I am sitting here amazed at how quickly this is all going. Micah is now 8 weeks old, and he is about 9 lbs. He does a really good job of holding up his head, and this week he sort of “woke up” – he is really alert a lot of the day, and he seems to be developing more personality. I am so excited to watch him grow into his own person and really get to know him, yet I’m already missing some of the little things about him and I do not want to see those things disappear completely. So, I thought I’d make a list of all the things I adore about him now (and over the past 8 weeks).
- Micah makes these cute squeaky noises when he is sleeping or curled up on me. I melt each time I hear the sounds.
- He has this way of turning his head almost at a right angle to his body and looking up at me while I’m holding him on my chest. He then totally scrunches up his entire face (sometimes turning bright red in the process) and stretches. I just want to kiss him to death when he does that! The whole thing is so adorable that I just want to eat him up.
- He kicks his feet when he is restless in the secure sleeper, and it makes him slide down. The whole swaddle sort of moves. He does it when he is frustrated, too, if he is hungry and he is in a hurry to latch.
- When I was first breastfeeding him, he liked me to play with his feet. He would actually lift his foot towards my hand so I would play with it. Now, he likes to reach up and pull on my hair.
- Micah snorts . . . in his sleep, while he is eating, and sometimes just from the acid reflux. The snort is cute – almost sounds like he is clearing his throat.
- He was about 5 lbs (just under) when we brought him home . . . and I was amazed by how tiny he was. I could fit him from head to bottom from just above my ribs to just below my navel. My hands and arms dwarfed him! He had no extra fat on his body – you could see his ribs and he had these chicken legs. I could hold him on my chest and barely feel him there. I could easily hold him with one arm/hand. He would burrow so tightly into me, and I loved having him that close and so small. The preemie outfits were huge on him, and we had to fold the preemie diapers over to keep him from having a plumber’s crack showing. Now, he is still small, but he is a typical newborn – his face is getting big and round, his thighs have filled out, and today we tried on size 1 diapers for the first time, and I’m thinking of seeing if the size 0-3 clothing is still huge.
- I love how he hugs me . . . when I hold him on my chest, he stretches his arms out wide and grabs on to my upper arms. It feels like he is giving me a big giant hug, and it gets me all teary.
- He just loves to curl his legs under him and lay on my chest in the fetal position – he looks like such a munchkin all scrunched up like that, and yet he is oh-so-comfy!
- I love when he gets startled for no reason (especially when he is asleep) – his whole body jumps and he throws his arms out wide and opens all of his fingers up while kicking out his legs.
- I love how he reaches out and grabs a handful of my hair or my locket neclace and hangs on tight. I also love how he puts his hands in his own hair and grips a handful of that while he is nursing or sleeping.
- I love how he holds his hands up by his face like he is saying “Oh my Gawd”(insert thick New York Jewish grandmother accent here).
- Sometimes, he gets this very worried expression on his face . . . usually when he is hungry. It almost looks like he is concerned someone will forget to feed him!
- I love how he sucks his pacifier – he looks a lot like Maggie on the Simpsons . . . making loud noises as the pacifier bounces up and down in his mouth.
- Sometimes, he fights to latch – pushes me away, hits the breast, arches away because he is SOO hungry and anxious to get on that he just makes it all take longer!
- I also love the chicken head bob when he is trying to latch or is hungry. I keep expecting him to start clucking.
- I love watching him rub his face when he is tired.
- When he is about to get upset, his whole face turns purple and he sticks his lower lip out . . . and then the wailing begins. I sometimes want to laugh because he looks so cute as he is about to explode.
- He snores! He makes this adorable snoring noise . . . much cuter than both his Daddy and the dog.
- He smiles in his sleep – it just makes me laugh! I hope he is having wonderful dreams.
- He sometimes smiles after farting or pooping . . . cute when he does it, not so cute when his Daddy does the same thing.
- He gets hiccups all the time. His whole body shakes and they are so loud and scare him!
- He has such crazy hair that stands on end – the crazier it is, the more I love it. Sometimes, he looks like either an old man or a doll with all the hair.
- Sometimes, I swear he listens to me. He looks at me, he seems to calm down when he hears my horrible singing voice, and he knows it is me. He’ll follow me with his eyes, and I love that he focuses on me.
- His tongue is always sticking out. This has been a huge challenge for breastfeeding, but it is cute when he is sitting and sleeping to see his tongue hanging out just a bit.
- I don’t understand how he manages to pee OUT the top of his diaper.
- I’m amazed that such a little boy can make such big poopy messes – how does one boy manage to explode that much poop out of his diaper EVERY day?
I’m sure there are so many more . . . but I just didn’t want to forget these things.