Catching Up

Well, after the last post, it seemed like there weren't very many new things going on for a couple of weeks. No doctor's appointments, no exciting milestones reached, not very many new pictures (we had some problems with our camera), etc.

Now, almost 2 months have flown by and I don't know where to start!

Matthias started sleeping through the night at around 7 or 8 weeks. The first night it happened, I was very tired, because by that point I had started back at work, and Matthias' typical nighttime eating schedule was 10 or 11 p.m., 2 or 3 a.m., and then about 5:30 a.m. My brother-in-law (who was visiting) gave him a bottle for his 11:00 feeding so I could go to bed early, so I pumped and headed to bed around 10:30. I woke up around 7, looked at the clock, and ran into his room, panic-stricken. Of course, he was sleeping peacefully. Now, he typically goes to bed around 10:30, and gets up around 6:30, which is wonderful! Of course, I rarely get to bed when he does because there is always something still to be done that didn't get done during the day — or sometimes, I just relish the alone time or time with Jason — but still, the uninterrupted sleep is nice.

Another milestone: laughing! This is probably one of my favorites. It is the cutest sound in the world.

Matthias has also started trying to roll over. He gets his back arched and then gets frustrated and lays back down. One day, while I had a migraine, Jason was taking care of Matthias. At night, Jason gave him a bath and was getting him ready for bed. He laid Matthias on his tummy to lotion his back, and Matthias held his head up almost 90 degrees! Ever since then, he has had no problem holding his head up for tummy time. It is fun to watch him hold up his head and look side to side and make noise. Jason will assist him in rolling over, which is fun for Matthias. It is like he thinks it a game! :)

On Mother's Day, Matthias woke up at 5 in the morning with his first cold...Happy Mother's Day to me!! Thankfully, it hasn't been too awful, and I think he is pretty much over it now. The worst part has been suctioning his nose, because it is gross and he doesn't like it all that much. But his temperament hasn't changed all that much...maybe slightly fussier than normal now and then, but overall, still a happy boy!

Here are a couple of fairly recent pictures. Once I get pictures and videos off of our camera, we'll post some more new stuff!

-Melissa

2 months old!

Matthias is two months old now. We can't believe it! Over the past few weeks we could feel his car seat getting heavier and heavier to carry. We were anxious to see how much he weighs now because he is so chunky. His two month doctor visit was today. After a nail biting walk down the hallway to the weigh station, I guess that's what you call it, he was weighing in at a whopping 13 lbs 14 oz.!! So to break it down from his last doctor's visit when he was 2 weeks old, he has gained a pound a week! He is also 23 3/4" tall, which with his weight and height, he is ranking over the 90th percentile for his age. That's my boy!

Melissa had a baby shower on Saturday and had a good time. Matthias got some much needed clothes that actually fit him, and some toys. Melissa's mom, sister, Becca, and Terri got Matthias a 3 in 1 play gym. We can lay him on his back to play with it, give him tummy time, and also make it into a tunnel for him to crawl through once he starts to do that. He absolutely loves it! I took a pretty fun video of him playing with it.




Until next time,

Jason

Smiles and Skin Issues

Matthias is now 6 weeks old...I can't believe how fast the time has gone, or how big he has grown! He has gotten so chunky. :)

Each day, he seems to have a few "smile sessions" where he is just the happiest baby and can't stop smiling. Today, I was positive that he tried to laugh. He made the cutest little cooing noise while smiling a couple of different times! I didn't catch the laughing on video, but here is a short clip I recorded today that shows a few of his big smiles.




For the last few weeks, Matthias has had some sort of skin problem on his face. It started out as baby acne, then he started to get little red patches/bumps that we thought might be an allergic reaction to something or a heat rash. The baby acne disappeared, but the red spots/patches got worse and his skin got very dry and flaky (his ears were actually kind of scaly!). We finally figured out that he had eczema on his face...both Jason and I have had eczema (Jason's is more severe than mine), so I guess it's not too surprising. Plus, it is very dry in our house, so I'm sure that doesn't help. This past weekend, we stopped using the scented Johnson's baby lotion and started applying lanolin and a non-scented Aveeno brand baby cream to his face a few times a day, and his face looks so much better. He is almost back to his original soft, flawless baby complexion he had for the first couple of weeks. :) He has also stopped rubbing his face against our shoulders so much...poor kid, his face must have been very itchy!

Here is one more video. Last week, Matthias was sound asleep and we were trying to wake him up because it was time for him to eat. He was propped up on Jason's legs, and every time Jason would pull him up, he would make this little grunting noise...but he would not wake up at all. It was pretty funny. You can't hear the grunts very well, but his other noises are pretty audible.

