You are already 1 month old! I swear this has been the fastest month of my life. You have been a very good baby so far and you are fitting right in with your brothers who adore you! After you were born, we stayed for a couple days in the hospital. Your brothers were so excited to come meet you. They were there before you even got your first bath! Alex was especially smitten with you. Each time you were in his sight, he wanted to hold you. He told everyone who came to visit you that they had "2 minutes left" to hold you and then it was his turn again!
You had quite a few people visit you while we were in the hospital:
You actually had quite a few more visitors than that who I didn't manage to get pictures of. I was at the mercy of your dad taking the pictures since I still wasn't feeling great after giving birth.
After a couple days, we were finally able to take you home:
The same day we got home from the hospital, we also had our newborn photo session. So we all got ready to go and loaded you in the car with your brothers. It was the first time all three of you sat next to each other in the car:
After that first weekend, you and I tried to settle into a bit of a routine. Unfortunately we were having some trouble with breastfeeding and you were not gaining weight as you should. We discovered you had tongue tie. So until we could get that fixed, mom had to pump out all your milk and then feed it to you out of a bottle. So a lot of our time was spent at the house with me pumping and you drinking. In between, we had some time for snuggles.
This was a very common scenario at our house the first few weeks . . . me sitting with my pump attached to me and you laying in my lap (usually with a bottle in your mouth):
All this pumping and feeding was really hard on your mom, but your brothers just loved it! This meant that they could feed you a bottle! So all was not lost on this one! They want to feed you and hold you every chance they get.
As I said, both of your brothers just love you, but Alex is really showing it. He is VERY into volcanoes right now and he watches volcanoes erupt on mom's phone. He loves you so much, he wanted to share the erupting volcanoes with you!
He also just wants to be around you at all times. When he wakes up and you are still asleep, he finds a way to sleep next to you:
You had several visitors after we got home including your cousins Grace, Brooke and Brady. It was so fun for you to hang out with your cousins!
We also gave you your first bath at home. This first one was just a sponge bath. Daddy forgot that you weren't supposed to get your belly button wet, so he got you a bit wetter than we should have. You weren't crazy about the sponge bath, but didn't hate it either.
Once your belly button stump fell off, we were able to put you in your little tub. You seemed to like this much better, although each time I put you in there you are still not quite sure what is going on!
We were able to get out a couple times this first month. After taking you to the doctor one day, I had to run a couple small errands with Gram. We stopped by Gram and Poppy's house for a bit that day ad took a couple pictures by their pond to show what a difference one week can make. This is you at 5 days old with me . . . just a week after my very big pregnant pictures were taken:
We also left the house for a little bit to attend Alex's preschool graduation. Everyone who saw you at Alex's school was so happy to finally meet you and as most people do when they see you, they just fawned over your hair!
A couple days later, we went to the doctor again for another weight check. This is when we discovered that you were not gaining enough and we needed mom's milk supply to increase. So of course that meant that I needed to eat more. So Gram decided we needed to go to Adriana's to get my milk supply up. So you had your first trip to Adriana's (on the outside):
Your Great Grandma Joyce also just moved into a new apartment, so we we out to see her. This was after we went to the SMMA school picnic for a bit, so that was a big day!
We also hung out in the shade while your brothers played in the back yard :
We also went out for Family Day at Gram and Poppy's a couple times. Your Aunt E LOVES you!
But mostly we hung out inside our own house in the AC . . . it was a hot summer!
You are doing really well with tummy time right now. When you do tummy time, your brothers like to do it with you and "teach" you how to hold your head up.
We have started a routine in order for mom to get a bit more sleep. Mommy pumps a bottle right before bed and then daddy feeds it to you a couple hours later. You love your late night time with daddy:
You have been such a wonderful baby so far! I just adore you and look forward to what is ahead of us! Here's what you look like at 1 month old:
And here you are between your brothers at 1 month old:
I love you!
Love,
Mom
