Some other fun pictures

He does not quite get the paci yet. haha. I walked in and he had it backwards in his mouth somehow. But he was happy and not screaming so i guess he was ok!

I was practicing holding him in our new sling and he fell asleep so i just kept him in it for nap time.

  

In one of our favorite outfits. I tried to put this on him in the hospital and it was WAY TOO BIG! Look at the comparison!  I can’t believe how much he has grown!!!

1 month old

I can not believe he is already a month old! Here are some photos from our 1 month photo shoot! To see larger images click on the photo. If you are seeing this post in an email, please go to our website to click on the photos to make them larger (www.littlesalotti.blogspot.com)

Asleep in his swing. He loves this thing!

Pondering life

Owen is doing great. He is growing and becoming way  more alert. We have so much fun with him!!!

Swaddle

Here is the picture of Owen all swaddled up. He HATED this the first days home, but now it helps him to sleep quite well. 

I JUST took this picture because I am thrilled he is sleeping. he has been eating pretty much since 3am, with tiny little 10 minute breaks here and there. I am EXHAUSTED. Finally i put him down, swaddled, with white noise in his ear, and he has been asleep for 10 minutes. Crossing my fingers it lasts long enough for my frozen lunch to cook in the microwave! 

3.5 weeks

Here are some cute photos from this weekend! Owen is doing really well! 

Snuggling with Daddy (this is one of my favorite photos!) 

Snuggling with Mommy

With his babysitters, Piper and Maggie. 

Yes, we took the blanket from the hospital. Infact, we took many blankets/diapers/onsies/supplies from the hospital. We are such rebels! :) 

3 week Owen

Owen is officially 3 weeks old (and by the time I am actually posting this, he is 3 weeks and 1 day old. It takes me quite a while to do tasks these days!) 

Owen is doing very well. He has been eating every 1-2 hours for the past couple of days, so I am exhausted, but it is working because he is officially above his birth weight! YAH! He is 6lbs 10oz as of this morning (he was 6.9 at birth). So the doctor is no longer concerned about him. We do not have to go back again until April for his 2 month check up/shots. 

Nursing him is getting better, though it is still challenging. The consultant said I was doing great and that he was a good eater, and that i was just too stressed about it. Hopefully now that the jaundice is gone and he is a good size I can relax about it all. I am sure me being uptight does not help at all. 

Here are some pictures from the past couple of days. We are definitely not as good as Michelle about taking photos of him!!!! I am trying to sleep as much as I can when he is sleeping especially since he is eating all the time and hardly sleeping at all! 

I am realizing that certain things I want to get done around the house just are not going to happen. My dishwasher is full, laundry needs to be done, i honestly have no idea where my cell phone or my glasses are, but that is ok. I am a mom now, and all that other stuff can just wait! :) 

Adorable LARGE toes! This is what was 

constantly in my ribs during the 

last few weeks of pregnancy! 

A fuzzy picture, but look how big his eyes are! 

Not so happy about posing for the camera! 

His first official tub bath! :) He did not mind it at all! 

Snuggle time with mom. This was 

after he ate 4 times in 3 hours. We were both EXHAUSTED! 

2 1/2 weeks

Here are some fun photos of Owen from the last week or so.

He loves his swing! 

Quiet time with Daddy

This was part of Aunt Michelle's photo shoot

Curious piper and oblivious Owen 

Snuggling with a blanket his Great Grandma made him

sleepy time!

Some fun Owen Facts for this past week!!!! 

- he lost his umbilical chord on Sunday morning. He is now officially a big boy and can take big boy baths! 

- he has started sleeping much better! He sleeps about 3 hours at night, then is up for an hour to eat, and then normally he sleeps an additional 4 hours. It is great! Mommy is much happier! :o) 

- for the past two nights he has slept in his pack and play! This is a big step! Previous to this he was sleeping in his bouncy chair only. We also started swaddling him (mental note to take a picture of him in his baby straight jacket) which he hated at first, but now he loves! 

- Owen only really cries when he is hungry or wet. He is really an easy baby. 

John has the next 2 days off- Hooray! We are not sure what our plans might be, but it will be nice to have him home! 

Tomorrow a lactation consultant is coming over to help us with nursing. Owen is having a hard time properly latching and we need help. I have been marathon pumping (every 2-3 hours) so that he can have my milk, but we are also still supplementing a bit with formula. 

We are going back to the doctor on Friday to have Owens weight checked. Last Friday he was 6.0lbs. He really should have been back up to his birth weight (6.9lbs) by then so the doc wants to see us again. We are hoping he is gaining some great weight this week!!!! 

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. We are having a great time with our adorable little man! 

Thank you's!

Yesterday John and I got 4 (YES 4) packages in the mail!!! Things have been coming almost each day in the form of cards, clothes, etc. THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!!! We appreciate everything that you guys are doing for us! 

