6 Weeks

This detailed information may not be very interesting to anyone else, but I want a record of it so here you go.

Mason turned 6 weeks old Thursday evening.  I wish I knew how much he weighed now.  He must be at least 10-11 lbs.  He's definitely filling out and starting to get a little chubby, especially his cheeks.  It's really cute.  He's mostly wearing 0-3 month clothes right now, but a few 3-month outfits fit him.  He didn't have very long eye lashes at birth, but I swear they've grown a centimeter the last couple of weeks and are now really long and pretty.

Eating is going ok.  He still takes 3-oz at most feedings, but we can sometimes get him to take closer to 4.  He's doing better at waiting 3-hours between feedings, but it's still a bit of a struggle when he's tired and won't nap.  Mason also has a fair amount of gas and other tummy troubles - mostly when he's trying to eat.  Sometimes he's so uncomfortable and fussy that he can't finish his bottle.  We have him on sensitive formula and I'm giving him tummy massages so I don't know what else to do for that.  It's sad to see him in pain.

Sleeping is still a little crazy.  Well, nights are a consistent 3-4 hours between feedings.  Alan stays up late to take the first shift and I do the other two.  I was hoping Mason would be able to go longer between night feedings by this point.  Day time naps are usually a struggle.  He's taking a good one at the moment, but he usually won't stay asleep in his bed for more than 30 minutes during the day.  It doesn't help that our neighbor plays his drums and electric guitar all day in the room adjoining Mason's.  Grrr.  I wind up putting him in a front pack and carrying him around with me for a good part of the day.  He sleeps well in there, but it's hard for me to get much done that way.

Now for the happy stuff.  Mason had his first real whole-face smile this week!  It made my day and Spencer was really sad it happened while he was at school.  He's done it a couple of times, but still can't do it consistently.  It's coming though.  He doesn't cry for diaper changes anymore and is crying a lot less when we change his clothes.  He has discovered that baths aren't so bad and are actually pretty pleasant.  So much better than the torture baths used to be.  Mason's favorite position to be held in is sitting up and facing out.  He can hold his head up just fine that way now.  He's liking his bouncy seat more and more and sometimes naps in it a little.

Mason likes to listen to music and got really happy when I sang "The Wheels on the Bus" to him this morning.  I've been reading a little to him for several weeks, but this week I've been sitting him on my lap for stories and he really likes it.  He doesn't look at the pages yet, but likes the sound of rhyming text.  When Alan's not home at bedtime, I hold Mason while reading to Spencer.  Mason will either get really calm and fall asleep or listen intently the whole 20-30 minutes.  I'm so happy that it looks like we'll have another reader!

I tried really hard to get a picture of Mason's adorable smiles, but they are so fleeting that it's really hard.  We sure love this little cutie bug!

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Super Hero Splash

What do you do when your mom is busy taking take of a baby all day on your day off from school?  You invent your own board game of course!  Spencer came up with Super Hero Splash all on his own a couple of weeks ago.  His Imaginext Super Heroes are the game pieces and players take turns drawing cards with different numbers written on them.  Your super hero moves to the number you drew on your first turn and then you add the numbers in following turns.  The first hero to reach 100 is the winner.  Not a bad game buddy!

Haunted Houses and a Pumpkin Patch

A year or so ago, my Mom told me about a fun craft she did with her Big Brothers Big Sisters kids: haunted gingerbread houses.  I thought that would be a perfect activity for Spencer and I while Mason was napping and Alan was busy with races.  We had to wait an extra day because I didn't have enough powdered sugar for the frosting, but it was fun once we got to make them.  I found some cool Halloween candies in Winco's bulk section and my Mom had suggested edible color spray.  Spencer didn't like the smell of the spray and wouldn't use it on his house, but I thought it looked awesome on mine.  I should have taken some close-ups.

 

In all of the recent excitement, I had actually forgotten all about pumpkin patches until I heard a news caster say that the second week of October would probably be our last really nice weekend to get out to a patch.  So, we made a quick visit to a local patch we had never been to before when Alan got home in the evening. 

Our first family outing besides going to church or Safeway!  Alan put Mason in a carrier and he slept the entire time we were there.  Spencer got to choose two activities.  He chose the hay maze and giant slide and then insisted that I do both with him.  The hay maze was fun, but the slide was bumpy and I scraped the skin off my ankle going down.

Spencer liked these chicks.

A little over 4 feet tall!

