Personalized

Some of you may remember the original nursery reveal post where I said that we hadn't hung anything on the nursery walls, since Baby Pipal's gender was being kept a surprise. Well, now that we know that Baby P is a boy and that his name is Lucas (!), I thought we would show some of the progress we made in personalizing Lucas' room. We still haven't hung anything over the crib (except for the small shelves with the froggie and Lucas blocks as seen in the first photo, that are actually offset and hung just to the right of the crib) and are still deciding on what to do here. Any ideas?
Note the mini rocking chair that was once mine and made by Grandpa Bob!




 

Lucas is 2 months old!

 

 

 

Month 2 Recap:

Breastfeeding – 45 min to 1 hour nursing sessions seem to be thing of the past. Now, you eat anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, about every 2.5 hours. When you first started taking less time to eat, it really worried me that you weren’t getting enough food, but at your 2 month well-visit at the pediatrician’s office, you showed us that you know exactly how much you need to eat to be nourished properly! You gained 30oz in 25 days, so just over 1oz per day – we were very pleased! This coming Tuesday, we will be going into the pediatrician’s office again to have your frenulum clipped by Dr. Soppas (a pediatrician and board certified lactation consultant). This is that little piece of skin that connects the bottom of your tongue to the space behind your bottom teeth – it’s a bit too tight and may explain why we had such as hard time nursing at first. Though you’ve adapted and nurse like a champ, we are hoping to avoid speech issues as you grow and learn to talk by having the procedure done now.  

Sleep - Your sleep continues to get better and better as you got older and older, and you have started to sleep longer stretches uninterrupted. You finally became a fan of your swing at about 6 weeks old, and this is, by far, your favorite napping spot in the daytime! I can usually count on a good 3 hour nap either first thing in the morning or after your second feeding of the day – and if you haven’t taken this nap, watch out (!), because you will be a Mister Fussy pants and it will take even longer to get you down for a nap later in the day. On the night of Saturday, March 12, we moved you to your crib for the first time. I was probably the one that got the least sleep that night since I kept checking on you with the video monitor – you slept great, though! And your Dad and I didn’t have to be woken up by your grunting and stretching noises that you started making around 4 weeks old. At five weeks old, we were getting about 5 hour stretches of sleep, 6 weeks about 6 hours, and at 7 weeks and 1 day old we were at 7 hours of sleep! What an amazing surprise that night of March 16^th, when we all went to sleep by 9:45pm and we all woke up together at 4:45am!! The trend continued, and by the time you were 8 weeks old, you were getting anywhere from 8-9 hours of sleep. We are starting to tell that by around 7:30pm when you are the fussiest, you are probably ready for bed. This really has just dawned on us over the last couple of days, so in the next update, I will let you know how the earlier bedtime is working out.

Development – Since you flashed us that first toothless grin the day before your 1 month birthday, you haven’t stopped. At 2 months old, you smile at Mommy and Daddy when we smile at you. When Daddy comes home from work and starts talking to you and making animal sounds (you like the owl and monkey, in particular), you almost always smile. You also have started to have “conversations” with us and will babble and coo and make super cute little noises that make it seem like we’re really conversing! You have also started to track with, not only your eyes, but your head too! Yesterday, you and I took a trip to Brooks Instrument to visit your dad and his co-workers – there was a group of people waiting for us when we arrived – they were all so excited to meet you, Lucas! You can definitely pick Mommy and Daddy out in a crowd now too – some of the people at Brooks wanted to hold you, but you knew where your parents were at all times! Another milestone developmentally in your 2^nd month is that you finally like your play gym and bouncy seat! Both can keep you occupied for about 15 minutes at a time. I think you believe that the little animals that hang in front of you on your bouncy seat are your friends, because you love to smile and coo at them while I make breakfast for myself each morning. You also try to bat at the rattles and toys that hang from your play gym – sometimes you even kick the ones that are further away from you!

