Mom gets a Moment to Herself

I decided to give Mommy an hour off from taking care of me today. She took that time to go get a pedicure and relax for a while. I stayed at G's house and entertained the whole clan. Papa Boogs fed me, G diapered me and Aunt Josie soothed me.

Mommy came back really quickly. She clearly had a hard time being away from me. She must have missed my irresistable charm and boyish good looks.

The Family has Begun to Arrive

Today I met my Great Grandmother Pearl and my soon to be Great Grandmother Eileen as well as my Aunt Josie and my cousin Celeste. They were all really excited to meet me and I spent the day at G's house visiting with them.

Mommy said that they come from these mysterious places called Louisiana and Michigan, that I can visit when I'm older. I keep telling her that Daddy got to travel the world when he was only a few months old so why shouldn't I?!

I think I'm going to have to pick up an English to Southern LA dictionary today before the rest of the family arrives because they kept talking about things like boudin and cracklins and calling me chér. (I don't know who this chér person is but I think my name is Wyatt.)

New Car / Daddy's Back to Work

Yesterday, Mommy and Daddy took me out to test drive cars. Daddy decided that his 12 year-old 1997 Ford Explorer needed to get replaced, especially in light of recent gas prices. They took the Toyota Prius and Toyota Camry Hybrid out for test drives and decided to purchase the Camry.

I'm so excited, a new car, Mommy and Daddy have never had a new car before. Now, this car is going to be Daddy's (he drives more miles), Mommy is going to keep driving her Subaru Outback.

Supposedly, the car comes off the boat in Portland, Oregon tomorrow, so we might have it by the end of the week!

Mommy and Daddy's friends, Paul, Anna and Norma came over for dinner yesterday. I didn't get to socialize much, but Anna did get the honor of being the first person (other than Mommy or Daddy) to get pooped on. Congrats, Anna!

Daddy went back to work this morning for the first time in two weeks. I didn't make it very easy for him, as I kept him up from 1:30 to 3:00 this morning, and he couldn't go back to sleep until 4:30. He looked pretty beat when he got home from work. I'll try to be easier on him tonight. I keep trying to tell them I'm going through a growth spurt and they aren't feeding me enough, I think they finally got the message last night. I expect a full belly tonight!

"First Minutes of Life" Video Posted

I finally got Dad to grab the video off of Boogs' video camera. He selected a small clip of my first seconds and minutes of life. To access the video, find the "Videos" section to the right of this posting.

Every time Mommy and Daddy watch it, it brings tears of joy to their eyes.

First Video Posted

My first video has been posted here on my blog. Please look at the sidebar to the right of this post for the "Videos" section.

First Pediatric Appointment / Dad gets Sick

Mom gave me a bath this morning. She's much better at it than Dad is. He gave me a bath and I screamed the whole time, Mom gives me one, and I'm quiet and content.

Yesterday, I had my first pediatric appointment, it was pretty stressful, I cried for most of it, but they gave Mom and Dad all sorts of useful stats on me.

Weight: 8 pounds
Length: 21 inches
Weight Percentile: 50%
Head Size Percentile: 50%
Length Percentile: 75%
NOTE: I'm almost back up to my birth weight!

The doc said I was in good physical shape. They poked my heel to draw blood AGAIN for a PKU test, which really hurt. I'm hear I'm done with doctors for a few months. What a relief.

Mom, Dad and I went out to lunch at Claim Jumper (one of Mom and Dad's favorite places). Mom got her standard Chicken Pot Pie and Dad got his regular, a Crab Wedge Salad. Dad mentioned that the restaurant must have changed the salad dressing, as it tasted different.

Several hours later, after we got home and played a bit on my Baby Einstein mat, Dad started complaining about feeling dizzy. He promptly went to lie down for a few hours, after which he woke up and tried to keep from being sick. This lasted for a few hours, but Dad started feeling better around 9:30pm.

I was not a very cooperative baby last night, I kept Mom and Dad up very late. Eventually, after eating 2 times in 3 hours, for a total of 6 ounces of formula (nearly 50% more than I normally eat), I finally calmed down and slept on Dad's chest for a bit, then next to Dad, like the photo in the June 13th post).

Right, now, we're all up at Mom's work (Woodinville High School) cleaning up Mom's classroom after the last day of school, which was today. Later, I hear the WHS staff is having a BBQ in my honor (not really, they do it every year, but close enough, it's my first day visiting the school).

Later today, Mom and Dad are going to take a nap with me, see if they can catch up on some sleep that I deprived them from last night.

First Walk

Today, I let Mom and Dad sleep a bit more. During the wee hours, I'm sleeping up to four and half hours uninterrupted. Compared to other babies my age, this is supposedly a miracle (of which Mommy and Daddy are extremely thankful for). Mom and Dad were reflecting that perhaps the BabyPlus system/product works after all?

