We drove the rest of the way to Kansas the next day and spent Labor Day weekend at the farm. It just so happened that Caldwell was celebrating its 140th year as a city and had a list of scheduled events for the weekend. So, along with visiting with Pop, Bruce also got to attend his first cattle drive and chuck wagon dinner. Such a good sport, and the weather was fantastic!
We went back to the pediatrician for Bruce's two week check up and found out that he's still practically perfect in every way - and was back up to his birth weight! So, we could end the supplemental feedings as long as he keeps growing well.
Charlie went on his first out of town business trip the second week in September to Louisiana for a few days. Bruce and I managed well by ourselves, and even made a trip to Wal-mart to stock up on supplies.
Baby found his voice mid-September! He's started to make some nice cooing noises every now and then, and definitely can wail! He outgrew his swaddler faster than we had hoped, but still can calm down relatively easily with a pinky and a cuddle.
Bruce majorly protests getting fastened into his car seat, but once he's snuggled in he falls asleep immediately which has made outings pretty easy. We try to get out almost daily to break up the monotony a bit. We've been to Wal-mart and Target a couple of times, Olive Garden, the post office, Charlie's office, up to school, church, and even to our first book club meeting. Our favorite adventures though have been our evening walks to the Sonic for Happy Hour.
When Bruce was four weeks old, we made one more visit to the pediatrician's office to talk with the Newborn Nurse Specialist and to get him weighed again after two weeks without supplemental formula. I was hoping for somewhere between 8.12 and 9.4, so when Baby tipped the scales at 9.9 I knew we were good to go! Since his cord still hadn't fallen off yet, the nurse fooled with it a bit and got it off. Time for a real bath!
The only discouraging thing the nurse had to say at our visit was that with cold and flu season approaching, I shouldn't bring Bruce up to school until March. I was planning on volunteering there quite a bit this Fall, and am really disappointed to not be able to. I'd hate to have a sick baby on my hands though, so for now I'll stick with after school grade-ins at the Panera Bread!
The last weekend of September we went up to OKC for the State Fair. Bruce slept through the whole thing, but I'm sure the aroma of fried corndogs, Indian tacos, funnel cakes and the rest filled up his little senses. Maybe next year he'll get to sample some of the goodies. By pure luck and randomness, the (original) Village People were performing outdoors while we were eating our dinner. Bruce's first of many concerts - good times.
Along with a couple of possibly "real" smiles, another major accomplishment for Bruce this month is that he's been spending a lot of time lifting his head up! He's still not too steady with it, but can hold it up for long stretches of time.
He's really good at rolling over on his left side, and just recently has started to roll to the right too. When he's sleeping in his crib he's quite the little pinwheel! He always starts off like this:
And ends up like this:
Occasionally he even makes a complete revolution...
We're still figuring out how to have happy awake times without getting overstimulated after only a few minutes, and peaceful naps without waking up every 20 minutes. Thankfully though, Bruce is sleeping really well at night! He goes down easily, stays asleep, and only wakes up for feedings after a few hours. He's even made a few seven hour stretches!
Overall it's been a great month filled with lots of snuggling - along with a healthy dose of adjusting, learning, second guessing, and faith that we're doing the best we can!