Then he got to chose his pumpkin.  These patch was one of the lame ones that picks all of the pumpkins beforehand and puts them in a "patch" on the grass.  Next year we need to tell Spencer that he has to chose a pumpkin he can carry because he chose a big white one that cost $11.  Oh well, he loves it.

It was dinner time by the time we finished and I was too tired to cook, so we stopped and got a pizza on the way home.  That seems to be happening a lot these days.

4 Weeks!

Mason and I got to celebrate his 4-week birthday by going to the baby shower my fabulous friend hosted for me.  I hate being the center of attention at things like that, but this one actually turned out really good.  It was an open-house with no ridiculous games - just good food and visiting.  The sisters in my ward have been so sweet and sincerely happy for us.  It was fun to tell Mason's adoption story to people who really care.  I really want a nice baby carrier so most people donated money for that, but this is the rest of the loot we came home with.  Several people brought presents for Spencer too, which was so sweet and appreciated.

I borrowed this vibrating bouncy seat from a friend in the ward.  Mason didn't care much for it at first but it's growing on him and he'll stay in it for 10-15 minutes while I'm making dinner or doing dishes.  Awesome!

And these are just some pictures I took of our little cutie bug.  My sister Elise made the adorable hat with the pom on top.  I love it and all of Mason's sweet expressions.  He's such a beautiful baby!  I think it's totally ok to brag about that since Alan and I have nothing to do with his looks. ;)

I love that Mason's cheeks are filling out and that he has a little double-chin now.  He has officially out-grown all of his newborn clothes and diapers.  He smiles at us once in awhile, but can't do it consistently yet.  I think it's so funny when we are doing all of this silly stuff to get him to smile and he just stares at us with this blank expression.  Spencer gets the most smiles out of him.

Mason isn't as content as he was at the very first and definitely cries more and a lot louder.  He doesn't cry without a reason though and I've learned to distinguish between his hunger, tired, and gas pain cries.  He does have a fair amount of trouble with digestion and we still have him on sensitive formula for it.  I suspect that some of the problem is due to a stuffy nose from reflux which makes it difficult to suck a bottle without breaking suction and swallowing air.  I have been trying some infant massage to help with that and am hoping things will improve soon.

Sleeping is still a little rough, especially during the day.  Mason really fights going to sleep and it takes lots and lots of rocking to get him to sleep.  And once he's finally down for a nap, it usually doesn't last more than an hour.  Thankfully, nights are better with stretches of 3-4 hours between feedings.  Alan is so good to take one of the feedings.  He usually stays up late and does the first one while I try to go to bed early to get 4-5 hours in one stretch.

Even when I'm exhausted however, I remember what a miracle Mason is and that this stage will only last a short time.  We really couldn't be happier to have him in our home.

Our new normal

My Mom and Michelle flew home and Alan was back at work, so last week was the first week of our new normal.  The help had been WONDERFUL, but I was glad to get on with regular life.  I really felt like I would be able to bond better with Mason once that happened, and I was right.  The four races Alan timed last week, didn't make the transition to taking care of two kids any easier though. :)  I survived an 8:00 am soccer game and got Spencer ready for school and to the bus stop by 7:33 each morning without Alan.  Who can complain with this cute face to look at though!  The sleep deprivation is hard, but all I have to do is look at Mason's sweet face and it's all worth it.

Conference weekend came and went and I'm sorry to say that the lack of sleep took a serious toll on how many of the talks Alan and I stayed awake for.  It was sad.  Spencer had a great time playing Conference bingo as usual and impressed me with his attention span.  I'm pretty sure he listened to more of the talks than I did. 

A new position!

So close to purposeful smiling.  He smiles once in awhile, but it's by accident.

3rd Week

My Mom and Michelle arrived the night Mason turned 2-weeks old and stayed for a week.  We were totally boring all week and mostly just stayed home to take care of Mason.  Thankfully, Michelle loves Spencer's Car's "eye guys" as much as he does and was perfectly content playing with them and listening to her ipod all day while Spencer was in school.  Mom helped a ton with cooking, cleaning and Spencer.  I felt bad that I couldn't let her help with Mason more.  My parents have been waiting for another grand baby for almost six years.  

Most, if not all, adopted babies have some level of attachment disorder.  Even though Mason's adoption was as minimally traumatic as possible, he still experienced a loss of everything that was familiar to him.  Because of this, it's extremely important that he bonds strongly with Alan and I.  Little Mason had already had so many different people loving and holding him that Alan and I knew it was important for us to do most of the feeding and caring for him.  This isn't very fair to grandmas and grandpas, but it is in Mason's best interest.  I have also done my best to keep other visitors to a minimum.

