Top heavy

My biggest problem with tummy time still seems to be that I’m top heavy. My arms aren’t strong enough to support me and my legs are pushing me forward, so I kind of do a lot of face plants. It is not the most pleasant of experiences.

Watching me sleep

Mommy and Daddy just can’t get enough of me. Not only are they fawning all over me during all waking hours, but they can’t even leave me alone when I’m sleeping. I mean what can be so interesting about me sleeping? Is it even worth taking a video?

Hold on…Daddy says he wants to show me the video they took of me sleeping. Please wait just a minute as I watch the video.

Okay, I watched the video and I stand corrected. That’s some pretty entertaining sleeping I’m doing there. I get why Mommy and Daddy are constantly watching me.

Lack of neck control

Thanks to all my tummy time, my neck has been getting stronger every day. I can hold my head up for longer periods. But the problem is not strength, but control. When I hold my head up it is not always stable and my head can sometimes flop around a bit. Also my control gives out at random times resulting in a surprising headbutt. Oddly, it doesn’t hurt at all. Well, at least it doesn’t hurt me. I’ve given Mommy and Daddy some nasty thumps here and there.

1 month check up

Mommy and I had our 1 month check up today. Everything is A-OK!

Even though I’ve only been out a few times, I’m getting used to it. I was very good during the car ride to the hospital and I was very patient in the waiting room. Mommy had her check up first so I waited with Daddy. Then it was my turn. The doctor checked me over from head to toe, so I cried a little from the cold when I had my clothes taken off, but other than that I was really well behaved.

There were a lot of mothers with babies at the hospital, so there was a lot of waiting. During that time I was looking at the other babies. Some were obviously older than me, but there were a few that had to be the same age as me. I don’t know if it was just me, but they looked a lot smaller than me. To be honest there were some older babies who could hold their neck up on their own who looked a lot smaller than me. I guess I’m just a big boy. And I have data to back that up.

For the check up they weighed and measured me. I grew a lot in 1 month.

June 11th
1 Month Old
May 10th
Birth
Increase
Weight5210 g (11.49 lbs)3926 (8.65 lbs)1284 g (2.83 lbs)
Length58.5 cm (23.03 in)51.5 cm (20.27 in)7 cm (2.75 in)
Abdominal Circumference41 cm (16.14 in)36.5 cm (14.37 in)4.5 cm (1.77 in)
Head Circumference39 cm (15.35 in)38 cm (13.96 in)1 cm (0.39 in)

So that confirms it. I’m a big baby. It looks like I gained an average of 50 grams (1.76 oz) a day. According to several online resources, the average daily weight gain of newborns is about 1 oz per day. I guess I’m an over achiever. I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I’m pretty much off the bottle. Sometimes I have supplementary formula once or twice at night, but there are also times where I don’t have any. Well, based on my weight gain, we definitely do not need supplementary formula anymore. It looks like Mommy has some super healthy and nutritious breast milk and I am getting everything I need, and more.

Of course, the doctor noted my size, but it was nothing to worry about. If anything, it is a good sign of my health and that breastfeeding is going well. She went so far as to say that we don’t have to be so strict with my feeding schedule and I can be fed as needed. So far I’ve been eating about 9 times a day, about every 3 hours, but we can push that up to 12 times a day or about every 2 hours.

The bottom line is I’m healthy, Mommy is healthy, and I have been given the go ahead to eat as much as I want. Okay, that last part is not really true, but I think I’ll be feeding schedule will be loosened up a bit to fit my needs.

Wow! That first month really flew by. I feel really old now. I had better start thinking about my future and about what I’m doing with my life. There are many things for me to ponder.

Me pondering

Night & Day

The days go by so fast that they are like a blur. Everything gets mixed together that I am not really aware of what happened when. Especially when my day is a blend of deja vu experiences where I’m sure I just did this or that.

These pictures were taken 12 hours apart. The one on the left was at 11 p.m. and the one on the right was at 11 a.m. the next day. Look familiar? Of course, I woke up and did other things in between. But it seems that I end up in this position during many parts of my day.

Is that a good way to spend my day? Let me think about that.

