New Shades

1 Month old

Our little baby boy is already 1 month old.  I keep asking myself where the time has gone.  But when I think about this past month a lot has happened.  Paul and I can already see Brandon changing from the little new born he used to be.  He's more awake, he can lift is head up and keep it up for a good while before smashing it back into our chest, and he's sleeping more at night.  Normally we get him to go 6 hours before he wakes up to eat, but last night he went 8 hours.  I woke up at 7 hours since the last feeding because I could feel in my chest that it was time to eat.  But I resisted the urge to go scoop him up.  We were told by the doctor if he wants to sleep at night let him sleep and just feel blessed that he's doing that.   We're starting to find tricks to get him to sleep better at night, such as keeping the room warm, it has to be around 25 C which is 77F.   I also sing to him before bed.  I've noticed he falls asleep very fast only when I sing Wagner arias to him.  It's so nice that these songs sooth him best because they are my favorite ones to sing.  This just means I have to start learning a couple new Wagner arias so the 4-5 I currently know don't get old and boring to me.

Other awesome news is that Brandon grew since his birth.  He is now 4.96Kg.  (11.2lbs) and he grew 2 inches in length.  By the end of this month he won't fit into the newborn cloths we have, so I'm going to enjoy these cute little outfits as much as possible.  Good thing he has to be changed about 3-4 times a day (which he hates so much)

On Thursday morning we took Brandon's first train ride.  We went to the airport to meet Paul's parents.  I put him in the baby bjorn carrier just because getting a bassinet on the train platform and train at Rotterdam Central is nearly impossible.  They are doing so much construction and they have no elevators or escalators.  Plus this way Brandon could get some sleep, he enjoys the carrier more.   We brought a 4oz bottle of milk with us to last the trip there and back, AND THANK GOD we did!  He was a cranky pants when he woke up, took 2 oz on the way to the airport, then took the other 2 on the way home.  But when we got home he wanted more.  For the rest of the day he was so upset, especially at his 1 month check up he screamed like he was being murdered and cried real tears (I always joke with Paul that when he cried for food it's a fake cry because there are no tears and he stops the moment he's picked up by me)

Well after the rough Thursday, he was much better Friday.  Brandon was back on his daily routine.  Grandma and Grandpa came over to help give him a bath and took him on a walk around the park while I ran some errands.  They also watched him while I took my afternoon nap, and put together his baby swing (which is loves....pictures are below)

Grandma and Grandpa Kelly are here until Thursday, it's really nice to have them here in Rotterdam and just stay home.  Last time we ran around the country sight seeing for a week, and it was fun but exhausting.

This is one of my favorite Brandon faces.  The pictures is a funny color because the lighting was to dark and I had to edit it so you could see his face.

The Non-sleeping baby

During the day Brandon has decided he does not want to sleep.  We still went about our day including baby but when we wanted to sit down and watch the series finale of LOST Brandon decided it was time to be a cranky pants, it took us almost 3 hours to watch it with his grunts and cries.

Him being so cranky makes bedtime super difficult because Brandon is cranky and over stimulated.  We normally start feeding and changing at 6PM and get him to sleep by 9PM.  But last night it took one hour longer, he was soo cranky, he just did not know what he wanted.

Today Daddy is back at work and I've gotten our little boy back on to his Mommy and Brandon schedule.  I've noticed he naps better during the day when he doesn't have so many people around him and he's in a dark warm room.  He also sleeps very well in his bouncy chair (He's doing that right now)

Yesterday we ordered him a baby swing,  I'm very excited to see how much he loves it, I did not anticipate that he would love the bouncer as much as he does, he'll sit in it for hours and just play or sleep.  He needs the sleep after the 3 day weekend with Daddy home.

Another cool thing Paul noticed yesterday was a possible smile from Brandon, I didn't see it, but this morning Brandon gave me a similar look, it made my heart melt.  He's just to cute!

Super Baby

A superhero in his dreams.

I like how he is flexing his arm like he just tackled Mommy.

With belly as full as that, we would all be smiling too.

Belly dancing.

Bath time fun

Baby Talk

naked time

Brandon and the heartbeat bouncy chair

Birth announcement

WHAT?!!

