Our sweet West turned one month today. And I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around how incredibly fast his first month of life has gone. It feels like he was just born but then again he fits into our little family like he's always been apart of it. He truly adore his sweet little love of a spirit. He's a handsome, skinny little stinker who we can't get enough of! He has also continued the tradition of a few of Benson's attributes. He loves to sleep with me. In fact, he will only sleep with me whether it's nighttime or nap time (but also has his days and nights mixed up a little bit but thankfully he's slowly getting out of that. If I could only get him to go to sleep before midnight). He definitely likes to sleep right next to me or on my chest, no body heat and skin from mom...no sleep. We've tried a bassinet, crib, sling, swing or bouncer. He hates all of them! He even prefers to be right up under my chin or in the crook of my neck are his favorite sleeping places. He loves to be cuddled, loved and held all day. He squawks after 5 minutes of being put down, 10 minutes if I'm really lucky. He will even grip onto your finger or hand if you rub his face or belly. He really just craves that connection and interaction. It really is the the sweetest. (even if it's beyond exhausting) He's the cutest little "hand holder". One thing he has kind of struggled with is latching while breastfeeding (it doesn't help that my boobs are HUGE, making it a little more difficult for him to latch). He started off with a very tentative latch but had a fierce sucking motion once he thought he was latched well enough (but his latch was horrible). This caused extreme vasospasms in both breasts (which to me was more painful than mastitis and thrush....combined! And I have had both and had both at the same time at one point with Benson). Thankfully, his latch has gotten better and the vasospasms have subsided quite a bit. So I will continue the breastfeed, even though I really, really, really wanted to give up. Definitely my most difficult breast feeding experience. I think because of all the latching issues, it caused poor weight gain. He was only 13th percentile at a 3+ week check up, almost 90th percentile for height and barely back at his birth weight of 7lbs15oz. I was advised by his doctor to watch for wet diapers, possibly lethargy and increase the feeds if necessary. So I have been doing feeds every two hours round the clock and he seems to be finally gaining a little weight which makes me ecstatically happy! Unfortunately he's not the best eater and it takes him about 45 minutes to an hour to eat. I might be going a little crazy from the sleep deprivation but his sweet little self makes it all worth it. He's definitely my longest and skinniest baby with the longest fingers and toes. He also has the most darling little face. He looks like a combination of his older brothers. He has a rounder face like Jon/Benson, possibly my nose, eyes like Jax and Jon's lips (all my boys got Jon's lips and hallelujah for that because my upper lips is nonexistent :)). It will be interesting to see how his little face changes over time. Little mister also thinks he's pretty tough and strong, constantly lifting his head from pretty much the day he was born and now moving it side to side to look around. There's still quite a bit of bobble head joe movement going on but every tie we try and get him to lay his head down and rest it, he pops it right back up to survey the area. He is not all tough as he hates to have his diaper changed and let's us know with very loud, shrill objections. Thankfully he's not crying every diaper change anymore (although the circumcision recover at 3 plus weeks gave us a pretty good run. Every diaper change for about 4 days, was torture.
He definitely had a lot fun firsts his first month of life. He had his first Thanksgiving, a few Christmas time traditions including....visiting Santa at Riverwoods (he was like 2 weeks old!), decorating with the family at home and elf hunting with brothers and cousins. I love this time of year and it's so special to have him here and to be a part of everything.....just makes it all that much better!
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