Has it been 11 Weeks Already?

Our next-door-neighbor just had a baby a week ago, and we finally went over to meet him today. He weighs about 8 pounds right now, and J-Dub absolutely dwarfed him. It was hard to believe that only 11 short weeks ago he was that small. He is weighing in now at a robust 14 lbs 4 oz, which means he has almost doubled in size since he was born. The boy does like to eat.

He can now hold his head up almost 90 degrees when laying on his stomach. But he much prefers to lay on his back and laugh at the ceiling fan. Whether it is turned on or turned off, it is the funniest thing that he has ever seen. I know most babies love ceiling fans, but it still a lot of fun for us to watch him giggle at it.

This past weekend, we went on our first all-day excursion without him. We had left him once before with Nancy's mom for a much shorter trip, and he had done pretty well. We went up to Lorena on Friday night and stayed with my mom and dad. Then early Saturday morning, we left for Arlington to go watch the Aggies play Arkansas at Cowboys Stadium. So Jacob got to stay with my parents all day...about 15 hours by the time we got back. And he was not exactly well-behaved while we were gone. He was on his first full day without boobie juice and was still getting used to the pure formula, so we think his tummy was a little upset. That, or he just missed his mama. Either way, he made my parents day pretty difficult. Thank goodness they are so patient after having to put up with our nieces and nephew over the past 6 or 7 years. We really appreciated them babysitting for us. Too bad he wasn't in a better mood. Nancy would have called them once an hour if I would have let her. She was so anxious about leaving him that she barely slept the night before. But we made it through, and my parents somehow survived 15 hours of Screamy McGrumpypants.

The reason we had to switch him to formula was that Nancy was in excruciating pain for 2 and 1/2 months while she was breastfeeding. The doctor tried lots of things, and she even had a professional lactation consultant (who knew that these even existed? What school does one go to to become a PLC? Is it a 4 year program or a 2 hour power point presentation in the party room at Red Lobster?) come out and watch her feed him. They were doing everything right, but nothing seemed to help the pain. She got to the point where she couldn't sleep and would almost dread feeding him. Even pumping was miserable. And then she still did it for another month! I guarantee you I wouldn't have made it two days dealing with the pain she was in. I really don't know how she made it as long as she did...I always knew she was tough. She amazes me every day how wonderful a mother she is. One day, I hope Jacob realizes how lucky he is to have her as his mom, and to have such wonderful grandparents on both sides.

Here are a few more pics of JKW watching the comedy show that is our ceiling fan. This is the bedroom fan. It is possibly funnier than the living room fan.