Tummy time: Turtle freeze

I’m getting used to tummy time and am getting a pretty good workout. Sure, sometimes I just lie there and do nothing. Other times I try to lift my head up and end up smashing my face into the floor. But most of the time I do pretty good at holding my head up for a few seconds.

The problem is that my head is pretty heavy so if I don’t position my hands correctly, it is hard to lift my head up. It is simple physics. I just don’t have the leverage. But there are times where I power past physics and lift my head up, even with poor hand positioning. I do so by counter-balancing with a leg lift. I end up doing a kind of turtle freeze with my legs and head up at the same time, balancing on my hands and arms.

My waiting chair

As you already know, I love being held. But I realize that I cannot be held all the time. So I try to give Mommy and Daddy a reprieve every so often. I usually eat one of my dinners before them so I tend to be in a good mood for a while. I often spend that time in my chair, which has become a waiting chair of sorts. I give Mommy and Daddy time to eat dinner in peace…most of the time. Sometimes I fuss and need to be held again. Daddy has gotten pretty good holding me in his right arm and using chopsticks with his left hand to eat. Sometimes he has to do this while standing up. But most of the time I’m pretty good.

I just wait and make weird grunts and growls.

Getting to know Ojiisan

My first shrine visit was a great success and I was on my best behavior. These past two days I have been doing really well at behaving myself at new places and in front of new people. I was even good during the car ride. I kind of hit my limit the last ten minutes of our 30 minute car ride back home and I started crying. But that was to be expected. It was my feeding time and I had been using all my energy to be on my best behavior. Once we got home we rushed inside to feed me. To my surprise, Ojiisan and my aunt followed. We were all going to have lunch together, (even though I was actually eating before everyone).

With a full stomach and after changing into something more comfortable, I was in a really good mood. That’s when Ojiisan held me for the first time. We bonded instantly. We just stared at each other for a really long time. I had a strange look of seriousness on my face. I studied his face, committing it to memory and he just looked back at me, talking to me. I did not cry at all. We enjoyed our moment with everyone else looking on.

I could tell that he adores me, after all, I am his first grandchild. We were all very happy that our first meeting went so well. I look forward to the many future meetings as well!

Omiyamairi

I went for my first shrine visit today at Umi Hachimangu. It is a very famous place for babies’ Omiyamairi because of the name. The location, Umi, is written 宇美, and is a homophone for 産み, which means “birth”. So it is a famous place for pregnant women to go to pray for the safe birth of their children and then to return with the child after it is born to be blessed.

It is tradition for the baby to be wrapped in a kimono during their shrine visit.

I got to meet my Ojiisan, grandfather, for the first time. He was very happy to see me, but was also quite emotionally restrained. While we were waiting for our turn, he would take long looks at me and touch my feet, hands, and stroke my cheek. I am his first grandchild. He has been waiting a long time to meet me, but I think it will take a while for us to get to know each other.

It was too bad that I couldn’t meet my Obaasan yet. She is in the hospital recovering after some serious surgery. But I have been a strong motivation and inspiration for her to get better as soon as possible and she is recovering at an impressive pace. She had surgery before I was born, but was determined to get well to see her grandson.

The shrine wasn’t very crowded when we got there, so there were only two parties for the blessing ceremony at the time. I was a very good boy and did not fuss at all during the ceremony, even when the priest started drumming. The ceremony was over quickly. But it must have felt longer for Mommy. She had to carry me and sit seiza, with her legs tucked under her. It could not have been comfortable.

Before I knew it, the ceremony was over.

As nice as the kimono was, I was happy to get it off. It was hot under all that material. It was also a bit cumbersome. I had a wardrobe malfunction while trying to get it off.

After changing into something more comfortable, we returned my rock. You see, the tradition at this shrine is that you leave a rock with your name on it when you visit for Omiyamairi. When a pregnant woman comes to be blessed, she can take a rock of the opposite gender that she is hoping for. It doesn’t guarantee that the baby will be the gender she wants, but it is just part of tradition.

