Maaaaa!

Trevor has had a cry since his first day of life that sounds like he is crying out "Ma/Mom" - it is the saddest little cry and tugs at Sara's heart when she hears it. We'll try to record it and upload it sometime!

One thing we realized we forgot to mention in Week One news is that we got the daycare we wanted! We actually got the call that week for both daycares we were on the wait list for so we re-toured both and chose Cavalry Lutheran Child Care. Yes, we are Catholic but it was important to us to have a Christian-based daycare and we hit a home run in getting into Cavalry! We love it there and know Trevor will be in good hands. One other big positive? It is three stop lights from our house - about 1 mile!!

Here's a precious pic of Trevor smiling at Daddy!!

Such a big boy!

Finally Trevor outgrew his first three outfits!! All of them were newborn sleep and play outfits. However, he still doesn't fit into any of his 0-3 month clothes but he is close on GAP brand clothes (we think they must run a tad small). So, he continues to rotate through his limited newborn outfits and pajamas. We can't wait for him to wear all of the clothes in his closet.

This week his nails seem to be on slow-grow-mode so he's been having his hands and fingers out during the day and he loves them!! He definitely grabs onto toys and clothes. When Mommy is nursing him he always has his hands grabbed onto her shirt.

He does a great job following faces and toys with his eyes and head. He especially likes if you twinkle your fingers in front of him and move them left to right. He will smile, coo, and wave his arms and legs in excitement for 10 minutes or more!

Trevor does well with tummy time and has developed quite the strong neck! He does well holding his head up, only on occasion does it flop back or forward. He also has strong legs. If Sara is holding him on her lap with him facing her, she really has to watch her c-section incision wound because he will kick it!

We think he looks like a toddler in this picture, too cute!!


This week the Hillins are coming for Trevor's Baptism. They'll be here for a week which will allow them to spend some time with their grandson as well as their two granddaughters! They haven't seen him since he was born, but we recently had our first video chat! It will be good to see them in person!

Trevor's First Christmas

The meteorologists predicted a snowstorm over the Christmas holiday that would be one of the top storms of the decade. So, instead of heading to Sara's parents' house for the Kelly family Christmas we would have to stay at home and spend the holiday just the three of us, well four of us if you count Randle!! The Kelly Christmas would be rescheduled for a later date. It wasn't what any of us wanted but we had to listen to the experts and not travel.

We decided to make the most of the situation by attending Christmas mass on Christmas eve at our church. Not sure what we were thinking by showing up 2 minutes prior to mass time, but we found space in the kids room. Trevor was the most quiet kid in there!


We also fondued on Christmas eve, which was a tradition on Brian's side of the family growing up. FUN!


At night, Trevor left out a plate of cookies for Santa!


We woke up to 6 or so inches of snow (on top of the 6 we received the day before) and the roads didn't seem too bad, so Sara's parents drove up and Sara's brother, sister-in-law, nephew and their doggie came over as well and Christmas was had!! It was nice to be all together and everyone spent the night so it really did feel like Christmas! Not sure how the doggies get the best seats in the house?!?


The 25th also marked Trevor's one month birthday!!


On the 27th, Sara, Brian, Trevor, and Randle celebrated our family Christmas. Trevor received a new bath, a dump truck he'll use when he's about a year old, a new black and white toy, and a Christmas ornament. Randle got some treats and a new toy.






One of Sara's Aunts and Uncles sent Trevor a Santa suit. It was a little big (it was 0-3 month and he still wears newborn) but he still looked like a cutie. Here are our 2 Santa's!

New Year's was spent in Owatonna for the rescheduled Kelly family Christmas. It was fun introducing Trevor to Sara's family. We are really lucky to have family so close! After we got home our friends Dan and Emily from St. Louis came to visit. It was great catching up with them. They have a little one due June 15!

Daddy's Home!

Brian took an extended period of time off of work over the holidays and boy was Mommy and Trevor glad he was home!! It was great spending time the three of us!! We had a lot of fun things planned - shopping at Mall of America, dinner at Murray's steakhouse, lunch at Benihana, and just hanging out!! We did all that we wanted to and more!!

Here is a great pic from that time - all three boys sleeping!

One of the more exciting parts of Brian's time off was Trevor learning how to breastfeed!! We had decided to give-up on it, more or less, because it was causing too much anxiety for Sara when Trevor wouldn't latch. Then she'd have to scramble to get a bottle ready and then wait to pump. It was just too much. It was easier to simply commit to bottle feeding and pumping, which she did without complaint. However, on our trip to Macy's at Mall of America we had one round of Brian feeding Trevor with Sara pumping in the Mommy room. The next time Trevor got hungry we headed back to the area we were at when Sara said 'why don't I just try to see if he'll nurse.' At this point it had been 12 days since our last attempt and Trevor was pretty worked up from being hungry so not quite sure what Sara was thinking but Mommy instinct must have worked because Trevor latched on like a champ and nursed!!! It's been smooth sailing ever since!!! Nothing like mastering it at 4 and a half weeks old!! Yeah Trevor!!!

