Davis is 5 weeks old!

This week Davis and I started a “Great Beginnings” class at the local Isis Maternity store. The class meets Thursdays for six weeks and is intended for babies who are 2-6weeks old at the beginning of the class. It’s run by an instructor who covers topics such as safety, baby behavior, soothing techniques, and baby massage. My class has something like 10 moms and their babies. Typically, after each class the “homework assignment” is to go out to lunch together. I really enjoyed meeting other moms, it was very different from the yoga class where everyone was a lot older than Davis and I could get advice on what was to come. Instead, all our babies are roughly the same age and so it was more a group about sharing in the miracle that is going on in the present (and sometimes commiserating). I look forward to learning baby massage because Davis loves naked time (don’t worry, he always has a diaper on at least) and he loves to be touched. We learned just a little bit of tummy massage this week and Dad and I have been having fun doing that with Davis. I should also mention the instructor for my class is the same person who taught one of our birth preparation classes (the more traditional one at MIT) and agreed to be our doula-in-a-pinch if John’s recovery from surgery overlapped with our delivery. Luckily it didn’t, but it was so great to have the peace of mind so I really appreciate Wendy.

We had a busy week with John taking the week off. Most days involved a walk and a visit with friends. This week we had dinner with AJ and Susan on Wednesday and Sonya and Bill on Friday. Once again, Davis proved to be on his absolute cutest behavior around Bill and Sonya (either wide awake and interactive or sleeping). We also got to see Eric and Ilana who stopped by on Thursday night.


What’s new with Davis at 5 weeks:

• He weighs 9lbs 10oz (2lbs more than birth) and is 22.5” long (1.5” longer than at birth).
• He can tell the difference between mommy, daddy, and other people.
• He can see farther than before. One night he was only happy if he could see one of us (even if one of us was holding him, the other one needed to be in the room for him to look at).
• He is definitely smiling at us! And now he also coos too.
• He no longer cries at bath time. I wouldn’t say he likes bath time yet, but at least there’s no more crying!
  

Davis’ favorite things in the world:

• Car trips and walks – motion of any kind soothes him to sleep
• Eating – the little guy can eat!
• The mobile – except the donkey, we’re pretty sure the donkey scares him everytime it comes around.
• Naked time.
  

Davis’ least favorite things:

• Tummy time. 10 seconds of tummy time is sure to result in a screaming baby.
• The moby wrap (the carrier we’ve been using until now). We have a new carrier on the way.
• Wet diapers. Davis hates being wet and he lets us know it.
• Having his clothes changed.

What's new with John and Kristen:

• John's last radiation treatment is today. Davis, John and I are going out to breakfast to celebrate afterwards.
• I've actually gotten some work done this last week. During Davis' morning nap in the swing, I like to watch him and do some coding. I've been working on stuff that really needs to get done, but has been way down on the list of things to do at work. It's been very satisfying.
  
• I'm also really close to exercising again and this week is my 6-week postpartum appointment. I think a run or a bike ride is in my near future!
• We essentially have a day care picked out. John called parents who currently have their kids enrolled at this home day care and they all love it. However, two of the numbers for the references were wrong, so those might be worth following up with. The day care is just 4 blocks from where we live and it's licensed for 10 kids. When they have all ten kids there are four adult providers. We visited this place during daycare hours and were really pleased with how they dealt with the kids. Some of the values parents said their kids have learned there are sharing, being nice to others, and patience. This is in stark contrast to the chaos we saw at another daycare we had visited the day before. We would start Davis at this daycare in September. Although we were talking about using daycare only four days a week, we decided we would rather have the flexibility to work 5 days and take a day off to spend with Davis when it works well in our schedules. Specifically, John never asked if he could take a couple of days off during the month and with all his time off for cancer treatment lately, it seemed like an awkward time to ask. Although my adviser would be fine with me taking all of those days, I have a feeling I would end up working on the weekend and missing precious family time to make up for it (self-imposed). Also, no day care would let us change the day at will (understandably), so this means the days or half-days we take off can change around depending on the activity we want to go and do.
  
• John has finally agreed to go shopping today to get some new shirts! Due to our lazy laundry methods, most of John's shirts have eventually shrunk too much to be usable. I also will be shopping for some new shirts as I have found that all my pre-maternity clothes don't fit my new maternal curves and they are way too awkward to wear for breast feeding and all my maternity clothes are for cold weather.