one month

Last Tuesday, Ryan was one-month-old. (I'm a week late posting this, so everything in it is from prior to Oct 19th. Anything that's new or has changed since then I'm saving for his 2-month post.) The last month has flown by crazy fast. Which shouldn't surprise me but it does.

Ryan had his check-up that same day. He was 7lbs 8oz and 21 inches. He was up another 7 ounces which is fantastic and had grown 2 inches since birth. Which means no more weight checks. He doesn't go back until his two-month appointment. He's still in newborn diapers and newborn clothes. I tried a size 1 diaper last night just to see, and it was huge. So, more newborn diapers, it is.

I nursed Ryan for the last time the day he turned 3 weeks old. I'm still pumping though, so he's on about half formula, half breastmilk. He doesn't have a preference, so no problem switching back and forth. He's taking anywhere from 2 - 4 ounces every 2 - 3 hours, sometimes stretching it to 4, usually at night. He's up more and more, for longer stretches. A couple times he's been up for 4 hours at a time. He's sleeping well at night, usually at least one 3.5 - 4 hour stretch.



He's still got the "only look to the right" head thing going on. We're trying to force him to look left, both so his head doesn't get any flatter on the right and also to stretch out his neck muscles. As his pediatrician said, it's better to do it now than need physical therapy in the future. And that we do not want.

I took these pictures Tuesday (the 19th) afternoon.









The girls still call Ryan Brother. Plus he gets called Little Guy, Buddy, Little Buddy. Emma will often say, "He's such a little guy, isn't he Mommy?"

If he cries, Mackenzie will still runs to put shove his binky in his mouth, yelling, "He needs his binky, he needs his binky!" If you're doing anything to him, say changing his diaper, and he cries, she'll also yell at you that he doesn't like that. They both ask to hold Ryan everyday, Mackenzie the most.

His blocked tear duct cleared up at 3 weeks and now he's starting to get baby acne.

He likes to lay on the pack-n-play changing table.

I went down to switch laundry the other week and heard this from Emma: "No Mackenzie! He doesn't need his binky! Only I know what he needs and what he needs is a song." Then she began to sing.

Around 2 weeks we moved from the two of us in the recliner to the him in bouncy seat and me on the couch. This was much sooner than with the girls. None of my children will sleep on their back for the first few months, they have to be at an incline. So the bouncy seat, car seat and swing it is. We stayed there until the day after he turned one-month and then moved upstairs. It felt so good to be back in my bed. I just put the bouncy seat in his crib and he slept there. Except he wasn't a fan. It was like he knew I wasn't right next to him and kept waking up the first night.

He's not a cryer. When he's hungry he tends to just whimper, fidget and stick his fist in his mouth. Of course, if you don't feed him soon, he'll progress into a full-fledged freak out. He'll also fuss is he has a really messy diaper and then calm down once it's changed. Otherwise, he's the most content baby. When he's awake, he'll just snuggle and look around. Of course, it's only been a month, so that can all change.

I love his little sleep smiles, the way he holds his binky with his hand, and how he folds his hands up when he's sleeps.

In his first month he's been to a couple of soccer games, lots of doctor's appts, various stores, the grocery store, library, fitness center, a birthday party, church play group, CiCi's, Dairy Queen, and probably more but that's all I can think of.

He does a great job peeing on me, even when I'm prepared. Hopefully the little peanut will fit in them soon. The outfit below is 0-3 months, and so bit I could pull the pants up to his chest.

He still has the full head of hair he was born with. Still dark. Although his eyebrows are so light you can barely see them. His eyes have lightened up quite a bit, you can tell they're blue now, they're gorgeous.

I took these on Sunday when he was four weeks old.

In summary, he's awesome.