Another highlight of his time off was Trevor sleeping through the night - 7 hours!!! We put him down at 1 am and we were up at 6:30/7:00 waiting for him to wake up. Finally the sleepy-head did a little after 8:30am!!! What a treat!!!

Funny picture of Trevor - Sara was taking a series of photos of Trevor sleeping in his swing when all of a sudden he makes this face for one second then he was back to his calm self and sleeping. This is definitely his mad face!

Week Three - Just Sara and Trevor

Week three marked the week that it was just Sara and Trevor at home during the day because Sara's parents left. With Trevor being such a good baby it was a pretty easy transition and a pretty routine schedule was already established. About every three hours Trevor gets fed a bottle, diaper changed, put in swing while Sara pumps, active play time for about 30-45 minutes then he naps for about an hour before getting up to eat and starting the whole process over. At night he usually eats at 1:00 am and then again at 5:00 am, so Mommy is getting pretty good rest. She doesn't rest during the day but isn't too tired! More often she naps from 11:00pm until 1:00am and then 6:00 am until he's up at 8:00 am. Sara really can't complain!

Trevor enjoys when Daddy comes home, they often get their own cuddle time in after dinner which is just too cute!!


Trevor also really enjoys sitting back and analyzing you. He's enthralled with faces.



He also continues to enjoy reading books, here he is reading his black and white book with Grandma Jeanne. Matter of fact, he likes any black and white items right now. We also captured him trying to get his toy zebra!





Speaking of the day Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Steve came up, it was the neatest thing. Grandma Jeanne was holding him and Sara entered the room and said something and Trevor was straining his neck to see in the direction of Sara's voice. He definitely knows Mommy!! Same would hold true for Daddy!

A new toy for Trevor this week is his activity mat from Erin and Dan. He is fascinated with the whale and lights and can often play on this for 30+ minutes a day. He does a really good job focusing on objects and has started trying to hit objects with his arms and legs...or he just gets really lucky by flailing his extremities around!


He has started "talking" and if you stick out your tongue he often mimics you and does the same. It's quite hilarious!! He's definitely going through a growth spurt. He now takes 4 oz bottles about 7 times a day. He averages 26-28 ounces a day. We think he's over 9 lbs now, which is good given that his weight dropped to 7 and a half pounds after birth.

We think he looks more like Sara these days. People that see him also agree. It seems like he has Sara's eyes and mouth and Brian's nose and cheeks. A good mix of both parents!

Special thanks to the Crain family for the yummy, yummy meal they brought over this week!! We must get the recipe for the honey glazed chicken and homemade mac-n-cheese! Everything was absolutely delicious and we really appreciated you doing that for us. What a treat!

Go Vikings!

Of course Trevor is a Vikings fan!!! He has a lot of Vikings clothes to prove it, this is just his newborn one! We can't wait for him to grow a bit so that he can fit into his Peterson jersey!

Also, here's a favorite picture. He's so funny when he sleeps!

Week Numero Dos

A lot of things happening during week two! Trevor is such a blessing in our life. Every day we are in awe that he is ours!!! He is such a good baby - hardly cries and loves to eat, sleep, and play! Sara's parents stayed again this week and we were thankful they did as Sara continued to recover from her c-section and tried to get into a groove with Trevor!

You may have seen in other pictures but Trevor was introduced to a pacifier early. Of course, we were concerned about nipple confusion but when he cries and is soothed by a pacifier, you go with it! Whatever makes our little guy happy! He even holds it himself!


He also does smile once in a while. At first we thought it was gas, but when he has done it repeatedly when we say 'smile' we know that he knows what he is doing. His smile makes our day and truly melts our hearts!

In week two his umbilical cord stump fell off. Sara noticed it was a bit loose one evening and what do you know, the next morning it was off! No, we didn't save it :)

Trevor loves baths. He especially loves getting his hair washed and the bundling that occurs afterwards. He likes his heat like Mommy!!




This week we introduced Trevor to his swing. We kinda forgot about it since it was in the basement but it was a good thing we remembered it because Trevor has a ball in it. He is so content and will just watch what you are doing while he sits there. Otherwise, he's sleeping in it!

You may have also noticed a theme to his pictures. He loves his hands!!! They must always be up at his face which isn't a surprise to Sara because she could tell this is how she was in her womb. Don't even try to swaddle his hands down because no matter how tight the swaddle is, he will maneuver them out!

