4 Weeks Old!

Technically 3.5 weeks old here, but look at that face!

How old: 4 weeks

Hart's weight: 9.4 lbs 

Sleep: Hart's doing pretty good with sleep! He's napping great during the day (1-1.5 hours at a time) and starting to go an average of 3.5-4 hours during the night. That means we've moved from 3 feedings a night to 1! It makes a lot of difference, and we're getting into the swing of things so he's not up as long between sleep times. We're really trying to teach him to self-soothe so he can fall asleep by himself. We have yet to let him "cry it out" since he's so young, but we do lay him in his crib for naps when he is awake. He's figuring out how to fall asleep on his own. And if he doesn't fall asleep, we've found him just happily looking around for 15 minutes without making a sound up until he was 3 weeks. He is starting to be a little whiny when we lay him down, leading to him getting overtired, so we're trying to figure out how to fight through that. Suggestions are welcome!

Highlights of the week: Having my parents here was great! It was so fun to see them with Hart and to do some fun things while they were here. We got to show off some of our favorite places to eat - namely Lowry Beer Garden. Linda came with us and she seemed to like it, too, so I'm wondering if we'll need to go back there once Logan comes to town. We went to the city for lunch and walked around 16th Street Mall, went to Daniel's Park, ate a lot of good food, and had a blast spending time together.

Olive and Finch

The weekends have been spectacular. On Hart's 3 week birthday, we stayed home all day! It was great. We got to hang out as a family of 4, and it gave Jon and I a lot of alone time when Hart slept. It was great to catch up and relax after having visitors for the past few weeks. Hart seemed to enjoy not going anywhere for the first time in about two weeks! It's also been fun to do our typical weekly routines with Hart in tow. We did grocery shopping for the first time last weekend, and Hart was a champ. He was in the sling and everyone mentioned how 1) little he was, and 2) how peaceful he was. He's really content as long as you're nearby!

Still not sure what to make of baths

The BEST part of last weekend was we had mimosas Saturday and Sunday! The Heeters made us this beautiful snack/survival basket when they visited, which included a bottle of delicious champagne. I've never been a mimosa person, but it was so good and fun to sip on during the day. Thanks Nana, Poppy, and Uncle Ryan <3
Hart and I also visited Denver on Thursday for lunch with dad! We went to Snooze (duh) in Union Station, which was really cool. Hart did great, as usual. He did poop and we couldn't find a bathroom with a changing station, so I conquered my fears and changed him on the floor of a public restroom (he never once touched the ground, I promise). It was fun to see Jon's face as he showed off Hart at his work. Hart was awake this time, and people really ate it up.
Another big event of the week was that Hart and I went to SkyView and taught yesterday! I was pretty apprehensive about bringing him to a germ infested school, but it went awesome, and no children touched him. I wore Hart in my sling as I taught the 5th grade girls about puberty, male and female anatomy, and how babies grow. Hart slept through it all, and then we did a Q&A with the girls while Hart ate a bottle and farted so everyone could hear. It was awesome to see the kids, a few girls broke into tears, and let them meet Hart. I'm planning to go back, probably not to be a guest teacher, but just to hang out :)

We've been taking Happy on very short walks each day. I'm hoping these get longer as head control improves. Nothing like bending to pick up a poop while you're holding your child's head up.

Worst moment this week: Hart has officially grown out of some of his newborn clothes :( Hart's sweet Nana and Poppy bought him a few newborn sleepers while they were here, and he's already outgrown them! While it's exciting because we did not have a lot of newborn clothes, it's also sad to realize he'll never be that tiny again. I swear he's a little heavier each time I pick him up! I just removed all newborn outfits from his top drawer and replaced with 0-3 month. I'm excited because we have a lot of cute things, but it made me realize we are in desperate need of pants! He has about 5 long sleeve onesies and 6 short sleeve onesies and 1 pair of sweatpants! We're going to Target today to stock up on some pants for the kid.

Favorite outing: I have a few! The first was the Breckenridge Brew tour. I suggested this to Jon, and then kind of changed my mind about going, but he had already bought tickets. I'm glad he did because it forced us to go, and it went great! First of all, it's $3 for a pint and four tastings (which end up being 2 additional beers), so once we got our pint at the start, I said we could leave then and it would still be a deal (we didn't). We took a walking tour of their facility, and it was so neat. They built the buildings specifically to be a brewery, so it's very well done. It's also the cleanest brewery I have ever been to. Seriously spotless. I wore Hart the whole time, and he was incredible. By the way, I think the children outnumbered the adults on this tour, so we were not the only nutters bringing their kids on a brew tour!

Will someone wear me in a sling on a brew tour? What a lucky guy.

The second fun outing was hanging with Grace and Ophelia on Monday. (Ophelia was born the day before Hart!) It was both babies' nap time, so we got to cuddle our little ones and chat peacefully. Not a bad way to spend a Monday morning.
Last was our outing to SkyView. Again, just really heartwarming to see my kids and remind them I'm still thinking of them. It was really awesome to get to teach a lesson again! I didn't realize how much I missed it. I think it was the first time a few of my teammates got to see me teach, so that was pretty cool too. It was also a very unique experience teaching while wearing Hart in the sling. If someone would hire both of us, I think I could easily do it all day ;)

Eating: Hart is still eating great! He eats every 3 hours, and then goes for 4-4.5 hours at night. Hopefully that night stretch will only continue to lengthen as he gets older. Once his night stretches are a bit longer (4-5 hours), he'll move to the nursery! He's now eating around 3.5 and 4 ounces and we're noticing some delicious rolls appearing on his arms! He still has dad's skinny legs, so we'll see what we can do about thickening those up.

Looking forward to: My WHOLE family will be visiting in April (parents, brothers/sister, niece!) and I could not be more excited. I don't know the last time we were all together, so that will make it all the more special. I cannot wait for my niece, Genevieve, to meet Hart, not to mention Uncle Dustin and Aunt Lauren! Genevieve will most likely be unimpressed since Hart doesn't do much, but it will make my heart melt to see them together. 

Suggestions? 
Nap without too much crying: Like I said earlier, I would love some suggestions on how to get him to go down for a nap without needing to be rocked until he's asleep or continually popping the pacifier back in. I didn't realize until the other night how truly hard it is to hear your baby cry because we let him cry for 5 minutes before going in and it was devastating! We did get a pacifier with one of those stuffed animals attached because it helps hold the pacifier within reach - dropping the pacifier is the main reason he cries.
Stains on clothes: I'd also love some suggestions on how to get poop stains out of clothes/sheets. We had our first blow out incident while I was feeding him in bed, and our only pair of white sheets now has yellow poop stains. He also seems to spring a leak whenever I put him in his cutest outfits, and I'm hoping to avoid getting permanent stains out of his adorable 0-3 month clothes.

It's really interesting seeing their relationship develop. Happy really likes giving Hart kisses when he's crying - because that's really helpful. And Hart is beginning to watch Happy as he moves around the room. I swear Hart gave his first intention smile to Happy yesterday, but it could've been farts too.

Poop face