2 Months + 2 days = 9 weeks

Yes, another Tuesday rolls around and Axel is yet another week old. We are working harder and harder on getting into some sort of routine. Tuesday morning is blog morning, Wed. is bath day, Thursday we try to walk with a friend, Friday is clean, clean, clean and Saturday and Sunday morning Axel usually hangs out with daddy while mommy rides her bike.

This weekly routine definitely isn't set in stone, but on a more serious note we are trying to get into a daily routine. Axel has typically been a good sleeper. He usually goes down between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. and wakes between 2 and 3 a.m. and then again roughly 2 to 3 hours later. I then bring him to bed for an hour and then we get up after daddy has made breakfast. (It just happens to work out that breakfast is made by the time I can finally manage pulling myself out of bed. Axel is quite the morning person and wants to play and coo while mommy pretends to play and coo back with her eyes closed. So much for being a morning person myself!)

After getting out of bed we then play in the car seat while mommy pumps and eats breakfast. We then say goodbye to daddy and mommy tries to do a bit of cleaning, while Axel joyfully watches and talks and sings to mommy. If Axel is in an "active alertness" stage we do tummy time. If Axel is more in the quiet alertness I try to read to him. Some days, like today, he is taking a morning nap. Other days he stays awake until 11 a.m. and then sleeps for 2 hours or so and then stays awake most of the day except for a short nap in the late afternoon. I am hoping as he gets older the naps can be more scheduled. It is hard when he is so young. Yesterday, for example, he took 2, 2+ hour naps. I tried my best to play with him and keep him awake, but I truly believe when a baby needs to sleep, they sleep. The only bummer about his long naps is that he doesn't eat as much, which means he gets up every 3 hours at night to eat.

I have made Wednesday bath day. I forgot to include pictures of his first bath a few weeks ago so I made sure to take lots of embarrassing pictures this past week. I hear having naked pictures helps embarrass your children when they bring over their girlfriends :) Anyway, Axel absolutely loves the water. Gamma Susan said that Auntie Shannon and I really loved baths and thought that Axel would surely love them too. Yep, she was right.

As I was taking pictures throughout the week I noticed Axel loves to rest one of his arms on the sides of his car seat, swing, tub and mommy's arm. I think it is the cutest and funniest thing that involuntarily he is Mr. Smooth. I can't wait to see how he is when he can actually control his arm movements :)

Lately, when Axel has been "cat" napping in the evening, daddy loves to take funny pictures. You can see here that Daddy wanted to get Axel with the bottle of beer. I chose the picture where it looks like Axel just got done taking a sip and is enjoying the effects of his beer with his eyes closed. Sooo cute!!!

This past week was a big week of birthdays. Axel's two month check up fell on Gamma Susan's birthday and Cousin Kendra's 30th birthday. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except for Axel received his first round of immunization shots and therefore wasn't himself so mommy wasn't able to send out e-cards like she had wanted (sorry gamma and Kendra).

I was very glad that daddy was able to get the day off and join us for Axel's Dr. appt. I was a bit nervous about the whole immunization process and wanted Keith there to back me up. Luckily we have a very understanding pediatrician so there was really nothing to worry about. Keith and I decided to only give Axel the vaccines that were absolutely necessary at this point in time. Therefore, he received DTaP, prevnar and Hib. We postponed the polio vaccine, rotavirus and Hep. B. I just think he is way too small to be injected with so many different vaccines. He will eventually catch up on the schedule by the time he enters school so I am not worried about him being 1 in how many thousands to catch polio or Hep. B. At any rate, seeing Axel in pain from the shots was extremely difficult for me. My heart melted as he screamed. Luckily, he stopped screaming as soon as I was able to pick him up. Daddy was happy to see Axel pass one of his first tests of manhood (2nd to his one-day-old circumcission). He did not run a fever and only needed baby Tylenol once for tenderness around the injection site. He was definitely sore, but healed very quickly like a champ. It was frustrating, though, to have my happy baby leave and the very fussy baby return for a few days. I couldn't put Axel down the entire day on Friday without him screaming. I had to rock him in my arms with the pacifier in his mouth. Axel also barely ate the following 4 days. Today is the first day it seems he has his appetite back, which makes mommy very happy.

From Daddy:

"I was happy to be able to take a Daddy-day off of work to go with Axel and Mommy to his 2 month pediatrician appointment. The pediatrician gave Axel the seal of approval at his checkup. Axel is on a normal growth pattern and weighed in at about 10.5 pounds and 22 inches long. He's much bigger than his <7 pound birth weight and he is very alert, cooing, smiling, moving his arms and legs, and holding his neck up strong. I was a little worried about his 'right-looking' preference since he seemed to really like to keep his head turned to one side, but the pediatrician ruled out neck issues and said that we go and see a 'physical therapist' to make sure that he is strong looking left as well. Well, Mommy happens to be an excellent physical therapist and had already started helping Axel work on turning his neck and looking strong to the left. I was amazed to see that it only took one day and Mommy had helped Axel become an ambi-neck-strous looker. He's now really good at tracking his Mommy and other things that make him happy all the way from the right to the left. He really seems to like to look at the bright light coming through the windows and blinds as well. We're still working on him paying attention to Daddy when Mommy is in the room - nothing makes him happier than Mommy.

Every morning, when I am getting ready for work, Axel is smiling and happy, fixated on Mommy and whatever she is doing. I try to get a few smiles out of him, but he really prefers to find Mommy and smile in her direction! Of course, that makes sense. Mommy is his favorite thing in the entire world. Whether it is holding him, nursing him, playing in the little jungle gym, or reading 'Peekaboo' books to him, Mommy is making his life wonderful at almost every moment. I have been enjoying my small stints as Daddy, or stand-in-mommy when I have been able to provide relief duty after work so that Mommy can get some exercise or other activities completed. Axel has been more happy in the past week to be held by Daddy, burped, fed, changed, and to just plain hang out with Daddy and the doggies in the evening. 6:15pm-8pm may no longer be Axel's fussy time, let's hope. "

Axel has been working on his standing more and more. His leg strength has by far surpassed his neck strength. He loves to stand and look around. I feel as if he wants to be a part of the action and that he feels bigger, like "one of us" when he does. Often if he is a little cranky I stand him on my lap or sit him on the table in front of me and he immediately smiles, coos and looks around. This is why everyone called him "little man" at the party we went to last week (see the last posting). On Sunday, when Axel turned 2 months, I took a few pictures to put in his scrap book. I thought for some reason he would look much older than he did for his 1 month photos, but I was surprised to see he looks practically the same, just a little more "filled out".