. . . when rooting around the pockets of your jacket for gloves you discover a binkie you didn’t know was there, and it’s as exciting of a discovery as finding a $10 bill.

As amazed as we are by Wes’ many talents of sleeping, sneezing, and hiccupping, we’ve been trying to increase his resume fodder by helping him learn to grip things. He will grip our fingers pretty well, so much so that his little fingertips turn white, but we thought we’d take it to the next level:

with Link-A-Doos.

Doesn’t he kind of look like a Chinese monk in this picture?

Anyway, he’ll grip it for a second.

And then . . .

Well, we’ll keep working on it.

As long as he doesn’t get too tired.

Here’s a shot of him with his dad in the nursery.

(Note: This post, for whatever reason, wasn’t showing up on our blog, so I am reposting it. It was originally posted on October 11th.)

Our baby’s 29 days old now. I took him in for a checkup today and he weighed 5 lbs 5 oz!

I think that’s huge, considering how little he started out. But the doctor said he’s still pretty small and I need to bring him in next week for another weight check.

Here’s a picture to give you an idea of his actual size. This is Wes wearing a preemie outfit, lying next to the same outfit in the three-month size.

The sticker on his cheek helps hold on his oxygen tubes. But the sticker on his other cheek had fallen off, so I just took off the tubes for the afternoon. We’ll have to replace them tonight, since he’s supposed to sleep with the oxygen on.

When all your pregnancy hormones start depleting, they’re apparently replaced with the photo-taking hormones. It just goes with the territory of new momhood. I couldn’t resist taking more pictures of him today, even though he wasn’t doing much.

Although here’s Wes doing one of his favorite activities: thrusting out his arm like he’s telling us to Stop!

And just one more cute one.

(Note: This post, for whatever reason, wasn’t showing up on our blog, so I am reposting it. It was originally posted on October 4th.)

Yesterday was Wesley’s three-week birthday. And tomorrow is his official due date. Hah.

He’s gaining weight well. He gained six ounces since his doctor’s appointment last week. Now he’s up to 4 lb 11 oz (with diaper on). The doctor wants us to keep him plugged into oxygen as long as he’s sleeping or in the car seat for long periods of time. I’ll be glad when that’s done with, because it gets annoying toting around his oxygen tube that’s taped to his face, and he keeps tugging at it and pulling the tubes from his nose into his mouth.

We’re adjusting to new parenthood and all the sleep deprivation that goes with it. Wes is a good kid, though, and is fun to have around. Today we took our first walk together around the neighborhood and made our first social call to one of my friends down the street. Wes was real easy, sleeping the whole time.

Next week we’ll take him to the doctor again for a four-week checkup to make sure he’s gaining weight all right, and maybe (cross fingers) the doc will let him off the oxygen.

(Note: This post, for whatever reason, wasn’t showing up on our blog, so I am reposting it. It was originally posted on October 4th.)

Here are some things I didn’t realize I’d like so well about momhood.

1. Speaking in babytalk to your own baby is not only socially acceptable, it’s really fun.
2. Naked baby bodies are dang cute, and sometimes bathing your baby is fun just because you can see him wriggling in the nude.
3. Dressing your baby in sleeper pajamas with the little feet on them can make any dull day a whole lot brighter.
4. Holding a baby in your arms who’s sleepy and content to just be held is about the most peaceful thing in the world.
5. Babies can make a hundred different expressions in just a few minutes, and most of them are pretty darn adorable.

Case in point: Here are some photos I snapped of Wesley today while he was hanging out in his cradle. (Disclaimer: I don’t pretend to know how to focus my camera properly. Any photos that turn out in focus are completely by chance.)