Hiccups and Random Updates

I can't believe it's been almost a month since we last posted! We'll try to be better at keeping up with this. :) Here is a video and some random bits of information.

Matthias gets the hiccups all the time...poor kid! This video shows one of the first times he got the hiccups once we got him home from the hospital. If I remember correctly, he was only a few days old. (Sorry that it is sideways...I can't figure out how to rotate it upright since it's a video.)





On February 9, Matthias had his 2-week doctor's appointment. He is 100% healthy and we found out that he weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces, which meant he had gained almost 2 ounces a day since coming home from the hospital!! Makes sense, since he loves to eat... He is probably over 10 pounds now, or maybe even 11? He is getting pretty chubby and has already outgrown a couple of newborn items of clothing.

Matthias is now 5 weeks old and is very expressive. He makes all kinds of fun faces and noises. He is starting to smile more and more, which completely melts our hearts! Here is a recent picture of one of his smiles (I'm hoping to catch one of his really big, open-mouth smiles on camera soon!)



For his first few weeks, one of his favorite things to look at was a set of black wrought-iron wall decorations, probably because they hang on a very light-colored wall. Experts say that babies see black-and-white patterns best as newborns and prefer to look at them over anything else (except human faces), which seemed to be true of Matthias. Now he is starting to focus more on our faces. He seems to be more awake and alert every day. Most of the time, he is pretty content to just look around the room at everything and everyone, taking it all in.

Jason and I got some wonderful news last week from my brother and sister-in-law...they are having another baby! It was a big surprise, but a GREAT one! :) I'm so excited to meet him or her (due October 20, 2 days before my birthday) and become an aunt again for the 4th time. I'm also very excited for Matthias to have a cousin right around his age. I can't wait to see them play together and become good friends.

Here are a few more pictures of Matthias, from 3-4 weeks old. Isn't he precious?

-Melissa

Being a dad

Well, Matthias is 13 days old today. I can't believe he is almost two weeks old. It's been an adventure with him so far. He has been such a great baby compared to some of the war stories you hear from other parents! Most of the day when he is in his bouncy seat or when we are holding him, he is very good. He hasn't cried hard since the day he was born, and he only fusses a little when he is hungry or has a little gas. We are starting to learn his different fusses and faces when he is hungry or gassy or needs a new diaper. It is a lot of fun being a dad...more than I thought it would be. I can't wait until he starts smiling back instead of smiling because he is pooping. And then when he starts talking, it is going to be a lot of fun! What a blessing Matthias is to us!

-Jason

Jumping on the blog bandwagon!

Because so many of our family members and friends live far away from us, we decided that creating a blog would be a great way to keep everyone updated on life in the Campbell household.

The most recent and exciting news we have to share is the birth of our son, Matthias Robert Barry Campbell. (Most of our posts on this blog will probably be about him!) He was born on January 21, 2009 at 8:18 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs. 13.4 oz. and was 20-3/4 inches long.

The birth went really well...I couldn't have asked for things to go any more smoothly. I was induced at 9:00 in the morning, so it was about an 11-hour labor. I made it to about 2:30 p.m. before asking (okay, begging) for an epidural! The pain was about a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10 by that point, but after the epidural I felt so relaxed that I took a nap. During my hour-and-a-half nap, I dilated from 6 to 9 centimeters and a nurse woke me up because she thought I might be at 10 and ready to push! Jason, my mom, and Jason's mom and sister were all eating in the cafeteria at the time, but thankfully they showed up right after the nurse checked me. I dilated to 10 quickly after that. My doctor was delivering another baby right then, so they let the contractions do the hard work until he showed up. I pushed for about 30 minutes and then Matthias entered the world! It was the most amazing feeling holding him on my chest and hearing him cry for the first time. There is truly nothing that compares to it.

Matthias (pronounced Mah-THIGH-us) is such a sweet baby and is so laid back! He loves to eat, but he loves to sleep just as much, which sometimes interferes with eating. He was born with a little blister on both wrists from sucking on them in the womb. He still tries to suck on them but tends to find his fingers first, so the blisters are pretty much gone now.

Some people have asked how we came up with our baby's names. Funny story...Jason saw a billboard one day that said "Matthias Construction" and really liked the name. We looked it up and saw that it meant "gift from God," which is completely how we feel about our little boy. Also, we discovered that in the Bible, Matthias was the apostle who was voted in to replace Judas (Acts 1:21-23), which we thought was really cool as well! As for his middle names, Robert is in honor of Jason's dad, and Barry is in honor of my dad.

Speaking of my dad, today would have been his 59th birthday. It has been a day of both remembering my dad and rejoicing in this new little life who bears his name!

-Melissa