December 6th, 2020

Busy day = busy night

With all the excitement and bustle of my photo shoot, my normal daily routine was thrown off. It was my first time going out and meeting new people. And it was a completely different environment and situation for me. I was a very good boy and behaved really well! Mommy and Daddy were very proud of me. But of course, all that good behavior came at a cost. My feeding schedule was off and I was very tired from the day’s activities. The busy day for me meant a busy night for Mommy and Daddy. I was pooped and a little more fussy than usual. That meant that I could not be put down to bed and pretty much had to be held the whole night.

Below are photos of me at 8, 10, 12, and then the next morning. It was a lot of sleep for me, but a lot of work for Mommy and Daddy.

Arm nook

Sometimes when I rest on Daddy’s chest I squirm my way into a comfortable position. That can be the cradle of his arm or his arm nook. Yes, that’s right, “arm nook”. Well, I don’t like the sound of “armpit”, so I choose to call it his “arm nook”. Anyway, it is really comfortable and my face fits right in it.

Oh yeah, that’s the stuff!

Mood Swings

It’s tough being a baby. There is so much going on in life, but I have so little control over anything. I can’t even control myself. My bodies has a mind of its own. I can’t control my hands or feet very well. I can’t even control my bodily functions.

And then there is my mood swings. There is nothing I can do to control how I feel or how I react to things. My mood swings are quite severe. I can be calm and peaceful and then all of a sudden I’m crying and fussing and I don’t know why. Then all of a sudden I’m back to peaceful and calm again. I don’t get it and I don’t like it. I feel bad for Mommy and Daddy because they have to try and deal with my mood swings. They are very understanding and know that I’m not doing it on purpose. I’m just a baby and doing my best.

First photo shoot

I had my first photo shoot today. No, I wasn’t scouted to be a baby model. Though, I understand how you could make that assumption. Actually, I’m nearly one month old and in Japan we go for our first shrine visit, or omiyamairi. These days, many families take photos in a studio before or after the shrine visit.

I showed up to my photo shoot in a great mood, but asleep. I remained asleep for about an hour and a half. The photographers were very understanding and were happy to wait and photograph other customers. Mommy and Daddy waited patiently, and checked out the other babies that came in for photos. They thought that I was the cutest, and not to mention the largest by far. It was obvious that the other babies were older than me, since the were able to hold their heads up and seemed to be taking photos for their 100th celebration, but I was as big if not bigger than them.

When I finally woke up, I was still in a stellar mood, but still a little drowsy. We got right to the photo shoot, despite my sleepy moody.

I know the video doesn’t look like much, but trust me we got some good shots. We pick up the photos in about two weeks.

All in all, it was a very pleasant experience. The photographers were very good at what they did and I was amazed that they could get a 30-day-old baby to take good pictures. They kept me happy and entertained, all while drawing my focus to the camera lens. Then they would duck or jump out of the way and snap some pictures. I know it sounds weird, but it really worked. We got some nice pictures!

I did not fuss at all during the process and was a really good boy. The actually photo shoot part of the photo shoot was very quick, maybe about 30 minutes from when I woke up. We did several sittings with different backdrops and then I was done. After that, Mommy and Daddy had to sit down and go through all the photos and choose the ones they wanted prints of. They didn’t need me for that part so I promptly went back to sleep.

So, please be patient for about two weeks and then I’ll show you the results of my first photo shoot. Here are a couple of screen grabs from the videos to tide you over.

Biting the hand

Sometimes I am so hungry that I am literally biting the hand that feeds me. Well, not really biting, more like gnawing. But the hand is Mommy’s hand and she’s the one literally feeding me. Hmmm. I should rethink my actions or I might be cut off.

While I was sleeping

A lot happens while I sleep. Apparently I do a lot weird things. I make weird noises, I make weird faces, and I make weird movements. There is a lot of weirdness going on. I would like to say that while doing all of this I am getting a restful sleep, but I’m not.

Old man noises while sleeping
Mouth twitching while sleeping
Opening eyes while sleeping
Flailing while sleeping

I never wake up the way I went to sleep.

Either I move or my blanket moves.

Or both sometimes.

Yep, a lot happens while I am sleeping.

Foaming at the mouth

Yep, that’s me foaming at the mouth. I’m not mad or anything. It is just something that I do. Oddly, I’m not like a typical baby who drools a lot or spits up from time to time. But I do foam at the mouth every once in a while, usually while I sleep. Don’t ask me why.