Dad tried out the Baby Björn last night, which was pretty cool. I was able to sleep right up against him while he messed around with his computer.

My Mom's work friend Stephanie stopped by this morning to admire me. Dad was hoping that she'd bring her three month old son Quincy, but he stayed home today with his Grandma. Oh well, more attention for me. She brought a box of Quincy's old clothes over, for me!

I took Dad out to get his haircut, he was getting a bit scraggly. After that, we went to Target to get more baby stuff (diapers, pacifiers). Then we were off to the post office to handoff my birth announcements to the postal service. I hope they take care of those announcements, Mom and Dad worked hard on them. The last stop on our little adventure was to pick up some more food for big-brother Cisco. Of course, I slept through all of this. Mom and Dad are getting really good at timing my feeding, sleeping and diaper changes.

Mom got to try out the Baby Björn today as well, we all (Mom, Dad, Cisco and I) went for a walk when we got home from our afternoon out.

Bye!

Over the river and through the woods...

...to G's house we go.

Hmm, I think we need to work on that one.

This weekend I took my first trip to G and Papa Boogs' house. They were cleaning out the garage but G spared a few minutes to change my diaper and feed me. I didn't get to play with Aja or Madison but Mommy said when I'm bigger I can play fetch with them. Aunt Lou Lou was there too, so I got to hang out with her before she went to work, I think she got out of doing some of her chores since she was holding me. You're welcome Aunt Lou Lou!

On Saturday, I also took my first trip, of many I'm told, to Costco. Mommy and Daddy printed some birth announcements to send out to my fan club members. I must say I look pretty handsome in the picture.

On Sunday, Father's Day, I gave Daddy his first Father's Day card. He was really surprised that I had the time and money to buy one since we've been so busy and I'm only a week old!

Also today my Grammy Madeline and Grandpa Brent came to visit me, they were a little awkward at first - I think it's been a long time since they've been around little guys like myself. Grammy gave me a bottle while Grandpaw took lots of pictures, I guess I see where Daddy gets it from.

Clean Bill of Health!

Today, I had my third follow-up doctors appointment with the nice people from the hospital. I got a clean bill of health from them. My weight had gone up to 7 pounds 12 ounces (the same weight as when I was discharged from the hospital), meaning that I have gained 7 ounces in two days.

That being said, they put me on a diet, can you believe it?! They said that eating 4 ounces of food at each feeding is nearly double what I should be getting. *sigh* As you can imagine, I'm a bit upset, I was really starting to like it. Mom and Dad say it's the best for me, they feel I might be...umm...weight-challenged, being that I am an Olson and a Wyatt/Jewell.

After my doctor's appointment, we went up to Babies'R'Us to do some shopping for more Wyatt supplies. Dad's excited about the sleep positioner that they purchased, which is supposed to help me feel more cradled in my crib or bassinet. They are both excited about the new bottle warmer that they got me (apparently the old one wasn't being very consistent).

I've been eating Similac formula for the last few days, as a supplement to Mom's milk. Mom and Dad are a bit worried about rBGH in normal formula, so we're switching to Earth's Best organic formula tomorrow. I hope it's yummy, even if it is good for me.

Dad went off for an appointment at Microsoft this afternoon, leaving Mom and I for about three and a half hours. Mom called this a dry run for when Dad goes back to work. I'm proud of her, she took really good care of me while Dad was gone.

Uncle Josh came over this afternoon and had the privilege of being the first person (other than Mom and Dad) to feed me. He was pretty awkward holding me at first, but he got the hang of it real quick. I hope to spend more time with him soon, he was pretty cool.

We're all going to try and go to bed before 1:00am tonight, I'll report back tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Love you all!

P.S. Oh, and for all of my devoted fans out there, I'd love to hear your comments and encouragements. I'd love to hear from you.

Visiting Dad's Workplace

Whew, another busy day out on the town.

We visited Aunt Dee again for another baby massage, went up to Dad's work to be admired by all of his co-workers and visited Target so Mom and Dad could purchase more Wyatt paraphenalia. I kept them busy will all of my pooping, shows them to leave the house with only four diapers.

I slept very well last night, 4 hours the first stretch and another 4 hours the second strech. Mom and Dad were quite happy, especially Dad, as he and I slept in this morning. Dad keeps me very warm when I sleep with him. Mommy caught a picture (she's sneaky!) of both of us sleeping together, even I have to admit, it's pretty cute!

My jaundice is greatly improved, Mom and Dad comment that my color is getting back to normal. I'm now eating, pooping and peeing frequently, keeping my parents very busy.

