Gus passed the 1 month mark!

Actually he did that a few days ago - I am just a little slow about posting updates :/

Other interesting things that have happened recently:

- We went out for Gus' first dinner out, and he slept through it (thankfully). My aunt and uncle took us to the Cheesecake Factory, which was a lot of fun. If you read this, 'thank you' :)

- Bible study has started up again at our church, and it is very nice to be spending time with other folks in the same stages of life that we are in. All of the folks in our group are young married couples, some with kids and some without, and it is a great time of fellowship and learning. We are going through a book right now called The Life You've Always Wanted, which looks like it should be very interesting and helpful in cultivating our relationship with God.

- My parents are finally getting high-speed internet, which should let them follow this blog (and my others) more closely. Welcome to the 21st century, dad! ;)

Not the Earring!

Yes, the earring - specifically, Rose's left heart-shaped earring.  What about it, you ask?  Well I'll tell you: Gus grabbed it!  He was hanging out with his mom the other day, and reached up and wrapped his little hand around the shiny silver shape; and whats more, he held on for a good minute or so.  I must say that I freaked out a little, thinking he was going to tear it off her ear - but it was really cute too, and shows a great deal of coordination for a kid just turning 4 weeks old.  I'm so proud :)

pictures!

Very soon Willie will be posting some pictures on the picasa thingy. www.picasaweb.google.com/williamandrose
We have cute pictures of Gus in his tigger bathrobe! (He has 5 bathrobes...)
We will be 3 weeks old on Tuesday September 16! Gus and I (Rose) are really getting the hang of breastfeeding, we have had a tough go at it, be we are hanging in there (no really really bad pun intended). He is getting so big too. At our last appointment for the 2 week check he was up to 9 pounds 8 oz, so he has surpassed his birthweight 9.3, and is only growing. We noticed he has this tiny little freckle on the top of his head, that will eventually be covered by his hair when there is more of it. He is totally blonde and his eyes are gray-blue. We are willing to bet that he will be either blue or hazel eyed, but there is no telling for quite some time. We sent Grandma Janet home on Wednesday and Gus and I are learning how to get along all day long. Gus doesn't have any sleeping patterns yet except that he usually likes a really big long nap in the morning, which I really appreciate, because it turns out I do to. We are both always very happy to see Daddy at 6pm when he gets home from work. Gus loves tummy time and is really strong. He is getting really good at holding his head up. He does it quite frequently and will have head control pretty quickly I think. Gus is also practicing pushing himself up. It will be a while before he really gets it, but it's a lot of fun to watch him practice and hold it a little longer each day.
Gus also smiles. A lot. He is so happy. He doesn't fuss a lot, and it doesn't look like we have any colic (keep your fingers crossed!) He smiles at me, Willie, the crosses on the wall, the lamp, the dog, pretty much everything. I thought I was totally special when he smiled at me, but them I caught him smiling at the wall decoration. I've made peace with it though, I've decided it means that he thinks that I am a good decorator. He is also still learning what to do with his hands. I don't think he's totally aware of them or what they're for, but they've accidentally been useful a few times. He's funny because he is tracking with his eyes, but he gets real cross eyed sometimes, just learning how to coordinate his eyes. It's all amazing to me. I can't imagine not knowing how to see, or touch or grab or any of those things, so it's mistifying to watch my tiny newborn son do it all!
That's what we are up to these days. We are still settling in. If we are not eating we are sleeping or chaning a diaper or pumping or something, so I am a little slow about calling people and going on errands, but have patience and we will get the hang of it all. Look for those pictures, and leave us some comment love, it know it will make Willie happy!

lab results

Hey guys! Great news, Gus went back to the lab yesterday, and after having to call down and extract the results (quite rude not to let us know what the results are after scaring us!) from the doctor's office and everything came back normal. They called us 2 days ago that they were concerned about his thyroid, that it was sluggish, and that we needed to come in right away to have the tests re-run. It turns out that 1 in 4,000 babies have congenital hypothyroidism and left untreated causes mental retardation. The treatment is usually medication that will be taken for the rest of the child's life. So it scared me when they told us they thought it was a problem. I just didn't want to get everyone else worked up, it feels like we are getting these calls quite a bit, needing to have more things tested, and everything is always fine. They drew 3 files of blood from him and the poor thing cried so hard he fell asleep! Anyway everything is absolutely normal. Thank you so much for all the prayers and support (we can definetly still use them... )

