Smiles!

Andy's been "social smiling" since at least Tuesday; this is as opposed to the subconscious smiles when he's falling asleep or has gas. He still doesn't give them up very easily; he makes you work for them, but they're getting more frequent already. It's very hard to catch a baby smile on camera, but these are the fleeting tail ends of some from Friday...can you tell?

Oops

"Warning: This Toy Is Not Intended To Hold A Child"
Aww, but he's so cute in it!!


Kaylee was in another room when Andy and I walked by one of her doll strollers. I put him in it and wheeled him in to see her. Instead of thinking it was funny she said, "Hey! That's not for Andy! That's just for Baby Jamie!" (In case you don't know, she named her favorite baby doll "Baby Jamie.") I suppose it's a good thing, really, so she won't try putting him in it on her own!

Big sister is three!

Happy third birthday to big sister Kaylee! I brought cupcakes and Andy to her class after lunch today; as soon as we walked in she was right by Andy's side showing him off to everyone. She's so proud of her little brother!

Everyone loved the cupcakes (moreso the frosting!), but I think Andy was the hit of the party - all the kids were fighting to sit next to him and watch him sleep - so exciting! :)

Our big guy!

I pulled our bumbo (the blue chair seen below) out of the basement today to see how Andy would do in it. I know we put Kaylee in it by 2 months, maybe earlier - I just remember a photo of her in it at 2 months - and since Andy's about the same size now that Kaylee was at 2 months, I thought I'd give it a shot. He did pretty well in it; holding his head up and looking around for a bit before starting to go all bobbly-head. Kaylee had to get in on the photo action, so here's a picture of Kaylee, 2 days shy of 3 years old, and Andy, 5 weeks.

Update

In case anyone was wondering, Andy's eye (the blocked duct) already seems to be clearing (cleared?). I cleaned it again Friday night and haven't had to really clean it since. Also, he seems to be doing better with turning his head to the right and the left, though he still favors the right side. Seems all I had to do was mention these things to the doctor - maybe Andy really was listening and figured he better fix these issues before we took him to specialists for poking and prodding. ;)

These photos are from yesterday morning. Andy's Great Aunt Sharon was visiting for a long weekend and Andy enjoyed dozing in her arms. Not to leave out big sis, here's a shot of Kaylee, too.



Cuddling on Sharon's shoulder, then...tiring of photos??

One month checkup

Andy's 1 month checkup was this morning. He is now 10lb 12oz and just over 22" long! Big guy! I just looked back at Kaylee's stats...she didn't have a 1 month appointment, but at her 2 month visit she was 10lb 11oz and 23" - so a month older, an ounce less and an inch longer. Of course, Andy was already 3/4 lb heavier than Kaylee at birth and was born at nearly 2 weeks' shorter gestation. His weight and height are both in the 75th-90th percentiles, and weight to length ratio is about 50%, so he's doing well!

He does have a blocked tear duct in his left eye, but that should be fine before his birthday (most likely within a few months) and he's showing signs of torticollis - basically he just likes to lie with his head facing to the right. I'd already been turning it to the left sometimes, but he turns it back. So we'll continue to work on that and hopefully it won't be an issue. The doctor suggested propping/lying him slightly on his left side for naps, and trying to sit/lie on his left side when we interact with him to try to get him to look that way on his own more. It's not uncommon in babies, so we shouldn't have anything to worry about, but just something else to keep an eye on!

Jamie couldn't come to the appointment this morning, so I had to take the picture of us myself; took a few tries to get us both looking (Andy was fine, I just kept looking away, haha!). And I had him wrapped up in my jacket to keep him warm while we waited on the doctor.

Announcing...

Andy's birth announcement:

Newborn Portrait Session

Our neighbor, Joe Cole of Forrest Cole Photography, took some great newborn photos for us when Andy was 11 days old, as well as some of Kaylee and the family. Here are a few of our favorites!

Cuddly guy

The other day Kaylee shared all her blankies with Andy; what a sweet sister. :-) I should have taken a photo from the side...the pile was probably about a foot high on top of the little guy!!


Cuddling with my little sleepy guy on his 1 month "birthday"...

Congrats from Preschool

Kaylee's preschool director posted the following message on their website the week Andy was born:

Congratulations to the Caesar family on the birth of little Andy. Kaylee is such a proud BIG sister.

I thought that was very nice of them...and Kaylee IS such a proud big sister! :-)

Visitors & such

Andy has had lots of visitors already! We try to remember to get pictures, but of course forget sometimes...but here are some of the friendly faces he's gotten to meet thus far!

Grampa & Gramma


Baba & Daddy


The new-again parents & Uncle Jeff


Poppy & Nana


Uncle Robbie & Aunt Brooke
(As you can see, Andy did not want his photo taken with Robbie - he kept grabbing the blanket and pulling it over his face just as we were about to take the picture! After pulling it away from his face a few times, we finally got one when Robbie held the blanket down, but you can see Andy's little hand grabbing the blanket in the first couple shots below!)



Great Uncle Leonard, Great Aunt Vicki & Big Sister Kaylee


Pam, Katie & Olivia


Poppy, PawPaw & Memaw, Great Aunt Lynnie & Nate



Grampa & Gramma; Mommy, Daddy, Kaylee & Andy


Baba