After the doctor's appointment yesterday, Mom and Dad starting feeding me with a bottle, which was a very weird experience. It was so much easier to get food out of the bottle that I couldn't quite figure out how to suck, swallow and breath all at the same time, resulting in large quantities of formula spilling everywhere. I've since become quite proficient at feeding from the bottle.

Oh, I almost forgot, "G" and "Papa Boogs" stopped by yesterday evening to admire me. Dad caught a picture of them basking in my glory.

Really, I feel much better and things are improving. Mom, Dad and I are all getting more rest now, and they are feeling more confident in caring for me.

Man About Town

Wow, have I had some adventures the last few days.

Yesterday, Aunt Dee Swem gave me a baby massage so I could relax after the stress of my big entry into this new world.

Next, we went back for another followup appointment to the doctors office, where they checked my weight again and found that I had gained 1.5 ounces from the previous day, putting my new weight at 7 pounds 5.3 ounces.

After filling my belly with formula at the doctor's office, I took Mommy and Daddy out for lunch for their first real outing since I came into the world. We had vietnamese Pho and I ate with chopsticks for the first time.

Then we came home and I got my second bath of my life. It was scary, I told Mommy that I didn't need a bath and that boys were supposed to be dirty. They made me take a bath anyway, I wonder if this is a sign of things to come.

Hungry and Jaundiced

Mom, Dad and I just got back from the ~72hour post-partum appointment. Mom and Dad are proud of me, I was quite a trooper, but I don't remember much, as I slept through most of it.

Apparently I haven't been getting enough food, as I weighed in at 7 pounds, 4 ounces, which is right around 10%. The nurses were only mildly concerned with this, so they told Mom to start pumping for breastmilk, to be used as a supplement. If Mom isn't able to provide enough breastmilk, those nice nurses sent home some yummy formula to use as a supplement.

It was pretty cool though, they gave Dad this syringe and feeding tube to supplement with. The feeding tube gets taped to Dad's index finger and Dad puts his finger in my mouth to suck on. He gently presses on the syringe as I suck, giving me yummy food. Dad thought this was awesome, as he gets to feed me, which apparently is quite an privilege.

The nice nurses (I forgive them for poking my heel and making me bleed), told Mom and Dad that the jaundice is not a big concern right now, and is only on the high side because of the feeding. They felt that if I get supplemented when feeding, the jaundice should be less of an issue, as I will poop more (Haha, more diapers for Dad to change!).

I really slept a lot better last night, which was my second night home. The first night home was really rough, as Mommy was really tired and all I wanted to do was nuzzle at her breast all night.

Oh, I got to use my stroller for the first time! It rocked! Literally, it rocked me right to sleep. I think that Mommy and Daddy need to take me for some walks once this rotten weather clears up.

Love you all! Bye!

Cold and Confusion

Wow, it's different out here! I'm cold and confused. I think I shouldn't have rushed out into the world, maybe a few more weeks in the womb would have been okay.

My head is hurting less now, that vacuum they used on my head to get me out really hurt!

Mom and Dad seem really tired, but I'm not sure why. There's really not much going on in the house. I mean, I sleep, eat, pee and poop, there should be plenty of time in-between for them to sleep.

Chris's friend Brian Lowrey was waiting yesterday when we came home from the hospital. He even brought some yummy homemade mac-and-cheese for Mom and Dad, that was nice of him. If anyone else wants to deliver cooked food to Mom and Dad, they wouldn't complain.

Big brother Cisco was gone for a few hours today, getting a hair cut and wash. It really got quiet around here with him gone, without his barking (which I find strangely soothing, the barking, that is). I guess Aunt Loren took Cisco to and from the groomer while Dad slept and Mom and G took care of me. That was really nice of her. I'm definitely making progress at wrapping her around my little finger.

Tomorrow, Mom, Dad and I go to the post-partum appointment. It's at 9:30am, but I hear that we have to get up at like 6:30am just to make sure can get there on time. Supposedly I'm supposed to show up hungry, we'll see about that.

June 7th, 2008 - The Big Day!

Mommy's birthday was Friday, June 6th. I knew she was born on 6/6/78, which is a cool date to have for a birthday.

On Friday afternoon, about 4:30pm, I realized that Saturday was 6/7/08, another really neat date. I like neat dates, and so does my family, so I decided that I needed to be born on Saturday. I quickly sabotaged my amniotic sac, breaking my mom's water. I knew that this gave me a pretty good chance of being born on my schedule (instead of my Mom's).

Lo and behold, my scheming paid off, I knew if could delay Mom's labor until after midnight, it was a virtual guarantee that I would get born on 6/7/08. Hah, I've already got her wrapped around my little finger (labor started at about 11:30pm).

After about 13 hours of trying to fight my way out, I entered the world at 12:49pm, weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce, and measured 20.5 inches long.

I'm tired now, I'll get Dad to post some of the pictures of the event.