1st BBQ

      Quinlan went to his first BBQ on Memorial Day in style wearing his 70's style collar and fancy plaid shorts. We walked 1/2 mile to a friend's house and enjoyed grilled veggies, craft beer, and good conversation. Quinlan stayed in the carrier on mom and was really well behaved, not to mention well received. He was the only baby there as this particular group of friends are younger, but the ladies still asked about him and exclaimed how cute he was even the the fellas seemed a bit scared.
     We stayed for a little over 2 hours before making our way back home to feed Q and put him to bed. It was good to be able to socialize and bring Quinlan along. We hope this it the start of many summer outings with our little man. He definitely has the wardrobe for it!

     Quinlan was tired afterwards and quickly fell asleep after eating a full 4 ounces, changing into sleep attire, and going to bed. You can see his big yawn below.... it was a big day!

Falling to Sleep

      Quinlan has been sleeping much better now that we are allowing him to sleep between us in bed. We are careful to make sure there are no pillows near him and that he has his own blanket and does not end up under ours. Mom still moves him to the co-sleeper when he is sound asleep as she sleeps better with Q in his own sleep space, but Milkpup usually only stays asleep there for 1.5 hours prior to waking up and getting moved back into his parents' bed. This may prove to be an issue in a few months during the transition to his crib in his room, but for right now the 3 of us have never slept better. He is even sleeping 4-5 hours starting at 8 PM and then falling back asleep for another 3-4 after his midnight snack.

   Quinlan's awake time is now becoming more consistent. He's usually awake and interactive from about 7-9am and we continue to an increase in his development. Q is now able to turn his head toward sounds, track objects from side to side and he recently discovered his own thumb, which he can suck in order to self sooth!

He is also outgrowing some of his newborn clothes and some of the 0-3mos stuff as well....which is bittersweet, since there are some outfits he has worn only once! This outfit is exactly a case in point--he's wearing it here for the second time, and it wont fit over the re-usable diapers! However, we have also begun to notice the wide discrepancy in baby sizing, especially after going through our recent treasure trove of hand me downs.

Getting Ready for Summer?

     With a new influx of hand-me-downs from the Lyman family, Quinlan is now sporting some new summer duds. The plaid has him in a similar style to his dad and he even has a plaid sun hat -- very much needed given the Garton/Riggs fair skin. We received so many clothes, in fact, that Quinlan will likely be well dressed up to 9 months!

     Mom has already sorted through the outfits that Q has outgrown into gender-neutral and boy to pass along to others we know who are expecting in order to pay it forward. People have been so generous with what they have passed along and are unsure how we would have done it all on our own.

    It is interesting to see the outfits he has already outgrown, like the footed ducky pajama's he wore all the time. We weighed him on the baby scale we received and he is now 11 pounds!

What Is He Saying?

      We have been trying to get better at understanding our little man as his cries are now most distinct and his needs greater. When he first came home from the NICU, he seemed to have 2 cries: (1) the first cry that he would utter upon waking, meaning 'feed me,' and (2) significant grunting combined with crying that usually happened with him tensing his whole body or moving his legs up and down together, meaning 'this fortified breast milk is wreaking havoc on my tummy. Now it appears he is trying to tell us more, and giving him a bottle every time does not always fix the problem and has even ended up in significant spit up from an obviously full tummy.
     Our friend Tina suggested we check out Dunston Baby Language, so we checked it out of the library and have found it most helpful when trying to interpret his cries. We still are struggling when he combines cries, but overall feel we are doing a better job at understanding him.

      We also are trying to pay attention to his body language, such as this massive yawn he is showing us on the right. He also tries to scoot his body up your chest if he is uncomfortable and needs a burp or if he is trying to get away from a full diaper.
     The hardest is when he is overstimulated, a new phenomenon that can sometimes look a lot like hunger as he usually wants to suck on the binky to calm himself down.  Taking the bottle has an initial calming effect as he is in fact sucking, but he can then become even more irritated when he has an overfull belly in addition to being overwhelmed in general. There are times when he has been like this that we need to bring him into his room, shut out the light and leave him alone in the crib. This is of course super new to us as he has before needed to be directly on you for comfort. However, helping him to learn some independent soothing now is good and may help us for future naps/bed times when he gets older.

