Kevin's at work now, working his first shift since Jonah arrived - a night shift as luck would have it. We dropped him off at 7 and Jonah cried for the first two hours his dad was gone. Nothing soothed him, not even nursing. He's finally asleep now, though, and looking so sweet I think I'll forgive him for his earlier fussy spell.

Jonah's tummy troubles have been getting worse the last couple of days. I just hate that he's so uncomfortable. We're going to try this gripe water that the pediatrician recommended. We bought some yesterday but the seal was broken on the bottle so we're going to exchange it today. Hopefully this will ease some of his discomfort. A couple of days ago he was crying for a long time and big fat tears rolled down his cheek - his first real tears. I thought my heart would break.

Jonah's also smiling more. The pediatrician says he's too young to smile on purpose, but look at that picture! Kevin was playing with him and he kept smiling right at his dad. Could be coincidence I suppose, but I'll go ahead and believe he's just advanced for his age.

Jonah changes so much every day. He is really turning into his own little person instead of a floppy pooping machine. He now moves his arms a lot more and grabs onto everything that comes into reach. Given enough time, he can get out of any swaddle, even the fancy swaddling blankets that velcro shut. He honks like a goose when he eats, bleats like a lamb when he sleeps and squeaks like a mouse when he wants something. I tell Kevin it's like having our own personal little barnyard. He sleeps a lot, but he fights falling asleep tooth and nail. His eyes will start to drop closed and then he'll snap them back open and cry. He just doesn't want to miss out on anything!

Jonah did not take too well to the bottle. There was lots of crying and sputtering, but he did manage to get most of it down. I think it will just take some getting used to. I'm glad we started with the pumping now so we can slowly introduce it to him. Seeing how much he hates eating from a bottle, it would have been kind of terrible to wait until I needed to go back to school and then suddenly spring several bottles a day on him. The good news from all this is that the pump we got works like a dream. I can get five ounces in ten minutes, which is much faster than when Jonah decides to have a meal.

We're still dealing with a touch of colic, which can be kind of heartbreaking. He cries when he nurses, when he's rocked, and even in his sleep. It really seems like his tummy his hurting him and I wish so much that I could make it better. The one thing that seems to calm him down is putting him in his carseat on the floor. I don't know if it's the angle of the seat or what, but he sleeps better there than anywhere else.

Our little boy is getting very big very fast. He had his second pediatrician appointment today and he already weighs 9lb 13oz! Just eleven days ago he was 8lb, 3oz. He'd been looking a lot bigger to me and he does eat every 1-2 hours around the clock so I wasn't terribly surprised. The doctor said it may be a personal record for him though - he'd never seen a kid in his office gain that much weight that quickly! We're going to start doing one bottle a day just so I can get a break and a little sleep. I think the deprivation is starting to catch up with me - I feel a little more like a zombie and a little less like a person every day. The pediatrician said I should be getting at least one four hour stretch of sleep a day. I told him, "I haven't had that since Jonah was born!" He said we should start with a bottle today. I think Kevin and I both are looking forward to his feeding the baby.

Jonah took his first little walk today. It was a very short walk to accommodate his mother, but it was so nice to get out of the house and get a little sunshine. He seemed to really like the Baby Bjorn and Kevin loved toting the baby around in it.

We're still still in full swing parenthood over here. It's nothing like I thought it would be. I assumed I would be overwhelmed most of the time and feel these huge rushes of new love for my baby. Instead, most of the time I feel peaceful about my new role, like this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I feel the same way about Jonah - he doesn't feel new and overwhelming but like someone who's been here all along. The first time Kevin and I were alone with him in the hospital I said, "I can't imagine ever not knowing what he looked like." I felt like I'd known that little face my whole life and that feeling has never really left me.

I think we may have the cutest baby. I'm still working on getting better and may have to make yet another trip to the midwives tomorrow, but it really doesn't seem so bad when Jonah shows off his little dimples.

Things have been very busy around here lately. We got out of the hospital on the 9th, the same day we were supposed to start moving back in to the apartment. Kevin and Mom worked very hard the next couple of days moving everything back in and unpacking boxes while taking care of Jonah and me. I seemed to be getting worse instead of better in terms of recovery and returned to the midwives last Friday to find out I was probably having a bad reaction to my stitches. They wanted me to keep them in over the weekend, though, to facilitate long term healing. It was my decision - they offered to take them out that day if I wanted, but then my healing might now go as smoothly. So I stuck it out for a couple of pretty rough days. Kevin and Mom were both amazing, putting the apartment back together while waiting on me hand and foot since I couldn't get out of bed. This morning, I had most of them out, and am now on pain medicine and antibiotics to hopefully get to feeling better soon. I am feeling better already, I think, or at least I seem to be moving around better. I sat in the rocking chair with Jonah for over an hour with hardly any pain. I am optimistic that the next few days will see me in much better health.

Jonah himself is doing very, very well. He has the most alert little eyes. He just watches you when you talk to him like he understands everything you're saying. He is obviously very, very smart. He's also very cute, but the pictures show you that. He's "flying through his developmental milestones" according to his pediatrician. We were not surprised - he has easily mastered all of his bodily functions. He is an excellent nurser and pooper, sometimes almost too much so (he goes through several outfits a day). We are very proud of our little boy. Kevin is great with him. On our first day in the hospital, Kevin was too afraid to change his diaper by himself, but he's already a pro now. Because I can't change diapers too well from bed, Kevin's learned to do it in record time. He also remains very good at calming Jonah down, just like he was when Jonah was still in my tummy. Jonah just loves to listen to his daddy's voice.

Jonah Blair Hove

Jonah Blair Hove was born at 1:54pm on July 7th. He is 8lb 5.5oz and absolutely perfect. We're all healthy and happy (and maybe a little bit sore). I'll post more pictures later.

Today is my due date. No baby yet, though. Not even a good sign he'll be here anytime soon. I would be depressed except my mom is here keeping me busy. We just got back from the new Indiana Jones movie and agree that though he is quite a bit older than he was in the last one, he is still a total dreamboat.