Musings by a Redhead: 3 Weeks Old!

Nathan is 3 weeks old today. In some ways, it seems like it was just yesterday that I was in labor. In other ways, it seems like he's been a part of our little family for much longer than that. Mostly though, I'm just horrified that I only have 9 weeks of maternity leave left :( I got my paperwork from HR this week and my official "back to work" date is April 15. I'm still not sure what I want to do with my schedule once I go back (or what my boss will agree to let me do!), but that's a debate for another post.

For now, I refuse to think about work. Instead, I've been planning a couple of trips we are going to take before my leave is over. The beginning of March, we're going back to my hometown to visit extended family and friends. Then in April, we are going to road trip to Williamsburg, VA and meet up with my parents. Paul and I did a trip out there a couple years ago and fell in love with the historic triangle (Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown). We got a bonus week for renewing our membership with our timeshare exchange company, so we're using it for this trip. I'm so excited for our first official family vacation!

Now that I've gone off on that tangent... As I was saying, Nathan is 3 weeks old today and he is changing every day. Some updates:

We don't have an official update on his weight (his next appointment isn't until the 22nd) but Paul is convinced that he is at least back to his birth weight. He laid him down on our bathroom scale in just his diaper the other day and it read 7 lb 4 oz. It probably isn't the most accurate reading, but I'm hoping it's close! We've been doing some supplementing with formula, but he honestly doesn't take much of it and usually ends up spitting it back up anyway. Hopefully that means he's getting enough from me now and is gaining weight!
He is definitely longer. He's now outgrown 2 of his newborn sleeper outfits in terms of length, which makes me kind of sad :( Soon we'll be putting him in the 0-3 month stuff!
He is becoming more and more alert during the day, which is fun. Sometimes he just sits and stares around with his big eyes. I'm pretty sure he's focusing on us, at least some of the time. I also think I've started to see him track us with his eyes when we pass through his line of vision. He definitely startles now, which is kind of funny to watch. I feel like wants to smile, and might even be getting closer to it. I can't wait!
I wouldn't go so far as to say that we are on a schedule yet. But there are definitely some patterns emerging. He'll have 2-3 feedings in a row during the day that are only a couple hours apart, then he'll nap for 2-3 hours before the next round. In the evenings, we get him into jammies and fed somewhere around 9:00 p.m. Once in a while he goes down right away and stays asleep, but usually he starts fussing (wet diaper) and wants to eat again in an hour. And sometimes we go through a third round of that before he is finally settles down to sleep. Once he goes to sleep though, he often sleeps 5 or more hours in a row at night, which is marvelous! Of course, if he's having a growth spurt, then all bets are off and we do nothing except feed and change diapers around the clock :)
He's been sleeping in his nursery since his second night at home, but last night was the first time he slept the whole night in his crib instead of the little rock 'n play thing. We finally figured out that he doesn't want to be swaddled anymore, but he still likes feeling cozy. So we put him in one of those wearable swaddle sacks and just left his arms out so he can wave them around whenever he wants.
He has now met 2 of his great-grandparents (Paul's Grandma P and my Papa) and will hopefully be meeting a third this weekend when my Grandma comes to visit. And if everything goes according to plan, he will meet his great-great-grandmother in March when we head back to my hometown. How crazy is that?

That's pretty much it for updates on him. I'm still working on the next (maybe final?) chapter of his birth story, so will try to get that up later this week. I also have a couple other posts rolling around my brain. But for now, I'll close with a few of my favorite pictures from these first 3 weeks. They're all off my phone camera, so the quality isn't superb, but you get the idea: