Soy Bean - ONE Month

I can hardly believe that it is already time for me to write this post. It's still surreal that we have a son. That just a month ago I was sitting on the couch waiting the big arrival and now he is here with us. There have been several times that Shawn and I laugh because we can hardly believe that we are in fact parents to two beautiful children. I thought time flew the first time around, it is going twice as fast this time. Maybe because I have twice as much going on. Regardless, the day has come and our little man has reached his FIRST month birthday.

Fortunately for all of us, Shawn was able to stay home with us for most of our sweet boy's first month. I LOVED having him there, my right hand man, as we started this journey to being parents of two. We tagged teamed a lot and having him home helped big sister get the attention that she needed, while I was able to tend to our new arrival. We each were able to have alone time with both of our kids and it's something that we think has been so important to helping everyone adjust. I was able to have dates with my girl, mostly shopping trips to Target, while Shawn got in much needed snuggles with his little man and then Shawn was able to take Emerson to all her activities, swim and gym class, while I stayed and loved on sweet Sawyer. Shawn and I were even able to have our first date night thanks to Granny and Papa coming and watching the kiddos. It was really a great time for our family and we were all sad the day that Shawn had to head back to work.

As far as little man goes we are so blessed that he is a happy and healthy little boy. He is growing great, thriving so far just off Mommy's milk. At his 2 week appointment he was 10 pounds 5.5 ounces and 22 1/2 inches long, so big man does not have a problem gaining weight, so far. My guess would be that he is getting close to the 11 pound mark, but we won't have a true weight until his two month check up. He is eating every 2 to 3 hours and the longest stretch of sleep he has given me has been 4 hours. Of course, I don't really sleep for the 4 hours, but he has gone 4 hours between nursing sessions at night. As far as sizing, sweet boy skipped most of the newborn items, lets be real, the boy was 9 1/2 pounds at birth, so he is fitting nicely in size 1 diapers and rocking 0-3 and 3 month clothing. His favorite things right now are eating and sleeping and he is working on finding his voice. Most of his noises are grunts and hiccups at the moment, but he has been throwing some sweet coos in the mix, and they are honestly music to my ears. There's nothing sweeter than the sounds of happy kiddos. He is a champ at tummy time and is working hard to hold his head up. He loves to sneak in smiles, although he turns them more into a scowl, the boy seriously has the cutest grumpy face, when the camera is out. Watching the ceiling fan  and listening to big sister talk and sing are some activities that he currently enjoys. Baby boy is not a fan of bath time, the hiccups or being swaddled, he constantly fights it. We have been looking at alternatives to the swaddle and have a Zipadee-Zip on the way to see if he is a bigger fan of that. For now, we are still swaddling and using sleep sacks to help with night time sleep. He doesn't spit up much, but when he does I need a sham wow and so far there has only been ONE blow-out. Fortunately for me, the blow-out happened when he was under Daddy watch, but unfortunately for all of us it happened when we made a rookie mistake and left the diaper bag at home! Lesson learned. There is now an emergency "go bag" in the car at all times with a few diapers for both kiddos, wipes and a change of clothes.

I went back and read what our Little Lady was up to on her one month birthday and it seems that Sawyer is following pretty close to his sister's footsteps in terms of his "schedule" and demeanor. We really have been lucky to have two content babies, although I do feel like our little man goes from 0 to 100 on the angry scale. We're working on sleep wake cycles, hoping to have little man sleep, eat, "play," and then sleep again every 2 1/2 - 3 hours during the day. Some days the schedule works out better than others, but for the most part little man is doing pretty well getting in enough time with each of his needed activities.

SWL Jr. (Shawn's initials are also SWL) :) , we love you so much and are so thankful that we get to call you ours. Having the blessing of loving and raising you is one that we don't take lightly and we are loving the journey of watching you grow!