Celebrating one week!

Actually, knowing the difference that a day makes, Calvin won't really be a week old until 10pm tonight.  We'll have to wait and see what other accomplishments he can squeeze into these last twelve hours.  So far in his first week he:  Lost 6 ounces, then gained five back;  Lifts his head during tummy time, and while on his back;  Has rolled back onto his back during tummy time twice now (we know it's just luck, but we'll count it anyway);  Has aquired the ability to sleep peacefully for a five hour stretch, which the doctor said was fine now that he regained his birthweight;  Went for a walk;  Has tried out all his toys;  Has received visitors;  Has learned to take his bath in stride;  And has basically defeated the jaundice just by being a pro at nursing.  We think it was a successful week.

So those are Calvin's accomplishments...what about ours?  So far, in our first week as parents, we:  Have learned how to get a decent night of sleep;  Have become pros with diapering (we've caught all baby boy showers in a washcloth!);  Have learned how to calm him when fussy and burp him after feedings;  Have survived two baths, two car trips, and two doctor's appointments;  And have gotten better at putting him down every once in a while, at not looking at him every few seconds while he's sleeping, and at sharing him when we are both home and awake.  This, too, feels successful to us!

June 13 milestones

So what we said about good nights...not so sure anymore!  It's not the fact that he wakes us up and wants to eat or needs a new diaper.  It's not even the fact that it might take a while to get him back to sleep.  The thing we take issue with was his being more alert between 1am and 3am than he was at any one time during the day yesterday.  He didn't even have his days and nights mixed up before he was born (Cortney never felt him being busy at night), so what gives?

That, however, is our only complaint.  On Calvin's list of achievements for June 13 is playing with Octunes (though Jon did most, actually all, of the playing), meeting Cortney's Godmother, Lonnie (who made a very long and special detour just to see him), meeting his aunt Ann, starting tummy time, and his first trip to the doctor, which deserves a little more said.  His appointment today was actually with his nurse practitioner, who is a wonderful lady.  The bad news is that Calvin's jaundice is a little worse, the good news is that it is still within normal ranges for an infant born nearly two weeks early.  More good news is that he did not lose any more weight, so he is holdig his own now at 6lbs 6oz.  And the especially good news is that we have an unusual newborn.  We figured that Calvin's take-it-in-stride attitude was normal for a newborn (how would we know heads from tails?) but the nurse made sure that we would understand how lucky we are - Calvin is, apparently, just really easy going.  Cortney says he gets that, just like his good looks, straight from his dad.