Three Months Old Today!

It's hard for me to believe, but Theodore is three months old exactly today (and thirteen weeks). He's weighing in at roughly 11 pounds, has had a few good nights (and some bad, but that's life!), is really working on his head control, and rolled over for the first time last Thursday! He did it twice that day but hasn't done it again since - and when I pull the camera out during tummy time, he just gives me a look as if to say "Mom, I'm not a performing monkey!"

While a little early on rolling, he didn't start smiling fully *at* people until 9 weeks, though now he's great and smiles a lot. It took me ages to snap a photo, but finally got a few!

Big smiles!

We've had lots of fun lately - two Thanksgiving celebrations, seeing cousins, lots of friends over for dinner, going out to watch football - and are gearing up to head home to Canada for the holidays. We'll be in Ottawa and Toronto between the 19th and January 2nd.

He's waking up from his nap, so I'll just leave you with a slideshow of photos between the last update and now, and two recent videos.

Current Events

Just wanted to write a quick update to let everyone know how we're all doing. We've successfully moved to California - the trip down was very easy, to our relief - and are living in our new house, though our stuff hasn't arrived yet! The moving van should be here on Sunday or Monday, and we've got new couches coming on Tuesday. We're settling in well; I'm especially enjoying the nice weather and take a long walk with Theodore every day.

Theodore is a pretty happy, healthy baby these days. He has fully mastered smiling and gives lots of big, heartbreaker grins, while giggling and cooing. I haven't managed to get a picture of it yet, but hopefully soon! He loves to spend part of each day and each evening lying on a blanket, kicking his legs, flailing his arms, and looking all over the place. When I hold him and he's awake, he loves to be held facing outwards so that he can see what's going on around him. He's so much more interested in the world, which is lots of fun! We do a lot of singing and walking around together, though he doesn't have any interest in toys as of yet.

He has really adjusted to the new house, and best of all, has started sleeping at night! He had a few really bad weeks, including one where he would take two to three hours to settle and then only sleep for forty-five minutes or an hour, but he started with four hour stretches, and now this past week has reliably done a five hour stretch and then another stretch for up to three hours. He even slept for seven and a half hours straight two nights ago! We are, of course, thrilled by this development. Bedtime is still a challenge, as he fights off sleep and gets very tired and cranky, but since he sleeps so well when he finally does fall asleep, we're pleased - and he's a happier baby for it too, I think!

Not too much else to report, so I'll end with a link to some photos that cover the time period from the last album until now, and two recent videos I posted on YouTube. Enjoy!

Medical and Moving Updates

Theodore turned 8 weeks old yesterday, and had a visit to the pediatrician. He weighed in at 9lbs, 3oz, which is pretty teeny-tiny for an 8 weeker, but a huge gain for him - three pounds on the nose in exactly five weeks! We are very happy, and so was the doctor. He is exclusively breastfed now so we definitely have feeding under control, and it's going well. He was given a clean bill of health and also given his first vaccinations - three shots! The poor guy was definitely not impressed, and spent yesterday very sad, sleepy, and absolutely glued to my arms. He seems to be feeling better today, thankfully.

He does have two other small health issues that I have not written about here previously. The first is quite minor - he has an umbilical hernia, which you may have been able to spot poking out from his shirt in some of the October photographs. This popped out a few weeks back, but is perfectly normal and causes him no distress. It's a little surprising to most people when they see it, as it is quite large and I admit, I had never seen one before so other people probably haven't either, but the pediatrician is not concerned, and unless it doesn't go away by the time he's two (and most do), he won't need any treatment or surgery for it. Billy and I have gotten completely used to it at this point, so hopefully it will become normal-looking to his other friends/family/caregivers as well!

The second issue is that, as some of you may know, but many probably do not, Theodore was born with an abnormality on his right foot. He has no toenails on that foot, the middle three toes are very short and somewhat webbed, and his big toe is a bit misshapen. He is also actually missing a toenail from the second toe of his left foot, but otherwise that foot is perfectly formed. We were told, after his birth, that it was a random abnormality and quite common, and he should be able to walk on it fine, but we were referred to plastics for a consultation, to see if they wanted to do any work on it.

Well, we met with a plastic surgeon at the children's hospital last Wednesday, and were given the great news that they felt he indeed has enough bone structure to be able to walk on it, and they did not recommend any surgery! He is almost for certain missing the top two bones in the three middle toes (they can only diagnose fully with an x-ray, but at this age bones aren't completely calcified so an x-ray isn't a good diagnostic tool yet), but it shouldn't cause issues. They did recommend that if, at 8 to 9 months when he's learning to walk he has any trouble, we should get referred to orthotics, where he may need corrective footwear or the like to help, but this isn't even for certain that it'll be necessary, and is thankfully much less invasive than surgery.

