New gallery: Days 9 to 11

Leo doing pull-ups at the baby gym

It's been a busy couple of days, with a lot of visitors, Tea's parents leaving and Leo discovering that he really rather likes the gym! (full gallery)

On our own!

The maternal grandparents left yesterday and we are all missing them already. Leo misses Nana carrying him and talking to him and has been more fussy than usual. We are suspecting that he might have some gas problems so I am trying to stay away from gassy foods and dairy to see if anything changes. We also miss Nono's daily fresh cooking but he left us enough lasagna and pasta fazol to last at least a week! Thank you so much for coming, we loved having you and look forward to future visits.
Otherwise, the weather in DC is getting more beautiful by the day, it is currently 17C (63F) and sunny so we are waiting for Leo to wake up and take him for another walk. But no more stroller, he didn't like it the other day and we think it's because he doesn't see very far yet and he couldn't see us. So Moby wrap only for now!! He is getting cuter each minute! More pictures coming soon!

Leo's first stroll

Today the weather was nice and warm, so we took baby Leo for his first stroll. It went great, the little shrimp staying nice and toasty thanks to the Bundle Me, and the whole family got some nice Caribou Coffee!

Saturday morning

Our little sleeping angel

Today little Leo gave us a weekend present, letting us sleep until 10am, then nursing quickly before falling right back asleep :)

The magic of the Wrap

 The Moby Wrap is something really special - at first we dismissed as an over-sized baby swaddler (and when I say oversized, I mean it: it's maybe 10ft long!), but once Kerry showed us how to use it I can put it on in under half a minute.

And what a treat for little Leo it is! He fits in perfectly on my chest, snuggled warmly, with his head next to my heart for extra soothing effect. As Tea puts it, within a minute he's "out like a light" :)

It's all about the details!

My first post! This means that I have had enough sleep and with Kriss's newly found baby wearing accessory, the baby is happily snuggled against his chest and I have 5 minutes to write. With almost hour long feedings at night I have a lot of time to think so I already semi-composed this entry last night.

I wanted to write and share with you my favorite parts of Leo, although I discover new ones each day. And some we were not able to capture yet. Still, this gallery - photos courtesy of Nono Davor - show a few of the sweetest spots. His foot, his hands, his eyes, top of his head, his ear. Not pictured are his toes (which are super long and just like his father's!) and his neck (which has lots of little folds so can only be properly kissed when he is on your shoulder or lying down!), and of course his cute little butt! His belly button is sure to become a favorite once the black ugly stump falls off which are hoping will be soon!

New gallery: Leo's 7th and 8th day

This time around our little boy turns 1*, celebrates with a big cake, has more visitors and rides around on Daddy's chest - exciting two days! (full gallery)



* week old

Kerry checks in on little Leo

Yesterday Kerry, our Doula, came over to check in on little Leo and Tea, straight after a long overnight birth with another couple. To fight off the onset of sleepiness I made Kerry an espresso, which seemed to do the trick :) A lot of cooing over the little guy ensued, over which in my usual fashion I showered Kerry with questions. 

Also, she showed us how to use the Moby Wrap for which we are eternally grateful, as little Leo loves it and snugly falls asleep inside of it almost immediately. Had she not shown us how to use it I'm afraid it would have ended up gathering dust somewhere...

New gallery: Leo's "Week-Birthday"

Leo's cake

To celebrate a week since our little bundle of joy came to this world we decided to have a little impromptu cake and prosek yesterday evening. And while little Leo cannot yet eat solids, Tea was more than happy to feed the raspberry mousse cake to him indirectly. Mmm, raspberry milk! :)

Check out the full gallery here

On why Leo can sleep safe at night

A follow-up to the ubiquitous What to Expect when you're Expecting, this book is an almanach of all things baby-related (well, at least for the first year). The page-count of this bad boy? Oh, around 500. With Tea taking this as her bedside reading Leo can sleep safe at night!

On the art of burping

Leo gets tired of trying to burp

When you read about techniques for burping babies (the "shoulder", "football hold", sitting position) you might think that burping is some sort of super-complicated process where you have to alternate between patting and massaging the babies back for a long time until the baby finally produces a burp. So far our experience has been very different, however - either Leo burps within 15 seconds or he won't at all, and any prolonged effort to burp him produces results as pictured here :)

Leo is one lucky baby

When he fusses and does not want to go to sleep in his bassinet or bouncy seat, Mommy takes him and soothes him to sleep on her chest. As Tea then tells me of how great it feels when he starts breathing in sync with her I seriously consider waxing to make it a more inviting place for Leo to sleep :)

Our first outing without the baby

We've been to the doctor already, and alone I've ran a couple errands outside, but today Stamenka told Tea and I to go for a stroll, just the two of us, while they take care of little Leo. The weather is beautiful and we're treating ourselves to a yummy milkshake at ACKC :)

We need your help!