I took Mason to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor this week.  The ENT checked out Mason's nasal passages, palate and tongue.  Everything was perfect except that Mason's tongue was so tight the doctor could hardly get his finger underneath it.  He couldn't even feel Mason's tongue sucking on his finger during the exam.  The doctor asked if Mason had been excessively gassy (the poor guy had been miserable with gas for two days!) and said that his tight tongue was preventing him from sealing his lips around the bottle nipple and letting lots of extra air in.  There aren't many nerve endings or blood vessels in your lingual frenulum, so Mason cried for about 20 seconds and it bled for just a couple of minutes after the doctor clipped it.  Amazingly, it didn't seem to bother him at all when he drank a bottle immediately after having it clipped.  The gas has been way better, but I'm not sure how much is because of his tongue and how much is because we switched back to sensitive formula.

When Michelle did emerge from Spencer's room, she almost always said, "He's nice," or "He's cute."  She was really sweet with Mason.

Spencer had a soccer game on Saturday and had a big cheering section: Grandma LeFevre, Michelle, Grandma and Grandpa Rasmussen, Alan, Mason, and myself.  He played his best game ever and scored a goal!

Grandma took Spencer to Target to pick out a present since Mason had been getting so many.  He chose this fun Hot Wheels track that took up most of our living room all week.

This is one of my favorites.  I love these three and am so glad Mom and Michelle came!  The help was wonderful and it was just nice to spend time with some of my favorite people.  Thanks Mom and Michelle!

Heidi had emailed the previous week to ask if we would mind if she stopped by while she was in Oregon visiting her brother and his family.  Everyone kept asking me if I was nervous, but I honestly wasn't.  From what we know about Heidi, we knew it would be a good visit.  And, it was SO good!  Heidi, her mom, and sister-in-law came the night Mason turned 3-weeks old.  Heidi looked and seemed to be feeling great.  It was so nice to see her happy since our last goodbye had been so heart breaking.  She held Mason, fed him a bottle and got to see the nursery.  The best part was that she made us a photo book with all of the emails we had exchanged the last 9 months and pictures of Mason's first two days and her family.  I had commented in an email to her that I needed to put all of those emails in a book without knowing that was exactly what she was already doing!  Heidi said that she wants Mason to know how much he is loved when he gets old enough to ask why she placed him for adoption.  Her throughout her pregnancy explain that very well.  It was a perfect gift and is priceless to us.  Heidi again bore testimony of the fact that Mason was meant to be in our family and that she was meant to have this experience before leaving.  We honestly don't know why we are blessed enough to have gone through this adoption with her!

2nd Week

I really wish I had been able to write this as it was happening because I'm afraid my sleep-deprived brain is not remembering a lot of details from two weeks ago.  At least I have pictures!  What I do remember was that this week was a little rough because we had Mason circumcised.  I don't think the actual procedure was very painful for him, but he was pretty uncomfortable for several days afterword.  He wasn't extremely fussy, but more fussy than we were used to and his night sleeping shortened from 4-5 hours to 2-3 hours at a time. :(  You still can't get much cuter than this though.  

Alan had the whole week off work again and that was wonderful!  Mason had three doctors appointments and our caseworker came for a home visit that week.  Since I have a hard time getting out the door before noon without help, it was awesome to have Alan home.

Mason's two week checkup was great.  He was 20.5 inches long and up to 7 lbs. 13 oz!  He was still healthy and perfect in every way.

The other appointment we had was with a lactation specialist.  I had been hoping to induce lactation so I could nurse Mason and had met with her to go over options before he was born.  The first thing she checked when I brought Mason in was his tongue.  The specialist immediately noticed that he was tongue tied, meaning that his tongue was tethered down too tightly by his frenulum to be able to nurse correctly.  We attempted getting him to latch on and Mason tried really hard, but his little mouth just couldn't open wide enough.  She gave me a referral for an ear, nose and throat doctor and told me me that Mason would probably need his frenulum clipped.  This wasn't concerning to me at all though because my brother had the same thing done as a kid and it wasn't a big deal.

 

Best buddies already!  Mason loves Spencer and is almost always happy when Spencer is holding or talking to him

Debbie had been in Montana with Dani (Alan's sister who had the stroke) since May, but she came back the week after we got home and got to meet her newest grandson.  That makes 18 grand kids for these two: 9 boys and 9 girls!