As his feet are still so little, it's very difficult to photograph and see the abnormality, though I've tried to show it a bit in the one below. I will admit that after he was born I was extremely worried about whether he would be able to walk, whether it was something I did that caused it, etc, but am now very relieved to hear that he should be fine, and it was merely something that happened in utero that they can't explain, but happens randomly. (There is a chance it could be genetic, as well, but they treat one abnormality as random and require two to consider any genetic link - and we are grateful he doesn't qualify for that!) We intend to treat it as normal for Teddy - and don't think it will impede or harm him in any way as he grows up.

awkward photo of his foot

On the health front, Billy and I got our H1N1 vaccinations this week - our first baby-free outing! Grandma Eileen was thrilled to babysit while we went to get the jab. Our arms still hurt but we were happy to be able to get vaccinated in the priority group, as Theodore is too young to get that vaccine. We have also both had truly rotten colds since coming back from California, but thankfully the worst Theodore got was a bit of a stuffy-sounding nose - a big relief, as a baby with a cold wouldn't be much fun for any of us.

Theodore also got to have a nice visit with his Auntie Suzie last week, who came up for a few days, and right now he is calm in the eye of the storm - the apartment is being packed on Thursday and the movers are here on Friday! We will be staying with Grandma Eileen for a few days and then are moving to California for good likely next Tuesday, so in a week. Life is certainly keeping us busy!

Busy Days For Theodore

It's been hard to find the time to update! We've had lots of activity since the end of September. First, Auntie Debbie, Uncle Ryan, and cousins Austin and Alex came up to visit. We went to the Children's Museum and spent time here at our house.

Austin, Billy, and Theodore

Uncle Ryan and Alex meeting Theodore

Theodore also celebrated his first holiday (other than being born on Labour Day) - Canadian Thanksgiving! We had a great dinner at Grammy Eileen's, along with Michael and great-uncle Bob.

Teddy vs. the turkey!

Grandma Carole and Granddad Bill came up for a weekend visit as well:

Grandma and Theodore

And then we went to California for a week!

Flying Baby!

We visited with lots of friends and in particular, Teddy got to meet his second cousin Carson.

Playtime!

We also rented a big house in Sunnyvale. We will all be moving to California in a few weeks, likely by mid-November. We plan to be back for Christmas, though, and the house will have a guest room, so anyone who wants is more than welcome to visit!

Through all this, Theodore is doing great - still growing like a weed, he's close to nine pounds now, and is seven weeks old today. He gets his first vaccinations next week. He's become much more interested in the world, following things with his eyes and paying attention to you as you talk to him. He's started giving us a few four-hour stretches of sleep at night, though he's up much more during the day and has started to voice his displeasure at the fact he's a baby and he doesn't really have much to do. We're trying hard to keep up with him!

For more pictures from the last few weeks, there's a set of photos on Picasa that you can view by clicking on the image below:

A Few Busy Weeks in October

Faces

Lots going on in Teddy's world, which I hope to update about soon, but with only one hand free this has to be short! Thought I'd just share a few of the photos I seem obsessed with taking of his highly expressive face. I try to grab these when he's sitting on my lap after eating, or just wherever I can. Hope they put a smile on your face, like they do for me!



Click through to see the whole album!

September 2009 round-up

We're almost at the end of September, and Theodore is 3 weeks old today!  At his pediatrician check-up on Friday, he weighed in at 2810 grams, or 6 lbs, 3 oz!  We were thrilled, as that was an almost 400 gram gain in eight days, after a lot of loss and a slow start to gaining previously.  He's turning into a great eater and even starting to demand feedings rather than needing to be scheduled.  Billy and I are obviously thrilled (if more than a little tired since he's decided night time is definitely not sleeping time)!  He's also developing a real little personality of his own, pulling lots of cute faces and spending lots of time wide-eyed and taking in the world around him.

We've had a lot of fun visitors over the last few weeks, with many people coming a long way to see Teddy, from Grandma Carole, Granddad Bill, and Auntie Suzie coming up from Brampton and Toronto, to Uncle Michael visiting from Waterloo and Auntie Catherine visiting from Vancouver!  We've gone on a few outings to Grammy Eileen's house as well, and then last week took a trip to Brampton so that I could attend my call to the Bar ceremony to become a licensed lawyer.  We went down on Tuesday and stayed for two nights, and Teddy also got to meet Auntie Debbie, Uncle Ryan, and his cousins Austin and Alexandra. 

Billy is home from work for one more week, and then I'll be staying home alone with Teddy full-time for a while.  Should be interesting!  Billy had four weeks of paternity leave, which was just terrific - very needed and appreciated.  I've recovered pretty well from childbirth but after the 14 weeks I spent on bed rest and Teddy not letting us sleep much, I still get very tired very easily.

I've posted an album of photos of Teddy from September.  Click on the slideshow below to see all the pictures:



I've also posted a few videos on YouTube from right after Theodore's birth. Here are the three posted so far; my channel, youtube.com/alisonbiggs will be where most videos will be posted!

Theodore William Biggs, born September 7, 2009

Theodore made his entrance to the world at 12:34 am on September 7, 2009, weighing 5lbs 7oz, after six hours of labour.  He stayed in the hospital four days, with one day being treated under the lights for jaundice.  Since coming home, he's been doing well, despite worrying his mom and dad about his weight - which he's steadily gaining back every day.  We're exhausted but thrilled that he's finally here and healthy!