I am still so thrown off by the fact that Owen is so tiny! The preemie clothes that we have for him are all that fit right now. He was 5lbs 12 oz at his last appt. I can't wait to see what he is on Friday! Hopefully back up to 6.9- his birth weight. 

Right now we are waiting for his umbilical chord to fall off. Then we can give him a real bath- which is Mommy's favorite thing to do. I hope he likes it too. Last nights sponge bath went well- no screaming for once!! Then he peed all over himself and through the diaper about 45 minutes later. Oh well! :o) 

Also I wanted to say thank you to Johns mom, Jackie, who came out here to Little Rock 2 days after Owen was born. She had not planned on coming out this early but knew we would need assistance immediately so she made arrangements. She suffered through our lack of space and chaotic dogs for a week and was incredibly helpful! She even took the baby for me for several hours each night so that i could sleep! 

My sister is coming today-Sunday to help. THANKS SO MUCH!!!! 

Since we are just here on a temporary assignment, 1/2 of our things are in storage and we have a tiny 2 bedroom apartment. So our house guests do not have the best of accommodations- however, the couch is pretty comfortable. Just not good for anyone who has back problems! :o) 

Hopefully more family can come visit us once we are in North Carolina and much closer to VA and PA! We wish everyone could come out now, but with us being so far away and the couch accommodations, it just is not possible. 

Owen is doing well! He woke up 4 times last night so mommy is quite tired!!!! I can't believe ha will be 2 weeks old tomorrow!!!

Some fun milestones 

- Owen can already roll onto his sides. The doctor said this was quite advanced- he should not be doing this until 2 months! 

- he has incredible head control. he lifts it up and looks all around. I am always impressed with how strong his little neck is! 

- last night he did not scream while getting a sponge bath! yah! 

- his belly button has not yet fallen off

- it looks like his jaundice is clearing up. hopefully when we go to the doctor on Friday he will tell us he is all cleared up! 

- if his jaundice IS truly gone, then he definitely has Johns skin tone and not mine. he is more of a yellowish/tan right now- where as I am pink and fair. I hope he does have johns skin tone- i would love for him not to have to worry about getting sunburned all of the time. 

- he smiles occasionally. at this point it is just gas. but it is so cute/sweet! 

- he loves the car!!! he will sleep for hours in his car seat! 

I will try to post more photos soon. My new laptop (yah!) comes today so once i get all set up i will get myself organized and post some photos. It will be so nice to have my own computer again- I do not share well with John (probably because I was raised an only child!) 

11 day old update!

Sorry it has been so long since I updated!!! We have been so busy trying to figure out life with our new little man! It has been so much fun, but so exhausting!!! 

Owen's jaundice did not clear up like we thought it would. We went to the pediatrician each day last week to get his levels checked and they just kept going up and up. He looks so yellow in all of his photos because of it. So we started marathon feeding him, putting him in the sunlight, and trying anything we could to get his level down. Finally on Friday it went from a 19.1 to a 17.something- hooray! 

(hanging out with mom and dad) 

Mommy and Daddy are incredibly tired! Mommy is trying to sleep whenever the baby sleeps- but he does not sleep very much! Because of the jaundice he has to be feed every 2 hours (though, sometimes at night i let it go three hours) which is cutting into my 8-10 hour a night sleep schedule! :) 

(hanging out with Daddy while Maggie looks on) 

Last Tuesday we took Owen in for his first pediatrician appointment. Besides the jaundice, everything looks good! Owen had lost another couple of ounces, but hopefully now he has put that back on. The doctor was quite impressed with our little guy though- he already rolls from his back to his side, to his back, to his other side. The doctor said we will have to watch him really closely because he could easily roll off of things. We are never to leave him on his changing table or the couch by himself! 

(We told him he had to go to the pediatrician, and he was not pleased, he just could not bear to look at what was happening!) 

(the family at the pediatrician) 

(meeting my really nice doctor for the first time!) 

(in my pack and play) 

We have tried to get Owen to sleep pretty much anywhere/everywhere in the last 8 days since we got home. The pic above is him in his pack and play. Which right now he does not like at all. So we have him sleeping in a bouncy seat/in his pack and play. He was also spitting up quite a lot, so having him sit up as opposed to laying down definitely helps.

Please do not be offended if I have not called you back (this is Amy). I literally have 41 messages on my cell phone right now, and I just can not imagine listening to any of them right now. With this 2 hour feeding schedule- i am absolutely exhausted. During Owens short naps I am busy sleeping, preparing for his next feeding, trying to feel a little normal, etc. Needless to say I am absolutely exhausted. Thank you everyone so much for all of your kind thoughts and prayers! We appreciate everything everyone has done!