Kent is 5 weeks old!

Kent turned 5 weeks old yesterday. 5 weeks! It is crazy how time can go slow and fly at the same time.

At his 1 month doctor's appointment last week, Kent weighed a healthy 10 pounds, 14 ounces and was 23 inches long....he grew 2 inches in a month! I'd say that he is drinking some super growth breastmilk!

As for his progress, he is becoming more & more alert everyday. As you see in this picture, he is now able to grasp onto things with his hands. Believe it or not, he was happy right up until I went to grab my camera to take this picture.

Kent also smiled for the first time this past Saturday, for Grandma Paula. It was a quick smile, but a definite smile. He has been doing this more & more at random times, which is fun. On Sunday I had a pretty stressful day with a fussy baby, and then Kent smiled for me around bedtime that day. That one smile made my day. I think God knew I needed a little smile from Kent to make me feel better, and it sure did the trick!

Kent also went to his first "playdate" this past Tuesday at my friend Miranda's house, who has two little boys of her own. Here is what Kent did the whole time on his first playdate....he either was sleeping or crying under the Baby Einstein gym.

Here is a picture of Miranda with her 2 boys, Lucas and Kyle. Lucas is 1.5 years old, Kyle is 6-7 months old. Seeing how she juggles 2 kids leaves me amazed, as I'm still learning how to handle one baby. I have a lot to learn from Miranda and am thankful to have her as a friend. She also was awesome at letting me borrow several of her maternity clothes while I was pregnant...thanks again, Miranda!

Here is a picture of Miranda with her boys and my friend Mandy with her son Nathan, who will be 1 in October. He was so much fun to watch at the playdate because he just started crawling about 2 weeks ago. So now he is getting into everything!

Here is a picture of Kent under the gym at his playdate. The outfit he has on is a 0-3 month size. He is out of newborn clothes, and most of the things that fit him are the 3 month size right now. He is still in size 1 diapers, but will probably go to a size 2 over the next 2-3 weeks.

Aunt Bonnie from Colorado came to visit her parents and Billy & Paula this week. She got to meet Kent on Wednesday night, our typical night of the week where we meet at Billy & Paula's for dinner.

Kyle was enjoying watching the Rangers sweep the Red Sox. He decided to introduce Kent to watching baseball games on TV. I have a feeling Kent is going to be a pretty good baseball player, especially since that is what his daddy played in high school.

After dinner at Billy & Paula's, Billy didn't have a meeting at church and it was cool enough outside for a walk (probably still like 90 degrees!) So Grandpa Billy, Aunt Bonnie, Kent, & myself all went on a walk. Billy enjoyed pushing Kent around in the stroller. He even enjoyed giving him "wheelies." Kyle does this with the stroller when we walk around the neighborhood too....like father, like son!

Overall, it's been a good week. The one frustrating thing that I've had to deal with recently is that Kent is having reflux, which has made feeding him a challenge. He will eat for about 5 minutes, then arches his back & scream the rest of the time I try to feed him, for a while after I'm done feeding him, then he falls asleep until the next feeding time when the cycle starts over again. The doctor started him on prevacid last week, and I think as of today I'm starting to see some improvements. This pill isn't a "baby friendly" pill, as I have to cut it in half, stick it in his mouth, and squirt water in his mouth until it dissolves. Thankfully, Kent hasn't recognized yet how terrible that pill tastes. I'm hoping that this minor issue will get resolved soon, as I didn't know how much more I could stand as of last week.

People have told me all kinds of advice on what to do with reflux, and what to do with breastfeeding. Honestly, if I eliminated every food known to man that caused some type of side effect for the baby, there would not be much left to eat. So I'm just trying to be careful, but not overly obsessive about what I eat. I'm mainly not eating: cabbage, broccoli, really spicy foods, milk (just milk, still eating yogurt/cheese/ice cream). That's it. Otherwise, like I said, nothing would be left to eat. I've also tried various nursing positions, burping more often, sitting Kent up for a while after I feed him, etc. As for frequency of feeding him, I'm trying to stay in the middle...meaning, not let him get too full or too hungry. I'm still sticking to the Babywise schedule, even in the midst of the reflux thing. Most days it seems to work out pretty well.

Well, that's been what's been going on this week so far. Thanks for checking in on me/us!