It seems like only a few days have passed since Milo was a tiny and helpless baby. Today in this new year he is such a grown infant who is taking anything but baby steps towards becoming an active participant in this world.

Just three weeks ago he lost most of his baby hair and now his brand new thicker hair is already a quarter inch long. His deadly grip has gotten even stronger and whenever he gets hold of two adult fingers, he pulls himself up to a sitting or standing position. We used to be able to just lean him against the back of the sofa to mind our business for a few minutes, but now that he discovered his abs, he comes to a sitting position within a minute, eventually kisses his feet, and rolls to the side. Now Milo plays contently with all his toys for hours. He paralyzes the toy with his eyes, then quickly grabs it with both hands, and shoves it in his mouth, looks at it once more, and shoves it back into the mouth.

Since Milo can sit in his high chair now and used to get really jealous about us eating dinner, we started giving him some oatmeal. Most of it – if not all – still ends up on his bib, but he is having a blast with the mess.

This year is going to be a big one for Milo. Not much longer and he will be unstoppable exploring the world. He will move into his own room and be our little big boy. So many people say that they miss their tiny newborn baby and are sad seeing the kids grow up so fast. But honestly, as cute as he was as a newborn, I love seeing him grow up. I’m honored to be there with him in every new thing he learns. Seeing him grow up and learn so fast makes me nothing but proud.

We’re happy to update everyone that Milo is still the happy, healthy baby he was on day 1. Milo has grown so much so fast. He just had his healthy baby check up and everything is A-OK. He’s growing and eating well and is in the 70th percentile on growth charts! Everyone has said the first year is going to fly by and to enjoy this time. Let me tell you, everyone was right. Although he is still relatively tiny, he is getting more and more active and alert everyday. Pretty soon, he’ll be running around discovering the world and won’t want to be carried like a baby anymore and I’m surely going to miss carrying my little big guy.

As far as our experience has been, being parents is definitely interesting. Its a mixture of so many things: tiring, invigorating, challenging and instinctual, pain in the ass, joy of our lives.Our perception of time has changed — from hours and minutes to feedings and diapers. The whole experience is new and exciting, but we are still clinging to our old ways before the baby and trying to be both active and social.

Also, please let me give a heartfelt thank you to everyone who sent us gifts for Milo! We really appreciate the generosity and thoughtfulness of these gifts!

So that’s it for now, check out some of the pictures below that we snapped along the way and again, thanks for thinking of us!

-Linc

Dear friends and family,

Thank you all so much for the wishes and congratulations to Milo‘s birth. It is so nice to se how many hearts he is touching and how much you all care about us. We would love to thank each of you individually and I am sure, eventually we will. But right now there is sooo little time and so much baby in our life that everything else is on hold.

It’s been a week and three days since little Milo was born and life hasn’t stood still for a second. Or at least not that we know of. Time and space have become some distant concepts that no longer mean anything to us. What time or day it is does not matter any more. Life is completely in the moment and determined only by what baby needs. Our brains are completely outsourced to very useful iPhone apps that keep track of Milo’s feedings, diaper changes, and bath times.

As far as that record shows, we are currently living a busy 2 hour rhythm. Every two hours the little guy is getting hungry and longing for boobie. There he stays for about 15-30 minutes, gets a diaper change and then decides whether he wants to be awake or asleep for the following 1.5 hours. That is when our timer starts to get as much done as possible before the next feeding. It’s like a kitchen timer ticking away and the end of the free time is very definite. Most of those breaks are currently being used to take care of baby stuff: Express breast milk, clean his supplies, do laundry, stock up on diapers, etc.

Then we have about half an hour left to do anything else: take a shower, take a nap, eat, maybe clean the house a little bit – very basic things to keep our own sanity and level of hygiene to a minimum standard. Me, usually a pretty productive overachiever, I had to learn to limit my daily goals to two small items: Maybe a trip to the store and cutting my nails. That’s it for the day on top of the regular routine.

Although parenthood and caring for a newborn is as demanding as we expected it to be, Milo is making it very easy for us. He is the most chill baby and rarely ever cries. At least not without a good reason and only after we missed his cues. Usually he is very good in showing us whether he needs food, a diaper change, or to be burped without crying. Everything else comes naturally. He sleeps without fussing when he’s sleepy. He looks around with big eyes when he is awake and is perfectly content. He makes the funniest faces in between sleep and awake periods. And he is just the cutest guy on earth. Sometimes he smiles unintentionally, which is so heart warming, encouraging, and makes us look forward to all days to come.

If you would like to visit little Milo, feel free to give us a call and we can arrange a meet and greet with him. If we don’t answer the phone, one of the many reasons above apply, but we will get back to you as soon as our beloved son allows.