This and That

*I typed this post yesterday, but am just now posting it, with a baby sleep laughing on my shoulder*

Hunter is 7 weeks today. I cannot believe how fast it is all going! He is really starting to get a little personality on him. :] Every morning after his feeding he is just wide awake. He talks, smiles, and laughs. It is the best thing to wake up to. This morning we were having our morning conversation and Daddy wanted to join in. Hunter just gave him this "get out of here, I'm only talking to Mommy right now" look. Carl even came back like 5 minutes later and he gave it to him again. It was too funny.

We have started him on a bottle and on formula during the day. Since I am going back to work in a few weeks, I needed to start adjusting him to that sort of schedule. When he first wakes up, he is breast fed, but after that until bath time he gets a bottle. We started "bottle boot camp" last week. The first day was rather rough (I started out by mixing breast milk and formula and slowly decreasing the amount of breast milk each day). The next few days went really well until the mixture was more formula than milk. That morning, after 20 minutes of screaming, I finally relented and breast fed him. But after that, he took the bottle. We had also been buying him the pre-mixed stuff because it is sweeter and he had refused the powdered stuff, but I am now happy to announce that he took a powdered mixture today. Hooray! We also tried a new bottle and he took to that one a lot better than the Nuk bottle. After bath, he refuses to take a bottle. He knows that he gets the good stuff.

He also has a really nice night-time routine going. We take a bath around 7:30; I dress him and clean his ears; we come out in the living room with the lights low and the TV (if it is on) volume real low and nurse. Between 8:30 and 9 he falls asleep; Carl takes him, changes him, swaddles him, and lays him in his crib. He then sleeps (I'm now going to jinx myself... pardon me while I knock on some wood) through the night, waking up between 5 and 6:30. I don't mind the 5 AM wake up call because that is what we will be doing come August 25th when I start work. I really love our video monitor we received from my boss and his family at The Little Gym. It is so nice to be able to roll over and see he is breathing and go right back to sleep. I also don't have to get out of bed to see if he is just making noises or if he is actually awake. Thank you again Randy, Eleanor, Betsy, and Ann!

He is still a very gassy little man. I had been buying the Similac for gassy and fussiness (even though he isn't fussy) thinking that it would help. He still was very uncomfortable with the gas (even with Mylicon drops) so we switched him to soy formula and he is a whole new guy. He still farts a lot, but he isn't uncomfortable. The only problem is that they really stink now. I mean, they are like man farts. His farts have always sounded like they could come from a man, but now they actually smell like it too. Crazy kid. My house is just full of gas; I have Hunter's gas, Carl's gas, and Koal's gas. I think I need some more estrogen in this house!

Hunter also has his first cold. :/ It isn't too bad, but the first night was a little rough (not sleeping wise). He has lots of clear, runny snot. The first night it kept draining down his throat and making him cough and gag. It has gotten a little better, and he occasionally sounds congested. He has learned pretty quickly what the nasal aspirator is and he is not a fan. I really want one of those battery operated ones, but I am not spending $40 on it. Hopefully it will clear up within the next few days so his poor nose will feel better.

We went and had lunch at my sister's this weekend. We had a great time. Ryleigh and Molly just loved on Hunter the whole time we were there. Ryleigh just couldn't hold him enough. If anyone else was holding him she would ask for him. Molly enjoyed helping me burp him and rubbing his back. You can check out more pictures here.

While at my sister's, I walked past a photo of Molly when she was Hunter's age. I wanted to just see if they looked alike, and sure enough. I think Mel and Carl have some explaining to do, haha. Hunter and Molly have the same nose, so we know it runs on our side of the family somewhere.

Hunter got to meet Mason and Mark tonight. We went to visit them and Erin. Mason was showing off for us. He was very cute with Hunter. He even gave Hunter some of his toys. I think he would have cleaned out his room if Mark and Erin didn't stop him. He told me that he would teach Hunter to crawl. Too cute. :]

Hunter will be home with Daddy all day on Thursday. I have work orientation and then I'm going to go shopping with Kelly to get some work clothes. This will be the longest period of me being away from Hunter. My biggest outing alone in the past 7 weeks has been to Babies R Us for about an hour.

I promise I have better pictures to post. Our wireless internet isn't working and I don't usually have time to sit down at our desktop to do things. Hopefully I will get a chance sometime this week to post them.