Updates

It's amazing the little changes that take place in the life of a newborn in just two weeks. I'll try to give some examples...
-Moro (startle) reflex: when Isaiah was born, he had an extremely sensitive startle reflex. Barely moving him caused his arms to flail out in opposite directions, and this really made sleeping difficult for him. After only 3-4 days, I rarely if ever noticed this reflex anymore. It's still there if you try to illicit it, but it doesn't interfere with his sleep anymore.
-Swaddling: because Isaiah so frequently startled himself out of sleep, we had to swaddle him really tightly (arms bound down to his sides) for the first week--poor child looked like a mummy, but he seemed to like it. After only a week, he could no longer stand for his arms to be bound down, wanting to have his hands close to his face. Now I just swaddle him loosely so he can freely move his arms.
-Sleep pattern: for the first week, it was very evident that Isaiah had night and day mixed up. He fell asleep immediately after every nursing during the day, and then at night his eyes would be wide open and he was ready to go. Needless to say, this was pretty challenging to our sleep schedules. We had to rotate between me, Chris, and Mom who would stay up with him after each feeding. While we've by no means perfected his sleep-wake-feeding routine, things are much improved. I just have to remind myself he's only two weeks old and I can't expect everything to be predictable.
-Hair: we all know hair grows--that's just what it does, though it's not usually noticeable over short spans of time. Well, Isaiah's hair growth was noticeable even over the first day or two of his life. It's definitely blonde on top, and the back is a darker blonde that sometimes has a bit of a strawberry tone to me. Also, when he was born, he had no eyelashes to speak of. They're getting quite long and lovely now.

You get the point--our baby is changing every day, and I'm doing my best to keep up with it. He had his first doctor's appointment last Monday when he was ten days old. I was disappointed that he had actually lost another 1/2 ounce since his discharge from the hospital, but the pediatrician wasn't concerned since he's peeing and pooping as much as he should. Dr. Pendergrass was impressed by Isaiah's upper-body strength--he said he has the strength of a two month old. You can imagine how proud his daddy was to hear that!

I'll post some more pictures this afternoon...time for the little man to eat now.