Breast Feeding Success

Here we have the milk pup QMG post feeding success. The lactation consultant came for an evaluation on Monday. She ascertained his sucking strength, checked out a typical feed, noting his positioning and then gave mom loads of feedback on how to successfully continue the transition from bottle to breast. Quinlan successfully took 2 oz from the breast that session (he was weighed pre/post).

We also know that Qpup weighed in at 10#10oz, which reflects with tremendous growth, as he is only a couple pounds away from tripling his birth weight.

Since Quinlan is taking 3-4oz per feed he most likely will stay at this level until at least 6 months. We are hoping to transition all of those ozs to the breast and right now he is already half way there!


The consultant recommended that we get a baby scale to monitor and ensure that he's still gaining at least 6oz. per week. The Somerville mom's list has come through again with a woman offering an old, but reliable one for free, which Mamma G will be picking up on Friday AM.

Uncle Erik

Mom's younger brother, Erik arrived yesterday with Auntie Sarah from Denver, CO...They are considering relocating to the Boston MAssif, so Q parental units are showing them the finest our city has to offer.

We already sampled many local malt beverages along with some quite competitive candle pin bowling (if the loser buys a round of JP Licks ice cream you better bowl your best!).

Before their visit Uncle E and Auntie S sent an enormous box of amazing clothes for QPup. Many were inspired by Dad's tremendously forward fashion sense, so included bright plaid shirts with collars, fancy pants and even onesies equipped with preppy ties! QPup is truly fortunate and setting fashion trends at an early age!

Tonight Uncle E and Mommma J will be out with the BH3 running for beer. Hopefully they will see many of the sights downtown along with some of our great friends, including Melvin and Heather, Quinlan's furniture elves.

Later in their visit Dad promised our visitors a trip to Cambridge Brewing Company, our favorite local brewery for some fine taps and local grub. Mom will be visiting with Grammy Ann, who we anticipate will be absolutely amazed at Q's formidable development...QPup now weighs in at just over 10lb 10oz!!! YEAH!!! He's just a few moments from driving and enjoying some malt bevvys with dad!!!

Emergency Bath

      Earlier today dad was changing Quinlan while mom was washing dishes in the kitchen. Soon you could hear, "woooh, wooh! He won't stop pooing." Apparently after the old diaper had been removed and his feet where held in the air, Quinlan felt the need to alternate between pooing and peeing while dad tried to stop the spread to the changing cover before giving up a couple of minutes later. It was then decided that Urine-master Q would be bathed a second time in 2 days. Dad spared his head as Quinlan had managed to get from his nipple down covered in one type of biology or another even getting poo on his Wednesday socks. His parents will likely now forget the day of the week by the end of the day :)

    This did allow dad more bathing practice as this is only the 2nd bath that he has been a part of. Even though he is giving us suspicious looks, he tolerated this bath quite well.

Meeting the Garton Grandparents

      Dad's parents have made the trip up from Georgia to spend a few days with our little lad. Quinlan is demonstrating how peaceful he can be to G-Pa who has decided that Baby Q is the cutest in Boston. Quinlan promptly spit up and slept on both grandparents within hours of their arrival as he truly feels at home with them both. We are excited to have them both and to share the joy that is Quinlan.
     Currently the weather is holding out so we plan to show the grandparents our normal walking routes, and grandpa has offered to help design and build a planter for the porch. Yes, fresh tomatoes! Grandma has been offering her many home skills and has already organized our refrigerator and turned leftovers into primo meals!

Breast Feeding Help Coming

     Quinlan is continuing to develop his ability to suck and grasp. He is sucking at his fist, grasping at the bottle, and even holding a rattle (if you place it in his hand, of course). He is also turning his head side to side when propped up in the boppy pillow to look at the rattle when mommy shakes it. We are all very excited at these developments.
     The one area where Quinlan and mom are still struggling is breast feeding. Quinlan seems to have taken quite well to the fast pace feeding from the bottle and is becoming less inclined to really work for his food at the breast. He becomes frustrated at times and refuses to latch, or gets tired midway through and falls asleep with milk dribbling out of his mouth. After some significant regression earlier this week, mom had a mini-meltdown on Wednesday AM. This resulted in 2 good things: an honest discussion with dad about mom's anxieties and fear of inadequacy, and the procurement of a lactation specialist to come Monday.

