One Month

I find myself saying it more and more as I get older, but time is a funny thing. You would think I would say something like, "I can't believe my baby is already a month old!" But how I'm actually feeling is shocked that it's ONLY been a month!! I feel like Joseph has been a part of our family forever. I didn't realize we weren't complete without him, and now that he's here with us it all just feels right. 

Joey is an angel baby, through and through. He's just so easy!! By the time he was two weeks old, he had established a sleeping schedule...on his own. At first, we tried sleeping him in the rocker/sleeper that Grandma Candy bought for him...the same type that Luke just loved. But by that second week, we discovered that Joey liked laying flat. So we set up the crib for him, and that's when everything fell into place. Joey is usually asleep between 10 and 11 and sleeps until 3:00 am. He eats, and we're usually back to bed by around 4:00 am...though sometimes he likes to play and keeps me up until 5:00 am. :) Then it's back to sleep for another 4 hours or so. He's amazing!! And speaking of amazing...his hair is fabulous!! Perfect strangers can't help but run their fingers through it. :)

I have absolutely loved nursing Joey. He is a bit of a distracted nurser, though. He loves to look around, just as soon as he's cued my milk to let down. :) It'd say he's growing like a weed, and while he seems like it to us the scale doesn't seem to agree. When we took him into the doctor for his two week check, he was only 11 lbs 1 oz...which means he hadn't gained anything in the ten days since discharging from the hospital. I was shocked! Then, at his one month check, he was still only 11 lbs 14 oz. Still not back to his birth weight! The only thing we can figure is that he was really water-overloaded at birth, because he is eating, sleeping, and playing like he should. It's caused a fair amount of stress for me, but no one else is worried. 

Along with his weight not being where we would have expected, he's had a bit more medical drama. Our doctor prefers to do circumcisions around two weeks old. So at about 11 days old, we took Joey to be circumcised, and didn't think much of it. We had done the same thing with Johnny. Everything seemed to go perfectly well, until the "plastibell" fell off before the end of the second day...when it was supposed to be on for about a week. When we took him back in, our good doctor was shocked and felt so horrible that it hadn't worked like it should. The very tip portion of his penis was circumcised, but the rest of the foreskin was still attached. We were going to have to do it again, once the swelling went down. And hopefully we'd be able to repeat the procedure in the office, since our other option was to take him to a urologist at Primary Chidren's to be circumcised at six month old, in the OR, under anesthesia. Needless to say, I was NOT a fan of the thought of handing another of my six month old sons to an anesthesiologist for a surgery. We went back to see Dr. Stewart yesterday, and unfortunately we were not able to complete the procedure. We love Dr. Stewart, and are in no way upset with him. And I appreciate that he doesn't want to mess anything up. But I'm not excited to have to head back to Primary's. But what can we do? I suppose we really need to finish what we started.

But let's get back to the fun stuff about Joey. :) He can still fit into some of his 0-3 month clothes, but not many. I've come to terms with the fact that he needs to be in 3-6 months clothes already, and it kind of breaks my heart! I want him to stay my baby forever. He is absolutely adored by Claire, Sophie, and Johnny...and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. He really does seem to perk up when the kids are fawning over him. Claire has been changing diapers like a pro, and both Claire and Sophie can pick Joey up and bring him to me when it's time for him to eat. And Johnny? Well, Johnny is absolutely in love. And it's good to see him have a place to put his nurturing energy now that Luke doesn't need it. Johnny could hold Joey all day! Those two are going to be buds. And then there's Danny. Danny is absolutely in love with his newest son. Again, I think it's done him good to have someone to love on. And I think that Luke gave Danny a deeper appreciation for his babies while they're babies. He's always been great with them, and loved them to pieces. But he is having more fun with Joey than I think he did the other three kids. Not to mention the fact that he's our last. Our last baby. It gives both of us reason to pause and suck up every single minute with this precious boy. 

Oh, Joseph. I love you more than words can say. I didn't know how much I needed you in my life, and how much my heart yearned to feel again. I really do wish I could keep you tiny forever, so that you're perfect little body will always mold to mine when I hold you. But at the same time, I'm so excited to see you grow! I can't wait, whether I'm ready or not, to see what next month brings. We love you, Mr. Bright Eyes!