Ryan, Debi, and Toren Cragun's Blog

I prepared a bunch of videos in advance but am going to post one a day to keep people happy. Here’s today’s video of Toren rooting on his arm:

Toren Sucking on his arm from Ryan Cragun on Vimeo.

Sorry, I know it’s been a few days since I posted about Toren – and yes, several people have emailed complaining. So, I’ll try to post a bit more.

Yesterday Debi had a doctor’s appointment, and since she can’t drive on her own yet, I took her to the doctor’s office. Toren and I took a few laps around the hospital in his stroller while Debi was in seeing the doctor. About 20 minutes before Debi was done he got hungry, so I pulled into the waiting room and fed him in front of all the expectant moms (it was the OB’s office). I think they salivated when they saw him!

Toren had another busy day today. He and Debi went to see a lactation consultant then he had his 2 weeks checkup (it’s only been about 10 days since he was born, but the pediatrician is out of town next week, so she wanted to see him today). He’s now up to 7lbs 11oz, 20 1/2 inches, and has a head circumference of 14 1/4 inches (for those paying very close attention, I think I was wrong on my previous blog post when I said his head circumference was 14 3/4 inches; it was probably 14 1/4 back then too). The pediatrician said he looked great. She’s trying to talk us out of flying to Utah at the end of July, though, as she is worried about him getting sick from the plane ride. She’d prefer we wait until he’s 3 months to travel, but I think we’re still planning on flying out (we may do his 2 month shots at 6 weeks and then just hope for the best).

Anyway, since I know you all just want to see Toren, here’s a short video:

Toren – Inside a Binky from Ryan Cragun on Vimeo.

Also, I updated the video of Toren eating in the hospital so it has sound now.

Toren has now had four visitors – our neighbors, Amber and Justin, came over Saturday night and our other neighbors, Rich and Sally, came over last night.  We should have taken photos of them holding Toren, but we forgot.  Oh well, I have other fun photos for you today.

Here’s one, not of Toren, but of something Toren produced just for you:

I call this “The World’s Worst Sausage.”  In case you can’t tell what it is, it’s a neatly tied bundle of Toren’s dirty diapers (thanks to the Diaper Genie II Elite).  Yum.

I have also forgotten to share our most recent fun Toren story.  I know children have a reflex that causes them to flail their arms out if they feel like they are falling or startled (called the Moro Reflex).  Toren’s Moro reflex is a little on the sensitive side.  He startles at pretty much everything.  He flails his arms at loud sounds, at sudden lights, or if you pick him, scoot him a little, or even set him down.  So, the other day I was holding him after he had just finished feeding.  He was calm and relaxed.  Then, he farted – his arms flew out and his eyes opened wide!!!  Yep.  He had just startled himself by farting.  I’m not sure I’ve ever farted so powerfully that it scared me, but Toren has!

Toren also had a busy day today.  He started the day with a 9:45 visit to the pediatrician (ours is Robyn Jacobson; her office is about a 5 minute walk from our house – about 1/2 a mile).  She’s great.  He checked out fine and has even put on some weight – 7 lbs 4 ounces (that’s 6 ounces above his birth weight).  He’s no taller (20 inches), but his head circumference was a bit different from the one in the hospital (12 3/4 in the hospital; 14 3/4 today).  I doubt his head circumference increased by 2 inches in 6 days.  It’s more likely that the initial measurement was off because his head was so cone-shaped when he was born.

He does seem to have gotten used to the car seat, enough so that he fell asleep in it:

not the best photo; I took it with my phone camera

After the visit with the pediatrician we stopped by Babies R Us to pick up a few more items, then stopped at Burger King for lunch.  We figured it was time to introduce Toren to one of the few fast food restaurants that caters to vegetarians.  He got hungry just when we did, so Debi fed him at Burger King.  His skinny little legs seem to stick out pretty much wherever we put him:

Debi feeding Toren at BK

We made a couple more stops then headed home.  Not bad for his first day outside of the house and hospital.

I do have one more photo for this post.  His legs and feet are pretty adorable.  Whenever he’s cold he pulls them up and wraps them around his groin.  His flexibility is pretty remarkable.  I snapped a photo of him doing just that this morning before I changed his diaper:

You can see the little present he had waiting for me this morning too.