    Mom also consulted the internet and started trying some of the suggestions she found with some notable improvement. Overall there seem to be lots of suggestions and advice to get babies onto the bottle from the breast, usually in preparation for mom's return to work, but there was significantly less information available about the reverse.
     Mom feels good that some of these new suggestions are helping: like giving him the bottle first for 1 ounce then trying him on the breast and slowing down his bottle feeds by giving him the breast or binky to suckling in between 1 ounce offerings. However, it will be good to have a professional come in and observe the two of us and offer modifications or weaning schedules.
     To the right is a picture of Quinlan after breast feeding only 5 minutes.

Happy Mother's Day

   We celebrated our first Mother's Day this weekend, which for mom was an odd feeling. Many friends and family members sent messages and well wishes, and Mathwin & Zalika brought over a nice hanging plant for the occasion. Quinlan decided to give mom the best gift of all: he slept for 5 hours that night!
     We think he is progressing towards longer stretches of sleep at night going 3-5 hours between eating. He has started to take increased amounts before mom's bedtime and appears to sleep soundly when mom goes to bed. We are hoping this the schedule he is adjusting to although it is really too early to tell. 

Mom Returns to Work

     Well, sort of... Mom worked on Saturday at her per diem job at Spaulding North Shore. This required a bit of planning to pull off as mom needed to be up there to punch in at 8 AM and needed to have 2 sessions to pump during the 8 hour shift. Her manager was nice enough to block 30 minutes into the morning schedule and 30 minutes during lunch. It was good to spend some time with adults, even if they complained about pain and just wanted to go home, and the pumping was not stressful to manage. Dad and Q even sent mom a picture message to let her know how well they were doing :) This gives mom a better feeling about returning part time to Mass General as the days will be shorter and the commute easier. Mom will be working a few more Saturdays prior to the return to weekly work. They boys had a good day together, but both seemed happy to have mom home. 

Ultrasound Update

      While napping with Quinlan after a restless night, mom was woken up yesterday AM by a call from the pediatricians office. They called to give us the results of his ultrasound. Apparently there was no change in size of his liver spot, which the doctor appeared quite pleased with. Quinlan will need have a follow up ultrasound in 3 months as the radiologists think we should still keep an eye on it.

      Mom went to her first Davis Sq new moms meetup at Mr. Crepe today. It was from 1030-12PM and included Davis Sq area moms with their babies born between December and April. Quinlan was not the smallest there, although he was closest in size to the 2 babies that were 2 weeks old. This was an informal gathering that allowed moms to share frustrations and wisdom. It was encouraging to hear how these other mothers were handling the day to day tasks, the transitions back to work, and the stress that comes along with being a new mom.
     People had good suggestions for when to look for a nanny/sitter, as Quinlan can not go into daycare, and suggested potentially a nanny share in the area. Basically, bringing Quinlan over to someone else's home who already has a nanny for a couple of hours and paying a reduced rate. This may work out really well for us, so we will keep that in mind.

1st T Ride/ MGH Ultrasound Appointment

      Quinlan had to head down to MGH today for an appointment with radiology to reassess a spot noted on his abdominal ultrasound performed in the NICU. This mean trekking down to the hospital midday, a drive that neither parent was looking forward to and a $10 parking fee that they were sick of paying. Since Quinlan had his immunization shots last week, it was decided that perhaps the subway would be a reasonable form of transportation and a new adventure.
     Quinlan did so well and slept for most of the trip to the hospital and needed to be held for only the last few stops on the trip back. He also did really well during the appointment with minimal crying throughout.
      The hardest part of this whole endeavor was that it had to be a fasting ultrasound, which meant Quinlan was not allowed to have any food for so many hours before. Initially we were told 4 hours, which proved to be rather difficult when Baby Q woke up from a nap very hungry 2.5 hours before his appointment. We tried giving him just water and his binky, but our smart son was NOT fooled.