   Today we brought Brandon to have his hearing tested.  This is done by the government (as is his immunizations and first few checkups) to make sure that he can hear okay and thus learn to speak well.  If he has hearing problems, I guess it is good to catch those early to help him with his communication.  However, we knew Brandon could hear fine because we have dropped stop or made noise that caused him to get startled.
    The test was interesting because they stick something into his ear that makes a sound but also measures the response of his ear to make sure that he heard the sound.  I wasn't sure how they were going to do this, he couldn't raise his hand or acknowledge the sound, so this little device was pretty great. 
    They ask that we should try to bring Brandon asleep but if I could make babies sleep on command, I would open a daycare service and make millions.  Since he wasn't asleep, we had to keep him quiet and still so the nurse could run the test.  That was not easy.  We tried to hold his arms and legs but then he would start to scream, we gave him his pacifier, which he sucked happily but made these loud grunting noises that kept interfering with the test.  Finally, he got distracted and stared off into space long enough for the nurse to run the test and both ears were fine.  So now we have medical proof that he can hear.... he just doesn't listen.

feeding, feeding, and more feeding

No one ever really tells you how much work breastfeeding really is.  It's enjoyable to get to spend so much time with Brandon and have our special bond, but on difficult days like yesterday I was ready to throw the towel in on breastfeeding and go to formula.   But then our little one goes back to being an angel and feeding doesn't seem that bad.

So yesterday we had what I like to call "round the clock feedings"  It literally felt like after I fed him, burped, and changed him and let him relax for 10-15 min he was hungry AGAIN!  My midwife and the baby nurses warned me about this, but it comes at different times for all babies.  Brandon had a day like this around 2 weeks and then it was over.  But I didn't think he would have another one for at least 2 more weeks.  By the time Paul got home from work I gave him the remaining pumped milk and rested.  With Brandon being so hungry all day, he only took 1 nap, on me, while I napped. 

My original goal was to breastfeed him until we move back to America, but currently I'm not sure I can keep that promise.  So after reading lots of books, I've come to the decision that I'm not going to think about when I'm going to stop until I go to my 6 wk post-op appointment at the midwife.  Brandon and I are still getting to know each other and it's not really fair to him just to give up, plus today he's been so much better.  He's back to sleeping 2-3 hours between feedings so I can get chores and errands done.

19 days

Videos of Brandon only 12-14 hours old

Paul made some short videos of Brandon with our video camera at the hospital.  Until today we thought the camera would not upload to the internet, but it turns out youtube is awesome and uploads HD videos!  Hope everyone enjoys them!

Brandon less than 1 day old Part 1

Brandon less than 1 day old part 2

Brandon less than 1 day old Part 3

Brandon and Mr. Jummy (or What Happens when Mommy leaves Daddy home alone with Brandon)

sleeping through the night

I can't believe Brandon is already sleeping through the night.  Well sort of.  He will sleep for 6 hours, which compared to his day time naps of only 2-3 hours is a blessing.  I would much rather have this schedule than him awake all night.   But it seems he only sleeps through the night on bath night.  And since his skin is very sensitive, being a newborn and all, we can only bath him every other night.  Luckily on nights he does not have a bath he wakes just once in the middle of the night. 


I'm hoping we can keep with this pattern.  Mommy and Daddy sure love sleeping through the night!!!

2 weeks old

Time is moving way to fast.  I feel like between the time Paul leaves for work and gets home is gone in the blink of an eye.  I've really learned how to use my time management skills to the max, I can not longer procrastinate when it comes to free time those precious hours when Brandon sleeps are used wisely, and I've learned that some things just need to wait until Paul is home and there is an extra set of hands to help with Brandon.  But so far we're still loving parenthood!  No big mistakes yet, well Paul does keep putting the diapers on backwards, but we'll cut him some slack, if he's still doing it after Brandon's 1 month maybe we'll make him take some diaper changing classes.

Here are some pictures of Brandon from today, we have so much fun taking his pictures and now video!

VIDEO!!!!!

  As you can see below, we figured out video.  Since Google is our omnipresent overlord, it makes it easy to transfer video from YouTube to Blogger.  Brandon now has a YouTube channel and you can follow him at

http://www.youtube.com/user/SirBrandonKelly

   SirBrandonKelly is his account name (I know, awesome).  They don't allow you to register an account for someone so young, so we used my birthday, if you are wondering why he is 27 years old.

   When we post video we will probably post it to youtube and then link to OperaMommy.

Brandon Roll

Brandon Sneeze

Tummy Time

Already lifting his head and legs at the same time....WAY TO GO B!!!!

