Self Soothing

Nice hat! He weighed in today at 6 lbs, 10 oz.

He was a bit of a gremlin today. The boy just did not want to sleep today!

Nisha has her techniques to calm him down and make him sleepy, and I have mine. Hers is very nurturing and soothing. Mine is:
1. Bundle him TIGHT.
2. Put a pacifier in his mouth even if he doesn't want it. He'll get upset enough to want to suck on it.
3. Even in the bundle, hold his arms down so they can't move at all no matter how hard he tries to fight it.

Mine is not very friendly. Mine also doesn't create independence. I need to learn the real ways! Nisha's ways are really nice, and she's starting to develop that Mommy touch that I can't replicate.


Like how he throws that left hook at the very end?

Sorry it's been awhile...

It's been a little busy here in Kaviland, so apologies for the lack of my usually high turnaround time for entries. Thank you for reading and checking in on us.

The boy's growing! Kavi's already outgrowing some of his clothes! Kind of surprised me!

Well, he's 6 lbs, 7 oz. Hopefully he'll be a solid 6 and a half pounds by the time my parents arrive this Friday.

He's been a little blt fussier than usual...hopefully that will improve. Everybody tells me I'm going to miss this stage of him being like this. I find this hard to believe...! I can't wait for him to be able to hold up his head and communicate with us!

Oh, Nisha got these nice Dr. Brown bottles that are supposed to really help with acid reflux and air getting in...and tonight Kavi made it clear that this evening he did not want the nipple from that bottle, he wanted the more rubbery, slower-flow nipple like he had at the NICU. Maybe it was just an evening time thing, because he took from the Dr. Brown just fine before. Picky picky picky!

Anyways, here are some random Kavi videos:

This is of him being put in a car seat, because he's supposed to be sleeping, and we don't know what else to do with him! haha


Here he is getting a bath, cuz 'ol boy was filthy! You can only puke on yourself so many times before Mommy dunks you in a bucket.

Like Father, Like Son

What happens to Kavi when he turns into a gremlin:


Our friend Asmita brought over an Indian baby swing called something like, "Gord-Diu". It usually works very well to help babies fall asleep...in fact, you'll rarely see cribs on India, but you will definitely see these Gorf-diu's all over the place. The West has not embraced this invention for whatever reasons.
We thought it was a sure thing for Kavi, and it did work for awhile, but if the boy's determined to be awake, he'll fight with all his might to stay awake. Here's a video of the brief sleep Kavi got from his Gord-diu before he turned into a gremlin:

No Longer a Preemie!!

OOOOH!!
Today is Kavi's expected due date! So he is no longer "gestational"! And he weighed in this morning at, drum roll please....

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...SIX POUNDS, ONE OUNCE!!

Yahoo!! We met and exceeded our goal!! Happy second birthday, Kavi! So for probably a year or so, he'll have two birthdates, February 12 (actual) and April 17 (gestational). Reason for this is so we can calculate developmental milestones correctly, adjusting for the gestational. But my guess is that since he is so strong and very determined, his actual age will catch up with his gestational age development pretty quickly. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, our pediatrician told us that he was already acting like a 2 week old, so hopefully he'll keep it up!

If you go back and look at the first few posts of this blog, and see his pictures of when he first arrived, and compare them to now, it's really great to see how much he's grown!

Enjoying a Massage...

Ahhh, the good life!

Not much new...

So there's not a whole lot of new stuff to report about Kavi. He's been breastfeeding a little bit longer, and he does about 3 of them each day. During the night, he bottle feeds.

He's 5 lbs, 15.5 oz, so he's right on the edge of 6 lbs!

Every day, Nisha takes him out for a walk in the sling and puts a hat on him.

Otherwise, not much new news to report.

No more face scratching!

Kavi's tiny little hands are growing sharp nails. The problem is, they are too small for us to cut. The best we can do is that when they get too long, we can peel them a little. So, with these sharp nails and his sporadic hand/arm flinging and constant face grabbing, he ends up scratching and cutting his face a little.

Yesterday, Nisha's mom suggested to put on little gloves on him. We had them, we just never used them! Great idea! It totally works! Thanks Grandma!

Here's a video with Kavi wearing his new gloves:

Getting Ready for a Stroll

Nisha got a sling from one of our students at the baby shower. What a great creation! Now she and Kavi can go on walks!
But he shouldn't have any direct sunlight, so we put a "Gilligan's Island" hat on him.

Kavi turned into a monster last night, but he was fine during the day. His feeds and puking are getting unpredictable. He did gain weight, though - he's now 5 pounds, 14 ounces! 2 more ounces until the big 6 pounds!

Curly is still not the biggest Kavi fan, but, they can coexist. We try to have Kavi downstairs during dinner time, and Curly hangs out. He doesn't hide or anything, he just makes sure he can be somewhere where he can keep an eye on him.

Here's a video of a peaceful Kavi, getting ready for a walk!

First Family Photo!

5 Pounds, 11.5 Ounces

Today is Mommy's Birthday! Happy Birthday Mommy!