On Friday, we attended Sara's work's Christmas party. It was nice to catch up with colleagues and friends, but we sure missed Trevor. However, he was having fun with Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Steve.


Visitors for the week included our friends Erin and Dan. It was great catching up with them and introducing them to our son!


Jim, Annie, and Sam came over for dinner this week too. It also allowed us the opportunity to take a family photo for Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Steve to send out.

Trevor's Newborn Photo Session - 12 Days Old

We had professional pictures done of Trevor and boy did they turn out cute. The timing didn't work to use one for his birth announcement (we took that on our own) but we were able to use one of the family ones for our Christmas card.

The shoot started out a bit rough with Trevor pretty much projectile vomiting all over Sara, but she took it like a champ and calmly changed tops (luckily she brought a back-up!). In addition, usually babies sleep during their session but Trevor just didn't want to. At the end he was a bit calmer and lightly slept so we still got some cute shots. A big thanks to Jessica for her patience!

First Week at Home

Our first week at home was a busy one! The Hillins were here until Tuesday evening and the Roslansky's stayed all week, thankfully! Since Sara had all of this help, Brian went back to work Monday. It wasn't easy to leave the little guy but Brian knew he was in good hands!

The days were mostly spent focused on Trevor's needs. At this point we were still attempting nursing with most feedings ending in giving him a bottle, pumping, burping, changing diapers, cuddling, bathing, reading him books, and more cuddling. Sara also had to put her feet up to recover from the c-section. Sara's parents were sure on their toes during this time....Sara would have a kleenex in hand before even sneezing just to make sure she didn't have to get up. Brian's parents watched Trevor so Sara could get some housework done as well as ran a lot of errands, which we really appreciated. It was great spending time with everyone - thanks for all that you do to help!

Big learnings for the week:

1) When fussy, turn on the ocean feature of his sleep sheep. He loves that thing!

2) Always use the vibrating feature on the papasan chair. Also only put him in said chair if he is going to be nearby what you are doing. He wants to be involved!

3) He hates getting his diaper changed, probably because of the circumcision wound.

4) Sleeps a lot during the day but also sleeps for 3-3.5 hour stretches at night. Typically Grandma Jeanne or Brian would take the last night shift so that Sara could rest before getting up to pump, so Grandma/Brian would take Trevor from 10 until 1 or 2, give him a bottle and put him to bed. Sara would get up a little while later to pump and then again around 5 am to feed Trevor. Trevor loves sleeping in his crib!


5) Thanks goodness for Grandmas and husbands because 10 until 1 or 2 was Trevor's fussy time, meaning he just couldn't figure out what he wanted. Or maybe he was hungry!

6) Prefers not to wear a hat to bed. Also doesn't like hats when going in his infant carrier to appointments.

7) If crying (which wasn't too often except for his fussy time), he most likely needs to burp.

8) Avent bottles suck. Their flow is way too fast for baby Trevor. Switched to Medela bottles.

9) Trevor could use two rooms - one upstairs and one on the main floor. We have basically recreated a second room on the main floor by putting all onesies, clothes, burp cloths, blankets, wash cloths, toys and anything else he may need during the day in our living room storage ottoman. Stairs are hard for Sara given the c-section.

10) He loves car rides. The hum of the road puts him right to sleep! Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Steve sure are good chauffeurs driving Trevor and Mommy around to appointments since Sara can't drive for two weeks.

11) Wish we would have purchased more newborn clothes. 0-3 month sizes are simply too big for Trevor even though he was 8 lbs 12 oz at birth!

12) Onesies with hand mitts or outfits with separate mittens are a necessity since Trevor loves having his hands up by his face at most all times and he will find a way to scratch himself even with his nails filed.

Trevor went into his pediatrician because of his eye. He has a clogged tear duct but his eye was crusted over with yellow and green gunk so at one week of age Trevor was put on eye drops. We'll continue to monitor it and hope that it opens up soon!

We had lots of visitors his first week! On Monday, Shar and Bill Dambowy (Annie's parents) visited along with Sam!! The cousins meet:


On Friday, Sara's Aunt Alice, Uncle Steve and cousins Katie and Anne and Katie's husband Mike visited.


The following Tuesday cousins Lauren and Brooke got to meet Trevor!

Thanksgiving Redo

Since we were in the hospital on the actual day of Thanksgiving, Mom and Dad Hillins and Mom and Dad Roslansky made a Thanksgiving meal for us on Sunday (day after we arrived home). It was so nice to enjoy all of the comfort food we missed while in the hospital. Special thanks to our parents for the nice meal and special memories!

Even his nursery cart was decked out!