      Mom decided to call the MD to check on those orders, and thankfully they said he needed to only fast 2 hours. Apparently the cut off is 2 months, and while Quinlan is 9 weeks in age, his gestational age (and more importantly the development of his GI system) has him much younger. He did much better with the feeding 2.5 hours before the scan, but was still quite hungry and pissed at his parents for their earlier trickery once they arrived at the appointment.
     The results of his testing will be sent to Quinlan's doctor and then communicated to us. Mom and dad could speculate as to what they saw, but really know nothing of what a liver should look like in an ultrasound image. Hopefully everything checks out well on this one. We will keep you all posted.

Little Ducky

     Quinlan was sporting his little ducky onesie that was given to us by mom's friend from work Lesia. He has now outgrown a lot of the "newborn" clothes and is moving up into the 0-3 M items that people bought for him, or handed down to him. Basically he has a whole new wardrobe of really cute clothes that he is moving into. We especially like that this one has a little tail on the bum! Of course, Quinlan managed to pee on this one rather quickly and the outfit did not last past 3 diaper changes... perhaps he does not find it as cute as his parents do.
     It is also quite cute to see dad and son sporting some good bed head!

Asleep on Allison

After his long adventurous day, Quinlan passed out on our friend Allison while his parents enjoyed the yummy meal she had prepared and brought over to them. Quinlan must sense that she is an amazing mom as he is completely at ease with her. We are hoping this sleeping beauty continues through the night, otherwise we may need to have Allison stay over next time :)

Weekend with Parents

      Quinlan had a rather relaxed Saturday spending most of the time on dad or mom in the living room. A lovely midday nap was enjoyed by mom and Quinlan while dad was helping to set up the video for the monthly world peace meeting at the Buddhist Center.
     Today we ventured out for the first time and had many adventures, starting with attending the world peace meeting at 9 AM. Quinlan enjoyed the chanting but began to add his own dialogue to the presentations so mom had to entertain him outside of the main room. He was adored by many and now has 2 Japanese girlfriends, ages 5 and 11. 
     We then headed home to regroup, pump, change a diaper, and get another bottle ready (Quinlan drank his 1st bottle at the Buddhist Center). Then it was a short drive to Prospect Hill park for Tzippy's 1 year old outdoor birthday party. There were many cool Somerville parents in attendance, and we won for youngest guest present.

 Quinlan stayed on dad in the Baby Bjorn and enjoyed his first outdoor bottle. Mom and dad munched on yummy samosas, homemade hummus, and pineapple cake.
     We then headed over to the Artist's Asylum to participate in Somerville Open Studios and to enjoy some of our friends' exhibits, especially those of the Firefly Arts Collective. We actually got to experience some of these exhibits in the woods at previous Firefly gatherings. We will unfortunately be unable to attend this year as Mr. Wiggle Butt is too young. However, we are looking at next year as a definite possibility!
     We have too more sets of visitors tonight and then Sunday's Big Adventure comes to a close and dad tries to get some sleep before wrangling sixth graders in Somerville tomorrow.

Early Intervention - 1st visit

    Our first visit for Early Intervention was yesterday. This was more of a planning meeting where we established overall goals, a schedule for visits, and filled out paperwork. However, we did discuss different breast feeding positions that may work better for us. Mom is to try lying on her side so she is more relaxed, letdown happens sooner, and Quinlan gets milk with greater ease. We are also to continue to try and engage him when he looks at us and start to make faces he can imitate. Here he is focusing more on his own nose than mom's face.
     We have set up weekly appointments with Chrissy, his developmental specialist. She is to come for one hour sessions on Thursday mornings.

Month 2 Check up

      Quinlan had his 2 month check up with his pediatrician on Wednesday at 9 AM, which required the whole Garton family to be up at out of the house by 815.. no easy feat these days. We made it on time for his appointment and everything went really well. The doctor was pleased with his growth: 21 inches in length (3rd percentile), 9 lbs 1oz (5th percentile) and 37.8 cm head circumference (12th percentile). Apparently all his weight gain has been in his head :)
     Since his weight is up we are able to decrease the amount of formula we are adding to his breast milk and increase breast feeding sessions as he tolerates. Quinlan is still getting tired and frustrated before filling up on breast milk so he is still needing a bottle afterwards, although not a full one which is progress.

