Did that really just happen?

I couldn't believe it... Lawson slept for 7 1/2 hours STRAIGHT last night! Well, I'm rounding up slightly. He went to bed at 10:05pm and woke up at 5:22am. And that meant he went 8 hours between feedings. Crazy! I woke up at 3:33am and thought I'd be getting up any minute. Then at 4:08am I thought the same thing and didn't try to go back to sleep. Somehow I fell asleep for a little while because he woke me up just chatting away at 5:22am. WOW! I know his sleeping through the night this one time does not mean it will be that way from now on (heck, just three nights ago he got up twice in the middle of the night), but this does mean Lawson can do it and it will happen regularly sometime in the future. Yay for our little dude!!!

Lawson's Stats

I forgot to include them in the post below.

At his 8 week check up, Lawson weighed 12 lbs 13oz (75th %), he was 24 1/2 inches tall (97th %) and his head was 15 1/4 inches (70th %). I was shocked at his height and the doctor reminded me the percentiles are not predictive and that breast fed babies grow faster than formula fed babies in their first six months. So at six months his percentiles will start to taper off.

Anyway, we are enjoying our big boy!

Lawson is 2 months old!

Lawson is now two months old - actually 9 weeks old today. He is such a fun little guy! I am enjoying him more and more each day. I cannot believe he's ours!!!

Here is a little information about our little man:

• He is getting so strong! This week when he was doing tummy time he lifted his head so high he rolled over! It was accidental, of course, but it was so cute. 
• He is sleeping less during the day. He used to take several 1.5-2 hour naps. He doesn't sleep for more than an hour during the day for most naps. When he wakes up he generally is happy and just wants to hang out with us. 
• He is sleeping more during the night. We are only getting up once in the night these days. He has had two nights in the last two weeks that he got up twice. He generally goes to bed somewhere between 9 and 9:45pm and then gets up once between 1 and 3am, then we set the alarm to get up at 5:30am to start our day. We try to have the same start time everyday in order to prepare for when I go back to work and Lawson goes to daycare. At 5:30am he eats, I change him, then play with him for 10 minutes or so. He's usually still pretty tired so he goes back to sleep by 6:15am. That's when I go get in the shower. 
• He knows day from night. Dave and I do the same bedtime routine every night. Eat, bath, massage (if he's not too tired/feisty), pajamas, turn off overhead light and turn on lamp, two books, swaddle, four nursery rhymes (which he usually smiles through - must be laughing at our singing), kiss from momma and daddy, place Lawson in the crib, turn on white noise and humidifier, turn off lamp. Lawson is usually awake when he goes in his crib. He talks to himself for about 5 minutes and then goes to sleep. He does the same talking when I put him in his crib after we eat in the middle of the night, too. From what I hear we are pretty lucky!
•  Lawson is smiling more now. We love it. On his 2 month birthday I noticed if I smiled at him, he would smile back. So rewarding! Now, it doesn't happen every time, but it happens often. 

Now I'll share some pictures we've taken recently:

Tummy time is serious business.

Lawson asleep in his car seat at Virago, a restaurant in Nashville. It was basically "date night" but with our baby. He was awake when we got there and fell asleep about ten minutes later. Then we got home and watched a movie. It was a great night!

This was no little squirt... this was pure throw up down the front of his clothes and car seat just as we got to the auto body shop. Thankfully I had a change of clothes for him in the diaper bag and enough wipes to clean him and his car seat. 

The many faces of Lawson...

You know he is smiling in this one... I just missed it!

I placed Lawson in the pack and play the other day so I could start the laundry and he loved the mobile. Now if I need just a second to do something hands free I put him in there and start the mobile... he just looks in awe. He gets very excited and gets his legs and arms moving!

Easter morning. 

I caught a smile on his 2 month birthday morning!

Isn't this two month old handsome?

More tummy time - isn't he getting strong?

Victory is mine! Dave is out of town this week (and next week, home one week, and then gone again - that's three out of four weeks if you are counting) and it is very overwhelming for me to take care of Lawson, Parker and Riggins. The dogs don't mind me as well, they need a TON of exercise, and my car is just too small to travel with all of us very safely. I took the dogs to daycare yesterday and today (and the ride is very stressful for me), but Tuesday both dogs stayed home. I played tennis ball game with them three times in the backyard and I took all of us on a 1.5 mile walk. Finally, after all that activity, the dogs were tired. YAY! Parker and Riggins are staying home tomorrow, too, so I have a big, exhausting day ahead of me. Thankfully Dave gets home tomorrow so I will have some help tomorrow night. 

A few more picture of our dude

Here are a few more pictures to show what we've been up to!

Lawson loves tummy time!

Lawson's first shorts outfit. I got this at the church consignment sale last week. Good bargain!

I also got this outfit at the church consignment sale (figured Mackenzie would appreciate it). 

While Lawson and I were doing tummy time Parker made himself comfortable on our glider chair. 

The six-week peak: that explains it all!

I took this picture of Lawson when we were at the pediatrician's office last Friday. We didn't have an appointment, I just dropped in to weigh Lawson to make sure he's gaining weight. He is! At 6 weeks and 1 day he weighed in at 12lbs 2oz. Our next appointment is April 4th. 

