Matthew: One Month!

Yes, I know, the quality of the picture is terrible. It's a photo of the image on Darrell's camera screen. If I waited to do my post until Darrell got the picture uploaded and edited I'd never get these posts published. Once Darrell gets the picture edited I'll replace this one, but for now consider this your "preview" of the picture to come. Also--how cute is my baby?!? Not to pick favorites or anything, but I'm pretty sure this is the best one-month photo we've gotten of any of the boys (although Connor flipping us the bird in his one-month photo was pretty darn awesome)

Height/Weight: At Matthew's two-week visit, he was *only* weighing in at 9lbs, 8oz. At half a pound over his birth weight, the doctor was more than pleased with that gain, although it's markedly less than most of his brothers had gained at that point. However, at about 3.5 weeks old we did the super official at-home scale method to weigh him, and he clocked in at nearly 12 pounds, which easily puts him on pace to catch up to his brother's weights at two months old. And while we haven't attempted to see how tall he is, we know he is getting taller because all his 0-3 month pants are definitely getting shorter.

Wearing: Nothing new to see here--we used the newborn diapers from the hospital because that's what they provided, otherwise it's been all size one diapers. And we went straight to 0-3 month clothes, some of which were already getting a little snug as he got close to one month old.

Eating: I kind of feel like I could just have copied and pasted the updates from his brothers at one month because seriously, so many things have been exactly the same. Like his brothers, he's a "barracuda" nurser, so he gets in, gets his milk, and is done. The first couple of weeks he probably spent close to 3 hours a day nursing, but that was pretty well down to under two hours by a month old (which is in stark contrast to some kids who spend at least 30 minutes on the breast per nursing session). He pretty consistently eats every two hours during the day, but thankfully he gives us longer stretches than that at night (we've even had a few five hour stretches!)

Sleeping: Is it cliche to say that he sleeps like a baby? When he's sound asleep, he's sound asleep--he can be in his swing with his brothers creating total chaos in the room around him and barely even stir. And, like all babies, he's getting us up two or three times a night to eat (although most nights it's usually just twice, which is awesome). He definitely likes his swaddle (it was pretty much a guaranteed way to calm him down in the hospital), so it's no surprise that he equally likes sleeping while we are holding him, but that's not always doable (although since he's likely my last baby I try to indulge it when I can). Fortunately he has no issue sleeping in his car seat when we are out and about (which, let's face it, is pretty often), he does pretty well in his swing, and nights in his crib haven't been too problematic. So really, no major issues/concerns about sleep. Moving right along then...

New Stuff: Being out of the womb. That pretty much sums up the entirety of his new experiences this past month. So rather than listing basically everything we've done since he was born, I'll just hit on a few fun highlights and some general personality observations.

So, in no particular order, some of the fun "new" things that Matthew has done since being born include going to his first (and then second) Augustana basketball game, attending chimes and choir rehearsals at church with Mommy, having a girls' night at a brewery with Mommy, and going on his first family hike. He's also managed to make it through a few rounds of sickness at the house (including a major one where all of his brothers had fevers and/or were puking in a three-day span) without getting sick himself, so fingers crossed we can keep riding the healthy train until the worst of the flu season is over.

Other fun things to note: Matthew has been a major loose cannon. At the hospital, he peed on Darrell three times, and I silently judged Darrell (because seriously, it's our fourth boy; Darrell should know how to change a diaper without getting peed on). However, the trend continued at home--and we were both getting peed on--plus one time he even pooped before I could get the clean diaper on. Fortunately that only lasted a few weeks; we've been accident free for at least 10 days (minus legitimate blowouts, but there isn't much you can do to prevent those). He's been hit or miss on taking the pacifier, and at night he gets really stubborn and doesn't like to burp, which has made some of the night time awake sessions last longer than I'd like, but I just keep reminding myself that it could be worse. We've been trying to do tummy time daily, although so far it seems like the only thing he cares to do while on tummy time is attempt to suck his thumb, which we definitely want to avoid if for no other reason then we don't want to have to break the habit later. So the tummy time sessions are usually pretty short lived. And honestly, even if we didn't have the concerns over him trying to suck his thumb, the tummy time sessions would probably be short-lived anyway because he has two big brothers who have to constantly be picking him up and holding him and moving him and carrying him. I can't even count how many tantrums Garrett has thrown because he's been told he can't hold Matthew for one reason or another, even though it's rarely been more than two hours since the last time he held Matthew. However, let me make it clear that this is not entirely a complaint--they generally do a really good job of soothing him, so it's a nice break for me to not always be the one who has to go pick him up when he's fussing (of course, as soon as he poops or spits up or if he won't settle down he gets passed over pretty quickly, but I'll take whatever breaks I can get). His youngest big brother, though, is a different story. For the first few weeks, he wanted nothing to do with Matthew. He wouldn't go near him, and wouldn't even go near a parent who was holding him. If, for some reason, he had to refer to Matthew, it was always just "the baby". Fortunately, we've started to see some slow signs of improvement--he's shown interest (on occasion) in knowing where "the baby" is, he's allowed someone to hold him even if they are also holding Matthew, and he's even shown his Lambie (his security "blanket") to Matthew a few times when Matthew has been fussy (he's never actually given Lambie--or anything--to Matthew, but hey, baby steps). Hopefully it won't be long before Connor forgets that he was ever the baby and Matthew will become a normal--and accepted--part of his existence.

One of the most frequent questions we've gotten about Matthew is "Is he a good baby?" While I'm honestly never quite sure how to answer that question (what exactly distinguishes a "good" baby from a "bad" baby?), I can pretty truthfully say that for the most part, Matthew is definitely a good baby. Of course, with three big brothers, he doesn't really have much choice--good baby or bad baby our lives aren't exactly going to slow down for him, so he might as well make himself at home among the chaos and enjoy the ride!