Pants!

Today is the first day Wes got out of his one-piece outfits (some would call those pj's, but we won't admit that we've been wearing pajamas for over a month) and put on a pair of pants!  This outfit was brought to us as a gift in the hospital from our friends Chris and Katie McGraw.  The outfit fits perfectly, and Bear appreciates the view from behind :)

Happy 1 Month Birthday Wes..You're only -1.5 weeks old now!

October 4th marked Wes' one month birthday.  It is very odd to think that he still wasn't "supposed" to be born until October 11th.  I can't imagine not having him in our lives yet (or still being on bed rest)!  At his last appointment, he weighed in a 6 lbs 14 oz, which means he has gained 1 lb 9 oz since birth.  He has also grown by 1.5 inches in length.

Today's blog chronicles a typical day in the life of Wes.  We are enjoying my maternity leave immensely, and we've been blessed with absolutely beautiful weather.  When we're not at home hanging out or taking naps (well, Wes does so...mom hasn't quite gotten that down yet), we like to go for walks with our neighbor Julie and her son Ben (see prior blog entry) and take rides with Bear to look at the changing leaves.

We have also built up the courage (and the immunoglobulins) to take Wes out in public for the first time.  His first trip?  Dunkin' Donuts!  He accompanied Sean and me to our weekly Sunday morning outing to see our friends Gene, Esmerelda, and the rest of the DD crew who know us well.

One of Wes' most obvious talents is making faces.  You can see about 50 different faces if you hold him for approximately 60 seconds!

A new activity that we do is look at red and black things.  Supposedly this is stimulating for a baby...Mom is looking forward to the day when we can talk about the full spectrum of the color wheel.

The Bopi is still a favorite hang-out.  As you can see, he has grown a lot from his first Bopi experience!  We no longer have to worry about losing Wes somewhere inside the pillow.

One important activity for babies of this age is something called "tummy time."  As its name implies, you literally place your baby on his tummy (and typically watch him scream) in order to strengthen neck muscles.  Tummy time is really important in speech/language development.  We are pretty lucky because Wes doesn't seem to mind it (too much).

After all of this we're pretty tired!  Wes snuggles up for a few hours of shut-eye.

We love Wes more than we could have imagined, although not all days are quite the baby utopia you hope for.  Yesterday we had quite the day.  Wes decided that he was going to party the night before his big one month birthday.  He was up most of the night, and I wasn't too happy with my 4 hours of sleep.  Later that day, we somehow managed to soil 3 diapers within 60 seconds as well as deposit an "enthusiastic" amount of poop in Mom's hand.  That evening, Sean was bringing Wes to the tub for a bath and received a "sprinkling" of Wes love all over his pants, shirt, and face.  Wes ended the day by once again peeing on Dad before bedtime.  Good thing he's so darn cute the next morning!

Day 5 - Halloween Hallway

We are now in our third room during our stay at OSF.

• The new birthing center has 12 rooms...we stayed in one of these rooms on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  It was lovely, aside from a temperature fluctuation issue.
• There are three other rooms on your way down to the new birthing center...we stayed in one of these rooms on Tuesday, Wednesday, and most of Thursday.  They were a bit less lovely, but the temperature issues were not present.
• Then there's another area of the birthing wing.  A neglected area.  An area that nobody talks about anymore.  This is the post labor hallway that was in use before the new birthing wing opened.  We are currently the only ones using this hallway.

How I will always remember "the hallway".

Blur not added...it's just that freaky.

Empty rooms used to store bodies?  I assume so.

Computer with nothing on it; creepy to me.  Bed sheet ghosts; creepy to anybody.

Can't make this up, it's a real door sign.  Is it because no body's been here since Halloween, or because a witch lives in this room?  I'm sure not opening the door to find out!

One last story.  When they moved us down to "the hallway" the whole hospital went on lock down for a few minutes because they forgot to disable Wesley's "don't steal me" bracelet.  Apparently, going into "the hallway" is not normal protocol!

Day 3 - Under the Bright Lights

Saturday: Kristy's water breaks shortly after singing along while dad played a bit of Rock Band (new RHCP was too much to resist).
Sunday: Wesley is born, making oddly rythmic "screaming" noises.
Monday: Late in the evening, Wes decides normal lighting isn't good enough; he needs stage lighting!
Tuesday: After a whole day of rocking out under the lights, I have a good feeling he will want to go home tomorrow!

Stage lights; check.

Air guitar on day 3; check.

Blindfold for rockstar lights; check.

Microphone goes here.

Five toes; perfect number for a bass drum

What Does the Future Hold?

While pining away the long hours of training teachers today, an un-named friend of ours sketched out his prediction of what little Wes will look like.  We're hoping things turn out a little different...though I like the hat...

Wesley 'Merlin' Mullins