The main developments in Ari’s life this week are more interest in looking at things and more smiling, although he’s been doing both those things for a couple of weeks. Now sometimes he can entertain himself for a half hour or so just looking at things. He also seems to be able to see me from farther away and he’s more interested in checking out the person holding him. Oh – and I set aside his newborn clothes; he’s outgrown them! Now he wears 0-3 months and even 3 months sizes. He weighed 10 pounds at the breastfeeding group meeting this week. He still wants to be held all the time – I’m typing this with one hand while I hold him, sleeping on my chest, with the other. I wake up now with cramping and stiffness in my hands and it’s hard to pick him up at first.

Jan got these smiley pictures:

Andrew has been good and very nice to Ari but he’s wanted more attention lately and has been sticking toys in our laps and trying to get us to play with him (which we usually do). He’s also got some bad behaviors we need to work on: excessive barking, pulling on the leash, lunging and barking at other dogs when we’re out for walks, and protectiveness of his favorite ball. At the dog park he runs at other dogs, barking and growling viciously, if he thinks they might have glanced at his ball. The worst part is, he did the same thing to a friend we had over who tried to play fetch with him. He has no problem letting me or A. take his ball, but now we know that courtesy does not extend to all humans. A. has been trying to help him burn some mental energy and practice self control by running through obedience commands and teaching him sit and down and stand stays, which he has picked up really quickly.

We’re starting to be loaded down with zucchini now! A. let this one get rather large:

The major development for A. and me is that we’ve hired a nanny! We really like her, she really likes babies and is very smart and upbeat and experienced, and she’s going to make sure I get to sleep and breastfeed before and after and in between night shifts, and help with cooking and housekeeping. I have four more weeks of maternity leave and a big weight off my shoulders!

We also went hiking in Forest Park! We repeated the hike I did with my friend. A. tracked it on his phone and it was about 5.5 miles round trip. It’s a steep uphill climb on the way in, and we got a great workout.

I can’t believe it’s been eight weeks!