One Month Old

It’s hard to believe that at 4:14am one month ago, my life was about to change forever. It seems like Ace has been with us forever, yet only one month has passed since he joined us in this outside world 31 days ago at 4:15am. It has been a blessed month and I will always remember my first month as a mother, a role that I love dearly.

Ace’s fourth week of life came with some additional firsts: His first trip to trivia! His first bottle. His first outdoor wedding in the rain. He outgrew newborn diapers.

We also discovered/confirmed in this fourth week of Ace’s life that he is afraid of the dark. You say impossible to know? We disagree! It came to our attention that he’s never been in entire darkness since his emergence from the womb. When we were in the hospital, there was always one light on (not terribly bright, but not simply a “nightlight” either) since coming home Ace sleeps in our bed between us, and because of this we’ve always had a small desk lamp on. The first time Ace was in pitch blackness (more or less) was on our drive home from community group one night. Some of the roads that we take don’t have street lights on them… he became extremely fussy as we drove down those roads – similar to his cry of hunger, but as soon as we got back to street lights… he calmed down. Just a few nights ago, he was laying on my chest to head back to sleep after being changed and fed (he usually sleeps on me for at least one of his sleep cycles) and so Loving Husband decided to turn off the light (he doesn’t sleep as well with light on) and the second LH turned off the light our little guy started to cry. We turned it back on and he calmed down. Poor little guy, guess we’ll have to slowly introduce him to the dark.

Much of this fourth week of life was starting to get into a pattern of what most of our weeks will be like. Monday, September 15th Ace made his first trip to trivia – we didn’t make it there on time, but we didn’t really try to either. We went for an hour and Ace was wonderful he woke up and enjoyed everyone’s company and said hi to Matt our favorite trivia announcer. :) Tuesday night was community group – Ace’s second trip to CG. Wednesday, Ace and I went to do some errands and that went very well. He slept through his trip to Target and woke up at the end of our trip in BabiesRUs which was ok because they have a mother’s room, so we just stopped in there for a snack and then were on our way to get me some food and then head home. Wednesday, September 17th was also a first for our little man: his first bottle. Loving Husband and I (mostly LH) got my pump ready and working and so I pumped Ace some milk to take with us when we headed out for dinner. He was quite agreeable to take the bottle; the milk just has to be warm enough for him. Currently he is not a baby that enjoys cold or room temp milk, and that’s ok. Thursday was a relaxing day for all of us, enjoying one of the few days left on Loving Husband’s paternity leave. We went grocery shopping! Friday, Ace and I met Sabria and Vanessa for lunch at the mall and to pick up our pictures from JCPennys. We enjoyed a little shopping at the mall and then Ace and I left to go do a bit more shopping another trip to Target and then to Fred Meyer and Ace was great the whole time. The ability to carry a bottle around also helps me out and doesn’t make me quite as fearful/stressed to take him out.
Fall has also started to arrive this past week. We saw our first good rain on Saturday; unfortunately it also coincided with our friend’s wedding. So we bundled up our little guy and headed to an outdoor wedding in the rain. It was still very pretty and actually not that cold of a day so it worked out well. Saturday was also the first day I was able to fit back into my wedding rings! My diamond had been shed in late May, so it had been quite a while since I had worn it – and then my wedding band no longer fit in mid June. I told LH, it’s nice to be married again! :)

Sunday was a lazy morning and afternoon followed by church in the evening. Monday marked the first day of fall; Ace’s first season change! It also marked another mile stone in our household: Loving Husband going back to work. Monday was a very transitional day for us, considering the fact that I slept until 10:45 and Ace until 11:30 and then we left the house at 1:30 to go meet Loving Husband down at work, where we picked him up. :) So really a short time. Tuesday, was another trip to community group – Ace was very alert and relatively happy. It also marked a first for mommy! Due to the lovely pump AND for Claire getting a new job (yay Claire!) mommy was able to enjoy a glass of champagne! Yum!

Today marks Ace’s one month birthday! This was topped off with a trip to the doctor. Ace weighs 10lbs 4oz (63%) and he is 22.5” long (84%) and his head circumference is 38.5” (57%) he is a very healthy average baby. He has a little knot under his right nipple which the doctor believes is a gland exasperated by existing maternal hormones that are still working their way out of his system. We’ll keep an eye on it, but most likely it will simply go away on its own. He also has developed baby acne; again the doctor is not concerned and says that it is pretty normal. He likely will outgrow that before his next appointment.
Truly it’s hard to believe that an entire month has gone by. Ace has started to smile and truly does recognize both of our voices and faces. Sometimes I wake up and just stare at him. He’s growing so much and changing every day. He’s going to be crawling before we know it. Stay tuned for more updates!

Three Weeks Old

Three weeks! The days and now WEEKS are flying by. Already Ace can hold his head up more than he doesn’t. He is trying to crawl already, in fact if you put him on a blanket and allow him to push his feet off your arm he will scoot as long as you let him go. He gets tired/frustrated after a while because he can’t just go – he knows the process should be easier. :) And he likes to stand and work his leg muscles. His hair continues to grow and grow – Loving Husband really wants to cut it and I continue to refuse. He’s growing up too fast, a haircut already?! No!

