Leo and his Daddy on Father's Day

Baby Leo 307, originally uploaded by lisiegrin.

Yawn!

Well mom (a.k.a. The Boobie Bar) is tied up at the moment, so dad's on blog duty today.

The changes are already coming fast and furious with Leo... he's spending more and more time alert and awake, and seems to love being held upright either standing or kneeling on a lap so he can hold his head up and look around. He's totally enthralled by the crown molding in the living room - it must be the contrast of the dark wood against the white ceiling, but we've also thought that since babies are rumored to be able to see ghosts, maybe our living room is haunted by some previous crown molding and he can see that. He'll just sit (or stand) and stare up at it open mouthed and wide eyed for minutes at a time though - too funny!

He's already fitting perfectly into the 3 month sized clothing (he's a serious hoss!), and I'm guessing it won't be long before he outgrows some of that too. The cute little ND outfit is from his great-aunt Becky, and he looked ridiculously cute in it. We'll be moving to South Bend next week, so it's good to get him started with his allegiances now. Go Irish!

Mom and dad got to go out for an actual date yesterday thanks to some great babysitting by aunt Kristin and uncle Rickie, which was awesome. We went to a movie and had a nice lunch out (complete with a margarita), then topped it off with a trip to Target for more diapers and wipes. It was great to get out, but then lovely to come home to our little man. We think Leo intentionally balanced his cuteness and crying time for Kristin and Rickie while we were gone, because he knew if he acted too cute then they would likely abduct him.

And Leo is nearly smiling now! He has smiled in his sleep for weeks, but in the last two days he has started to get really close to smiling back at us when awake - his dimples appear and his lips start to move, but he hasn't quite mastered the skill just yet. Soon! Then mommy and daddy will probably melt from the cuteness...

12 pounds?!?!

Leo turned 4 weeks old this week, and we went to his 4 week checkup on Tuesday. Not only has his head grown 1/2 inch and his height 1/2 inch, but he is all the way up to 12 pounds! He gained two pounds in two weeks. Whew! I mean it felt like he was getting heavier but seriously. He has also outgrown some of the newborn size outfits already, no surprise there.
He is also starting to enjoy the occasional bottle of pumped breastmilk, which is a win-win for all of us. That allowed me to get out of the house last night for a girly-girl beauty event that Kristin organized at a salon downtown, while Byron was a superdad and wrangled Leo all evening. A real treat for me! And now our major project is working on packing up our apartment for our move to South Bend in a week and a half. Whee! If only Leo would start pulling his weight and pack up his room for us.

Three Weeks Old!

Hard to believe, but he's three weeks old today. Hooray! He's started to be a bit more awake during the day (and kinda fussy in the evening) then sleeping longer stretches at night (four hours for a stretch last night) which is nice. I mean, the fussing in the evening is not so nice, but the longer sleeping is good. Other than that, he's currently enjoying some baby acne, which is apparently quite common at this stage. He looks like a little teenager.
We're taking him out for little walks almost every day, mostly for our own sanity. He generally falls fast asleep about 30 seconds into any outing, from the motion. Which is fine with us! The other day we went out to the lakefront at Montrose Harbor, and walked out on the pier. Handsome Mr. Leo got to don his brand new hat, and looked very cute in it.
He also continues to smile in his sleep occasionally, which is frankly the cutest thing I think I have ever seen.
Developmentally, he seems to be ahead of the curve with his hands - he keeps them open much of the time, which apparently is not common until the third month. And he's gaining more and more neck/head control, which is great. He's definitely growing, and is already giving daddy back pain - more of that to come I'm sure!