Downtown Campbell

Alex has gained an entire pound since he was born! Yesterday we went to meet with the lactation consultant at the hospital just to make sure everything's going well. Alex weighed in at 6lbs and 6oz. At his routine check up on Monday he was 6lbs and .04oz so he is doing really great! We are pleased!! We're also relieved because we don't need to wake him up every 3 hours for a feeding at night time and can let him wake us up which he's good about. It's sad but getting a 4 hour stretch of sleep instead of the usual 3 is the best news ever for us right now.

After our appointment we decided to go to Downtown Campbell. Every now and then Matt and I hit a point where we feel completely malnutritioned and figured going to Stacks would be a good cure. The problem with Stacks is we usually try to go on a Saturday morning where the wait can be over an hour so it was really nice to be able to go on a weekday where we could get a table immediately.

It's painfully obviously Matt and I are newbie parents because when we asked for a table they asked if we needed a high chair. I said no he's still too small to sit in one and the hostess said that we'd be putting the carrier on the upside down highchair. We didn't know that's what people did.



I guess technically it's not supposed to be done though. On closer inspection we noticed this on the high chair:



Whenever we're at Stacks we stare at the menu for about 10 minutes but always order the exact same thing.

Since Alex hadn't been to Stacks before Matt pointed out our favorites to him.


After stuffing our faces and feeling a little more human we strolled down Campbell Avenue for a little while since we had an hour to spare. It was a beautiful day outside and Matt and I always enjoy the area. When Matt's parents come out in July they will be staying just around the corner from Downtown so we're looking forward to many more strolls in the area.






We took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. Alex got to spend some quality time with my parents in the evening while Matt and I got a quick errand in. Again, so thankful to have my parents around and be able to leave Alex for small amounts of time at the drop of a hat.

A New Swing for Alex

Last week I caught mastitis which is basically an infection following a blocked milk duct. Thankfully frequent feedings actually relieved the symptoms and pain. I'd have felt really terrible if I was unable to provide for Alex.  I was prescribed a form of penicillin which unfortunately brought about another type of infection. Ugh. So this morning I had to get a check up and get yet another prescription.

Matt and Alex came along so we could show little Alex off to my OB/GYN doctor. After all he's been looking at Alex ever since he resembled a sesame seed.  We figured he'd appreciate meeting him in color and 3D instead of the usual grainy grey ultrasound view.

After that we headed to Oakridge where I had to go to Target to return a couple of things and buy some essentials.  My buying/returning trips to Target never end.  Matt and I started filling out those little surveys we get on the receipts. We go so much, who knows, maybe one day we'll get lucky and win the $5000 shopping spree. I could see us spending it all in about 10 minutes. Love Target!!

We were due for Alex's next feed at around half eleven so we headed home.  He's got a great little internal clock going and gives us reminders every 3 hours just in case.

We have a room in the house we call the "playroom" which is kind of a disaster zone at the moment since we're in the process of Spring cleaning/reorganizing and we're mostly using the room as a dumping ground.  The room is really spacious and about 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the house (when it's sunny out) so I decided to feed Alex in there today.  While I did that Matt started putting together his swing. It's been on our to do list for ages.

Matt wasn't exactly thrilled with the screws Graco provided so he replaced them with his own but other than that the swing was very easy to put together.  When I met Matt he could barely tell the difference between two types of screwdrivers. Now he's Mr. Handyman.

Like most things (car seat, co-sleeper, bouncer) , Alex cried for about 30 seconds when we initially put him in the swing and then immediately calmed down and was the happiest baby ever.  There are so many features on the swing - nature sounds, different music pieces and we love the turtle mobile that hangs from the top. Thanks again to the  Turnipseedes for such a lovely present!

I'll end on the note of Inspector Mau checking out the swing:

15 Minutes at Starbucks

As you can see, Mau is still not exactly thrilled about Alex since she's had to take a back seat. She definitely keeps her distance.  She's aged about 10 years ever since he came home from the hospital. It's not that she hates him or anything but she's not particularly interested either.  She usually leaves the room when he starts making any kind of noise because she likes her quiet time.  We've slowly been encouraging her to hang out with us more which makes her feel close normal again. At least she's not mad at me or Matt anymore.

Sleep deprivation seems to be kicking in a little harder today.  All day I felt like I was an hour off and miscalculated one of Alex's feedings. Duh.  Since it was in the 70s today I thought it would be a nice idea to head out to Starbucks and sit outside for a little while.  For some reason I had it in my head that Alex was due for a feed at 6:30pm so at 5pm we got ready and left the house.  Multitasking is my middle name these days so most of the ride there I was on hold with Kaiser trying to schedule a follow up mastitis appointment for me.  Matt went in and ordered our drinks and I got situated in the courtyard area.   It was so nice to be in the sun, of course we kept Alex mostly shaded.