Dave and Lawson at the Vanderbilt baseball game yesterday. The sunglasses were too big so he ended up just wearing the hat. Lawson enjoyed all of the activity at the game. And he brought the Dores good luck: they won the game!

Our little boy is 1 month old!

Okay, so he's actually 5 1/2 weeks old now, but on March 9th he was 1 month old. I took the following pictures to try and capture the momentous occasion. I am uploading them all here because I think you'll get a good idea of what this little boy looks like - sometimes I think he looks like he has darker hair and a slightly darker complexion (similar to David) but most times I think his hair and complexion look lighter (similar to me).

Some interesting facts about Lawson that we've learned over the first month:

• He grunts during his sleep and Dave thinks it sounds like an elf's laugh.
• He does have an inside voice, but most of the time he uses his outside voice inside.
• He cannot do two things at once. For example, he cannot eat and poop at the same time - he stops eating to go to the bathroom and once he's done he'll start eating again. 
• He has started to grin, but we haven't gotten an all out smile yet.
• He is in love with ceiling fans.
• He is getting stronger and stronger: he holds his head up very high now when he's doing tummy time and even gets his chest off the ground sometimes.
• No matter what time in his routine/cycle it is, he will fall asleep in the baby bjorn (in fact yesterday when all else failed and he hadn't been to sleep for over 4 hours I put him in the baby bjorn and he feel asleep instantly - and I transferred him to his crib)
• He is excellent at tracking things. He follows the ceiling fan no matter where we are in the room - craning his neck to get a view. Today when we were laying down on a blanket Riggins walked into the room and Lawson watched him move from the door over to the diaper champ (Mr. R loves poop!). 
• He's started to look at us more. When I walk up to his crib he looks up at me and I love it! Today when I was changing Lawson Dave walked in the room and started talking and Lawson looked for his daddy. Very cool!
• He is always staring at the fabric I put on the wall (see pics a few posts back about the nursery). When he's on the changing table he looks up at the fabric and when he's in his crib he looks up at the fabric on the wall (he also looks at the ceiling fan!). 
• He loves to go outside. If he is getting feisty I take him outside and he just loves looking around at everything.

Anyway, here they are the pictures from his 1 month photo shoot with me....

Lawson Update

As you can imagine, I've been SUPER busy learning to be a mom and taking care of our sweet little boy. I'll share some pictures below, but before I do I want to share an update from his last pediatrician visit. Lawson weighed in at 9lbs 9oz, which is the 70th percentile. He is now 22 1/4 inches long, which is the 90th percentile. And his head circumference is 14 inches, which is the 25th percentile. So, no bobblehead baby for us just yet (Dave is disappointed)! Dr. Rauth placed Lawson on his tummy and he showed off... holding up his head for a pretty long time! She said that is something they look for by month 4, so he's very strong for his age. In fact, she said not to leave him alone on the bed or changing table because he will most likely roll over sooner rather than later. Lawson also showed off his "talking" skills while we were there and Dr. Rauth said he is a very vocal little guy. I know that for sure! And he's loud. I guess he gets that from me. :)

And now for the pictures...

Lawson is day dreaming about Alabama's next National Championship.

 Handsome boy who got tired while doing tummy time.

Dave holding Lawson in the middle of the night after a feeding but before I swaddled him back up and put him to bed. I'm glad I got a picture of this because Dave doesn't get up in the middle of the night anymore.

Lawson meeting his Great Grandpa Noble.

Such a handsome guy.

Lawson hanging out with Megan... but focused on his best friend, the fan.

He looks like a rap star here.

Lawson and Riggins are best friends.

And again (so sweet!).

Lawson and I taking a picture of ourselves.

He's not always happy (but he's always cute).



Meet Lawson Gray Gilbert!

I just love my new little boy. He is awesome!

Lawson Gray Gilbert was born on Thursday, February 9, at 5:37pm. He weighed 8lbs 10oz and is 20 inches long. He's a big boy!

We had our first pediatrician appointment yesterday. Dr. Rauth said he looks great and healthy. She gave Lawson a brief physical and checked his weight. When we left the hospital Lawson weighed 7lbs 14oz, but just two days later at this appointment he weighed in at 8lbs 6oz! The doctor, the nurse, and I were impressed. So I guess he's getting the nourishment he needs (even if it can be painful as heck! - we have some learning to do here).

Right now we are all trying to figure out a schedule. We are doing three hour increments of our routine: sleep, eat, wake. Lawson would sleep longer during the day sometimes but I wake him to make sure he's getting enough to eat. At night we do not wake him at three hours from the last feeding and he makes it to 3.5 hours most times. But right now it's all over the board. Our goal is to eventually get up at 4:30am on a regular basis. That way Dave can go to the gym before work and we would get two "decent" sleep periods in over night. So we'll be going to bed early!!! I'm sure we'll adjust several times a day.

Here are a few pics of our little dude over the last 6 days...

Dave is always giving Lawson a lesson of some sort. Here he is teaching Lawson the trick to multiplying any number by 25... :)

My first bath! 

I made this onesie (thanks Mom!) for Lawson at my baby shower. Roll Tide Roll! Please do not confuse his yawn for disinterest... he is a big Alabama fan.