The third week of life also introduced a new event for Ace. Showering! Yup we’ve found that when both parental units are home and able to coordinate shower time together it is the easiest way to get the little man clean (along with ourselves) Often we end up running out of hot water toward the end (poor Loving Husband) but both mother and son are able to get fully clean and rinsed in the warm water. Ace actually loves the shower. He’s done so well, and doesn’t fuss at all when his face gets wet.

Most of Ace’s third week of life was spent with his grandma and great grum from California. They were here from Tuesday through Friday and spend the days and evenings at our house cuddling with Ace. We went out one afternoon and enjoy some sun and spent some time at the local tourist shopping center. It was a great visit and we all agree that we wish they were closer to us so that they could see Ace more often.

Also this past week Ace enjoyed a “play date” with Sabria. AKA Vanessa and I went to lunch. In fact it was a riveting outing for Ace who slept through the entire thing; which was nice for mommy for sure. :) Ace also attended his first community group and did very well for the most part. He even spoke his mind during prayer for a short moment.
Saturday was spent sleeping in and for Ace sleeping most of the day away. Catching up after all the visitors we suppose. He still prefers to sleep on someone or near someone so it doesn’t leave much freedom for one of us (typically me) to be free to move around and do other things, but that’s ok – I love to be near this little guy. He makes the most adorable noises when he sleeps, stretches, well pretty much all the time. His eyelashes have also started to come in – and they are long and luxurious like his dad’s :)

Today is another nice and sunny weekend day. Loving Husband and I were able to sleep in until 11:30 (of course we were awaken at 4am, 7am and 9:30am for diaper changes and feedings) but the in between times were plenty to store up some good rest. We then went for an outing to return a few things and get us some food and then back to the house to watch some more recorded Olympics (we’re down to the final day, which is good considering we had 30+ hours recorded) We are currently getting ready to go to Ace’s second church service. He did very well at his first for the most part, he needed a feeding and a change in the middle, but that is to be expected.

Ace is growing happy and healthy and seems to be doing a-ok. It’s hard to believe in another week our little guy will be one month old! I’ll be taking him back to get more pictures done (as I hope to do every month as he grows this first year.) He has his one month check up on the 24th with whom we hope will be his primary pediatrician (the woman we saw the last two visits was nice… but doesn’t have any children of her own and we’d like someone that has kids.) We shall see. Loving Husband’s last week of paternity leave is upon us and so this week to come we’re going to try and get on a “work schedule” for sleep. We shall see!

Two Weeks Old

Another week has come and gone! Ace is two weeks old. He’s growing so fast, and starting to make more eye contact and look at more things. More firsts for Ace as time continues on.
Monday, O and B brought us dinner and brought their almost 6 month old little girl. She’s adorable, and growing like a weed. It makes me sad and excited to see what Ace will be like in 5.5 months.

Tuesday, Ace got to meet Vanessa and Sabria who brought me lunch and spent a few hours here. It was good to see her. Sabria just in two weeks that I haven’t seen her already has grown so much and is smiling like crazy – she is adorable and hard believe that she’s over two months old already. Claire also stopped by to bring us dinner which was very sweet and we’re still enjoying it even today. Delicious! Loving Husband and our neighbor T also were able to fix our garage doors that have been broken since April!! It’s great to have working garage doors again!

Wednesday was a low key day just stayed at home and took a walk to see the duck ducks! No visitors just a day for our family. It was nice.

Thursday we all got cleaned up and made our way to JCPennys to take family photos! They will be ready on September 19th and they all turned out great. 12 days old and he’s already quite photogenic. Loving Husband is convinced he will be the most photographed baby on the planet – it’s probably true. Only on his 15th day of life and I already have over 300 taken. Many duplicates of the same pose – but he’s only this size once in his little life.

Friday was Ace’s second doctor’s appointment to check his weight. He has grown another three quarters of an inch and is now 22” tall! Which places him in the 93% for height. He gained another 8 ounces for a whopping 8lbs 7oz total placing him in the 46% for weight! He’s doing just fine and looking adorable. This past week he’s started to develop his little milk gut – looks pretty cute in all those onesies he’s fitting into. This week he officially out grew one outfit, and really it was simply due to poor craftsmanship – because the only place he’s outgrown it is in the arms. At least he got to wear it once. :)

On Saturday we enjoyed Ace’s first trip to a wedding. Our friends from community group, Dan and Celeste got married and we attended with our little man. He slept through the ceremony and did very well all through the reception. It was a short wedding, so that was good for his first one. He looked adorable in his little polo shirt. We have another wedding in two weeks, an outdoor wedding! On Saturday, we also stopped by to meet the latest arrival of Johnathan, born on Thursday to our friends Brian and Jayme. He was a 9lb+ baby and doesn’t look all that different from Ace – lots of hair and adorable. In fact they both got fussy and hungry at the same time. They should be good friends.

Today we have enjoyed relaxing and giving Ace some tummy time and watching him inch along the blanket on the floor and turning his head from one side to the other, trying very hard already to try and crawl. Here in a bit, we’re headed to church for Ace’s first church service. We’re loving every minute we get to spend with this little guy as he continues to grow.