Matt couldn't find his sunglasses before we left the house so he borrowed my spare pair which unfortunately made him look a little bit like Elton John.

Here I am, multitasking as usual.  Still have a billion items on my to do list.

We only got to sit outside for about 15 minutes because as I mentioned I mistimed the whole feeding thing by an hour.  I could have tried to feed while we were out, somewhere quiet since I have a nursing wrap but we were only 10 minutes away from home and changing/feeding him is always easier when we're home.

A new observation we've made about him is that he likes to sleep with his arms and hands up. He's not a big fan of being swaddled if we're putting him in his co-sleeper and will whine and not fall asleep or try really hard to break out of the swaddle blanket which he is pretty successful at. The only times we make him into a burrito now is if he's already fallen asleep in our arms and out like a light or if we plan to hold him for awhile..then he doesn't mind.  Here's a cute photo I took of him post-change/pre-feed.

I hear Matt wheeling the co-sleeper back into our room.  Think that means it's time for the family to go to bed.  Goodnight!

Lots of New Clothes

I'm feeling really fortunate that Matt and I have nearly 3 months off work.  We're getting a lot of time to bond with Alex.  Since the weather was more or less decent today the 3 of us went to get bagels and coffee this morning. Alex got his usual onion bagel and grande latte.

It's funny, we always make a really long to-do list while we're out but only get to cross of one or two at the most.  These days though that seems like a major success.  We usually only have a 90 minute window in between feeds and since Alex is still kind of tiny we are trying to limit overly crowded places like the mall until he's a month old. Which by the way I can't believe is next week.

Our friends and family have been incredibly generous with constant gifts. It seems Alex has collected a wardrobe to last us for most of the year.  He's officially going to be dressing better than his parents.   Our friend Diorella sent us some really lovely stuff from Bloomingdales--including the cutest socks I've ever seen.   Good thing they don't fit me otherwise I'd try to steal them away.  She also sent a Ralph Lauren Romper and Hoodie/Pant set. So cute! I can't wait until Alex fits into them.

We also seem to be getting packages from England literally every day. They're addressed to Master A Willis which is so cute.  Melanie, a family friend of Grandma in England sent us a couple of outfits. My favorite is this one that says "I love Mummy and Daddy" on it because you can't find anything that says 'Mummy' out here.

Looks like Grandma Dot also found some time to get some knitting in as well.  Her knitted socks are a perfect fit and the only ones that seem to stay on right now. She also has been picking up a bunch of preemie outfits here and there.  At the rate we're going through outfit changes--we need them!

Here's Alex showing off one of his new outfits:

He was just about to be fed which explains his expression Speaking of eating, I better try and sneak in some dinner before Alex's next feed in 35 minutes.

Alex's First Check Up

Today was Alex's first check up with Dr. Sya since being discharged. We checked in at 2:45pm but the doctor was running behind schedule and we didn't get seen until about 3:30pm. Luckily we had brought a bottle with us so Alex could stick to his regular feeding schedule.  Alex always gets his diaper changed before his feeding.  Luckily he didn't shoot anything at Matt this time.

 Here's Dr. Sya checking Alex. She says everything's looking good and he's right on track. Alex did try to mark the doctor but being experienced she was able to cover him up in a nano second.

 

Alex had all his stats checked. He now weighs 6 lbs and .04 oz and is 19 inches long. He gained 1/2 lb and grew 1/2 inch in the last week. 

Alex was a really good patient. Before leaving we had to change his diaper one more time.  Matt found a biohazard bag for his diaper.

 
Alex is just big enough for his swing we got from the Turnipseedes. The minimum weight limit was at 5.5 lbs so we were just waiting for this check up to make sure..  We'll have to assemble it tomorrow.

Coming up to another diaper change and feeding soon. Where does the time go?

Friends Stop By

We had a very busy weekend with lots of friends dropping in to meet Alex. Our friend Joanne, who has a crazy hectic work schedule and is always traveling, was able to stop by since she finally had a couple of days off. We were supposed to do dinner with her and Swiss boyfriend Cedric mid-March, but something else came up. Something Alexy. Interestingly, in the house at that time we had an American, a Brit, an Indian, a Swiss and a Singaporean. The Bay Area eh?


Saturday afternoon Nick and Cristina stopped by. Matt reminisced about video games and how he doesn't have much time for them anymore. I think he cried a little. We hadn't seen them in ages so it was really great to catch up, and maybe holding a small bundle of joy will give them some ideas themselves.


Almost immediately following their departure Sippi and Dave dropped by for the evening. Again we hadn't seen them in a long time either. We're so glad they got to sit with us for a few hours. Hopefully we can make a point of getting together more regularly since we always have such great conversations. Maybe a weekly TV night or something. Our DVD shelves look scarily similar, as does the darkness in our souls. Kidding guys.


Alex had a busy, busy day today. Got to meet a lot of people, but had a wonderful time all the same. He seems to be a people person!