Three Weeks

We are now parents of a three-week old, and what have we been up to? We just made our fifth visit to the pediatrician's office and as long as Lil' D continues to eat well we will stay away until our two month well check appointment. He hasn't actually been sick, just stubborn in the weight gaining department and has still yet to climb back up to his birth weight.
We are enjoying watching our little boy change and grow everyday. I am amazed looking back at the pictures of him the first few days to see how much he has already changed.
We are blessed that Lil' D is a pretty good sleeper (although he has been fighting take a nap this afternoon!) which means that I am not as sleep deprived as I could be. I seem to be getting enough naps in at night that I really don't need to nap during the day. So far I think that Lil' D uses sleep as a coping mechanism. That is what he did during all his testing at the hospital, his vaccination and blood test last week, and while there were screaming babies in the nursing room at Babies 'R Us.
We took Lil' D on his first outing last night to Babies 'R Us to find some high contrast stimulation toys for tummy time. It went pretty well, and there weren't many people there so I didn't feel bad about having my newborn around others.
Lil' D likes going for walks in his stroller. He is super strong and has way more control over his neck than a newborn should. He likes to have his hands near his face when he is nursing and when he is sitting in his car seat. One of his favorite pastimes is to try to free his hands from his swaddle blanket so he can put them near his face or in his mouth. He loves his pacifier and sticking his fingers in his eyes. I have to constantly work on trimming his nails.
Nicholas has been back working in his studio for a few weeks. He has two gallery shows in Austin that open in April, and has a tremendous amount of work to do. He is a little stressed about getting it all done and will need lots of help from family and friends. BUT everything is going well, even though he would really like to be spending more time at home with Lil' D and I. He will be finished just in time for me to go back to work (but I am not thinking about that right now).
Please pray that everything goes well, and he still gets to spend time with our baby!