hair already has blond highlights; Karston only turned blond after six months. Unlike Karston, Cale yelled at birth and turned red, so his initial Apgar score was a 9. Based on his first two hours, Cale doesn't nurse as readily or as easily as Karston did at this age, but I'm hoping he'll learn.

Technorati Tags: Baby, Pregnancy

I'm Karston

Today we dropped our station wagon off at the body shop to have the bumper painted. We had Karston with us, and he decided he needed to talk to our Automotive Cosmetic Specialist, Lisa. I was carrying Karston, and he leaned towards Lisa saying, Hi! to her until she said Hi back to him. Then Karston tapped his chest and said, I'm Karston. Lisa said, Well hi Karston. Then he leaned over, tapped my belly, and told her Mommy has baby in tummy, as if it weren't obvious to everyone who could see me! I think he wants everyone to know that he understands pregnancy.