365 Days of Duke

We decided shortly after Duke was born that we wanted to capture a photo of him every day, by himself, for the first full year of his life.  Baby boy was two weeks old yesterday and we've managed to get his first 14 photos.  The hardest part so far is choosing our favorite every day....little mister is dang cute if I do say so myself!

Baby Duke, on your two week birthday I wanted to remember some of your favorite things in the world so far in your first 14 days.

~ You love holding your hands in front of your face and sleeping with your hands over your eyes.  I am certain you were in my belly with your teeny hands covering your face and it brings you comfort to lay that way.  You rarely have your arms by your sides and hate to have your arms swaddled in your blankie.  You also like to suck on your hands and sometimes your thumb.

~ You love sitting in the rocking chair in your bedroom with mama, nursing and listening to music.  Some of your favorite music so far is Sia, Van Morrison, Radiohead lullaby, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Eddie Vedder Into the Wild soundtrack, Zero Seven, Adele and Beach House.  Your daddy made us a "mama mix" before you were born and we've listened to it over and over and over.  We'll need him to make us a new one soon.

~ Before you wake up from a nap you make the cutest squeak, usually 3 times.  We haven't figured out what it sounds like yet.  The little sound is all your own and I hope you do it for a long, long time.

~ You sneeze a lot and you always do one fake sneeze at the end.  Why do you do that?  It's pretty funny.

~ You have had the privilege of spending the first days of you life with your Grammy who loves you more than words.  You love sitting with her when you're sleeping and looking at her snuggling when you are awake.

~ You love taking a nap on your dada's chest and listening to his heartbeat.  He loves you so much and is so thankful that you are finally here.  He loves that you are so tiny and new, but he also can't wait until you can smile and play and do jumpie and go on adventures with him.

~ When you get upset and start to cry you squeal like a hawk.  You kind of sound like the eagle at the intro of the Colbert Report.   Sometimes we call you little hawk boy.

~ You are really good at eye contact.  When your little eyes are open you love nothing more than gazing into all of our eyes.  Those little blue eyes have sucked us all in and it is literally impossible to love you any more than we do.  We can't wait to see what color those little peepers are when you get bigger.

~ You had your first check up this week with your pediatrician.  You did such a good job.  You are still such a teeny little guy but you've been nursing like a champ and I know that you will grow big and strong in no time.  You gained all of the weight back that you lost after you were born and you were 5lb 12oz at your two week check up.  You already have such strong arms and legs and can lift your little head all by yourself.

~ We have taken a few outings in the last week, including lunch out twice, a drive out to the country to look at the horsies, one trip to Target and three doctor's visits.  Everybody loves to look at you and the general consensus on your name is that "it's a big name for such a little guy".  

~ Some of your nicknames right now are: tiny pants, bright eyes, sunshine boy, snack cake, hawk boy and sweety pants (even though your pants are usually stinky).

we love you our precious baby boy,

mama