Week 3: Feeding Frenzy

Three weeks already!  Owen's main focus this week has been on EATING. Constantly, voraciously eating.  Because he was born on Shark Week, we like to make shark-themed jokes about him.  For example, we often say that he is going to get a tasty bucket of chum instead of saying that it's time to nurse.  This week there was a feeding frenzy.

After a few days of feeding him almost hourly, we put him on the scale to discover that he was already 8lbs and 4oz!  That's more than two pounds above his birthweight.  And I don't want to spoil any Week 4 surprises, but I can't help but brag that today he is up to 9 lbs.

You can really tell what a difference this growth spurt has made when you hold him.  He is noticeably heavier.  He has two chins and fat cheeks and he is working on plumping up those long limbs.  We joked today that for Halloween we will dress him as a rugby ball.  I think he will follow in the proud tradition of No-Neck Neff (which is what we called my brother as a baby).  He is also very tall--we even had to move the straps in the car seat up to the 2nd notch because he was too tall for the smallest ones. 

Owen also started to pick his head up this week.  It is hard to do, because even while he's developing the muscles to lift his head, his head is growing larger and larger.  The first few attempts were pretty sloppy, but by the end of Week 3 he was starting to do a lot of work to help hold up his head when you hold him or transfer him to a new spot. 

Besides eating, Owen's favorite activity this week was looking.  He loves to look at anything with bold contrasts, such as framed pictures on the wall, or his new nursery decals.  He is also starting to look with interest at people's faces.  When he's alert he is amazingly alert, quiet and attentive.

Noah and I are also developing and growing.  We learned that we have to put him to bed before he gets too tired to sleep, or we all pay the price with hours and hours of crying.  By the end of this past week, not having slept for more than 2 consecutive hours in over three weeks was really starting to take its toll.  We decided to introduce a bottle so Noah can take over burning some midnight oil.  Even though little Owen is super cute and I wish he would stay tiny for a long time, I am really looking forward to the promised land of 4 or 5 hour stretches of sleep at night.