Uncle Danny and Ms. Whitney came down to see Jacob and Connor today. Connor was so excited to see Uncle Danny. He gave Connor a toy crane which Connor played with and enjoyed. They played outside and had a great time. Soon after we had lunch, Grandma called and said she was coming over (we didn’t tell Connor as we were keeping it a secret).

I warned Uncle Danny that was Grandma arrives, Connor would forget about Uncle Danny and give ALL of his attention to Grandma. I don’t think Uncle Danny quite understood what I was trying to tell him.

Soon after my warning to Uncle Danny, the doorbell rang. Connor got up to see who it was…there was Grandma peering in through the window. Connor realized it was her, said, “Grandma!!!”, and then galloped to the front door with excitement. I opened the door and took a few things from Grandma’s arms as her grandson was waiting with arms stretched up towards Grandma waiting for her to pick him up. She picked him up and he seemed to be attached to her for the next 10 minutes. Truly amazing to watch the interaction. I’ve been trying to explain it to Uncle Danny over the phone but this was the first time he had seen it in person.

Anyways…here are some pics (click on them to see more).

Here is Connor playing with his new remote control car that he got over the weekend.

This was the first time he had played with it, so he didn’t know how to turn it yet…so just forward and backward. Papa came over later and showed him how to steer the remote control car.

The four of us took a short walk this evening since it was such a nice night. 

We got the “doctor’s approval” prior to doing this and we only walked to the end of the block and back (10 minutes tops). 

As you can tell from the video, Jacob was quite alert and seemed to enjoy being outside.

Here are some pics of the new family…

Jacob doesn’t open his eyes much, but after his first bath (with Mommy and Daddy) he was quite alert.

Mommy was “behind the camera” and took much better pictures than I did the other day!

Well, pretty well.

He is quite protective of his little brother…

When we took Jacob for his first checkup at the doctor’s office and the doctor looked him over on the examination table/scale, Jacob began to cry.  Connor ran over to the table, looked up at the doctor and said, “No.”  He was trying to push the doctor away…we had to move him and tell him it was “ok”.  I picked him up so he could get a view of what was going on.

Spin it forward to last night, when we were changing Jacob’s diaper.  Jacob has a bad diaper rash (much like Connor had when he first came home from the hospital) so he cries quite a bit when we change his diaper.  So, Victoria and I were both huddled around Jacob while changing his diaper.  Jacob began to cry and Connor came running over to “protect” his little brother.  Again, he said, “No” and tried to push us out of the way.

He wants to be a big helper…

He has helped me feed Jacob by holding the bottle while I hold Jacob.  H doesn’t want me to hold onto the bottle, so I’ve tried to explain that I have to help him for right now…it kind of worked.

He likes to grab Jacob’s “burp cloth” and give it to us when we need it.  Today, he grabbed Jacob’s blanket for me when I asked for it.

He loves and cares for his brother…

When he goes to bed, he asks if he can “give Baby Jacob a kiss”…we pick him up and let him kiss Jacob while he is alseep in the pack-n-play.

He likes to hold, hug, and kiss Jacob while sitting on the couch.  He would love to hold him by himself, but he (both of them) is not quite big enough for that.

And the one that shocked me today…

Connor stayed with Ms. Laura today while we took Jacob to the doctor for his checkup.  I told Connor earlier that we were taking Jacob to the doctor.  When we returned home (with both the boys), we went about our normal activities…getting ready for dinner, changing diapers, etc…  About 15-20 minutes after being home, Connor was playing in the family room and I was in the kitchen getting something to drink.  Connor says, “Daddy, how is Jacob feeling?”

I responded, “What???”  I wasn’t quite sure what I had heard and needed him to repeat it.

Connor responded, “How is Jacob feeling?”

Amazed I responded, “How is Jacob feeling??”

Connor said, “Yes.”

And I finally said, “The doctor said he is doing much better.  He feels good.”

Connor replied, “Good.” and continued to play.

All I could think of is that he remembered for a brief second that I told him that Jacob was going to see the doctor and he associated being sick with the doctor.  He didn’t break stride while playing, but wanted to make certain his little brother was feeling good.

Does he have some jealously issues?

Not too much, but the first couple of days he begged to lay down with me while Jacob was laying with me.  He also wanted me to pick him up while I was holding Jacob.  I quickly realized that I needed to “split my time” with the two of them…so when Jacob is sleeping I wrestle, hold, sit, and lay with Connor just like we used to do.

I expected some of this and to this point it hasn’t gotten out of hand.  It has definitely improved and each new day I see Connor learning to “share his time” with Mommy and Daddy.

We took Jacob in for a follow up appointment from last week to have his weight checked again. He has been eating more and we felt he would show an increase since his last weigh in.

He is back at his discharge weight of 5lbs (gaining 2 ounces over the weekend).

YEAH!!!!

We go back in a week for his “two week checkup”.

I guess someone has been watching me fix things around the house while on the ladder…

Listen to the audio…he tells me that he has to “fix it”.

(Ok, it wasn’t with Mommy so I don’t know if this would count as being “professionally done”.)

I am sure there will be more to follow and this was just a quick 5 minute session with Daddy today…

Mommy is already being a critic…so I am sure she will do a photo session of her own soon.

We are swaddling “Baby Jacob” much like we swaddled “Baby Connor” and are getting a much happier baby (and more sleep) because of it. And hopefully that will continue into the future.

One thing I have noticed is Baby Jacob might be small, but he sure is powerful. He tries to wiggle his way out of the swaddle every now and then and it is amazing to see how close he actually gets to getting a shoulder free. I don’t recall Baby Connor doing that. Granted, Daddy might not be swaddling Baby Jacob as tight as he did with Baby Connor because of his light birth weight and early delivery, but he is still quite good at wiggling.