Two month photo! *UPDATE* 2/4/08

OneMonthTwoMonthRedMonthBlueMonth

I thought I should get these done before I either 1) forget or 2) run out of steam or 3) a combination of the two. I put him in the same outfit as his one month to see the difference. Aunt Jes and Uncle Dave gave this outfit to him as a gift. The pants didn't fit him at one month, but they look pretty sharp on him today! I'll have to update this post when I find time to measure Drew's height, but his two month pedi appointment isn't scheduled until February 4, so I decided to weigh him at home. He's roughly 11lbs.6oz. Stinkin' Tanita scale only reads ounces as .2, .4, .6, .8 so I had to do some creative conversions.

**UPDATE**

Drew had his official 2 month appointment this morning. The stats: Head circumference - 38.1 or 5-10%, Weight - 11.7 or 25-50%, Height - 23 inches or 25-50%.

Doc said he looked good. We had not had an official hearing test done, so we'll have to schedule to see an ENT specialist to get that done. Neither of us are worried that he can't hear since he responds to all kinds of noises, but we'll be scheduling his hearing screening just the same to check it off our to-do list.

We ended up switching pediatricians because I decided it made better sense to drive down the street (and on nice days, walk) to the new practice vs. driving all the way down to Bee Caves Pediatrics in Westlake which, on a good day, is about 25 minutes driving time. But the real reason I decided to switch is because Dr. Ruiz, who had been my doctor since I was three and Ashley's doctor when I was in college and up until a few months ago with Jonathan and Paige, decided to retire. He actually moved back to Spain. I thought that was the best time to make the break. I don't want to have to make arrangements to drive down to Westlake for a sick baby when I can easily make plans to drive literally two minutes down the street. So, the kids' new pediatrician's name is Dr. Chang. How's this for dating a person? We went to UTand graduated at the same time. Of course, we talked about how great college was, but we don't miss the days of living off Ramen noodles and stale pizza. And of course, we had to talk about good ole Ricky. I had meant to talk football today. So bummed...poor Tom Brady. But that's *another* thread entirely.

Wha?? Ya need proof of a laugh?

Martina writes:

At the very beginning of the video Drew breaks out into a huge laugh. It cracked me up and I couldn't keep it to myself. This kid has tricks in his bag that we can't wait to see! Enjoy!

Aaaand it's the one month mark 12/24

With all the other kids, I've taken pictures at one month, two months, three months, etc. With Ashley and Jonathan, I found some really nice frames and the standard Hallmark frame insert so I could put each picture in it. Then we moved to Austin and Paige was born. I'm admittedly not into the same things I was with Ashley and Jonathan, so I changed things up a bit. I gave up on scrapbooking the Creative Memories way, and decided to go digital. I mean, all Paige's pictures were on the computer anyway. So, when she turned one, I made an album of all her firsts and then the usual 1-12 month photos. With Drew, I may do the same, but I thought of maybe doing something in addition and something creative with his photos. Then it hit me. How about a flipbook of photos taken throughout the year? We take a picture of him almost every day and at the end of his first year, we'll find a way to make a book focused on his face to see where all the changes happened. It's going to be one fat book when we're done! But I've always looked back and wondered how they grew up so fast and where did those changes happen. This time, at least with one of the kids, we'll have a good idea which week those changes happened and where he fattened up or went through a growth spurt. So, in that spirit I'll be posting the one, two, three month photos as Drew gets older.

Sudsy Surfin'

Martina writes:

Neil has given Drew almost all of his baths to date. This time was hilarious because he kept swishing his head all over the place, not to mention sticking out his tongue!

A hitch in his getalong

Drew's birthweight was 7lbs. 10 oz. on November 24, 2007. At his three day checkup, his weight plummeted to a 15% loss, or 6lbs. 7 oz. Funny, he didn't look jaundiced or malnourished. His cheeks were pink, but the facts don't lie. You'd think with kid #1 you learn a lot, and so I'm astonished at how much more we learn with each child. For example, I didn't know that you could use witchhazel to help the cord dry up. Now, I can't tell you if Drew is the exception and he just *has* to do everything at break neck speed, but his cord fell off just hours after his three day mark. I also learned that a barely wet diaper with a slight red tinge isn't blood, but a sign that the baby is getting down to his/her reserves. Had no clue about any of this stuff, but it worried me enough that he was losing weight and showing physical signs. I got enough encouragement from the birthing center. With Paige, the same thing happened. I was forced, while still in the hospital, to "supplement" with formula. Being so worried about the situation, I dutifully did as I was asked. Now, I'm not saying the hospital pediatrician didn't have Paige's best interests at hand, but he didn't take the time to encourage me. I think pediatrician's are too quick to go the quick-fix route, you know? We all know that if you choose to nurse your child, supplementing with formula makes your supply worse. You're basically setting yourself up for failure is what I mean to get at.

In any case, I felt like I was in a much better position this time around. Yes, I was worried about the weight loss, but I also knew what I needed to do. Saying you want to be dilligent about feeding your baby and actually doing it is hard. Flat out hard. It took some time getting used to feeding *EVERY* two hours without fail, but that Tuesday appt. needed to be remedied, and we had until Friday to see if we could pass that weight test. So, we crammed and crammed and studied really hard. After the initial drop in weight, babies who are nursed typically (and when I say typically, I mean ideally) gain one ounce per day. So, Friday rolls along and the scale reads 6lbs. 10oz. - not bad! Three ounces for three days. Yay, I'm thinking to myself. Good start. His next appt. bounces between the pediatrician to the birthing center. The pedi's appt. is at his two week mark, or December 7. He weighs in at 7lbs.3oz. The progress is looking good. The next weigh in won't be until my six week appt. at the birthing center. Just to see how he's doing, I take him in for an informal weigh-in on Wednesday, December 19. He was about 3.5 weeks old. He weighed at 8lbs.and almost one ounce. Just 2.5 weeks later, he weighed in at a staggering 9lbs.13oz, or roughly 28 ounces in 16 days. Unbelievable!! He gained weight and gained ground. His next weigh-in will be at his two month appt. and I'll be interested to see how much he's gained!