Stats from March 22 doctor's appointment:
Weight, 11 lbs, 12 oz.
Height (taken at home): 23”

Lucas is Baptized

On March 20, we Baptized Lucas in our church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. He was actually the only baby Baptized that day, and he was Father Smith's 56th Baptism (he's only a year out of the seminary). We had lots of family in town for the big event - the entire Lojek and Filosa clan drove in from North Jersey, South Jersey, and DC! The Rochester grandparents were also present, along with Eric's cousin, Allison, who lives in downtown Philly. Aunt Michele and Uncle Craig are Lucas' Godparents, and we had a lot of fun watching these two dress Lucas in his Christening outfit! The Baptismal outfit Lucas wore was actually the same outfit that my dad (Grandpa Bob!) wore almost 60 years ago. Uncle Gene and Nick also sported it before Lucas. I must say, Lucas was such a handsome little man, and it was so nice that he was able to wear such a meaningful outfit for such a meaningful event.

During the Baptism ceremony, Lucas was so well-behaved since he was sleeping. When it was time to have the holy water poured over his head, he opened his eyes in surprise, but then quickly went back to sleep without making a peep! After the beautiful ceremony, we all gathered at the Lamb Tavern for a celebratory luncheon. The food was delicious (including the yummy cake from Sweet Jazmine's - our favorite bakery that I frequent so often that the owner now knows me by name!) and everyone had a wonderful time holding and getting to know little Lucas. The little guy was so tuckered out, since he didn't get an afternoon nap, that he slept 9 hours that night!!

Speaking of sleep - Lucas is proving to be such a great sleeper. Each night during the last week or so, he's been sleeping for about 7 hours uninterrupted - one night, he even slept a full 8 hours - more than Eric or I got that night! We hope this pattern continues! I have read that babies who sleep a lot during the day, sleep better at night, so I am trying to make sure that Lucas gets lots of rest in the form of naps each day.

 

 



Chatterbox Lucas

Lucas is such a smiler and chatterbox now! Each day, he and I have a few conversations - usually, right after his tummy is full, he is a very happy guy! Although to many, his "words" may seem like babble, they are music to our ears. Lucas also loves when Eric does animal sounds with him, particularly the owl and monkey sounds. His eyes just light up when he smiles and talks, and his facial movements (namely, the left eyebrow lift!) are so fun to watch - Lucas is a very expressive little man. Case in point - see video below :)

 

 

Into a groove...

So here we are, the parents of a 6 week old! In some ways the last month and a half has flown by, but when we think back to how our days and nights all blurred into one looooong day the first couple of weeks, it seems like forever ago! Sleep deprivation has finally ceased for the time being now that Lucas is gaining weight properly. We had a slow-go in the weight department for the first week or so after Lucas was born, but when we found out that he gained over 2 lbs in 2 weeks at his one month well-baby pediatrician visit (1 oz/day is what they were looking for, and we were gaining 2+oz/day and weighed almost 10 lbs!), we were given the go-ahead to stop waking him up every 2 hrs for night feedings and let him call the shots! So, now, we are getting some good 5-6 hour stretches of sleep from the boy, and Mom and Dad are very grateful!

Once he hit one month old, we started taking Lucas out and about in public! He has been to lots of places with me and is such a fun little buddy to have along on outings. It's also nice to get out each day instead of being cooped up at home! We've been to Target, Genuardi's (our grocery store), Home Depot, the King of Prussia Mall, and Starbucks. We also went on our first family outing last weekend with Dad to Manayunk (a cute, quaint section of Philadelphia) to go furniture shopping, and finished up with a stop Starbucks and the California Pizza Kitchen for take-out - what a fun day!

Lucas and I have also gone on a few neighborhood walks with Darby, which is a huge accomplishment! We had a number of nice days this week, so I wore Lucas in his Moby wrap and put Darby on her leash - how great it has been to get outside and get some exercise!! Darby is very happy about getting out too :)

One more noteworthy story - we are starting to get some smiles from Lucas! They started the day before his one month birthday and, though they are not very consistent, I do manage to see a few each day! Let me tell you, they just melt my heart!! Lucas has been "talking" and cooing, too - what a big boy!

Here is video I managed to capture of his sweet smile since we haven't gotten any on film yet, and also some other pictures from the last few weeks! Enjoy!