The video camera arrived!  This first video shows a smile, but beware - I'm not very good yet, so it's shaky.  I recommend the first 8 seconds, after that it gets pretty rough.  Once I figure out how to use the editing software I'll get some better clips up.   

Toby's gaining new skills fast now.  He's definitely discovered his hands - especially the right one.  He likes to look at the fist, moving it forward and back.  He also likes to suck on it.  We've been trying to get him to suck his thumb, but he isn't quite there yet.  If you stick it in his mouth for him he thinks it's great, but doesn't know how to replicate that, and won't usually let you put it in for him.

Tummy time is getting more fun, too.  He can push up on both hands so that his head is 90º to the floor, and the reward of being able to look around seems to be motivating him.  I've started trying draping him over the Boppy (nursing pillow), but he's not quite big enough to really like that yet.

He's talking a lot, with regular three-syllable goos and coos.  Smiling more and definitely giggling.  And he's discovered his mobile!  This morning he was on his back it he crib staring and cooing with fascination. 

We've passed the two month mark, and Toby is becoming more and more interesting.  His hair is coming in - a few weeks ago he grew his eyelashes quite suddenly, and now they seemed to have reached their full length.  His eyes are still dark blue, although they sometimes look grey or greenish depending on what he's wearing.  He's also got eyebrows now (blonde) and hair on the top of his head (reddish brown?).  He's getting great control of his eyes, tracking things to the left, right, and up (down is still a little tricky).  He will often look at a toy or book, but seems increasingly interested in looking at US!  We're loving it.  Matt mastered they Moby carrier last week, so Toby can snooze while Daddy practices the piano.

The end of the summer is a time of transition at the biological station where I work, so Toby had to say goodbye (for now) to his friend Rachel Prunier, who has been an important person helping keep his mama sane in the first two months of his life.  We'll look forward to seeing her again next summer at the latest.

Last weekend he had his first big car trip, four hours to Richmond, Indiana to visit my side of the family.  He was a trooper, sleeping most of the way down and all the way back.  We're hoping he continues to like the car so we can keep traveling together.  Sleeping in a strange place did seem to mess up his nights a bit, but when he finally settled back in at home we got two nights in a row with only one waking between 4-hour stretches!  Matt had a night of nearly pre-baby quality sleep.  All you parents know that this is the biggest thrill imaginable at our stage. 

The best part of the trip was meeting new people: in addition to seeing Grammie, Grandpa Royer, Uncles Jacob and Dan, Aunt Margo, and Cousin Alten again (we even got a great family picture - they're talking about photoshopping Chris into it... maybe seriously?), Toby got to meet his Nana, Aunt Cathy, Uncle Kenny, Aunt Jean, and Ken's daughters Beth and Jill.  He was happy to be passed around, and seemed especially interested in staring at Nana.  We even got a picture of Toby with Margo and Cousin Baby Royer-Miller #2.  We are accepting bets on the sex in the comments section of this blog.  

This weekend we have been blessed with a visit from my dear college friend Emily Fine with her husband Aaron and their 6-month-old, Emet.  Emet thinks Toby is fairly interesting, and Toby doesn't seem to be aware of Emet (in spite of the constant squeals and giggles that the grown-ups find so diverting).  Matt and I are having fun getting a preview of what Toby will soon be capable of.

We've also been blessed with the coldest weather Toby has ever experienced - in the 50's at night, 70's during the day.  This has given us the chance to experiment with long sleeves, pants, and even socks.  And, of course, the cutest of baby gear: footie pajamas.  I love these things.  Toby's especially enjoying the leg warmers his Aunt Margo made him (enabling easy diaper changes) and the elephant booties from his Aunt Becky (cuter on his feet than I could have believed).

I finally actually ordered a camcorder last week, so there will soon be video (I'm desperate to record the sweet early smiles we're getting - especially common first thing in the morning). 

Toby's six weeks old!  He's still growing fast; he's out of all his newborn clothes and some of his 0-3 onesies.  We had to take the newborn insert out of his carseat.  He's getting chubby and LONG.

Even my favorite "Little Sprout" outfit won't be fitting him much longer - but he'll still be our sprout for a long time, I'm sure. 

Social smiles are probably the most exciting new development - they're occasional and unpredictable, but definitely there.  I'm looking forward to catching one with the camera soon.  He's also enjoying doing baby squats - if we hold his upper body steady, he can stand up.  He likes to do it over and over again.  Sometimes he does it until his muscles are too fatigued to carry on, and then he cries (briefly, until we find something else fun). 

He's also really loving going outside - as his head gets steadier on his neck, he looks all around, especially at the trees.  He seems to love the dappled sun coming through the canopy.  When he's at his fussiest, we take him in the yard, and usually the crimped red face dissipates into Toby Cuteness within 30 seconds.  He's not fussy very often any more - I figured out that milk in my diet irritated him, but none of the other things I tried eliminating seemed to matter.  So no milk or cream for me, and we have a happy baby.  And happy mama, who is eating cheese, tomatoes, and broccoli again.  Even a little chocolate.  :)

We're still working on slowly perfecting the new arrangements in our house; a handmade mobile from my biologist-artist friend Idelle Cooper has been a great new addition.  It hangs over his crib; Toby hasn't really been looking at it yet, but we're definitely enjoying it.  When Toby outgrows it, I'm keeping it up!

Toby and I have been spending more time lately in our favorite baby carrier - the Moby Wrap.  It's cozy but not too hot.  He likes to keep an arm or two out, unless he's very sleepy.  This picture was from a little over a week ago, when he was still small enough to keep his legs in the wrap; now that he's bigger and more active, the legs hang long.  He's been to two parties in it this week, and slept through both of them.  Sometimes I can even extract him from the Moby still asleep (okay, I can't extract him completely, but I can put him down). 

Sometimes I can even work on the computer holding him this way.  

Next week we're heading on Toby's first big car trip, to Richmond to visit with my side of the family.  Hopefully he'll sleep in the carseat, as he has for most (but definitely not all) of his previous car rides.  We'll be sure to get plenty of cute family pictures..

So maybe posting once a week was too ambitious before, but now that I have my hands-free pumping bustier, I might post every day!  A friend of mine sent me a link as a joke a few months ago, and I admit I laughed.  But after a couple of times trying to hold the pump on with my hands and then needing to blow my nose and/or adjust the strength of the vacuum, I changed my tune.  It just arrived yesterday.  I'm a new woman.  Matt gave Toby his first bottle of breastmilk the day he turned 3 weeks, and since then he's gotten maybe four bottles.  As expected, he was happy to take the bottle - the kid will suck anything.  No problems with nipple confusion here.  He did get a funny look on his face the first time milk came out of what he clearly took for a new pacifier, but he got the idea fast enough.  Matt was gratified to receive the adoring gaze of a freshly-fed baby for the first time.   

A brief detour, including pictures of things other than Toby: we got a new washing machine!  Our old one was ancient (no one knows how old, but you can see the matching dryer below and make your best guess) and after literally years of making noises so loud we were sure it would kick the bucket any day, it finally decided to stop draining after just a week of washing diapers.  After a day of disposable diapers, our generous neighbors agreed to let us use their machine, and we were back on cloth.  Our new, super-efficient front-loading washing machine arrived a few days later, and we're in love.  It spins the diapers incredibly dry and sings a pleasing song when it's done (this featured prominently in many online reviews, and is actually charming enough to warrant the attention).  With the addition of our new indoor/outdoor tripod drying rack, our easy cloth diapering scheme is complete.

Toby's had lots of firsts since the last post... a successful first Skype call (with the Schultz grandparents... anyone interested in a video chat with the tyke should check out this free program and/or get someone of the younger generation to set it up for you).  He's been increasingly uncurling his fists and grabbing things (Matt likes to get him to grab rattles, but since Toby doesn't know his hands belong to him yet, you have to be careful he doesn't bash himself with whatever he just grabbed.)  Eye contact is becoming more frequent and prolonged, though we're still waiting for the first smile.  He's also just awake more, happily waving his fists, kicking his legs, and making squeaks, squawks, and coos.  We picked out a video camera yesterday, we just need to order it so we can start recording (and posting) some of this cuteness. 

Last week Toby got weighed again; he gained another pound in his second two weeks of life, hitting 10 lbs 7 oz.  The chub seems to be accumulating from the top down - cheeks and neck are delightfully pinchable, arm creases are getting deeper, but the legs still look fairly thin.  Luckily the chubby charm makes up for the hair loss - what initially looked like early-onset male-pattern baldness now seems to be spreading.  We're enjoying his soft newborn hair while it lasts and getting used to bare scalp, and the mystery of when and with what color the hair will return.  Even though it makes his hair fall out faster, I've continued bathing him, and he's decided he likes it now.  So I'm including a couple of cute bath pictures.  I wish I could have a tub with a nice kitchen-window view.

