The Johnson's: Jun 24-Jul 13: The First Three Weeks

Wow, Elin Kate is already 3 weeks old. The last few weeks have flown by. We are just starting to resurface back to our new normal. We had both sets of grandparents here for the first 3 weeks. Elin has been a very good and easy baby so far. She spends about 16-18 hours a day sleeping and her awake hours are normally spent quietly looking around. For a 3 week old, she is rather vocal; she coos, squeaks, grunts and snorts! One time, I could swear that I heard her say "mama"!! Elin "talks" both while sleeping and while awake. Makes me wonder if she is going to start talking early.

She is also very expressive; her mouth is always in motion. She has perfected the fussy frown, the wide-eyed look of shock and the raised eyebrows to question what is happening to her! It is hilarious at times to watch her face. She has been smiling for the past week and a half (yes, I'm sure it is smiling and not gas and both Grandmothers will back me up)! I also caught her laughing in her sleep this weekend - I was holding her and she was lying there quietly when all of a sudden she began making a chuckling sound and her shoulders started to shake! I couldn't believe it!

Because Elin is such an amazing sleeper so far, I've actually had to wake her up for her nursing sessions. When she wakes up on her own, she will only make a few grunting noises and start rustling around in her crib. In fact, she really only started to cry (and she can cry REALLY loudly) after the grandparents left and Kent went back to work full-time! It may be a conspiracy to only let me know her true personality!! Elin and I are working on her schedule; since the grandparents left she has been waking up and wanting to be fed more often; she will want to nurse anywhere from 2 1/2 hours to 4 hours (if she goes longer than 4, I "force" a feeding on her). For the first week to 10 days after bringing her home, I did have to wake her up at night to nurse, but she's been waking up on her own for that last week & a half. She does usually go about 4 hours at night, so I am getting ALOT more sleep than with Erik!

Erik is doing amazingly well with all the changes at home. He loved having Nana & Pops Chalker and "Granmum" & Grandpa Johnson here for 3 weeks to dote on him! I was worried how he would react once they all left, but he's done really well. Erik adapts to different circumstances very well; Kent & I are so fortunate in that regard. While we had all the grandparents here, we had a small celebration for Erik's 2nd birthday. Erik has become enamored with Curious George, so he got a chocolate cake with his favorite monkey on it! He was hesitant to try it at first but quickly overcame that hesitation!

Except for a few rare days, Erik spent several hours each day in the pool with various family members (except me who is banned from the pool under doctor's orders - how rude since it is the height of summer in Florida!). This turned out to be a great thing since Erik had been acting scared of the water prior to the visits. By the end of the first few days, he was acting like he never had any doubts about getting wet. He is still very cautious about getting too deep - whether on the steps or while being held and walked to the deep end. He doesn't really like getting his head wet, but is more willing to be held horizontally in the water and trying out swimming motions.

I was warned that Erik would look like a giant after Elin was born. I didn't really notice it when he visited Elin and I at the hospital, but almost as soon as I got him, I started to notice how big his hands were and how tall he was and how incredibly heavy he had gotten! In addition to just appearing larger, Erik got a new haircut last week that is nearly a buzz cut and it makes him look so much older. His vocabulary is also growing every day; he is a great mimicker and will repeat nearly everything that we say as well as our actions when we say things! Very funny.

The other new development for Erik started just this past week (July 7 or so) - he is interested in using the toilet. So, every night before his bath, he insists on sitting on the potty. No activity has occurred while on the potty, but I'm just pleased as punch that he is trying it out and that it was Erik's idea rather than us trying to coerce him to do it!

Some new phrases that Erik has adopted recently:
1. "Where are you?" - said in a singsong voice and he will put his hands on his cheeks as he walks through the house (trying to mirror us cupping our hands around our mouths) - he will call for both people and inanimate objects!
2. "Hmm.. Nope" (usually with a finger on his chin) - this phrase is used while searching for something. So, he will go from room to room calling "where are you?" and then he'll look into each room and say, "Hmm, nope" if he doesn't see what he is looking for!
3. "There you go!" - this phrase is used once the object has been found or after someone has successfully done something that was asked of them (such as Kent completing one of Erik's puzzles)
4. "More videos, please" - Erik loves to watch episodes of Curious George and will beg to watch more episodes on our iPad.
5. "Stop it!" - He uses this for everything that he doesn't like. He was taught this by both daycare and us in an attempt to get him to say what he wants or doesn't want rather than crying, but now I'm starting to hate hearing this phrase as Erik uses it ALL THE TIME!
6. "O-tay!" - I love this one!!
7. "Eri' do it/Eri' get it" - He is certainly beginning to assert his independence
8. "Oh, heavy" - this is said with strong emphasis on "HEAVY" and he will want someone to acknowledge that yes, indeed, that item is heavy!
9. "Hold it. Hold baby" - He will ask to hold Elin with both arms outstretched and hands reaching for the baby. He says this in a pleading tone.

While we had all the grandparents here for several weeks, my camera rarely made it off the shelf. Both Granmum Johnson and Nana Chalker took so many pictures we were certain that Elin would see flash spots for months! I hope that both Moms will send me all the pictures that they took so I can share them with you! Here are a few pictures that I did manage to take over the past few weeks: