The Life of Rob & Jess Plus Two: Andrew's Two Week Update

Dear Andrew,

You are two weeks old! While you have only been in our lives for two short weeks, you already fit in perfectly with all of us. You are very calm and low maintenance—completely opposite of your big brother. You love to cuddle, but if left alone, you will fall asleep by yourself most of the time. You have great awake time during the day and are such a good sleeper at night!

DD Nana & T-Pa were here for 10 days helping us out and they were such a big help! They got Parker to/from school, prepped dinners and stayed up late at night with you (until midnight) so that we could get a little more sleep the first few days. Though, you immediately slept for 5 hours at night when we got home so that was kind of AMAZING. Your Aunt Kirstie came to visit and help us, too. And of course, your Aunt Kate was also present! The whole Hesseltine family was here to welcome you into the world! It doesn’t happen often that all of us get together at the same time in one place, so, Andrew, you should feel pretty special that everyone was present!

Mom feels a lot more confidant with you and has less feelings of anxiety then when she had Parker. I don't feel as though I need to cry all the time and genuinely look forward to every moment with you. Mom spent the first few weeks of Parker's life having the "baby blues," but I'm not running into those types of feelings nearly as much with you. I don't know if your calmness is a reflection of me just knowing what to do or if you were just going to be calm either way.

When big brother wakes up in the morning, one of the first things he does is ask about you. We get downstairs and big brother won’t leave the house for school until he’s seen you. He likes to be the person to wake you up in the morning—“Wake up An-dew!” he yells (we are still working on a whisper voice). He gives you lots of hugs and kisses and likes to hold you, too. He loves you so much and I can’t wait to see y’alls relationship grow as you both get older. He will also give you his “horsies” (small horse figurines that are really zebras), but I usually don’t see him do that until I manage to sit or step on one. Hehe.

We survived our first weekend home alone without any help and it went very well. You don’t mind the loud noise big brother makes.. in fact, you slept right through the two lawnmowers playing chase in the living room by some miracle. Thank goodness you love to sleep! We like to take family walks together and Parker still likes to make sure you have his prized “little elephant” when he is home. Though, he will snatch it from you if he gets upset or goes to lay down. But it’s okay… you have your own toys, too. Parker also likes to “race An-dew” when we go on a walk which means he runs next to the stroller while mom or dad push you.

You don’t seem to mind tummy time too much and will lift your head up off the ground and turn it to a different side all on your own. You also seem to take after mama more than your daddy when it comes to your good looks. ;-) You still have lots of hair, though it seems to be thinning on top a bit. Your umbilical cord fell off after the first week and we’ve been giving you full baths ever since. You love the warm water and the warm towel afterwards (thank you Lori [and Grandma Joan] for that little trick!). You head off to bed at about 10 PM at night.

I can’t wait to see how the rest of this first month goes… you are doing so well! Your two week check-up went wonderfully and you are such a trooper. We love you baby boy, always and forever.

At two weeks you:

Eat about 2 OZ every 2.5 to 3 hours during the day—we move to feeding you every 2 hours (cluster feeding) in the evening hours.
Must burp after every feeding or you will do a large spit up. Otherwise, your spitting up seems to be getting slightly better, but you still spit up a little bit after every feeding
Can sleep 8 hours at night from 10-6. Sometimes you will wake up for a middle of the night feeding around 3-5 AM, but then you sleep until 8:30 if you do that. I have no idea how I’m getting so lucky… all I have to say is Babywise and Happiest Baby on the Block are the best books ever. Eat, Wake, Sleep hasn’t failed me yet!
Sleep in the rock and play in the extra bedroom next to mom & dad’s room
Wear newborn clothes—most of the 0-3 month clothing is still too big for you.
Have wake time for about an hour or so after every feeding… sometimes less, sometimes more
Weigh 7lbs and 14 oz (you’ve gained all of your birth weight back!) (50^th percentile)
Are 21 inches long (25^th percentile)
Like just staring up at the ceiling and hanging out on the floor or sitting with mommy while we watch big brother play.
Enjoy being warm and cuddled
Beginning to hold your head up for a few seconds on your own
Poop 2-3x a day and wear newborn size diapers; though when I run out of those (about 30 left I think), I’ll be moving you into size 1
Seem pretty sensitive to bright lights and you won’t really open your eyes too much unless we dim the lights a little bit for you
Make goofy grins when you get a little gassy in your sleep. I can't wait to see you smile when something actually makes you happy.