Henry One Month (one month late)

Dear Henry,

Age: one month

one elephant for one month

Size: At one month you weighed 8 pounds and 3 ounces - almost 2 pounds heavier than at birth! You had your one month appointment about 3-4 days after you turned one month, so you probably weighed right at 8 pounds then. You were 20 inches still, or 20.5 (wow I don't remember already) so just getting fatter!

Milestones: You rolled over!! 

At one week old we looked at the crib monitor from our phones and from your back you had managed to get on your side and your right arm was all the way over your left (which was still stuck). From the angle of the picture, you looked like you rolled over but we knew you didn't. Once we started using swaddles instead of sleep sacks you started squiggling around in your crib and we don't know how since you are pretty tightly swaddled.

What a wiggle worm!

Family and Friends: A lot of our friends brought us meals (which definitely contributed to the fact that I weigh the same as when I left the hospital). You have loved meeting them all, especially Clara!
 
Your Aunt Adva and Uncle Jason surprised us and visited during their short break for their board exams. They checked your reflexes before they even hugged or held you, and of course you passed with flying colors.

Your Daddy could just hold you while you're sleeping and not put you down, and in fact he sometimes holds you in the middle of the night in the lazy boy instead of putting you in the crib. We gotta soak up those cuddles because pretty soon you'll be too big for them.

One morning I woke up after I had fallen asleep with you in my arms, and looked over and you were in the crib with a big blanket on you. 

I FREAKED out that someone had done that, and Daddy was sitting gin the office (the next room over) watching the monitor constantly to make sure you were okay. But we had a talk and I explained to him very nicely that it was not okay and that we have wearable blankets. Daddy said he thought you liked the heavy pressure so I showed him some swaddles that add a little weight. 

Well, I went to get a pedicure when you were a few weeks old and Daddy watched you. I missed you so I asked him to send me a picture. He sent a picture of a pile of blankets and said "he's somewhere under there". Then of course he didn't pick up when I called so I called Granny Lolly and made her go check on you. Before she got there Daddy texted me that he was joking. NOT funny, Daddy!

Foods: You get breast milk only, either from the boob or the bottle. You got your bottle on day 2 because you were in the NICU (Thank you Aunt Dana and baby Leah for sharing your milk for Henry's first bottle). I made sure to give you the bottle and not anybody else so that you would take one from me. I've heard about babies taking bottles from anybody but their mother (they smell her and want the boob) so I wanted to nip it in the bud before it started.  You got a pacifier on day 2. It's your best friend. We call it your "motzi" because Motzetz is Pacifier in Hebrew. Parents who choose to not give their kids motzis are sadists. Seriously! I've come to learn that nipple confusion is basically a myth. So many of my friends gave a motzi early on and their babies still breastfeed like champs. In fact, I have a friend who didn't give her baby one and then the baby didn't take a paci ever!
You only took the soothie or gumdrop pacis at the beginning but I transitioned you to the orthodontic kind, and your favorite motzi is the mam, followed by the avent. I like that the event comes with a little cover so I keep that one in my diaper bag as our extra, so it doesn't collect diaper bag dust.

At about 1-2 weeks you stopped latching on immediately (I called it "the chomp) and started fussing a bit at the nipple, but a few phone calls with Aunt Jaren and Aunt Sarah, and Granny Lolly, straightened that our right away.

Schedule: In the NICU you were put on an ever 3 hour schedule from day 1, so we kept it at first. At your 1 week check up (you were 8 days old) you had regained all your birth weight plus an ounce, so the doctor told us we didn't have to wake you up in the middle of the night anymore. That sort of ruined the schedule because now you were waking up at different hours. After tweaking it quite a bit I put you on a 2.5 hour schedule, which sounds like a step back from 3 hours, but it ensured you got more food during the day and needed less at night, so you would sleep longer stretches.

You are very sweet when you sleep. At first you didn't like the swaddle and you slept so soundly that we just used sleep sacks (wearable blankets) but when you became more alert we started swaddling you and it completely relaxes you now.

We did your newborn pictures at 9 days and you were already so much more alert that they were a pain in the butt! You fussed the whole time instead of just sleeping for those precious sleeping pictures. We did manage a few good ones and my absolute favorite (and yours) is this one of Mickey, which I declare will be your favorite thing ever.

Swaddled, you are a good sleeper. You also fall asleep nursing sometimes, and make really cute faces and smiles. I also love when you fall asleep with your paci and it falls out, and your mouth stays open. Jaren titled the open mouthed picture "Insert boob here". 

Me and you:

I got to show you off when I took you to Sunday School for your very first non doctor appointment outing on your 4 week birthday. I let my students hold you after they washed their hands. I loved showing you off! 

Call me an evil mama, but some of my favorite pictures are these few of you crying.

I tried so hard to get these of you, and as soon as we took out your motzi and unswaddled you, the pictures above happened. 

I can't believe in a few months you'll be posing in the lazy boy with 12 little elephants (which means mommy needs to do some shopping, don't tell Daddy!)

I love you more than the world, baby boy!