One Month Old!

Where did the time go? It feels like yesterday that we brought Evan home from the hospital and now it's already been a month. Just like with pregnancy, I want to do regular updates, though I'm thinking monthly makes more sense. It'll be nice to have a kind of online "baby book" to keep track of everything that went on in his little life.

Stats: 
Weight - 11 lb 11 oz   (+ 2.5 lbs since birth)
Height - 22 in (so, funny story - the hospital put his height at 22.5 in, but our doctor has consistently measured him as less - 20 inches at his first appointment. Glad to almost be back to his birth height :) )
Head circumference - 15.5in (+1 inch since birth)

Likes:
Sleeping and Eating (what newborn doesn't?). Though, to be clear, when I say sleeping, I mean he falls asleep when he eats. He still isn't sleeping that long - we generally get 1-2 hours of sleep chunks during the day and at night. We're hoping this will get better as he gets older :). But, he does go down fairly easily, which I'm thankful for. He also seems to like our changing pad a lot. He is pretty content to lie there and stare at himself in the mirror, which is very cute. The play mat is another favorite (when he's in a good mood). We have a little bird on it that he almost always tugs on, to make the bell in it ring.

(one of the few happy moments in the bouncer his first week)

Dislikes:
Sleeping for long chunks (as mentioned above). He hates being hungry, too. It's so funny how he'll go from totally calm to wails of terror in a split second. He is also not a fan of any device if he's awake. We can put him down in the swing or rock n play if he's asleep, but awake it only lasts a minute or two. His bouncer has gotten no real love at all. He also is not a fan of the car seat, though if I'm sitting in the back with him, he'll often fall asleep. So far I've had one drive where he didn't scream at all, and I'm hoping that its the start of something good :). He also isn't a huge fan of the pack n play. We used it for one night and he did sleep, but it took and extra 30 minutes after each feeding to get him to sleep in it. Considering we don't get much sleep as it is, I've voted that we take a break from it for a few days.

Bath time is also pretty hated, but I think he's starting to come around.

Important Events:
As this was his first month of life, it seems like everything was pretty important. Some big highlights, though, were definitely family visits. My parents came the for his birth and the first week, Sabine (Ed's mom) came when he was two weeks old, and "Uncle" Tom and "Aunt" Irma came while Sabine was here. We also have skyped/facetimed with the rest of our siblings on both sides and with friends, which has been lovely.

Rocking Evan to sleep at one of the many nighttime feedings

Challenges:
Overall, we've been really lucky where this little guy is concerned. I think it's a result of a kind of good karma to make up for the crazy end to the pregnancy :). He did have a tongue tie which had to get snipped during his one week appointment (poor guy). This did mean that his weight gain was slow to start and his latch wasn't the best, and still isn't honestly perfect, but it's getting so much better. I heard that it can take 6 weeks to really get the feeding down and feeling good, so I feel like I'm on track. This past week alone he's made great progress! Feeding in general has been much more all consuming that I ever could have imagined, despite all my reading and knowledge about it. And of course, lack of sleep is crazy hard.

Mommy Successes:
This month has been so much about figuring out exactly what I am supposed to do and not do to make this little guy happy. A month in, I definitely feel more confident (though I've learned that the answer to what will make him happy is almost always food). I've started attending a Breastfeeding support group that meets Fridays and a baby storytime group that meets Wednesdays, with a few friends from the midwife group, which has been really nice. I'm more confident on taking Evan out of the house, though we still haven't tackled any big errands together yet. I'm very thankful for all the frozen meals I prepped (even though, truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of some of them). Though I can't claim any credit for this, I am very relieved to find that despite all the risk factors, my mood has been pretty darn good. I give a lot of credit to having a fantastic husband who is around a lot and the good hormones that I get from breastfeeding :).

Daddy Successes:
Ed has been so amazing as a father, and such a great partner. He has taken on the role of diaper changer at night, and during the day if he isn't working, which has been great bonding time for them and so wonderful for me. Having him up at night, even though it's just for a little, make me feel much less alone. He also claims to not mind it at all since he's able to get back to sleep easily isn't woken by any Evan noises, which is icing on the cake. He also takes Evan for the first shift in the morning so that I can go back to sleep for another hour (if Evan is willing). And, he's taken on a lot of the housework, since more often than not I'm tied to the couch with Evan. Since Evan showed up early, Ed wasn't able to take the time off that he had planned, but is working a lot from home so that he can be around to help. Evan and I are very, very lucky to have Ed in our lives.

Breakfast/working at Liberty Market

Best Moments:
We've really enjoyed spending time as a family of three. We've done a few cafe trips, which have been great and are something that I think we'll continue a lot over the next year. We also love just staring at this little boy and seeing all of his funny expressions. Our favorite is when he rests his head on his hands and the pulls his head up. He raises his eyebrows, scrunches up his forehead, and purses his lips. We will definitely need to find a way to get a picture of that at some point. In general though, just seeing him grow and change and hold his sweet little body - all of it is amazing.