Plaster Disaster

Kaleb: Day 59
Since Kaleb has been growing so much over the last few days, we thought it was a good time to try and get a plaster casting of his hand print. So we used the smaller of the two hand print plaster kits we received and started mixing. All seemed to go well until we actually got his hand into the plaster. It didn't go in very straight and was a disaster, we decided to smooth it out and try the other hand. It lined up much better this time, but then he clenched his fist and made a mess, all the while we were focused on the hand making the print the other hand was going for his ear. The result of this was that we had a completely screwed up plaster hand print mold, and a baby with plaster all over his hands and face. We tried to halt the progress of the quick drying plaster, but ended up with a bigger mess.

We then decided Kaleb needed to clean up using more than just a face cloth and figured it was a good time to try and put him in the shower. Since Jennifer was planning on taking a shower everything worked out fine. We were unsure about how well he would take it given his hot and cold response to baths (no pun intended). So Jennifer hopped in the shower and I stripped him down, he cried as expected once he was undressed, but settled down once in the bathroom. I handed him to Jennifer and he was as quiet as a mouse and seemed to enjoy the shower. After going out to get the camera and some warm towels I saw that he was loving the shower and didn't even care about the water running over his face. It was a great relief and he peacefully finished the shower before I took him into the dining room for changing.

Oh yeah here are some of Kaleb's nicknames for record keeping purposes: Dog-Bear, Sugar Buns, Sweet Pea, Melon Head, Little Butt, Mister Mister, Little Man, Little Nut Brown Hare, Fussy Gus, Frankie, Cashew, Frog Prince, Little Monster and Love Bug. We are slowly narrowing the list down, hopefully we will have only a couple by his first birthday.

8 Weeks

Kaleb: Day 57

Yep, Kaleb is now eight weeks old, its hard to believe he has been home almost twice as long as he was in the hospital, time surely does fly. Things continue to go well in the Sands household, luckily it was a bit warmer today, so we were able to go for a really long walk this afternoon and then again in the evening. Unfortunately the forecast doesn't look so good for the next few days, so its going to be another week of staying put in the house for us. Its been really hard to have this cold and damp weather, because I think if Jennifer has to spend another week confined to the inside of our apartment she might just go crazy. I am lucky enough to work so I can go somewhere, but she is stuck here. Kaleb doesn't seem to mind either way since he mostly just sleeps when we go out anyway. Tonight after coming back from a nice dinner of crepes with Hannah and Jane, we gave Kaleb a bath and it was a success. He barely cried and pretty much just acted chill throughout the entire ordeal. I am convinced that the crying before was caused by the water being too hot. Its really hard to get the water temperature just right, because you are accustomed to one temperature, but the baby needs it much cooler, but if it is too cool that isn't good either. We have a rubber ducky that has a temperature thing on the bottom and if it is too hot the word hot appears, I have used this religiously lately to gauge the ideal temperature.

Last night we moved Kaleb's co-sleeper from our bed to the bassinet and slept just fine. It is really nice to have the entire bed for just the two of us again, don't get me wrong it was nice to have him close, but the bed just wasn't meant for three people. We are still far from having him stay in his crib, because it is just too far away from our bedroom. What else, oh yeah, his eyesight seems to be improving and he can now follow an object that is moved from one side to the other. He has also been focusing (well at least it seems so) on one of his mobiles. It is so cool to see him grow up and slowly learn new things, I am sure this will only ramp up in the future as he becomes more aware of the world around him and can better react to other humans. We'll see, I'm sure.

We don't have much planned for the next few days, although I have set aside time tomorrow for the following: editing of home movies, Super Paper Mario playing, a little work, and possibly a new podcast episode. I have learned a lot about the mac, but haven't really had a chance to sit down with the iMovie or Garage Band applications to do some really fun things. I can't wait to get completely lost in my own creativity, it should be great.

Until next time, try to stay dry.
Keeg

More Snow On The Way

Kaleb: Day 54

I know I haven't been updating and I apologize for that, but I have been busy with work stuff and finally have a couple minutes to upload photos and write up a little update. Everything has been going very well with Kaleb, I haven't provided a weight update because he hasn't been to the doctor's so we have no idea what it is right now. We are thinking it is up above six and a half pounds, probably closer to seven pounds. He is definitely getting bigger by the day and is acting a little more grown up (more crying and less sleeping). He is still amazing us everyday with his humorous behavior, just the smallest things crack us up, from all his squeaking to the random facial expressions.