We're still unsure whether our little man looks more like his Mommy or Daddy, or whether he's just a mix of both. So we turn to you for help - cast a vote in the poll to the right and help us figure this one out!

New gallery: Tea as a Baby

And now some pictures of Tea as a 1 month old baby, enjoying her summer in Belgrade. Check out the whole gallery here.

New gallery: Leo's 5th and 6th day

Leo's showing off his muscles

It's been a busy two days for Leo, with all the feeding, pooping and sleeping, but our little guy managed to make time in his busy schedule for a sponge-bath and his first visit to the pediatrician. Good news: Leo's been eating so well that he's already re-gained his birth weight. Bad news: larger diapers have still not arrived and Leo's starting to outgrow the newborn ones... Check out the full gallery here

New gallery: Kriss as a Baby

Yummy shoes!

It has become Nana Stamenka's mission to figure out who little Leo looks like. To aid that endeavor "Auntie" Lucyna sent in some pictures from when I was a baby - you can see the whole gallery here. Personally I still think Leo looks a lot like his Mom, but maybe there is something after his dad too?

Night #5 - we could get used to this

This past night Leo sprang us a nice surprise, sleeping in two long 4h and 3h stretches. It felt great to sleep through the night (yes, waking up only once is what we'd consider sleeping through the night :) and we hope more nights like this will follow!

Isn't Leo the most beautiful 5 day old boy one has ever seen? And one who likes to be held and talked to...

Leo's first video!

New gallery!

Leo's 3rd and 4th day

Baby's first economics lesson

Just in case Leo decides to follow in his Mommy's and Daddy's footsteps

Night #4 - much better!

Leo bassinet-training

The second night at home was much better, both Tea and I got more than 6 hours of sleep which is the longest since Monday night. It's a great relief and a clear sign we're getting the hang of things! The only "but" is that little Leo so far does not like his bassinet and had to sleep with us in the bed instead. To get him used to it we've put it in the living room during the day and are letting him sleep there during the day, hopefully by tonight or tomorrow night he'll grow accustomed to his new bed. Really don't want to invest in yet another piece of furniture like a co-sleeper or something like that...

Night #3 - a bit tough...

Leo and Tea sound asleep

Our first night at home and the following morning was a bit tough, with Leo not really wanting to sleep and seemingly only being interested in nursing. The only way to put him to sleep was to let him fall asleep on Tea, and I ended up spending most of the night looking over them, making sure he does not slide off. End result? 2 hours of sleep for me, maybe 4 for Tea...

Home visits

Having unpacked things from the hospital and having had a great lunch, courtesy of Nono (Grandpa) Davor, we had some more visitors in the evening. First Selvin popped in with some beautiful purple flowers (key to a good impression: know your audience!), and as a "thank you" I asked her to help me run an errand in NYC. She may not be coming over for a repeat visit for a while :) 

Later Vicky and Matteo came over to listen in on our stories from the past couple of days. I really hope we did not scare them with the amount of details, but once you get startek it's kind of hard to stop talking about an experience like this! 

Throughout both visits Leo remained asleep, prompting Tatuś (Daddy, that's me!) to arrange yet another impromptu photo-shoot. This time I checked how tall (long?) Leo is according to the "What Size is the Mommy's Tummy" measuring tape we have left over from the Baby Shower.

A revelation

Before you have your baby you worry: "how will I know this happened, or that I should do this?". Today I was yet again reminded that I should not have worried: when Leo fills up his diaper you really know, no way we'll ever miss it :)

Homecoming

Today the whole trio get to go home, and what a glorious day it was! 20C, beautiful sun, not a single cloud in the sky. Who knew little Leo would get to enjoy beautiful DC spring days after being born!

The first batch of well-wishers

The first batch of well-wishers arrived in the afternoon today, bringing gold, frankincense and... ok, flowers, but boy did they make mommy happy and livened the room!

Little Leo Aleksandar has arrived!

Today at 2:58pm little Leo Aleksandar was born healthy, weighing 3.9kg / 8.5lbs and measuring 54cm / 21.5 in. Little Leo and Tea are doing very well, enjoying the bonding time, and Kriss is happy he can finally sing directly to his son. "Hej tam gdzieś znad czarnej wody..."