At seven weeks, Roman is: continuing to stretch out his daytime and nighttime feedings on his own; falling into a fairly consistent routine of sleeping and eating; smiling, cooing, and laughing; and developing a thing for sucking on the knuckle of his forefinger (it’s really just so adorable…when it falls out of his mouth, he lets out a little squeal…or a big cry…and goes right back to being perfectly content when he finds it again).
My dear friend, Lizza, invited the boys and I out to visit a baby goat farm with her and her two precious little ones, Bennett and Isabelle Leigh (named after me…hehe!!!). It was so precious watching the boys…here’s a picture of Bennett helping feed and of Jonas and Xander holding a baby goat.
At six weeks, Roman is: seeming to feel a little bit better in the tummy (now that Mommy has cut out the dairy from her diet and that he’s taking probiotics twice a day) and passing out the sweetest middle of the night smiles (when Mommy needs them most).
Jonas has been really excited about the appearance of the bulbs that we planted in the fall…so much so that he stripped them all of their flowers in the few short days of early spring (oh well, they were beautiful while they lasted, and it was worth the wasted wait to see the excitement on his face when they finally bloomed).
He transitioned quickly and well to sleeping in his big boy bed without the safety rail and loves using big boy toothpaste now to brush his teeth.
He’s starting to get crafty…like when you leave the room and Xander starts crying and you ask him what happened and he says, “I don’t know” with a smile (we’re currently in talks about “telling the truth”) and when he deliberately does things he knows he’s not supposed to do while all the while making eye contact with you (we’ve been discussing the difference between doing things “on purpose” and “on accident”).
He LOVES his new baby brother, Roman. He likes to hold and hug him, read to him, help give him a bath, and share his favorite things (like his Thomas jammies and his Pooh bear) with him…so sweet to watch.
In his fifth week, Roman is: packing on the weight; amazing us with how many facial expressions he goes through in one minute; winning the loudest, most spirited eater award; getting really good at lifting his head (he loves to look at the beautiful pictures of Jonas and Xander that my dear friend, Marcie, took that hang above our living room couch); adding a heartbreaking, turned-down, bottom lip sometimes when he puckers up and cries (bless him); and giving us a four hour stretch of sleep two nights in a row.
Xander had fun hunting Easter eggs in our front yard while Jonas was at school, and Jonas enjoyed dyeing Easter eggs after he got home from school while Xander was taking a nap.
In his fourth week, Roman is: starting to stretch out his feedings a little bit (thank goodness…he’s been going strong on the every 2 hour day and night thing since birth); enjoying his first bottle of mommy’s milk; being very attentive to voices; taking a keen interest in the patterns on my shirts when he’s nursing (he was so into a black and white floral shirt that I had on one day that he went cross-eyed momentarily); and starting to smile (up until now, he’s been very serious).
(P.S. I was so excited to discover the other day that Roman loves Ray LaMontagne as much as I do. He was sleeping in his swing to “Jolene”…one of my favorite songs EVER…and every time it rolled over to the next artist/song on my iPhone he would wake up and cry until I put “Jolene” back on…that’s my boy!)
At three weeks, Roman is: confusing his days and his nights (he likes to be up and eating every hour when everybody else is ready to sleep); winning the gruntiest baby award; trying to work through some gas issues and thus much preferring to be held most of the time and close to the warmth of Mommy and Daddy; and very much enjoying car (yay!) and Bjorn rides (where he gets some of his best sleep).
In his second week, Roman is: enjoying his first full body bath in the baby tub after losing his umbilical cord and giving Jonas a run for his money on being a vocal infant.
We had our first really warm day today (more summer like than spring like), so we busted out the water table for the boys…they loved it and got soaked (next time I’ll put them in their swimming trunks).
At one week, Roman is: nursing like a champ (thank you, God…it’s what we prayed for) and one ounce shy of his birthweight only three days after birth; sleeping through the night his first night in the hospital (the five hour kind…I had to wake him up to feed him); and letting out a little squeal when there’s something he really wants.
Here are a few more great one-liners from Jonas…
“Mommy, I found a cloud that looks like an ice cream cone.”
“Mommy, I wish I had a long, long, long hand with a paintbrush to reach the ceiling…then I could paint it.”
“Mommy, I like your new flower called ‘daffodil’.”
(On a side note, Jonas played a VERY important role in helping to rescue a stray dog this month…he basically had Tom and I both close to tears on the way home from the restaurant where we found her, saying things like, “I think she’s sad because she needs a friend” and “I don’t want her to eat grass”, so we turned back around and picked her up.)
Petra loves to guard Roman…
Welcome to the world and to our family, precious baby boy.
Roman Cole Seyfried
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 1:30 am
7 pounds, 10 ounces, and 20 inches
I had a burst of nesting energy today and pruned our monkey grass, crepe myrtle, and rose bush, while the boys checked out the bulbs we planted in the fall that are starting to bloom…
Jonas is reading quite a few three letter words, learning how to write his name and a lot of his letters, continuing to assert his independence (his newest thing is being very particular about his clothes…he likes to wear “double shirts”), showing his sweet servant’s heart (like sharing his favorite blanket with me when I’m cold and bringing Xander’s favorite bear to him when he’s crying), and giving us more one liners every day…
“Xander has a peanut allergy.”
“I must say ‘poop’ four times and perhaps that will help me think where it is.”
“Well, that’s just how God made us, with legs to walk on floors.”
“Mommy, why were we up in his grill?”
“Mommy, is the moon following us to our house?”
Jonas is growing up so quickly…he’s getting really good at riding his tricycle, rocking out with the potty training day and night, loving hearing stories from his two favorite story collections right now (Frog and Toad and Harold and the Purple Crayon), and saying the darnedest things (I’ve been writing them down because they’re so great)…
“Also, you need to tell me the truth, Mommy.”
“I can bend over because I don’t have a baby inside my tummy, Mommy. I can go up and down the stairs, but you can’t because you have a baby inside your tummy, Mommy.”
“It’s okay, Xander. I’m your friend. Don’t you know I’m your friend, Xander?”
“Mommy, I wish I had claws so I could climb a tree.”
“Are you excited about having a newborn baby?”
“Xander’s bigger than a really fat bumblebee.”
“You smell like flowers, Mommy.”
We spent a wonderful week in Virginia with Tom’s family for Thanksgiving, enjoying: going to mass, decorating the Christmas tree, sharing good food and conversation, playing outside in the woods; going for a ride in the boat on the lake, hiking, and participating in the Seyfried Family Turkey Games (swim fin races, quidditch tournament, pie eating contest, marshmallow/toothpick tower building, etc.).
For more pictures, click on the “Thanksgiving 2011” picture page to the right…
Jonas had a blast on his birthday weekend…making cupcakes, spending time with family, opening presents, and eating cupcakes.
(I always get so wrapped up in the birthday moment that I forget to take pictures, but here are a few of our precious little man on his big day.)