First rough day

Yesterday I can officially say was a rough day.  Brandon didn't sleep very well Sunday night, he decided bed time would be 1:30AM.  Luckily he slept for 4 hours, but for Mommy it was not enough.  Luckily he went back to sleep after a feeding for another 2 1/2 hours.   But after that he just didn't want to sleep, which was hard for me because I needed to get him and myself ready for an appointment at the consultation buro (here he gets his shots and they monitor his growth, for all other things he goes to the doctor)  Well go figure 15 min before his appointment he falls asleep.  We walk over to the office (only 2 blocks away) and they don't have an appointment for us.  Turns out that the nurse was coming to my house, I did not hear on the machine message that she left that it would be a house call, I thought at nearly 2 weeks old he would be going to an office, but that's not how things work here.  Well after making some phone calls and waiting for some returned calls, the nurse called me back, and said I could come back over to the office if I'd still like to be seen today.  Luckily I kept Brandon in the bassinet because I did not want to disturb sleeping Brandon, especially after he'd been awake for so long.  So we rushed over and had our appointment.

They just wanted details about his birth, his mommy and daddy, and to check that he is growing (B weighs in at 9lbs).  Next appointment is next week to check his hearing, then at 1 month old he'll get his first immunization. 

Last night was much better than Sunday night.  We gave Brandon his bath, which he didn't enjoy as much at Saturday (i think the water could have been a little warmer)  But after he ate and fell asleep by 10:30.  And he only woke 2 times in the night for a feeding.  We're still very lucky that he doesn't cry when he wake for food, he just grunts and moans.  He also grunts and moans in his sleep so Paul and I sometimes don't know if he's awake or sleeping unless we check on him.

Naked Time

     We gave Brandon his first bath in his bathtub at home.  We got this whole set of bathstand, tub, and a seat that goes in the tub.  The tub has a built in thermometer and told me that I made the water too hot for Brandon.  Good thing because I was thinking how nice the temperature was.  When I got the temperature right, we put him in and he wasn't crying but he wasn't happy.  The seat lets him sit in the tub without us worrying about his head going under but that does mean most of his body is outside of the water.  After we finished cleaning him, we took out the seat and let him lie back in the hot water.  He LOVED this.  We held his head above the water but the rest of his body just floated in the warm water, and he looked like he was going to fall asleep if we let him.  He loves bath time, hates being wet and cold.  We took him out and wrapped him in his towel (the turtle thing in the picture below).  I am excited for the next bath time.

Happy Mother's Day!

So today being Mother's Day I am even more thankful for the early arrival of our little boy, it was the best present I could ask for, Paul and I joke with Brandon saying we hope he left a note for his future brother or sister to make an early exit as well!  I'm so excited that I can officially be part of the Mommy club.  Paul let me sleep in today and he took Brandon upstairs and gave him a bottle I left in the fridge.  This once a day Daddy and Brandon feeding gives me a break to nap or get some chores done around the house.  Plus Brandon is getting very good with not getting confused between the bottle and breast. 

Last night I had a huge scare.  I woke up at 3:30AM and Brandon was super quiet, it had been over 6 hours since his last feeding and he was still not awake.   I shook Paul and probably scared him as well.  He went into Brandon's room and our little boy was fine, just kicking and laying in his crib waiting patiently for Mommy or Daddy to come get him.  How we got blessed with such a wonderful baby is beyond me.   Lets keep our fingers crossed he never gets colic. 


Happy Mother's Day to every mom out there!

Getting out with the Family

    Today we went to the store to pick up a few things.  This was our first big outing to the stores with Brandon so we wanted to be prepared.  Before leaving, we fed Brandon, burped him, changed his clothes to something warm, changed his diaper, and got him ready in his car seat.  We were not going to be gone long, so we didn't bring too much with us. 
     He was pretty good until about 10 minutes into the car ride, when he started to cry.  Ashley tried keeping him distracted but he was still hungry.  Since we didn't bring a bottle, Ashley fed him in the parking lot, fortunately, we did bring an extra blanket so it wasn't too bad.  Then he fell asleep and was fine in his stroller while we were in the stores... a little too fine.  He didn't move and I started to get nervous.  Ashley brushed his hand, he jumped and woke up.  I was quietly willing him to go back to sleep but no luck.  By the time we got to the cash register, he was screaming to be picked up.  Ashley took care of Scream McQueen, while I paid for the things.  Worse part was that we were in a baby store and surrounded by other babies, so Ashley was worried he would start a baby chain reaction, but no one seemed to notice.  Once he was back in the stroller he fell right asleep and stayed asleep as long as we kept moving the stroller.  It really soothed him.  On the way home, he was up again and to keep him calm, Ashley sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for about 15 minutes on continuous loop. 