     Quinlan also received immunizations against pneumonia, tetanus and stomach bugs. He did really well with the shots and only cried for a minute before being picked up and soothed by mom. Dad then drove him home while mom met with her manager about her return to work plan.
     The current plan is to return to work on June 18th for 20 hours/week. Mom is hoping to work four 5 hour days starting at 130 PM, so that in the fall when dad starts teaching they will only need someone for 3 hours a day to watch him. Hopefully this schedule works for the department and mom will still have her mornings with Sir Wigglebottom.
     When mom returned home, Quinlan was fussy and really tired after getting his shots. He slept on mom or dad the rest of the day and barely woke for feedings. He was back to his hungry self by 8 PM and perfectly fine the next morning.
     Next visit with the doctor is July 11th.

WubbaNub

     Quinlan's friend Nora had one of these and it seemed like such a clever idea that one was purchased for our little man yesterday by mom. A Wubbanub, as they are called, is just simply a bean bag animal sewn into a hospital grade pacifier. This is the same pacifier that Quinlan was given in the NICU. Typically, it is not recommended that breast feeding babies get introduced to a pacifier till they are in their 2nd month to avoid nipple confusion. However, NICU babies get introduced to them earlier to help develop muscles for sucking prior to being able to do so. Quinlan finds the pacifier quite soothing and it can usually help him get to sleep.
     It is hard to say if the pacifier is contributing to any breast feeding difficulties for baby Q as he has a more complicated situation and appears more limited in his breast feeding by being tired, not confused, when at the breast. We are happy to report that he is doing better at this as mom as heeded advice to increase water and rest, which has helped her milk supply and letdown, and has started breast feeding in an inclined position to reduce his reflux.

Spending Time with Nora

    While walking with our friend Rachel and her daughter Nora, we encountered an astroturf elevated front lawn that we found so humorous we decided to take a picture of the little ones on it.

     Believe it or not, Nora was born 2 weeks after Quinlan. You can see how much more awake she is and how much bigger. Her weight is in the 50th percentile for her age, and her length is 50th percentile for a baby twice her age. It is interesting to see a side by side comparison (and them demonstrating the tonic neck reflex).
     Quinlan is headed to the pediatrician's tomorrow for his 2 month check up. The doctor is hoping for Quinlan to be up to the 5th percentile for weight prior to adjusting his calorie fortification of breast feeding schedule. We think he might be over 9 lbs now. Any wagers for tomorrow's weigh-in? Dad will be joining us, so he can meet Quinlan's pediatrician and be familiar with where his office is located, as it is not obvious based on the address.
     While at MGH, mom plans to stop in to work and meet with her manager to figure out when she will return part-time and how that time will be partitioned over the work week. Last time she met with her manager, it was suggested that perhaps working 2-6 daily to get the 20 hours required for benefits might work better for us and the department. With mom being gone only in the afternoon and dad's school schedule being 730-330, we might only need a sitter for 3 hours a day. This means Quinlan can spend more time with mom and dad than with a stranger. Not a bad plan. Mom has the amazing fortune to return to work while dad is able to be home full time. This will be a great transition allowing us to figure out best sleeping schedules and exactly how much time we will need to find a sitter for.

Quinlan's Photo Shoot

 Eric sent us some still frame shots of the video he did of Quinlan over a week ago. Quinlan is doing very well and has begun sleeping longer at night. He now allows his parents a good 3 hours reprieve, something he is doing while napping during the day but not at night. He still has nights when he is fussy but is trending towards more sleep at night. Yeah! However, things seem to change daily, so we will try not to get too excited. 

 Here is Quinlan's kiss face, the expression he does the most.   

This is dad's favorite bib because it is in a houndstooth pattern and says "Lil'man" on the front. Quinlan is not able to hold his head up fully and will slump forward like this when he is burped.

And Eric even caught Quinlan sticking his tongue out at the camera. He really did ham it up for this photo shoot and somehow stayed awake for 2 hours, something he had not been doing at that time.




Eric, thank you for these amazing photos! Cannot wait to see the video!