Over the weekend we went up to Amesbury for Easter. It was Kaleb's second trip up there in as many weeks and it went very well. He was very good most of the time and everybody was so excited to see him. They were all surprised about how big he has gotten over the last few weeks. He really seems to enjoy riding in the car, which is super important if you are going to be my son.

Finally with regards to his sleeping, he has done very well over the past couple weeks. However, I think part of this is due to the fact that we are used to him and his noises so we don't get up and check on him as often. Jennifer has been a champ and has been doing a great job with him at night and letting me get my sleep, I can't say how grateful I am for her late night feedings and trips to the living room when he is crying.

I guess thats it for now. Its time to prepare for more snow tomorrow.

Oh boy!!!
Keeg

49 Days

Here are a couple of albums from the past few days.
Kaleb: Day 46
Kaleb: Day 48
Today Kaleb is seven weeks old and has been home for four weeks. Its hard to believe that we have known him for forty nine days or that he has been home for so long. Kaleb has been doing great and has been doing a much better job of sleeping at night. The last few nights he has slept for three hours at a stretch, which has been a nice change.

Today we were visited by the Noonans, for the first time since Kaleb was born. It was so great to see them. It was so weird seeing a full sized baby, Jamison was so much bigger than Kaleb. It's hard to believe that someday he is going that big and even bigger, and only in a few months time. I am sure it is going to fly by, just as the last 49 days.

We did get out today, when we went over to Cara and Jeff's for dinner. I got to play the PS3 again and did a little better on F1 Racing, although I struggled once I started competing against other cars.

Now we are home and getting ready for bed. Tomorrow we make our way back up to Amesbury for Easter dinner at my dad's house. We can't pass up the opportunity to meet my brother's new lady friend. It is very exciting that it is Kaleb's first Easter. We didn't get him anything this year, but I am sure he will get plenty of goodies, that I will have to eat.

Happy Easter!!!
Keeg

Another Milestone: 6lbs 2oz

We brought Kaleb in today for another weight check and we were surprised to find out that he now weighs 6lbs 2oz. So what this means is he gained 11oz in the last eight days, which is an amazing growth rate. He also moved up to newborn sized clothes today, they are a bit big, but that is how the preemie clothes started. Since he is doing so well we don't have to go back to the doctor's office for two more weeks. It is amazing how much he has changed over the last few days, you can definitely tell he is heavier and he is certainly more aware. I think we are both beginning to realize that he is going to grow so quickly and before we know it he will being doing baby signs back to us. One more thing worth mentioning, I was holding him on the couch tonight and he flung himself up about eight inches off of my chest and landed way on the other side of my body. I know his neck, arms and legs are strong, but I didn't think he could do something like that at this stage.

Okay that's it for tonight.
Keeg

Keegan or Kaleb

While up in Amesbury yesterday I spent a little time going through some old photos and came across a bunch of me as a baby. It was weird to see how much Kaleb looks like I did. So in an effort to steal some of his spotlight here are some photos of me as a young one.

Keegan: Year 0-5

Nice!!!
Keeg

Amesbury

Kaleb: Day 42

I think the title says it all. Today was Kaleb's first trip to Amesbury, which also included a couple other firsts including first trip on the highway, first trip out of state, we were in New Hampshire for about three minutes, first trip to both Amesbury grandparents house, etc, etc... We were planning on going up since the middle of last week and then my dad invited us over for dinner. I have to say I am a bit jealous of all the attention my boy gets from his Pepe. So we hopped in the car in the early afternoon and drove up to my mom's, we are still working out a name for her, today I came up with "Grandmother who has not been named." We also threw around the name UNG, Unnamed Grandmother. I guess we will leave it up to the little man.

Since I am tired I am going to truncate this entry. The trip up north was fantastic, it was great to see everybody and everything was pretty much the same except for a little bit of passing around of Kaleb. I am sure this will all change once he gets bigger, but for now everything seems just like normal. As for Kaleb he behaved wonderfully today and barely made a peep. He slept most of the time, did have a bit of awake time and fed without much trouble. However, once we got home he was fussy and had his worst bath so far. We set up a video conference with Nonna and Sir, so they could watch the bath and they witnessed quite a show. He screamed through most of the bath and only settled down once he was in a nice warm towel. We are determined to figure out the bath thing.

Okay I am falling asleep at the keyboard, I was up with Kaleb from 2 until 5 this morning, not because he was crying, but because I didn't want to do anything to disturb his sleep after a bit of fussiness. I am definitely paying for it now.

Hope you all had a good weekend.
Keeg