Dr. visit update/prayer request

Hey guys, I don't want to make a huge deal out of this right now, but I got a call from the pediatrician's office today letting me know that we need to do a repeat test because one of the values has come back abnormal. I need to take him back again tomorrow to have the blood drawn, so I would appreciate prayer. I don't want to make a specatcle out of this, I just know that I can't get specific prayer unless I ask for it, and having abnormal labs on a 2 week old is scary. So please keep little Gus Gus in your heart tomorrow morning when we go back. I know that there are people that have faithfully praying for us and I so much appreciate it. We are blessed because our troubles are so small and we have pulled out every time beautifully. Thank you so much for those prayers.
I will keep everyone updated when I know more. Hopefully there is nothing more to report!

Doctor visit today

Gus and company (myself excluded - I was at work) took a trip to the doctor today for his 2-week checkup and Hep-B vaccination. It seems that all went well, except that the little fellow took the liberty to relieve himself while his diaper was off - twice. I think we are all looking forward to year #2, and potty training! ;)

Gus' First Outing

We are heading out shortly to church, and then to lunch at my parents' house. This will be Gus' first real outing, not counting the various trips to the doctor he had earlier. I'll try to remember to take one of our cameras and get some pictures to upload later.

UPDATE: The trip went well, and the folks at church got a kick out of seeing the little fella. We didn't end up taking any pictures, though - my bad!

Gus has a Bellybutton!

Or more precisely, you can now see it :) As with all babies, there was a little bit of the umbilical cord left on him it was cut (at birth), and it finally fell off today. They usually say it takes 1 - 2 weeks, and we are right in the middle of that now. There are still some small scabs of blood left around the area, but those should just wash off in his next bath.

Here is a link to his first bellybutton-visible picture.

New blog announcement

I just wanted to notify my loyal readers that I have started another blog. This brings the total to three, which hopefully I will be able to keep up on. In case you aren't aware of my other writing endeavors, here are descriptions and links to all three:

Read One Daily - A forum for my thoughts as I read through the Bible one chapter a day

The George Family Post - Regular updates on my family, especially my new son Gus (you are already here!)

Earth to William - Rants and ramblings about what I think is wrong with the world, and how it could or should be fixed

I know that not all of you will be interested in every one of these topics, which is why I chose to have multiple blogs rather than just one, but I wanted to make sure that no one misses out on stuff they might enjoy reading. I also really appreciate feedback on all three of these, so if you are out there please don't hesitate to comment!

No more hospital visits!

At least, not for a few days. From his birth until yesterday, Gus was at either the hospital proper or the doctor's office every day of his life. At first it was a weight check, then checking his jaundice levels each day, then once that subsided his week one checkup and then finally the circumcision yesterday. He did remarkably well for all that poking and prodding, though; I really think it took more out of poor Rose than it did him.

A mother worries over such things, naturally, and she hardly slept except a couple hours at night until we got back from Group Health yesterday. Once that weight was lifted from her shoulders she hit the sack, and has been sleeping on and off ever since. I'm very glad that she is finally able to get some well-deserved rest, and hopefully that will help speed her recovery from the delivery as well.

I'll be posting more pictures that we've taken since we got home, probably tomorrow. From now on, though, I won't announce every single time we add to our Picasa photo albums - you all will just have to check there on occasion for updates :)

Snip-snip

So, little Gus got circumcised this morning (sorry if you think that is too much information - I don't pull any punches). Normally this would have been done before he left the hospital after being born, but because he was a little jaundiced they wanted to wait till that subsided.

Interestingly, though, this is the 8th day since he was born - and that was (is?) the traditional day for circumcision under the covenant between God and Abraham. I was just reading that chapter of the Bible last week, the day Gus was born, and while it isn't super important I am rather pleased it worked out this way :)

BTW, if you ever read this some day Gus: you did a great job! No big fuss - you took it like a man. I'm very proud.