Bruiser McBeefcake!

Disclaimer: I started this blog on Halloween, but didn't have time to finish it until a week later, Wednesday, November 7th. I don't know why Blogger backdates the posts. If it were up to me, it would only date them once officially published.

Happy November from the Rut Family! Is it just me, or is this year absolutely flying by? Baby Rut is officially 8 weeks old today and we can hardly believe how big he's getting. In fact, it's getting a little hard to prop him up when we're feeding him because he's so long and pretty heavy for someone who's only been out in this great wide world for two months. He's a beefy little baby!

So much has happened since I last posted! Here are a few highlights:

• The three of us spent the weekend of the 13th with Moozie and Daggles in the Land of Sucrose, where we were once again spoiled within an inch of our lives with lots of decadent sleep and yummy food. Mimi and Uncle Jeff drove out from the Lake of the Eagle that Saturday to spend some quality time with the newest member of the family and they brought the world's best lunch from Austin's BBQ with them. Baby Rut attended his very first birthday party on Sunday the 14th when we went to the Children's Museum to celebrate and drink "Tea for Two" with Miss F and the B family. Aunt Renee flew in from Fort Worth and spent the night and all day Monday chatting with me and showering her Godson with enough love, hugs, and kisses to last until she sees him again.



• The weekend of the 20th found us at Granny and Papa Rut's house again. Same song, third verse regarding food and sleep. I also managed to finish reading Water for Elephants, the November selection for my book club and the first novel I've read since giving birth!
  


• We spent the first Friday night in three weeks in our own home the next weekend and had a very relaxing evening. Goodness knows we needed it, because Saturday the 27th was extremely busy! Sweet D and I learned how much harder it is to double-book ourselves now that we have a little one to think about and pack for. We attended a family (my side) function in the Town by the Bay, which was followed by a Halloween party in the Humble area. Oh, and it was also our first night spent away from Baby Rut- he stayed with Granny and made his WR church debut! We got home from our Halloween party at 1 and went immediately to bed because we were exhausted from all the running around and juggling who was going to have him when details. It was my first time to experience the conflicting feelings of relief in having proper break from caring for a baby vs. missing him terribly, aching to hold him close, and praying I don't miss anything momentous in my absence.

• Halloween marked Baby Rut's 7th week of life ex utero and his first round of shots at the pediatrician. First, the stats: he weighed in at 15 lbs. 7 oz. and measured 25 inches in height/length, ranking him well above 95th percentile in both categories. According to his doctor, he's the size of an average 4-month-old. Sweet. The vaccines went pretty smoothly, thank goodness, even though Granny and I both had tears in our eyes when they finished. Baby Rut cried when they were poking him, but stopped as soon as I gathered him into my comforting arms. We had given him some Tylenol immediately beforehand and he was an absolutely angel until that wore off. Oh, how I wish I'd given him another dose at the 4-hour mark instead of waiting until his 7 PM feeding. I could almost feel the pain he was in, I teared up all over again listening to his sobs and prayed for the Tylenol to hurry up and kick in. It finally did, thankfully, and he was fine for the rest of the night.
  

• Which brings me (finally) to this past weekend, where he made his debut at our church! We transitioned beautifully from Daylight Savings by holding off his 11 pm feeding for an hour, so he was able to stay on his 7/11/3 schedule. Arrived at church just in time for his 11 am feeding, which he received in the plush comfort of the church's crying room. We also met two other couples with infants/toddlers and so now have finally made some social connections after almost 2 years of attendance! Another first for the same day was eating in a restaurant with Baby Rut. I'm proud to say he was an absolute angel for both stages of Sunday's outing! He also won lots of praise from the ladies of WR church Monday night when I took him to a baby shower at Granny's house. The lad was probably held by at least 20 different women and did not cry or get terribly upset at any time. I was actually worried he wouldn't be able to sleep due to all the stimulation, but I put him down in Granny's crib and he was out like a light within 20 minutes, even with all the noise coming from the living room less than 10 feet away. Every single one of the Ruts was beaming with pride after all the sweet compliments he received.
  

Life is definitely easier now that he's eating 6 ounces at four hour intervals. We've also reached a "compromise" with his sleeping preferences-- he goes to bed after his 7 PM bottle and bath and he sleeps MUCH more soundly (and quietly!) with his left arm swaddled. Sometimes he sleeps all day, sometimes not, but he pretty much always gets 3 or 4 lovely 4- to 5-hour stretches of sleep starting at about 7 PM every night. He's also starting to babble and coo at us a lot and, my very favorite, reward us with lots of big crooked smiles and giggles. I also absolutely love the way he stops crying when I pick him up, or "tracks" me with his eyes, or turns his head when he hears my voice.

*sigh*
It's too bad someone can't figure out how to bottle the beautiful feelings that have come with being this baby's Mommy. If they could, I don't think there is an illness or a worry in the world that couldn't be cured by such a powerful potion.

More pictures soon, I promise.