7 weeks old: first smile!

Well, there it is, the first smile! It happened yesterday afternoon. Eloise was down for her nap and we were getting some one-on-one time. Be still my heart. Here are a few more pictures from that moment:

By the way, that is a souvenir romper we purchased in Hawaii when I was about 13 weeks pregnant with him. It says Maui, Hawaii below the whale.

Oliver has recently begun taking a few naps in the crib, even when his sister is in there napping, too. I aim to get him in there sleeping soundly first so that when I put Eloise down for a nap she isn't kept up by me walking and bouncing with Oliver. Oliver will fuss until he is soothed to sleep, and if Eloise is playing nearby, he won't stay asleep. I've heard advice to "train" kids to sleep during commotion, but why? They have quiet bedrooms to sleep in, and even at daycare, it's quiet during nap time. Oliver will sleep during loud noises once he is in a deep sleep cycle. That's what makes him portable. Aside from a nap 1-2 hours after he wakes up in the morning, he doesn't have a nap schedule yet. If he's like Eloise he'll fall into one soon though. Here's a picture of Oliver during one of his first crib naps. This camera actually died two days ago and now we have one that pans and zooms so we can see both kids.

Speaking of sleep, most of the time Oliver still gets a good stretch of night sleep at around 10:00 PM - 3:00 AM. Then he'll usually be up again around 5:00 AM and up for the day by 7:30 AM. Some nights are rough and some nights he goes right back to sleep after nursing and diaper change. Regardless, it's temporary, and before I know it I'll have two kids sleeping through the night and overlapping nap schedules. (hope I didn't jinx myself there)

Oliver is still studying objects and faces more and more. It's so fun to see him take it all in, often wide-eyed. He makes a similar face to what Eloise did at his age: eyebrows up and eyes wide as if he is thinking "Wow, that's incredible!" Everything is new. Here he is in the shower time bouncy seat. Don't judge the girly butterflies. 

6 weeks old: break out the play mat

I know I'm his mother, but how can you not just melt looking at that sweet sleeping face? Be still my heart. 

On Friday Oliver took his first trip to the zoo with his sister's play group and he slept through the whole thing. That's okay, he can't see more than 12" in front of his face anyway. He'll have plenty more visits to the zoo in the future.

Since Oliver does seem to take an interest in studying objects near his face, I got out the play mat. The play mat has interesting things to look at on the mat, and interesting things hanging over the mat. Here he is his first time laying on his back and then later having tummy time on it after his bath.

Speaking of baths, Oliver has taken a bath with his sister a couple times now. I put his big blue tub in one end of the regular tub and Eloise gets the other end. I don't know if I'm imagining it, but he doesn't seem to fuss as much. And Eloise seems to like it, too. No pictures yet. 

Oliver's role seems to be just tagging along at this point. But I guess, what else would it be? This week, we dropped off a meal to a family in our playgroup that just had another baby, went to Eloise's tumbling class, had a play date at our house, had brunch with a friend of mine, went out to dinner with Eloise and Evan, had a play date at the zoo, and today went to a birthday party. I often wear him in the front carrier and he sleeps most of the time, with an occasional break to nurse and change a diaper. And, in the case of brunch this week, sometimes I have to stand up and bounce him for a while to help soothe him when he's fussy. I feel a little guilty at times that he's the tag-along guy but I suppose someday he'll have his own activities, too.

5 weeks old: first bottle

Oliver turned 5 weeks old yesterday. It's amazing how much changes in just five weeks. He's sleeping at least one longer 5-hour stretch per day, smiling in his sleep, and making cooing noises. His neck is getting stronger and he can hold his head up for longer periods of time. He seems to be studying things in his sight more, like the shapes that hang above his head while he's in the bouncy seat.

Also, Eloise seems to be folding him into her life more and more, which warms my heart. If Oliver isn't with me when I go into Eloise's room in the morning, she asks about him. She helps fetch diaper changing supplies and brings him a burp cloth. When he cries, she gets a concerned look on her face, says, "Uh oh, baby," and tries to comfort him by rocking his bouncy seat, patting him, or holding his hand.

Evan's birthday was yesterday and we went to the plant nursery to pick out some things for the garden boxes. Oliver rode in the front carrier on Evan and slept the whole time.

After the nursery and before going out to dinner, Evan gave Oliver his very first bottle. With both kids we've tried to hit the sweet spot when breastfeeding is established but they're still young enough to be open to a bottle. I imagine we'll do the same as we did with Eloise and Evan will give Oliver a bottle a day. It's also a nice way for Oliver to bond with his dad. He took to the bottle very easily and then the sweetest thing happened: Eloise climbed up on Evan's lap and placed a hand on the bottle to "help" feed Oliver. She had a very serious look on her face and was very gentle. It was a touching moment. Here's a video and the password is Oliver2015

Oliver's first bottle from Sarah Zuber on Vimeo.

4 weeks: belated Mother's Day, berry picking, and first parade

Oliver turned four weeks old yesterday. He sleeps a lot, but when he's awake he does a lot of kicking his legs and moving his arms around. He must be growing those little muscles to do bigger things later. When I talk he gets really still and looks at me. I'm guessing he recognizes my voice from all those months of hearing it from the inside.

Last Sunday we got together for breakfast with Evan's family to have a belated Mothers Day celebration for his mom. We had to cancel the last one because it was the day Oliver ended up being born. Oliver slept through a lot of the breakfast and tolerated being held a lot. After a while he got very fussy, I think because he was overstimulated. Hey, everyone has their limit! It was a nice breakfast. Here's Grandpa holding Oliver. Oliver and Eloise are lucky to have fantastic grandparents.

It's an early strawberry season in Oregon this year and on Friday we met up with some friends at Bella Organic Farm on Sauvie Island to do some berry picking. The 30-minute drive was very pleasant on a sunny morning, except for the last 7 minutes, which was first Oliver crying and then both kids crying. The way home was no crying at all so I'd say success with just 7 minutes out of an hour! We sat at a picnic table and had snacks and nursed until our friends arrived, and then boarded the tractor for a ride out to the best field for picking berries. Eloise and I did all the work while Oliver went along for the ride in the front carrier. Well, Eloise ate most of what she picked, but she did dump  a few into the bucket to take home! That's the top of Oliver's head and that's Eloise in the background in the pink shorts. Maybe he'll get some of these strawberries in a few months as a puree.

It is the start of the annual Rose Festival and yesterday we walked to the Grand Floral Parade. Just this year I realized the route was walking distance from our house. It was both kids' first parade. Eloise was into it and Oliver basically slept through it, even with every loud marching band that went by. He only woke up when he was hungry.

Eloise continues to be sweet to her little brother, and he likes to watch her. I can't wait until the day they can play together. Until then, he'll probably just enjoy watching her. Eloise has been kissing him on the cheek, which is the sweetest thing ever. I tried to get a picture but it just looked weird. Eloise doesn't understand smiling for the camera.

And one more photo just because: