3 months old

David currently weighs 12 lbs 6 oz and is about 24 inches long. His head circumference is at about 50%! Maybe he will luck out and get my little head :)

Here he is practicing sitting up. With a little help from the pillows he does a good job of holding himself up.


Future Twins Fan


David slept through the night (took a picture for documentation), on Sunday, after my first day of work. Great timing!! And last night he slept for 8 hours too! Yippee! I think I like this pattern. He is such a great baby.

David, with Crystal, at daycare for the first time. He really seems to like it a lot. The girls at the daycare said "babies aren't supposed to smile this much". Such a happy little guy. Surprisingly, I didn't cry when I dropped him off. I think I got all my tears out the week before. It was quite depressing knowing I had to go back to work and leave David especially after 12 weeks off. However, he did wonderful with Dave on Sunday and awesome at daycare. It really makes it easy going back to work (even if only for 3 days/week) knowing that he is doing so well. I think Dave will really 'blossom' as a new dad having David all to himself for a full day and not having me to rely on. I didn't receive any panicked phone calls :)


Dave's secret dream of owning a minivan has been fulfilled. I myself said I would NEVER drive a minivan. However, now that we have one, I love it. Sometimes bigger is better ;) We bought it from my aunt and uncle who decided to buy a new one. We were desperately in need of a new vehicle. This offer just came about at a very convenient time. We might not have otherwise bought a van, but so far it has made things much easier for us. You practically had to do yoga poses just to get David and his car seat into and out of the backseat of our little cars. I think it will also satisfy Dave's need for a vehicle that allows him to transport big items from Home Depot.

However, I do need to practice my parallel parking.

"Hey, this is a really interesting parking job, because if another car wants to get in between us and the curb, they can pull right in here.” -Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

March: Weeks 10-12

Daddy and David chillin' on the couch...you can't see it but Lil' David has a huge grin on his face.

Bath time...he's almost getting too big for his bath mat.


David loves to suck on his hand. It's usually the knuckle but sometimes its just a finger. If it's any finger other than the thumb he has a tendency to make himself gag a bit.


Vitamin time. He loves it! When he sees me shake the bottle and say "time for your vitamins" he will get really excited and all smiles.


Toy overload. Daddy thought the Velcro straps were for David's wrists! :) For those of you that don't know-they are supposed to hang from the car seat handle, play gym, etc.


My sister's dog Lex loves David, but I think she liked his toys more.


Gma Kelly helping while David gets his first taste of some rice cereal. He surprisingly eats quite well from a spoon.


Uncle Dustin giving some love.


It was almost 70 degrees this day so we just had to get outside. David didn't last long-he fell asleep on his first stroller ride.


St. Patrick's Day...wearing green together. Notice he just spit up-shirt is soaked!


Tube of dirty diapers...so much for being green ;)

David in his play gym. He loves the musical bee. He can really give that thing a good whack!

Are you kidding me?

I look at the clock. It reads 5:57 am. I let out a groan of frustration. David is awake again! This is now the fourth time tonight. Just a few days ago he only woke me up once, now this? Not that I was expecting him to start sleeping through the night, but I feel like we're taking a few steps back. I crawl out of bed and go to check on our son.
I go through the usual list : Do you want the nuk? No. How about a back rub? No. How's the diaper? Check. Burp? No. Ok, so lets try the bathroom fan (this usually calms him down instantaneously). Yep, it worked. So we go say good morning to daddy. The tranquility doesn't last long. OK, I've run out of options - he wants to eat. I give in even though it's only been 2 hours. As I 'get ready' (he must sense my frustration) and flashes a big toothless grin at me (that's not fair, I think) and all is right with the world.

Unfortunately, David didn't doze off like he usually does after a 'night-time' feeding. So we go to the swing in hopes it will soothe him back into a peaceful slumber. Then all systems go hay-wire. The light isn't working, the music is muddled. I do not have extra batteries for this thing. Images of Apollo 13 flash through my mind. So I turn off all unnecessary components. I am going to save as much 'juice' as possible. Systems are a go.

It is now 6:55 am. He's still awake. I guess they (who are they?) always say-"the early bird catches the worm". Am I the worm?

February: Week 6-9

David intently watching the superbowl.
He couldn't take his eyes off of the tv...while he was awake.

I wasn't doing a good job of watching over him. He was nearly falling over the edge. Oops!! But I had to take a picture before I rescued him :)


David and I spent a week with my parents. Thought I would take advantage of the time off. It was nice to just relax and not have to worry about doing housework. We visited a lot of people....family, friends and my parents co-workers. The girls at the salon just wouldn't give him up! Here is David meeting Great Gma and Gpa Wetzel (Great Aunt SueAnn) and Great Aunt Deb.




My dad is notorious for giving children sweets and he just couldn't resist giving David a little taste of the cookies we made for Valentine's Day. I was ok with the cookie, but he's already threatened chocolate and ice cream! I'll have a keep a eye on him the next time he visits. He did babysit one night while my mom and I went to a dinner party...who knows, he probably already had a snicker bar!


David is catching up on his daily news with Gma Kelly.











David sleeping in his crib with a giraffe (slightly larger than he is) from Aunt Krystal.








He's had enough tummy time. Poor guy.






David is enjoying some of Daddy's birthday cupcakes. j/k
I threw a surprise birthday party for Dave's 30th. Yes, I succeeded at keeping it a surprise. We all had a great time! Thank you to Justin and Kelly for watching David for us. I think he was a bit of a challenge, but they need the practice....they are expecting their own sweet baby in September.




In the following videos Top: David is just waking up from a peaceful slumber; Bottom: He is saying his favorite word "Hey"....what a genius speaking before his is 6 weeks old.

January: Week 2-5

We didn't want to let him out of our sight let alone our reach. We took many naps together. He's so cuddly. I love this pictures of my Davids.

He doesn't like to keep the nuk in too long. Here he is spitting it out during his sleep. I think I actually took this picture from the shower. *As noted above, he had to be within a few feet of us at all times. I wasn't necessarily worried about him, I just wanted to look at him all the time.



Auntie Krystal came to stay with us for a while (benefit of getting laid off). She was a great help. It was nice to have a partner to run errands with and not feel quite so overwhelmed. She also organized David's closet and our linen closet. What a saint! Thank you!



This is lil David's favorite place to be. I think he likes the warmth and Daddy's heartbeat. I love when Dave holds him because then he still looks so tiny. My baby is growing so fast.



Mama learned to cover up the privates while taking bath time photos. David does quite well in the bath as long as the water is warm. He is so cute when he shivers. The cuteness fades when I noticed that his hands turned blue. His blood circulates as well as mine. Doesn't he look like a little frog when he has his hands splayed?



These photos were both taken in the bathroom...by moi. I realized that many of our pictures included Daddy, but not me. So I decided to take some myself. I keep reminding Dave to take pictures of David AND me, but so far not much luck. I don't think he's big on pictures. When David was born I had to keep telling him to "take pictures...he is only born once!" (I'm pretty sure I still did most of the picture taking..give birth..become photographer...what else can I do-would you like some tea?)



We decided to give David a bottle a few weeks after he was born. Just to test him. He did great and he had no problems nursing afterwards.



Is he shrugging his shoulders? Wearing shoulder pads? Nope...he's just little and his clothes are too big. It was a few more weeks before the 0-3 month clothing fit him. We didn't have many newborn outfits, so we had no choice. What a doll.

Disclaimer

I apologize now for using Gma and Gpa instead of the formal and ever so long Grandma and Grandpa. It's a lot quicker to type the former set. I know this probably is a pet peeve of some, but too bad! :)

You are going to see a lot of pictures of David in the baby papasan chair. No he doesn't spend all of his time in there, but a good chunk of it. It began the first night he was home. I put him in his crib to sleep and he was just too tiny to leave in this enormous cage. Therefore, I popped him into his papasan. He looked much cozier. It continued because he has a bit of a weak tummy and spits up a lot. So I didn't want to put him on his back in fear that he would choke. His spitting up has subsiding some so he now sleeps in the crib like a big boy.

Meeting the Family

I'm so glad that our families were able to visit so soon after David's birth. It worked out that he was born just before Christmas... we had many friends and family members stop by to visit over the holiday. Some made the special trip and others were just traveling through, but it was nice all the same.


The grandparents meeting David for the first time. Gpa Jeff & Gma Kelly and Gma Claudia and Gpa Dj (asleep on the job). Also visiting were his Aunts and Uncles, Justin and Kelly, Krystal and Dustin, Ruth and Tim. I think everyone adores him as much as we do.

Aaron, Liz and company made a trip to visit David too. Although I think their love of IKEA is what drew them to the Minneapolis Area. Ben was quite infatuated with lil David. His baby brother 'Magnus' is going to be oh so loved.

Singing in his sleep

I am so glad we got this on video because he no longer makes these sweet sounds.

First days at home

We left the hospital on Christmas Eve with our very special gift. It was so surreal to be toting this little guy around. He was such a little peanut. I don't think he left our arms for the first few days. We just couldn't get enough of him. Of course, just looking at him left me in tears. He was and still is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Dave and I said if he wasn't cute we would know, but he is!

Birth Day

Well, it started out as any other day. However, things started to change by early afternoon. I wasn't sure that I was in labor, but decided to leave work at 3pm. Within the 30 minutes it took me to drive home the contractions increased from 30 minutes apart to just 5! Ok, this is it!! I called Dave and asked him to meet me at home. We packed up some last minute items and waited a bit before calling the hospital. We left the house at 5...rush hour-great! By the time we got to the hospital I was ready to punch a hole through the car roof. I was so uncomfortable and I didn't know what to do to make myself feel better. As soon as I got into the hospital room I asked for something-anything! I was given some narcotic-to take the edge off-which it did. It didn't last long enough though. So it was time for the epidural. Wow! Thank goodness for that. What a difference. I could have a baby everyday. So we just hung out for awhile....
I think Dave and I were both almost asleep when I got really warm. I looked at the monitor and the baby's heart rate had dropped to 50!! The nurse rushed in shortly, broke my water, placed the electrode on the baby's head to monitor him, and gave me oxygen. She also had me roll over to all fours thinking that the baby was possibly laying on his cord. This did help and soon I was on my back again and it was time to push. Now we encountered more problems. The baby just wasn't responding well. During the contractions his heart rate would drop down to the 50's and afterward it would spike to the 170's. The nurse thought it was best that I just relax and not push anymore until the doctor got there. The doctor gave me 2 options: c-section or forceps. I opted for the latter and 1 more push and there he was! It's amazing how much love you have for this little person that you just met. Our lives have changed forever, and I wouldn't want it any other way.