Kavi's due date is exactly a week from today! Let's see if he can make to 6 pounds by then! Keep eatin, boy!


Gabe made an awesome picture of Kavi:


Our first dinner picture together:


Their cousins in Minnesota hand made a blanket/quilt for him!! So cool! Kavi says,"Thank you Samira-didi, Saji-dada, and Savita-didi!"

What are we going to do?

Kavi's SuperFoy is leaving today! =(
She was an incredible help, and has unique hushing abilities, that we just don't have! She would take him at 4am and Nisha and I both got some sleep!!

Already, Kavi's looking more like a baby, he's certainly pooping like one! He weighs 5 lbs, 9.5 oz. Our goal is for him to be 6 lbs by April 17th, his due date.

His pouty lips are funny looking right before he cries! I'll try to snag a picture of that. Here are some shots of SuperFoy and Kavi:

Some more activities...

The boy plays rough! Here's Kavi slapping me around and scratching me!



SuperFoy and Kavi chillin at da crib, yo, knawm-sayin', all up in da hizzle:


Kavi's starting to play with his toys a little bit! Some recognition and processing going on in that noggin of his!

Here comes SuperFoy!

So my sister, Aleya, has come to visit us for a few days! She came in yesterday at 10pm, you know, the "witching hour" where he turns into a gremlin...and to our surprise, he was just fine and mellow the whole night!

The Aunt from the father's side in Gujarati, is pronounced, "Foy". My sister has dubbed herself as Kavi's "SuperFoy", and has given him the shirt to solidify this relationship:



She's been a huge help, showing us all sorts of tips and tricks on calming and burping. We're excited for Jud, Samira, Saji, and Savita - her family - to see Kavi!

It's funny, when Nisha's older sister (who has 2 kids) or my sister (who has 3 kids) picks up Kavi, he knows innately that a mommy is handling him. He has this sense, that is unexplainable. It's probably something that develops eventually, kind of like me with cats. Cats tend to like me!

Kavi is now 5 pounds, 8 ounces, so that's five and a half pounds! I think he may reach 6 pounds by April 17th, his actual due date. Breastfeeding is still a challenge, in that he prefers the bottle, because it's easier. But, today, he breastfed for half an hour, his longest stretch yet!

So today, my sister will watch Kavi for a little while so that Nisha and I can go out for just a bit! That's so awesome of her!



We look forward to the days where we can take Kavi with us to places! There's a lot of people who want to meet him!

Who Knows Anymore!

Sorry about the rick rolling. I couldn't resist!

So we went to the pediatrician yesterday and he said Kavi looks good, and we should start treating him like a newborn. So we did, and all day yesterday he did great. And then, when the clock hit midnight, he turned crazy. There was basically grunting (no sleeping), spitting up loads, crying and wailing inconsolably, and constant squirming. But this morning, he's fine.

He weighs 5 pounds 6 ounces! We rented a newborn scale, and we ended up reading it wrong and were concerned. When we weighed him, the scale read 5.06, which we thought it was 5 pounds and .06 of an ounce! But that's not the case at all. There's the extra zero space before the 6 because when he gets to double digits in the ounces, like say, 5.11, being 5 lbs, 11 oz. Doh! Felt kinda dumb after making that mistake! Here we were thinking he wasn't gaining anything, and in turns out, he's been gaining quite a lot!

This is quite the family visiting weekend! Yesterday and today, Nisha's mother came to visit, tomorrow during the day, Nisha's oldest sister will come to visit, and tomorrow night, my sister will come to visit for a few days!

Our friend Asmita is letting us borrow her Diaper Genie. We have to figure out how to use it, but once we do, it will be very useful. His diapers are getting more stinky! Sorry, I'm sure you didn't care to know about that.

Oh, and big thanks to our friends/students Debbie and Julie for throwing us a baby shower! It was really sweet, nice, and really thoughtful of them.

Here's a video of him making faces!

Full Term Today!

Kavi is now 38 weeks as of today! That means he's technically a full term baby. Which means we can now swaddle him with his arms to his sides. As a preemie we were told that preemies need their hands close to their face for comforting themselves. But now as a full term newborn, I can have his arms to his sides in the swaddle, which is fantastic!

He goes arm crazy! When he gets upset or uncomfortable, he starts flailing his arms, which adds fuel to the fire. So having his arms down actually chills him out. I just now did it, and it is magical! I love it!

He's been pretty naughty recently, and I think this swaddling the arms business will do a lot of good! I just now swaddled him, and he's been trying and trying to bust out, to no avail! See the video:




Oh, my friend Cassie showed me some great methods for calming down a baby:

Hushing Techniques

dellorkcirneebevahuoy

April Fool

Wow, is it April already?! Nisha and I have birthdays coming up. Kavi's was supposed to be April 17th. But now, we have 2 birthdays we go by - his actual birth date, and his gestational age. As far as development issues go, we're told that we'll be going by his gestational age for 2 years!

In this video, Kavi shows off his dramatic hand gestures. He's very expressive and theatrical. This is his latest post-modernist expressionist performance, "An Ode to Make a Load in the Huggies(TM)"!