Eston is sick

Poor kid. He caught my cold. He's been sick for 3-4 days now. We got worried about him last night and took him to see the doctor. They said he was fine, just watch for things, and keep taking good care of him.

It's so sad to see him coughing, sneezing, and looking exhausted. Even through all that, he is still smiling occasionally. What a great little guy.

Eston cheering for the Jackets

Until his 5th week of life, Eston's weeks in age were less than or equal to the number of basketball games he had attended. He has not been to as many lately. Here is Eston this week at his 6th GT basketball game.

2 Months Old

Eston had his 2 month "well child physical" today, and he is *well*. He weighs exactly 12 pounds, is 24.25" long, and his head circumference is 16.26". He is 90th percentile for height, 50th percentile for weight, and 75th percentile for head circumference. He received three shots of vaccinations, plus an oral vaccination, and he was a total trooper during the shots.

He is much more expressive now through his facial movements and some cooing. He smiles about once per day, sometimes more. Everyone told us that babies are more fun day-by-day, and we now agree!

Exercises with Eston

A new milestone for Eston is controlling his head without support from others. He does look a bit like a bobble-head doll as he self-adjusts to stay in balance.

Here's a video to demonstrate. He's losing his birth hair, more quickly in certain spots, so you can see evidence of his mohawk/mullet, a beautiful combination.

Eston's moving!

So, Eston is moving. And he's taking us with him. He decided that having us commute 20 miles each way was for the birds.

The new house is off Briarcliff, between Clairmont and Shallowford in DeKalb County. It's in the Lakeside High School district.

It's half the distance to GT, to Lauren's parents, to Grandfather, to choir practice, etc. It's really near my Aunt Clare (2.5 miles).

Everything is pretty much falling in place for the move to happen, which is amazing, considering that we did not even first see the house until the day before New Year's Eve. We'll move in early February, after thinking we'd be in this house for the next 20-30 years!

If you know someone interested in renting a house between Roswell and Sandy Springs, around the corner from the river, jogging/bike paths, etc., let us know!

Morning Workout

Here is a 2-minute video of Eston's latest moves. I tried to get him to flash a big smile, but you'll only see some small ones. The grandmothers may be the only ones interested enough to watch for 2 minutes because his movements aren't very exciting yet. For those of you who make it to the end, Eston produces a little surprise for you in the last few seconds.

This Week

Eston is 7.5 weeks old and continues to do well. As long as he is well-fed, he is a generally happy guy. During his first few weeks of life, he had only three settings: sleeping, eating, crying. Fortunately, he is now able to be awake, not eating, and happy - at the same time. He'll even play (which basically means just wiggling and looking around) quietly on his own while we eat, work, do chores, etc.

I started back to work half-time last week, and he spent time with my parents and Randy while I was working. It seems to be a good mix of work and Eston-time for everyone involved! We'll continue that plan until March when I return to work full-time and Eston begins going to day care.

Here he is riding in his car seat and drying off after a bath this weekend.

First Big Smiles

Eston is seven weeks old as of today, and he produced a series of smiles like this one for us tonight.

Eston's Mentors

Eston has started having some serious meetings with those older and wiser than he is, to discuss important issues in his life. Here he is in deep conversation with cousin Solomon (3 years old), friend Amelia (4 years old), and cousin Camilla (4 years old).

Milestones

A few big things happened in Eston's life in the last 24 hours.

1. He went EIGHT hours between feedings last night (unfortunately, we did not go to sleep at the beginning of this wonderful window of time). His standard nighttime schedule is a 4-hour block of sleep, followed by a 3-hour block of sleep, with a feeding in the middle (not bad, compared to his schedule during the first couple of weeks!). I hope this 8-hour block starts happening more and more.

2. He seems to be mimicking facial expressions. We noticed it when my dad stuck his tongue out at Eston, and Eston stuck his out in response. He seems to open his mouth widely in response as well. This could be a coincidence, but the repetitions lead us to believe that it could be purposeful. Eston has also smiled a few times, but those seem to be random at this point. We are really looking forward to his smiling in response to something that should produce a smile!

3. He is having a slumber party with my parents in Stone Mountain tonight, his first night away from us. I'm starting back to work half-time this week. In January and February, my parents will be keeping him on Wednesdays, and Randy is staying home with him on Thursdays. Since I went to Stone Mountain today to celebrate my cousin Camilla's fourth birthday, we decided to let Eston spend the night there. My parents will typically come to our house on Wednesdays to watch him, but tonight's plan seemed more convenient. We miss Eston, but I'm appreciative of the chance to get a great night's sleep before venturing back to work tomorrow.

Play Date

On New Year's Day, Eston had a play date with Jay Stovall, who previously appeared here. Jay has a lot to teach Eston over the next year, during which their 7-week age difference will seem significant.

Separated at Birth

Many people ask us who Eston looks like. So far, we think he looks like my dad and Rex Linn from CSI Miami. What do you think?

Christmas Catchup

Here are some more pictures of Eston celebrating Christmas. We previously posted pictures here of Eston with Randy's family at Christmas, so here is one of him with my family, as well as ones of him with the two of us on Christmas.

6 weeks

Eston is now six weeks old. The biggest change we have noticed is how much more expressive Eston is. Look here to compare with three and five weeks ago.