One Month Well Check

Weight: 10 pounds 3.5 ounces (50-75%). Height: 23 3/4 inches (>97%). Head Circumference: 37.7 centimeters (25-50%).

Synesthesia

A week or so ago Spencer and I were engaged in our usual evening routine of surfing the web and watching TV when Spencer happened upon an article about Synesthesia; a phenomenon in which two or more bodily senses are coupled.

While reading the article Spencer immediately thought of our sister-in-law Tracy who associates numbers with colors and personalities. However, upon reading further, he discovered that he too has a form of this phenomenon called "number form synethesia." He basically has a mental map of numbers which appears automatically whenever he thinks of them. Numbers, months, and dates have a geographic position in relation to each other.

I was totally floored when I heard about this. First, because I've known him for five years and never new he thought this way. And second, because if I were to even think about numbers having a "place" it would be in a straight line running from left to right and for infinity. None the less, Spencer is a synesthete.

Four Weeks

Van is four weeks old today. It's amazing how much our life has changed in just a few short weeks. He's growing and changing everyday. Lately we've noticed that he's holding his head up incredibly well. He's also discovered how to suck on his fist. As you can see, we're quite smitten by him.

Why?

Why do my ears itch while I'm nursing?

Van's Happenings

White Noise

We often use Harvey Karp's "Five S's" when calming Van. One of the S's is "shushing". We've found that our electric toothbrush is a great way to simulate white noise. Van responds to it right away. Every mom-to-be should add one to their baby registry.

Van's Newborn Acne

On Wednesday last week Van started showing signs of newborn acne. By Thursday afternoon the left side of his face was extremely red and swollen so we took him to the pediatrician. The nurse practitioner was concerned with the swelling and told us to watch the rash for the next twenty-four hours.On Friday the redness and swelling had spread across his face. It now covered his temples, cheekbones, eyelids, and nose. We went back to the doctor and after three different physicians looked at him, they sent us to Children's Hospital in Seattle to have a specialist make sure it wasn't anything worse than acne. After spending a few hours in the hospital they concluded that it was just a severe case of newborn acne. These pictures were taken the next morning; the redness and swelling had gone down quite a bit. The acne still continues to spread and flare up at times, but we are hopeful that he'll get over it soon and grateful that it wasn't anything else.

Cousin Time

Last week we were so blessed to have my sister Angie and her little Sydnee come and stay with us while Spencer was away. It was so much fun to spend time with them since we don't get to see them that often. Sydnee was such a sweetheart and really liked her cousin Van. Sometimes she would even whimper because she didn't like seeing him cry. It was adorable. Thanks, Angie, for visiting and for all the extra help. We'll see you in a couple months!

Lucky Guy

Thanks to an American Express gift card from OpenTable, we were able to purchase this lovely television for Spencer's birthday. Pretty awesome, right? He worked really hard and exceeded his goal for the quarter, which qualified him for the gift card. Thus the TV was well deserved.

Smiles

Van's favorite time to smile is right after he's done nursing. (I guess there's something to be said about a nice, full tummy). He's been doing this for a long time now. Often it occurs in the wee hours of the morning so I have to use my camera phone to capture the smile. Last week while I was snapping a shot, I caught this . . .