One Month Old!

It’s hard to believe Max is a month old already! Here is his official one month picture. He is posing with Chester Bear. We got Chester on our trip to Michigan last summer, when Max was in utero and only the size of a lentil. Jeff’s parents took us to the Chelsea Teddy Bear Company near them and chose Chester for baby Max. He was one of Max’s very first baby gifts!

I realized that I neglected to post any pictures of Maxwell’s first holiday….Easter! We spent a quiet Easter at home and my mom was kind enough to come and make Easter dinner for us. Max’s Oma (Jeff’s mom) got him this cute bunny hat:

Max is a little young to hunt for eggs yet but of course his Mom still had to take a picture:

We went to the pediatrician Monday for a checkup, and I am happy to report that Max was up to 9 pounds, 3 ounces…which is a whole pound gained in the two weeks since he was last there! He is in the 30th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height! Looks like he’s tall just like his parents. The pediatrician said he was looking great, he showed off how he can lift his head for her. It was very encouraging to get that good news after all the struggles we had early on with weight gain. We had a great time this weekend with my dad and Helen, it is always so fun to see Max meeting his grandparents! I haven’t loaded any pictures from their visit yet so I’ll try to remember to post those next time.

Maxwell is on Jeff’s insurance, but he is automatically covered under my plan for the first three weeks of his life. The two companies of course each want info on the other so they can coordinate benefit payments. So earlier this week I called my insurance company and gave them the info on Jeff’s plan, and then called Jeff’s company. She found Max in the system and said that yes, they did need the info on my plan. I started to give it to her, and our conversation went like this:

Me: Okay, so my plan ID is–

Rep: Wait, I can’t take the information from you because you’re not named on Jeffrey’s plan.

Me: You can’t take the information on my insurance coverage from me?

Rep: That’s right, I’ll need to confirm that with Maxwell.

Me: (long pause)….um, he’s four weeks old….

Ah, the joys of the insurance bureaucracy. We managed to agree that she wouldn’t be getting much info out of Max, but she still wouldn’t take it from me. So I called Jeff, gave him the info, and he called them back. Definitely worth the hassle though when compared to not having insurance at all!

I’ll leave you with one more photo. This is Max in my most favorite blanket from when I was a child…known as “Baa-he” (my little girl version of the word “blankie”). Jeff’s mom was kind enough to perform some emergency surgery on the blanket as it has been much loved. It’s very special to be able to use it for Max.

Purple Boy

It’s hard to believe Max is almost 4 weeks old already! Since he was gaining well at both of his weight checks last week, we didn’t have to go in at all this week. His one month pediatrician visit is Monday, so hopefully he will have gained well again then. Maxwell spent the last few days with a purple mouth, courtesy of Gentian Violet. He had some white spots on his tongue that the lactation specialist suspected were yeast, so we did the Gentian Violet treatment. It’s a natural solution that is very effective in treating yeast, you apply it daily for three days. It didn’t seem to bother Max at all but it does stain like crazy, giving his mouth and chin an interesting purple hue. It’s almost all faded away now, but of course we had to get some pictures for evidence:

Some of you know that we have two kitties, Dory and Pixel. So far they have thankfully seemed to adjust well to Max’s arrival, they mostly ignore him, though occasionally they’ll give him a sniff, and they’re not too impressed when he cries. The other day we placed Pixel next to Max, the following sequence shows what happened. Those of you who know our cats know that it the odds are extremely slim that we will ever get a picture like this with Dory.

Thanks for checking in!

Cutest. Baby. Ever.

So I realize that every parent thinks their baby is the cutest ever, and that we are a bit biased, but come on, look at this guy! This is after his first bath last week:

We are so in love with Max, every little thing he does or expression he makes just melts our hearts. He will be three weeks old tomorrow. We had some challenges the first couple of weeks with feeding…Maxwell wasn’t getting enough to eat, lost too much weight, got jaundiced, and scared his Mom and Dad to death. We’ve had one trip to the ER, lots of time with the lactation specialists, and a few pediatrician visits. For about two weeks we did an exhausting routine every three hours that involved breastfeeding, then finger feeding with pumped milk in a syringe, then pumping said milk. Then try to sleep for an hour and a half and repeat. Max was more interested in sleeping than eating. Thankfully this song and dance did help him gain the weight he needed and he is looking much better. At our weight check at the pediatrician Monday he was up to 8 pounds 2 ounces! We have another weight check with lactation tomorrow and are hoping for more good news on the weight front. They okayed us to go to just breastfeeding at the end of last week, which was a huge help. We still set an alarm to get up for feeding during the night but the shorter routine means there’s more sleep in between.

Jeff’s parents were here for a visit two weekends ago and his mom was able to stay for all of last week, which was a HUGE help. She cooked, cleaned, and just generally took excellent care of us. My mom has also been invaluable, coming over and doing the aforementioned cooking and cleaning and whatever else we need. Of course both grandmothers also love every minute of baby time they can get! Max’s uncle Greg and cousin Elizabeth were here this past weekend. Max and Elizabeth are each other’s only first cousins, so it was very special to see them meet for the first time.

Even though I am really tired, this time with Max is wonderful beyond belief. We love him so much and I treasure every minute with him. Jeff is such an amazing dad and I love to see the two of them together. I know it is very hard for Jeff to leave each day and go to work. We wish he could be home with us but are very grateful that he works so hard to take such great care of us! In these crazy times we remember how lucky he is to have a job.

Here’s a couple more pictures, we’ll try to post more soon. Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome Maxwell has received! My apologies if you’ve emailed or called and it is taking me a while to get back to you…I really appreciate hearing from everyone!

My two favorite boys:

With Opa:

Our family:

After bathtime, with Greg and Elizabeth: