2 Month Update

Clark had his 2 month check up and shots yesterday. I figure it's a good time to give a little update on our little guy:

-He's currently weighing in right at 12 pounds. He measured 23.3 inches and I don't know how big his head is, but it's 78th percentile.

-Clark is finally a regular church attender. I usually have to nurse him during Sacrament meeting because I now teach the 16-17 year old Sunday School class. Todd takes him while I teach. So far he's done great, just a minor incident where his diaper leaked on Easter Sunday while I was nursing him and I got some yellow spots on my skirt before I went and taught the youth. I have no pride anymore. :)

-Clark still seems to enjoy the bath. He'll lie still and content while Daddy bathes him (I take forever and get afraid of drowning him, so Todd usually bathes him), except when it comes to his head. He doesn't like his face or head getting messed with.

-We're having a lot of fun dressing him up in all of his little outfits. Polos are adorable, but they are also great spit up nets. Yuck. He is spitting up a lot these days. I love seeing him in little shorts too. Sooo cute.

-Nursing remains a struggle. Probably 75% of feedings involve major crying. From what I can tell (since Clark can't just tell me what bothers him), he gets frustrated when the milk doesn't come immediately or when it stops coming as fast. When he gets frustrated, he gets mad and screams. This obviously makes it difficult for him to get more food because he is so mad and screaming that he won't latch and eat. When I sit him up to burp him, it also seems like he is offended that I'm not giving him more food, so he also screams. But again, that's just what I am guessing. Bottle feeding is looking mighty appealing these days...

-Clark has starting having two longer sleeping stretches at night. Usually he'll sleep for 3 hours from 9-midnight and then from 1-4 am. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it feels much better than just one or two hours. He's starting to change his daytime napping routine too, so I'm trying to figure it out again. He used to nurse, be awake for an hour and then sleep for an hour. Now he gets sleepy, but wakes up pretty quickly and then will be awake and alert for a while before getting fussy and nursing again. Sometimes he takes longer naps in the day, but I haven't found a rhyme or reason to it yet.

-It's so fun to see him starting to smile and react to us when we talk to him. What a charming little guy! I can't wait to see more of that as he grows.

-It sounds like we are pretty lucky that Clark takes a binky, although he'll only take one brand now. Sometimes I wish there was a safe way to tie the binky onto his head so that it wouldn't slip out while I'm driving him somewhere in the car. Everything is going along swimmingly - he's falling asleep, and then he loses the binky and it becomes sad times.

Visitors

One of the great things about having a new baby is that all of your family wants to come and visit you (aka help you survive the first month).

My mom was our first visitor. If my mom hadn't been there when we brought Clark home, I may have just died of anxiety and exhaustion...and malnutrition. Mom, come back and make us delicious food all the time!! My mom is affectionately known as the baby whisperer. She can get any baby to sleep (long and well) and to love her and be comforted. It's a gift and I miss it and her.

Then Todd's mom came to visit.

She even changed her flight to come early because Todd and I were not sure if we were going to be able to survive on our own. She also helped with cooking, cleaning, and Clark so that we could get some rest.

She also accompanied Clark on his first walk and his 2 week check up. Todd got this picture of us just adoring that cute baby as the doctor examined him.

Rachel was next.

In addition to helping with Clark in the night, cooking and cleaning for us, and running errands, Rachel also took it upon herself to make sure that I got out of the house and started acting a little more normally (it had been a month, after all).

Proof that she succeeded, here are Dangie and Mark, Rachel, me and little Clark out at Kemah Boardwalk (Todd was there too, just taking the picture).

And finally, Todd's dad just visited over Easter and his 65th birthday (Happy Birthday!!).

Todd's dad was the lucky visitor who got to be around when Clark started smiling and being more alert. Todd's dad would hold him and walk around and Clark would just take everything in. It was very sweet to watch. Todd's dad also fixed all of our toilets and did other handy man things around the house to spruce things up.

We're happily awaiting Dave and Trisha's visit in May. Counting the days really (just about 3 weeks, guys!!!). And I can't wait until my dad gets to meet little Clark. We're hoping sometime in June (again, counting the days).

We love our family!!! Please come visit again soon. We miss you. A lot.

First Smiles

Sometimes, life as a mom gets a little tedious, especially when Clark has problems eating or getting to sleep. But then, there are moments like this that Todd captured so beautifully on camera. He's such a beautiful boy, I can't help but photo dump. Here are some of the many faces of Clark, including his sweet first smiles.

Tough decisions

Now that we have this little bundle of joy in our lives, I find that I am constantly faced with tough decisions: hang out with Becky and Clark when I get home from work, or take a nap? Take care of something on that pesky to do list, or take a nap? Watch a show late at night to unwind, or sleep while he's sleeping? There's a reason almost all of our pictures of Clark are of him sleeping - when he's awake, its all hands on deck, and it's only when he's sleeping that we have a moment (and hand) free to choose to take a picture. With that, here are some of my favorite pictures from these last six weeks:

On second thought, it's not really as bad as I may have made it sound. It's not always just a decision between sleep or no sleep, but every decision does count. Becky and I may have to take turns eating our dinner and dessert, one of us getting a cold plate because we are taking our turn with Clark, the other getting a melted bowl of ice-cream because we switched between courses, but all three of us are doing fine. I'm also pretty sure we have mastered all household chores with only one hand. And for all the changes we've had to make to accommodate this little guy, he sure is worth it.