Updated
Wednesday,
September 29, 1999
Today Jackson is officially 4 weeks old -- not a 'month' -- that
will be Friday.
Wow, how things have changed in just 28 days! This week has been
pretty good, notable only for the normalcy of everything. My mom came
in with my sister to see Jackson on Monday and spent a few hours with
us. Decided: Mom's going to be known as Mi-Mi and Myra's coming over
for Thanksgiving instead of going to Louisiana. Later that evening
Carolyn popped over for a few minutes. She only stayed a short time
-- she looked really tired.
Yesterday, our sister-in-law Christina came by (with her sons Trevor
and Kyle, and Carolyn) and visited with Katie and Jackson for a good
little while, too.
I guess the only notable thing from the past week is that we're getting
out more often with Jackson and seeing the world around us. Last Saturday,
we went to the Family Hash and
really had a good time getting together with our friends and their
kids. We've also been going for walks around the neighborhood -- more
Katie and Jackson than all of us, but I go in the afternoon with them.
Coming up this week: My dad's in town, we've got the Family Fun Fest
at church this weekend, and BINGO on Saturday night.
Katie's looking really
good -- it's obvious she's loosing weight from the pregnancy and getting
back to normal. This morning, while Jackson was napping, Katie went
through her closet and cleared out most of the maternity clothes and
put them in the trunk -- and got out her 'normal' clothes and hung
them back in the closet. Guess it's official. Breastfeeding really
helps!
As expected, she's not
getting as much sleep as she'd like, but that's all a part of parenting
at this stage of the game.
Basically, she's getting
into a real good routine of sleeping, waking, feeding and all, and
I'm glad to see she's getting out and about with Jackson in the stroller.
I can tell she really looks forward to the morning and afternoon walks.
So far, everything seems
to be going well. I think she goes to the doctor in 2 more weeks to
make sure everything is ok with her after the birth, but I'll keep
you posted.
Jackson is doing wonderful. He has gotten to where he cries for quite
a while in the evenings, though. Over the weekend, we had to miss
the monthly meeting of the Family Guild because he was just soooooo
fussy! We thought it might be colic, but so far, things are just a
little more vocal than normal. Some friends recommended giving him
Mylacon (symethicone) to help with any gas problems that might be
hurting his stomach. It looks like it has helped a bit, too.
He's eating more now (according to Katie) and we know he's getting
bigger. He's almost too long to be comfortable in his daytime bassinet!
Oh, the time that goes . . .
He's also officially out of his 'newborn' diapers and into the next
level up -- 8 to 14 pounds. We think he's at least 10 1/2 pounds now,
but the bathroom scale we have isn't very accurate.
As he grows, he's getting to be more aware of things, too. He likes
to play with his little hanging toys and he even enjoys being in his
new swing sometimes. Yesterday, Katie and I saw him smile a real smile
for the first time, too.
Oh, and he likes falling asleep when I read him a book.
As for me, things are good
when you're a dad. I'm very happy Jackson is in my life and I'm so
proud of the little things he does in growing up. Seeing his real
smile was truly a joy! I'm looking forward to more of those, for sure.
I thought I'd be doing
more with Jackson than I am -- more care-giving -- but that's just
not in the cards yet. I do try to comfort him when he cries at night,
and last night I did a pretty good job of it. He fell asleep after
a little while and Katie and him both were able to get a little rest.
Last week, it seemed like
I was out of the house almost every night for something or another.
I really felt bad not being here -- although I was for most of the
day everyday. Just a full week, I guess. Anyway, just kinda rolling
along here at the homestead right now. Normal again, if that's what
you'd call it.
