You may remember the Birthday and Baby Extravaganza back in August where we had a onesie-decorating project at G-Ma and G-Pa T's house. Family and friends decorated onesies for Tigger's impending arrival.
Well, he's here and is big enough to fit into some of them. Below is the first in the occasional series, "Tigger's Designer Duds"....
Clint:
(Tigger's staring at the ceiling fan):
He's going, pretty much every 3 hours. We are already master diaperers...
Today Caleb visited the pediatrician for his two month checkup. He's doing great! His height and weight stats were:
22 1/4 inches long 10 1/2 pounds
Both of these are the 10-20% percentile for a two month old. If you adjust for him being premature and compare him against one month olds, he's at the 50% percentile. He's our happy, chubby baby!
He wasn't too happy though with the shots. He was scheduled for four shots today, according to the AAP's standard immunization schedule. I've been reading What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations, which presents a rather pessimistic view of vaccinations. Though the author does stretch the results of some studies to present a dooms-day view of vaccinations, it's a good perspective to weigh against the pro-vaccination view we hear from the medical community.
Though Papa Tigger and I don't want to get caught up in the current herd mentality about vaccinations being dangerous, we recognize that there might be a small grain of truth in the hype. Ultimately, we'd rather be safe than sorry.
We talked to the doctor today about delaying and spacing out the two-month vaccinations. She recommended the AAP schedule, but said she frequently accomodates parents who want to deviate from the schedule. She did strongly urge us to complete all four vaccinations before Caleb goes to daycare (though it's hard for me to imagine him getting polio at daycare).
So our decision was to do two vaccinations (DTaP and Hib) today and do the other two (Polio, Prevnar) in a month before he goes into daycare. He was quite a champ and only cried for a few seconds after being stuck. Unfortunately, this means a few days of soreness, fever and fussiness, which is no fun for any of us:(
Tigger is two months old today!! Papa Tigger and I can't believe how time has flown. He goes to the pediatrician on Thursday, but our guess is our little boy is getting close to 10 pounds. Can you believe it?!?! Here is the comparison pick from just after birth:
To today, two months later:
Unfortunately, we took the picture during his fussy period (hence the crying). Below are some happier pictures, collected over the last week.....
Tigger has been a little congested lately and I've been trying to help him with the nasal aspirator. Here Papa Tigger catches me in the middle of a snot extraction episode (the things a mother will do!):
A few days ago, we put Tigger's new jacket on him and he looked so cute, we had to take a few shots. Thanks again Lynda:)!
Tigger is smiling! We got some footage this morning of him smiling at Papa Tigger:
And since I'm posting about Tigger's facial expressions, I'll include one of Tigger after a particularly good meal. He gets a little messy sometimes....
And I'll finish off this post with a few random pictures. Here's Papa Tigger on the computer with Tigger. Notice Tigger holding his head up!
And finally, a little bit about Major. Major has been adjusting well to Tigger's arrival, despite some neediness in the first few weeks. Or so we thought. Major got ahold of one of Tigger's pacifiers and showed us that he realizes that he's not our top priority anymore:
Ironically, the nursery is Major's new favorite spot. I guess he's figured out that's where Papa Tigger and I now spend a lot of our time. Here he is just chillin:
Tigger just spent a fun-filled weekend with his Aunt Lorelei, Uncle Michael and Cousin Cassidy. They came for a visit to meet their nephew/cousin and we all had a great time! Here's Uncle Michael meeting Caleb for the first time (and me showing him our cool Flip). This is one of the few pictures of Michael because......
....he spent the entire weekend like this, behind the camera:
We started off Day 1 of the visit with a trip to the Museum of Natural History. Papa Tigger and I just got a new stroller for when Tigger outgrows the car seat. Cassidy was nice enough to try it out for us during the visit.
Here we are at the fish exhibit (notice Michael in the background with his camera).
After the museum, we went for a long walk around the national mall. We saw the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Wall. Michael wanted a picture of the fam in front of the Washington Monument, so Papa Tigger obliged, making sure to get the best angle:
We were all tired after all that walking.....
The next day, we started off our walking tour with Dupont Circle, where Papa Tigger lived years ago before meeting Mama Tigger. Cassidy enjoyed running around the fountain with Papa Tigger.
While we were sitting on the benches, we got a true DC-citing when Donald Rumsfield walked by. I guess he was enjoying the nice DC weather as well.
We finished off the day with a stroll by the White House. Then later that night, Michael and Lorelei babysat Tigger so that Mama and Papa Tigger could have a date night. While Papa Tigger and I enjoyed a nice dinner, Michael and Lorelei visited a DC landmark, Ben's Chili Bowl. I think the size of the chili cheese fries surprised both of them!
On our last day, we visited the International Spy museum. Since no photography was allowed inside (much to Michael's indignation), we don't have any pictures of that. For dinner, Papa Tigger made the famous Thomas ribs. It was yummy and very messy! Luckily, everyone managed to save room after the ribs for a treat from Rita's. After some italian ice and gelati, we wrapped up the day with some relaxing time in the basement, where Cassidy got to spend some time with Caleb:
Kisses for baby Caleb:
And now, she's done, off to something else:
We even got some video of Cassidy holding Caleb:
And again later, helping him with his pacifier (and being shy):
Cassidy was really great with Caleb, at one point getting a burp cloth because the 'baby's dripping.'
And finally, the last picture of the weekend. Here's Cassidy none too happy about getting up early for the return flight home:
Papa Tigger, Tigger and I had a great time. Thanks Michael and Lorelei for making the trip out here!!
Tigger is getting so big! He's starting to hold his head up and focus his eyes more. It's so neat to have him actually look at you. We've seen fleeting smiles, but haven't been able to catch that on camera yet. Here he is this morning, though, in all his cuteness:
Caleb was quite the social butterfly this past weekend! On Saturday, we ventured out to Virginia to join other UT alumni to cheer the team on to its win over #1 ranked OU (Hook Em!). Caleb was all dressed up in his burnt orange onesie and Dad taught him the Hook Em sign:
On Sunday morning, Caleb went to church with us and spent some time with Pastor Donna:
Later that afternoon, Elaine stopped by to meet Caleb. It was nice catching up with Elaine and getting up to speed on gossip and goings-on at work:
We rounded out the weekend with dinner Sunday night with Brandon's pseudo cousin Ann (she's part of the family through marriages and other branches of the family tree).
All in all, it was a great weekend. Mama and Papa Tigger enjoyed getting out of the house and Caleb enjoyed meeting everyone!
This past weekend, Tigger took his first car trip. We drove to G-Ma and G-Pa T's house on the lake (in Virginia). He did great in the car; he slept the whole time, only waking up to let us know he was hungry. A brief stop for feeding and burping and we made it there in the usual 4 1/2 hours.
On Friday, we spent the day on the local home tour. Since babies weren't allowed (some freak accident last year involving a baby in a Baby Bjorn with explosive diarrhea), we took turns going through the houses while someone stayed outside with the baby (see below). This gave G-Ma and G-Pa T plenty of time to show off Tigger to the neighbors....
Not only did G-Ma and G-Pa T get in some Tigger time, but Mama and Papa Tigger got some sleep. Friday night, we handed over bottles of expressed breastmilk and hit the hay. We slept for 8 straight hours while the 'rents took the nighttime feedings. The sleep was nice, but we missed our little Tigger. Here we are the next morning getting reacquainted:
And since this post seems to be all about sleeping, here's a pic of Tigger sleeping (in his favorite position with his arms up) with Papa Tigger:
And me with Tigger:
Here we are at the fish exhibit (notice Michael in the background with his camera).
We even got some video of Cassidy holding Caleb:
