Aunts Rachel & Kara in NY

CJ met his Aunts Rachel and Kara on April 16th when they came to visit from California. Kara stayed for a long weekend, and Rachel was able to extend her trip through the following week so she could attend Aunt Maggie's wedding shower in New Jersey.

Since this was their first time meeting CJ, we spent a lot of time at the apartment just hanging out and cooking dinner every night. We also went on walks in the neighborhood, ran errands, and hung out in Central Park almost every day (even though the weather could have been better).

Here are some of the highlights from around the apartment











And from the park










More photos from Rachel and Kara's visit are posted here in CJ's photo journal.

2-Month Milestones & Pictures

CJ turned 2 months old today and had his 2-month well baby visit with the pediatrician yesterday. He now weighs 10 lbs 4 oz and is 22.25" long compared to 8 lbs 6oz and 22" last month.

This visit wasn't as pleasant as last month though. CJ got his first vaccination shots. Here's a few pictures of him shortly after...


At two months, CJ still sleeps a lot, about 13-15 hours a day. He's eating more during the day, sometimes every 1-2 hours, but less at night. Last week he started sleeping 5 hours in a row from 9/10pm to 2 or 3am -- and he even had one night with a 7-hour stretch!

CJ has also begun talking more. His favorite words are oooh, cooh, and gooo. He especially likes chatting in the evenings and anytime he's getting his diaper changed. He's also much more alert during the day. He no longer quickly falls asleep whenever we go out in the stroller. Now, he's much too preoccupied with other people and things around us.

Here are a few of CJ's other 2-month milestones and photos:

Discoveries - his giraffe blanket toy

Accomplishments - lifts his head, holds his head up steady, pushes his chest up when lying on his stomach, standing up on mom's lap, talking back, and looking to see where noises are coming from

Feeding himself!

A nice day in the park.


One of his first smiling photos.

CJ's First Easter

We spent Easter weekend at grandma's house in New Jersey. On Good Friday, CJ got to experience his first lunch at Bedens Brook.


And later got to meet his godfather Nick Long.

On Sunday morning, we took CJ to church for the first time. And after, had breakfast and lounged outside in the nice weather at grandma's house.







On Sunday afternoon, we had lunch at CJ's great aunt and uncle's house in Philadelphia.


Lots more pictures from Easter weekend are posted here!

1-Month Milestones & Pictures

CJ turned 1-month old on Sunday and had his 1-month well baby visit with the pediatrician yesterday. He now weighs 8 lbs 6 oz and is 22" long, compared to 7 lbs 3oz and 19" when he was born. The pediatrician was very happy that he's growing and gaining weight!

He still sleeps a lot and eats every 2-3 hours during the day. He likes to be up unfortunately during late evening hours (~9-1am) and then sleeps for 2-4 hour stretches--last night was his first 4 hour stretch from midnight to 4am!

He loves grunting and making all sorts of squeaking, whimpering, and giggling noises- especially in his sleep, and making lots of funny faces from extreme happy to surprise to the saddest face you've ever seen all in just seconds.

Here are a few of CJ's other first month milestones and 1-month photos:

Discoveries - thumbs and fingers (especially sucking on them), mom's necklace-which he loves to grab, and the mobile above his swing

Accomplishments - pushing up off mom and dad's chests and holding his head up, rolling onto his side, and smiling

Grandma Bonds with CJ in NY

After a fun-filled 15-day visit, Grandma had to fly back to California on Thursday. We had such a fun time while she was here, but with CJ's rash, constant spitting up, and inconsistent sleeping pattern, it was quite stressful too!

One of our first adventures was our second visit to the pediatrician to check on CJ's weight gain. It was the biggest snow storm of the season, and we had to walk 7 blocks to get there. CJ was bundled up in the sling and mom's jacket. Mom was so worried about slipping and making sure CJ could breathe!


Fortunately, our trip was successful and CJ had gained weight since our last visit. Here are some pictures of mom, grandma and CJ bonding back at home.







And here's CJ's first photo with mom and dad at home.


CJ also had other visitors on the weekend of his 2-week birthday. Mom's friends, Becky and Emily came over as well as Mike and Hillary France and Courtney and Kal. Here's a picture of all the boys!


Once the weather got better, we took many walks with grandma. CJ loves his stroller!




We saw the pediatrician 3 times while grandma was here because CJ's rash seemed to be getting worse. Here's CJ at the pediatrician's office when his rash was at it's worst.


We thought it looked terrible and didn't want to take any pictures or have anyone over to see him! But, the pediatrician said it is common and to treat it with Cortizone, which we've done, and thankfully it's almost completely healed now.

There were chores to be done too. Mom and grandma finished painting the last coat of paint on CJ's new dressers, and dad helped too by drilling the holes for the new green and blue knobs.


To complete CJ's new room, we also went to Pottery Barn Kids to pick up his new rug and shelves.


We'll post pictures of the completed room soon. Though we've mostly been taking the bus around the city, CJ got to take his first cab ride since it was the only way to get everything back home.


CJ's most traumatic day so far was seeing the oral surgeon to fix his tongue tie.


We're not sure who it hurt more. CJ screamed like crazy, and mom had to sit in the dentist chair holding him and his arms down. Grandma just ran out of the room!

On a more pleasant note, CJ got to see both grandmas together when Alix came in to the city for lunch. He's so lucky to have such great grandparents!


To see lots more pictures from Grandma's visit, click on CJ's Photo Journal.