Week three

Xander is three weeks old now. I have been trying to go outside at least once a day, which can be harder than it sounds with Xander's feeding schedule. We took him to base for a stroll earlier this week. It was a pleasant trip until he decided he was hungry about ½ mile from the car, and we had to rush back with him screaming in the stroller. Another time while we were on base, I brought him into the library for a diaper change, and he cried for my entire rush through the bathroom, to the DVD section to pick up a movie, and through the checkout counter. I was that person with a crying child in the library. Now we keep outings under an hour, and that works out okay. We have taken some strolls around the neighborhood, but it's gotten cold enough to keep Xander inside.

He's starting to bulk up a little, thanks to all the feeding. Hopefully he'll have cute baby fat rolls when we take him to NC. He spends more time awake, and likes to look at his baby toys.

On his playmat

Bobby and his mini me

He's sleeping

Baby's first trip to Seoul

This past Thursday and Friday we went to Seoul.  We had to get Xander a passport quickly so we can leave the country on the 21st.  Going to Seoul around Christmas has become something of a tradition, and I was excited to bring the baby.  We brought the camera and everything.

As it turns out, transporting a newborn long distances is an all consuming task.  Xander eats every 1-2 hours, so I was glad to see that there are nursing rooms on the train and at the stations (as it turns out, the one on the train is a closet).  We haven't gotten good enough at breastfeeding to do it discreetly in public.  He was good for the entire trip up to Seoul, thanks to the nursing room at Dongdaegu Station and the soothing motion of the train.  We stayed the night at the Dragon Hill lodge, where I tried to get him sufficiently fed so that I could go to sleep at a decent time.  Bobby and I sleep in shifts, and I go to sleep as soon as he's down at night, around 11 or 12.  Bobby feeds him a bottle if he cries for food before 4am, when my shift starts.  I made sure to wake him up in the morning early enough to get in two feedings before we had to leave for the Embassy.  After we left the Embassy, I fed him at Seoul Station, where he ate for almost an hour but was whimpering for more when I put him in the ergo to get on the train.  He slept for the entire train ride, only to wake up squalling ten minutes before our stop.  I had time to change him, but not to feed him, and he screamed in his ergo while we stood in the aisle and waited for the train to pull into the station.  I rushed him to the nursing room yet again, while Bobby secured a late lunch.  After Xander finished eating, I wolfed down a bowl of now-cold Udon and we went to get a taxi.  He cried for half of the taxi ride because it was feeding time again.  He was up for half of the night, probably because of all of the excitement of the previous two days.

We didn't get any pictures!  There was no enjoying the scenery or getting shots of baby next to the Dragon Hill Lodge's decorations.  I hope we've settled into a more reasonable feeding schedule when we take our big trip later this month.  Until then, we're not leaving the house for longer than two hours.

Eyeing me suspiciously

looking very handsome in his "handsome" onesie