Béla's one month old!

Today is Béla's one month birthday! In baby-related news, he went to the pediatrician for the first time last week for his official 4-5 week check-up, and was found to be in excellent health. They do a few different things than in Canada; for instance, he had his second hip ultrasound to ensure that there is no hip dysplasia, after the first one while still in the hospital. (His hips are fine.) The doctor was also really impressed with his excellent eye contact, and the fact that he seemed to actually pay attention to her when she talked to him, which apparently was really good for a 3.5 week old baby. (He really did calm down and stare at her, better than he does with us really, but she's a professional baby-wrangler after all.)

Also, in a follow-up to the previous post when I mentioned that his weight gain had stalled a little, I wanted to let you know that at his weigh-in on Monday he'd gained another 230 g from the previous week, so everything looks fine.

Another exciting baby-related piece of news is that he's started smiling! There have been little fleeting smiles before, but they seemed to be random, associated with farting, or as part of his general facial twitches as he fell to sleep. Now he actually smiles with some purpose (or so we like to think), and while looking right at us, and while generally happy-seeming. Despite this, I still haven't managed to get a smile on camera. We'll keep working on that. He's also getting better with noises besides crying. We get the odd coo-like sound, but a lot more grunts and growls. He's like a little dragon.

And finally, some more pictures of us just hanging out at home. This first one we actually took to show the midwife the crust that built up in his right eye overnight, as it was usually gone by the time she got there in the afternoon. (It's stopped now, and was just because of a narrow tear duct.) I thought he looked pretty cute in it all the same.
Here he and his dad are hanging out in bed, enjoying some happy wakeful time together.
And while the wakeful periods are lasting longer, they still don't last too long, especially if he's somewhere as comfortable as Jer's lap.
And from Jeremi's perspective...
This time he was sleeping on me. He pretty well passes out after I feed him, and unless I get him off me right away, I sometimes end up pinned under a sleeping baby, who's too cute and peaceful to disturb. (Sometimes it's just an excuse to be lazy.) This is how he looked to Jer, from his spot on the couch...
...and the view from my perspective. Man, sleeping babies are cute. (I think it's to make me forget the pain of breastfeeding.)
And another wakeful time, when he was hanging out, staring at Jeremi.

And finally, the results after a session of "tummy time" wore out both Jer and Béla. That's some hard work!