Caleb is one month old! This sweet sweet boy of ours is so loved and I can hardly believe it's already been a month. I mean, weren't we in the hospital just like two days ago?
Stats @ 2 weeks:
Weight- 9lbs 1 oz (67%)
Length- 22.25 in (98%)
Head circ- 37.4 cm (90%)
(He was 8lbs 2 oz when we left the hospital, so he gained almost a whole pound and surpassed his birth weight at 2 weeks.)
Stats @ 1 month (unofficial): Size 1 diapers, solidly in size 0-3 month clothes. He grew out of basically everything "newborn" at two weeks. He's a big boy! Because we don't have a pediatrician well-check at one month, I had David stand on a scale, step off, and get back on holding Caleb to see how much he weighed. The math came out to almost 12 lbs! I thought we must have done something wrong and made David do it over again. But no, still the same. I mean, he was wearing a diaper, clothes, and was wrapped in a blanket... so I've been saying 11 lbs. But he was only 9 lbs at two weeks - but still!
It's only been a few weeks, but already looking at these pictures of Caleb in the hospital makes me weepy. He's so small and sweet and tiny and... new. He's been a great baby from the very start.
As I neared the end of Caleb's pregnancy, I was a little worried about the newborn stage. I was worried about sleep and everything else that comes with managing a home and a baby - but at this point I can say that things have been going wonderfully. I definitely haven't started back into everything 100% yet, but we are all feeling good and have settled into a routine. We had people bringing us meals for the first several weeks, my mom came and stayed for a week or so, and the older kids have been amazing. Honestly, though - the two biggest things are 1) Caleb has been sleeping great at night from the very beginning (more details later) and 2) the Sunshine outside.
I remember the feeling I had after Lydia was born where I just felt like I was made to be a mom. I loved it and felt so much joy about everything. I expected that same feeling with Austin, but never really felt it the same way, but again with Caleb - I just feel so happy. Not that it isn't hard sometimes, but I just have this happiness that swells up in my heart and I'm just so happy and grateful. I truly think that it's the difference between having a fall baby and a spring baby. The sunshine is good for my soul and makes me feel better and does wonders for my post-partum hormones. It's a real thing.
And come on... look at this sweet baby. Ah, I just love him so much.
--He's been sleeping so well. I mean, he's a baby - but he's the best sleeping baby we've ever had. We set up the pack and play (with the bassinet attachment) next to our bed, and I put a little padded stool at the end of the bed. He goes to sleep for the night about 10:00-10:30, and sleeps until about 2:30. Then he's up again at about 4:30 and then 6:30. He doesn't cry when he wakes up, he just starts making rooting noises and so I get up, pull him out of his bed, sit on the stool at the end of my bed (using my boppy pillow as support for him), nurse him for about 20 minutes, then after he falls asleep I put him right back into his bed and crawl into my bed. These are the things that have made a huge difference: 1-He sleeps in his bed. 2-I get a good stretch of sleep early on in the night. 3-He nurses well and doesn't cry in the night. 4- He falls right back to sleep in his bed. 5-I get to sleep in my own bed. I think part of this is me making sure that I don't fall asleep nursing him and then sleeping in a chair all night, but part of it is just Caleb. He sleeps so well in his bed that it allows me to sleep in my bed, too! (And he's been doing this basically every night since he came home from the hospital. Only once or twice has he woken up more than three times... and the 6:30 wakeup doesn't even really count because it's morning-ish.)
We nurse on demand, and he eats well during the day - but he eats especially well and often from 7ish until he goes to bed. I think that falls into the category of "cluster feeding", which is great because I think it's one of the reasons that he sleeps so well that first stretch of night.
-He also naps really well, and most of his naps are in his bed, too. It's not uncommon to get a 1pm-5pm nap stretch, although he's still little and not on too much of a schedule. But it's been amazing. As long as he's wrapped up really tight (I usually use two blankets for my signature "double swaddle") he'll fall asleep and be super happy.
--The kids love him, and he's jumped right into his "third child" role. He's super easy going, he allows them to love on him all the time, and he pretty much just goes along with whatever we are doing. (Anytime I try to nurse him, both kids climb up right next to me to "see him" and "help him". Austin climbs on the couch behind me or tries to grab his head to turn it so he can see him... and it's really a miracle that Caleb ever gets to eat a full meal. (But he's a good eater, so he does.)
-I'm surprised that I don't have more pictures of Caleb with a pacifier, because he is so good at using a pacifier. He figured it out early on and is super good at it. Sometimes if I can tell he's sleepy I'll just wrap him tight, lay him in bed with his pacifier, and in minutes he's totally gone. Other times, he's happy to just suck away while swinging in the swing.
-I mentioned that he nurses well, which is great. And yay for side-nursing! Nursing hurts my back so badly and being able to lay down to nurse is a life saver. Caleb had this down from day one and I'm so glad. Usually when he wakes up at 6:30, I just pull him into bed and nurse him while I go back to sleep, too. (It's close enough to morning time that I don't want to wake all the way up to nurse him, but I'm also not as worried about having him in my bed all night.)
(More pictures:)
--Austin calls him "Bae Cae-wub" I love it SOOO much! Every morning we gather around Caleb to say good morning and talk about how cute he is. Lydia always says "awwww, he's so cute!" and she calls him "Bae-Boo" (The Coopers call Hailey Mae, Mae-Moo, and it's translated to Bae-Boo over here.)
Also, when people ask Lydia how she likes her new baby she says, "Good! He doesn't even wake me up at night." Like that is the most important thing about her new baby. It's so funny. But it's true. He doesn't cry at night (and honestly doesn't cry much during the day either, like he didn't cry more than once or twice in his whole first two weeks). At night he just starts making rooting noises and I wake up, and during the day he's just pretty chill. (If he starts to fuss or grunt I pick him up and he calms right down.)
-I do not change his diapers at night. I've just been putting him in a size 2 diaper and he's good to go the whole stretch from 10-morning. When he was tiny, like the first two weeks I changed his diaper at night. But then it got so that if I changed his diaper, he woke up and had a harder time just going to sleep and so we bagged that! I just feed him and put him back to bed.
On a similar note, when he was first born he did not like his diaper changed. Now he really does. If he's fussing I can just lay him down and take my time changing his diaper because it calms him down.
--I'm not going to say a whole lot about this, although I have a lot of big feelings about it. But, we decided not to circumcise Caleb. More than anything I want Caleb to know that we thought, prayed, and put a lot of energy into knowing what would be the best thing for him. I had an awful experience with Austin and have regretted not standing up for myself and my baby when I felt uncomfortable about the procedure. There is just really no medical reason (and no religious reason) to do it, and doing it just because that's what has been done before doesn't seem like a good enough reason to me. I feel so much more comfortable and confident with this decision for us and our family. When you know better, you do better.
(I also realize that this is a super personal decision and that other people might think, research, and pray and come up with a different answer for their family. But with all the love in my heart I hope Caleb knows that this is what we felt best about and we will take any consequences or conversations as they come.)
My sweet Caleb-boy. You are a joy to this mama's heart. I love you and wish I could remember every single thing about you right now because you are perfect. I love to hold you and watch your eyes focus on me, to laugh at your siblings antics while they make a fuss over you, to crawl into my bed after feeding you in the middle of the night while listening to the soft breathing coming from your bed. I love wearing you in my baby wrap and feeling your heartbeat so close to mine. I love how perfectly you fit into our family. We are so lucky to have you.
Happy one month, my darling!
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