      We survived but perhaps a little smarter about getting out with Brandon.

co-sleeping

When I was prego I was totally against having Brandon sleep in our bed at night just for the pure fear that we might roll over on him or he would fall out.   But I realized it's pretty hard not to notice a 8.5lb tiny person on you while you sleep, plus they don't move as much as I thought when sleeping.  Brandon doesn't move at all.    We're not making a habit of this, but on nights when B needs some skin on skin contact and Mommy needs some extra hours of shut eye we'll allow him to join us. 

1 Week

It feels like 1 week has flew by.  Paul and I have been so busy tending to Brandon.  He's such a great baby, I know all parents say that about there children, but he doesn't cry and he would sleep 4+ hours if we let him sometimes.

The parent training wheels have officially come off.  Yesterday was the last day we had a house visit from our midwife.  The next time we'll see her is 6 wks after Brandon's birth.  While the midwife was here we had her take a look at his umbilical cord because it was smelling foul and looking weird.  She was trying to cut the clamp off and the entire thing just fell off, oh well.  He's almost completely healed and we can start taking cute pictures of him in his diaper (I can't wait!!!)  Brandon also gained back his birth weight and he is now allowed to sleep 6 hours in the night time, but during the day to still get fed every 3-4 hours.  This schedule is nice, but we have to slowly ease Brandon into it.  Last night we got him to sleep for nearly 5 hours till he decided he was hungry. 
He starts to make grunting noises when he wants food so as long as Paul and I can distinguish his sleep grunts from awake and hungry grunts he's a quiet baby.  Even my upstairs neighbor was surprised that we had the baby because she only heard crying once or twice when we were changing him, and since we live on a street with a huge day care it can get confusing as to who is making the crying noises!   But a good amount of our neighbors met him between yesterday and today and they think he's adorable!

Yesterday we made our first trip out of the house with him.  We took a walk over to the Rosenburg Park and did a slow lap around the bridges and paths.  I'm still healing so the walk only lasted about 20 minutes and then we were home to rest for the night.

Happy Brandon!!!

Long night

    Yesterday was my first day back to work and Ashley's first day alone with Brandon.  She said he was good and not really difficult for most of the day.  He did get fussy but nothing she couldn't handle. 
     But last night, he didn't want to go to sleep.  He just wanted to eat and then get gassy or need to be changed, he would lie down for a few minutes, but then want to eat more, repeat until insane with exhaustion.  This lasted for a several hours.  Until finally, his exhaustion beat out his hunger and he fell asleep for his normal 2-3 hours.  When he woke up again, it was a similar problem.  He wanted to eat but everytime I gave him to Ashley he would get comfortable and fall asleep.  Ashley decided to let him sleep cuddled next to her and that worked great for Brandon, Ashley less so.  He slept a couple more hours and ate again, we repeated the sleeping arrangement with success but by morning, Ashley was fried, and needed some uninterrupted personal sleep.  Fortunately, Brandon was full and tired and ready to go sleep on his own too.
       One good thing is that he doesn't cry during this time but just grunts and makes movements to communicate his unhappiness.  So we don't have a heart piercing scream for half the night.  Also, we found that sometimes, doing nothing and letting him wake himself up/calm himself is better (for us, mostly) than trying to help him get to the emotional state we want him to be.

       Hopefully, today will be restful for everyone.


   P.S.  Brandon is 1 week old today, felt like a lot has happened in this short week
    

and the winner is...

Baby Pool Results


Congratulations to the Miltenberg's who won the baby pool!  Everyone else can see how they placed on the link above!

Before and after

To the left is Brandon's 3D ultrasound at 24 weeks.  To the right is 2 day old Brandon.  Amazing!

First day home

Some new pictures of Brandon from his first day home!  Paul and I both surprised each other with presents.  He got me a willow tree wooden carved statue of a mother holding her baby.  I cried when he gave it to me, it was so thoughtful.  I felt cheesy for getting him a "Worlds Best Dad" t-shirt and a "New Dad 2010" coffee mug.  But he loves them.

Brandon loves being home, he is obsessed with his crib mobile and loves to sleep upstairs in the baby bjorn travel crib!

Video is taking longer to post than expected.  We have a HD video camera and the video we make won't play without a special player which no one has, so we're going to get a software than will convert the HD to a normal recording so everyone can view it on the basic computer player.