Finally, I've succumbed to the cult of baby feet - before having Tobes, I thought this obsession with photographing newborn feet was bizarre.  Now I realize it's totally reasonable, as baby feet are the cutest thing in the world.  Poor Toby.  His Mama is turning into as much of a camera fanatic as his Grandpa Royer always was when I was a kid.  Sorry I wasn't more patient posing, Dad; I understand now.  :)

Toby will be 3 weeks old tomorrow!  He's been a very busy fellow in his short life, getting to know all the most important people.  This past weekend brought visits from Aunt Rachael, Aunt Becky, and the Royer-Millers (Uncle Dan, Aunt Margo, and cousin Alten!)  

The second week of life was more tumultuous than the first, as Toby learned about his lung capacity and the discomforts of digestion at the same time.  Matt and I gradually adapted with some new skills of our own, including (but not limited to) the football hold, belly-to-belly couch snuggles, and vigorous "sh" noises that sound like my heartbeat from within the womb.  Whether it's our newfound talent or Toby's mastery of his intestines, things have improved since then.  I think we've also just gotten more comfortable with listening to a little innocuous wailing now and then. 

In other news, the umbilical cord remnant fell off, and Toby got his first bath!  The pictures are a little blurry because we couldn't use the flash, but still cute.  I confess to being a little sad to see the cord go, but the charms of belly buttons, clean baby, and the newfound ease of diapering make up for it.

It's amazing how much Toby is already changing.  He's gained over a pound and a half since birth, and is awake and active more of the time.  He REALLY enjoys looking at his black-and-white book from our friends Johanna and Glenn and a colorful fish toy from his Grammie Royer.  He's also learned how to make a few new sounds, including coughing and squawking.

That's the update for this week!  The next week brings Toby's first 4th of July picnic and other unknown adventures...

Welcome to the Schultz-Royer Family blog!  I can't believe Toby has been with us 11 days already - time is flying by.  My goal for the blog is at least one post a week - hopefully I can be forgiven for already missing the first week, as becoming parents turns out to be pretty distracting. 

Toby was due on June 18th, but I decided for several reasons that June 13th was a better day.  So the night before, I cooked up some eggplant parmigiana reputed to induce labor.  Matt can attest to how time-intensive and grumpiness-inducing this recipe is; perhaps that's it's magic.  We ate it at 8pm and my water broke three hours later.  In about another hour, contractions started.  They stayed slow and mild, so we went back to bed and tried to sleep.  In the morning, we got in touch with the midwives and our doula Radomi (click here to find out more about doulas).  Matt drove me in to the midwive's office to confirm that my water had broken; they let me come back home to labor.  Matt and Radomi helped me at home for several hours until contractions were firmly established.  Matt played the piano for me, we went for a walk and ate the first raspberries, and I started having strong contractions.  By mid-afternoon we headed in to the hospital with my mom in tow.  Once we were settled in the labor and delivery room, contractions got more intense and I lost track of time.  At some point Matt's mom and my friend Christina arrived.  After the overwhelming transition phase, pushing was magical.  Pushing Toby down and out took 1.5 hours, and was tremendously exciting.  Unexpectedly, I found I enjoyed having a cheering squad.  He was born at 10:11 pm.  My mom caught the baby, Matt cut the cord, and I was in charge of staring amazedly at this new little person on my chest.  We were grateful to have had the the natural birth we wanted for baby Schultz.  We named him the next day.

Little Toby got lots of visits in the hospital; by the time he was two days old, he'd met all of his grandparents!  We loved all the help we got in the hospital, and didn't enjoy all the tests, but appreciated not having to do them later.

Since then, we've been getting to know little Toby Sage.  He loves to suck, so breastfeeding has been mostly effortless, but sleeping has been anything but.  He's extremely handsome (we think), and impressively strong (confirmed at his first well-baby visit).  We think he might grow up to be a superhero.  We've had great support in these first few weeks at home; our moms stuck around for a week to cook and clean, hold the baby and do the laundry.  They also took pictures and gave us time to do the same. 

Since they've left, local friends have taken over the dishes and brought us more food.  We feel really lucky.  When he's two weeks old, Matt will go back to work full-time and I'll start taking over more of the day-to-day housework and working as I can - aiming to finish my dissertation in a year so we can have more doctors in the family.  Especially more of the less-useful kind.  :)  Stay tuned for more stories, photos, and maybe even video if we can figure out how to make my camera do it.