Joey: 1 Month

Look who's a month old!

About a week ago I said his name and he looked me in the eye and smiled. I was so shocked. Our crankiest baby yet starts smiling the earliest? Is it even possible for a three week-old baby to make a real smile? I told Tim about it later and to me surprise he didn't say, "It was just gas." He said, "Yeah, he did that to me too, the other day." He's even started to coo. It's the best. I have to catch him just after he's had a nap and a feed.

Those smiley pictures above represent only a few fleeting seconds of the days they were taken on. Either he's been our fussiest baby or I just have a poor memory. But I'm pretty sure he's the fussiest. He has bouts of crying that last anywhere from two to four hours at a time, sometimes more, usually late in the evening. Sometimes he is inconsolable. He cries a lot the rest of the day too, but can usually be kept content by being held and in motion. Some days are worse than others. The good days make us forget all about the bad ones. I got myself a Moby wrap the other day, and that's been a sanity saver for us all. No more passing a crying baby back and forth while trying to eat dinner. I like looking down and seeing him peacefully sleeping next to my heart.

As far as sleep goes, lately it hasn't been too bad. I get him to sleep by about 9, and Tim and I go right to bed at that point too. Nighttime Netflix will have to wait awhile. He sleeps three to four hours the first stretch, wakes up to nurse and then goes right back to sleep another two to three hours. When he gets up to nurse a second time he's usually up for an hour and that's kind of a pain, but eventually he falls back asleep and then I get another hour or two of sleep too. If I'm lucky he keeps sleeping when I get up to get the kids ready for school. He can be persuaded to take a nap in the pack 'n play about an hour after he gets up, and I try really hard to make that happen because I love my morning time. The rest of the day he takes naps in the Moby. He does not like to sit in either his rocker or bouncer -- only a person holding him will do. That person is almost always me, so by the end of the day my back is very achy and tired. I am bone tired all over at that point, so I go right to bed as soon as I can and we begin the cycle again. I know it could be a lot worse, and all that sleep at night is a blessing even if it's not continuous. I take what I can get with a newborn!

On the night I took this picture Joey was having a really rough night, just crying and crying. I was back in our room trying to calm him down and nothing was working, so Tim came back to relieve me for a little while.

He had a pediatrician visit at 3 weeks. He weighed in at 10 pounds 5 ounces. He is currently wearing size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes, but he seems on the verge of outgrowing both of those. I've still got 200 size 1 diapers thanks to Amazon Subscribe & Save, so I'll keep stuffing him into those for as long as I can.

You may recall how in Joey's birth story I told about the one diaper Tim did -- the very first clean diaper on his clean butt. Well, Tim managed to avoid diapers for Joey's entire first month, right up until this morning. I came out to the waiting room after having my teeth cleaned and asked him how it had gone. He gestured with his hand indicating so-so. Then he said, "I changed him." I said something like, "Oh, wow." Then he said again, "I changed him," giving a pointed look at the sleeping baby who I now noticed was wearing his spare clothes. Tim's first diaper in a month had been a real doozy, and he'd had to change it on the dentist's waiting room floor. He thinks that more than made up for a whole month of no diaper changing, and I would have to agree. But then I'd also have to ask, which would you rather do? A regular, easy diaper change once every day or two, or a real mess of a diaper change once in a long while on the rare occasion that I'm not available to do it myself? To that he would probably answer that he will have nothing to do with any of the diapers from now on. We'll see about that. He can't avoid all of them.

A day at the farm

Today we went with some friends to A Day at the Farm, a half hour away in Cove City, NC.  It is really just a morning at the farm, which is perfect for us.  We arrived at 9:30, took a tour of the animals, a hayride, sat down for a little picnic, and then had some of their homemade ice cream right before we left.  It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun.

"Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur.."

The girls were saying, "Shoo, bees, stay away!"

Lily, one of Delaney's preschool classmates, was saying, "This is my friend Delaney," and trying to hug her.   But Delaney was having none of it.

The lady leading the tour told us we could bring home a young male peacock for $40.  Also for sale at McCoy's Dairy: a dozen farm fresh eggs for $2, and a kitten for free.  You could also sign up to buy a third of a Heringford cow (I don't know how much for).  We saw the cows on our hayride, and the tour guide said, "Who likes hamburgers?"  A few other people there were signing up to buy portions of cow, and I briefly considered it, but we don't have the freezer space for something of that magnitude.

The peacock decided to show everyone his behind, and Delaney said, "Here's mine!"

"I don't want that turkey to get me!"

Timmy watched everything from a safe distance above the ground.

The girls were excited for the hayride.

Lots of happy faces on the hayride

Yummy ice cream

Timmy was not OK with watching me eat ice cream right in front of his face.  He grabbed my little wooden spoon and would not let go of it.  So I let him have it.  He licked the little bit of ice cream off and then happily gnawed on it.  I grabbed a new spoon and kept eating my ice cream.

Timmy at 8 months

When Timmy is happy I call him my 'Sunshine Boy.'  When he is smiling, life is good.  We all laugh when he laughs.  His sisters are giddy to hear his giggle.  But when he's in a bad mood, watch out.  His bad moods usually happen in the afternoon, and sometimes last until bedtime.  Either Tim or I will carry him on our back in the Ergo when he's having a bad time and doesn't want to be put down.  Sometimes he even complains in the Ergo, and to that we say, "Buddy, it's either this or bed, take your pick!"

I put him in the bathtub with Delaney and Annie for the first time this month.  I hadn't been planning on it, but it was the girls' bath time, and Timmy was up and about.  He kept heading for the bathtub, and seemed very determined to get in.  I decided it was easier just to put him in there than it was to have to keep fending him off.  The girls eagerly made space for him, and Annie promised to be "vewy gentle" with him.  Since that first time, I've done it a few more times.  Timmy gets so excited when he sees them in there.  If I'm holding him on my hip, he kicks his legs and lunges in the direction of the tub as if to say, "Me too, Mama, please..?"  It's hard to tell him no, even though the whole time he's in the bath with them I've got to divide my attention between washing them up and keeping him from flipping around and falling on his face in the water.  I still prefer separate bath times for him and the girls, but it does make me smile to see my three kiddos happy as they can be, together in the tub.

He doesn't laugh all that often, and when he does, we'll do about anything to hear it again.  One time after a meal, Delaney picked up the wet washcloth I'd used to clean him up, and lightly swung it into his face.  He laughed.  We all laughed.  Delaney did it again and again, and it was very funny.  At some point in the next day or two, Delaney picked up a wet washcloth while we were all sitting at the table, and said, "Can I smack him with it, Mama?"  I said, "Yes, gently," shaking my head.  I hope she doesn't go to school and tell everybody how she slaps her baby brother with a wet washcloth.  I guess that for him, the kiss of the cold wet fabric on his cheeks and chin must be a surprising and funny sensation.

He has begun to crawl, and after a few paces, he flops onto his belly and propels himself along using just his arms.  Imagine how strong our arms would all be if we did that all the time!  We are having to watch him more closely now, as he gets around fast, and wants everything that's NOT a toy.  Books and magazines are his favorite, and he'll chew the pages to a pulp if you don't catch him.  He pulled himself up to kneeling on the coffee table today, and I whisked him away from it before he could either figure out how to pull himself up all the way OR bang his face into the unforgiving wooden edge of it.  Yes, I know it's only a matter of time before he bumps into something and/or learns how to pull up on things.  Just not today.

He is still not sleeping through the night, and he gets up anywhere from one to three times on any given night.  I trek across the house to nurse him and I'm back in bed in about 7 minutes, but I am a grouchy mama bear on many mornings because of my interrupted slumber.  Tim has suggested that maybe it's time to give him some "tough love," but I don't feel quite ready yet.  With the girls, I just knew when it was time, and I have a feeling it will be time soon for young Timmy.  I've been brushing up on The Sleep Lady again, and I have a plan, but I'm not ready to commit to implementing it.  We'll see.  One of these days, I'll make up my mind.  Push might come to shove.

Here is a video of Timmy leading his siblings in a workout.  Warning: turn down the volume because my voice is LOUD.

Cincinnati trip and double baptism

A couple weeks ago we took our first big trip as a family of five.  We went to Cincinnati to spend a few days with my family and have the joint baptism of Timmy and his cousin John Paul.  It was a 14-hour drive there, and a 13-hour one back.  We stayed downtown again, in the same hotel as when we all went for Christmas a couple years ago.  Again, we had two bedrooms, a living room and kitchen for under $100 a night.  The mattress was saggy and there was no continental breakfast, Starbucks coffee or USA Today.  Still,  for the money, we couldn't complain.  We like staying downtown with all the noise and the people and things to look at.  We are not normally city people.

Highlights of the week included a trip to the Children's Museum, the Aquarium, shopping at a real mall, a fun grownups-only dinner out with my brother Scotty and his wife Faith, and of course the baptism and party.

Timmy, 6 months, and John Paul, 4 months

Delaney and Annie having fun with Miles, 5, in the ball room at the Children's Museum

Walking to Bruegger's Bagels for lunch -- about a half-mile from the hotel

Fun at the hotel while I was catching an extra hour or two of sleep

Mom and Dad watched the kids for us one night, and I snapped this picture with my phone when we got back.

Anna and Robert, Miles and John Paul

St. Rose Church

With the godparents, my sister Grace and brother Scotty

Scotty and Grace are John Paul's godparents as well.

As soon as we had all sat down in the pew for the baptism, Scotty said to Tim, Anna, Robert and me, "So if you guys  die, these are my boys!"

Timmy and Papaw

These pictures of Anna and Robert's cats must be included because they're funny, and I don't even like cats.

Having one of those days..

I commented on Anna's Shutterfly site, "That's exactly how I feel every morning!"  Tim commented, "You mean that's how you look!"  It's good to have him back. 

Children's Museum

I tried out the Blogger app for iPhone for the first time here.  I'm not completely happy with it, but I'm glad to have a way to upload my iPhone photos directly to Blogger.

I tried to feed Timmy before we went inside, but he wasn't interested. He looked so handsome and happy, I had to snap a picture!

Cash register from 1961 that, to my disappointment, did not say 'cha-ching'