One Month!

Josiah is one month old! In celebration of this, he had an extra long bath with some splashes over the side of the whale tub and also took a nap while mom had a pizza party. Uncle Brady and Auntie Kaylyn came over too.

He's been awfully busy this last week. His newest tricks include smiles (not always related to gas bubbles), growing, grabbing, tracking with his eyes, enjoying time on the play mat, and... most exciting to mommy and daddy: taking a bottle! (Which will hopefully enable some longer sleep intervals for mom, and eventually a smooth transition for mommy back to her work).

Seth has been back at work for a couple of weeks now, and we're trying to get settled into a routine (as much as you can with an every third day work schedule).

I have had plenty of brilliant ideas of what to write on this blog over the last week, but at the moment, in my current state of 'lots of love and not lots of sleep,' I can't remember even one, and right now Josiah is stirring and will be ready to eat again soon.

Below, some daddy and Josiah time watchin' the March Madness. Also, some sleep time, play time, Josiah held by Meagan's cousin Jeremy, and a walk we took today at Titlow Beach.

3 weeks old!

Josiah has been growing a lot! At his two week check up he weighed 10lbs and was 22in long! The newborn size clothes don't fit anymore (if they did to start with). He spends a lot of time with his eyes open looking all around (especially at night when Mom and Dad want to sleep). His daily activities are centered around awake time, nap time and meal time. We have been working on establishing a routine, but Josiah doesn't like routine much.

As parents, we are settling into our new roles. I can't really remember what it was like without our sweet baby boy. We've had the opportunity to leave him with family now for about an hour, and have had a date. On the way back from our date I told Seth, "I miss Josiah so much!" After an hour. I have had a total of two hours out of range from Josiah since he was born. I thought I would be ready for some 'me' time by now, but I really just love being around him (which is a good thing, since we've got plenty of time to be together over the next several years...). Seth says being a parent is "hard but rewarding" especially when Josiah has been crying for three and a half hours in the middle of the night and we decide to take him for a ride in the car and he falls asleep in the car seat before we get out the door (i.e. last night; Which brings to mind: Why didn't we try that before three and half hours had passed?).

I think the most frustrating thing about parenting is trying to figure out what his crying means. For example, over the last couple of days, he has been crying quite a lot. My little boy has been ravenous when nursing and has been ready to nurse every two hours, despite my request to wait a little longer. Try as I might, the stretch toward three hours is looking like an unattainable goal. He cries. And maybe the cry is only because he needs to burp, but burping doesn't stop the crying. And the diaper is clean.

Challenging though the crying may be, our baby rewards us with smiles and happy time too. He likes bath time. He's been observing his environment even more closely over the past week. He listens to my singing like it's really good. He appears thoughtful when I ask him difficult questions. And his look of pure satisfaction after he fills a clean diaper is hilarious.

Here are a few recent pictures. More adventures in parenting soon!


Josiah's target practice.



Josiah and Uncle Brady

11 Days

Well, the last eleven days have certainly been an adventure. But I won't bore you with the details or entertain my fantasy that you care to know the specifics. I know what you want -- PICTURES! So, here they are, without further ado.