In the past week, Mateo has grown and learned some new things. The most recent happened today, when he sucked his thumb for the first time! He has found his fist to suck on quite a few times accidentally, when his hand magically appeared to him in front of his face, but never managed to get the thumb in there. Today, Edlyn was holding him and handed him over to me so he could nurse and there was his thumb in his mouth. Very cool! We hope that eventually he will be able to suck his thumb when he needs comfort, instead of depending on the chupón (Spanish for pacifier) all the time.
He has also become more alert in the past week and has already won over many of our family and friends who have met him. Mateo met his great-grandpa Harold this weekend and took to him right away. He spent some contented hours snoozing in Harold's arms. He also met his Aunt Edlyn, who was quite taken with him, and he with her! She is in town for the week of Thanksgiving and Mateo and his mommies have been enjoying spending lots of time with her and my mom. He seems very comfortable with both of them and we're so glad they've gotten to spend time with him during his first weeks of life. Mateo made his first trip into the Collins Companies office on Thursday and met lots of new people. He even got his picture taken in the big conference room, since he was at his first board meeting.
Mateo now has breastfeeding mostly figured out. He's got the latching on down and eats like a champ. His only remaining puzzle to solve is my very generous letdown! As it turns out, I make tons of milk. This can be pretty overwhelming to a three-week-old baby and he often gets swamped by the amount of milk coming into his mouth. This has been frustrating for all three of us....but luckily, Good Sam (our hospital) has some great lactation consultants that have been very helpful. As well, my mom has a friend who has been very involved in La Leche League and we've benefited tremendously from her advice.
Finally, Mateo has really discovered his lungs in the past week! We read somewhere that babies sometimes become more fussy around 3 weeks and he seems to be following along with that. The kid can really project! We've developed a repetoire of things to try when he gets upset and are continuing to work towards understanding what different cries mean.
Let's see, what else. He had his first doctor's appointment last week and he had already gained back his birth weight and then some! He weighed in at 9 pounds, 4 ounces. We think he's gained more since then, as his cute cheeks are getting chubbier and even his fingers are looking a bit more rounded out. He is just the cutest little baby.
Overall, I think I speak for both of us when I say that the past three weeks have been some of the most amazing and wonderful weeks of our lives. Being pregnant was a pretty rough road for me and going through the experience of giving birth and meeting this new little boy who had been growing inside me for nine and a half months...well, words just can't describe it. And then, experiencing the beginning of his life along with him - his first hours, first night, first nursing, first diaper, first bath, first days at home - has been transformative. We love our little guy so much. Each day seems to bring something new. I'm working on enjoying each moment with him. He's already growing fast and I know they don't stay this little forever!
