One Month Old

Dear Miles,
You're already one month old! I can't believe it. It seems like you just got here yesterday. I'm going to write you a letter every month during your first year to let you know how you grew and changed. I'll even include some of the fun things we did that month, so that you know what happened during your first year. I hope that you enjoy reading these one day! I love you, and I'm so glad you're a part of our family!

Here's a picture of you when you were 1 month old.

Here's a picture of you and your dog.

Here's a picture of you and your brother. He is 22 months old. 

He loves you so much!

He stuck his finger in your mouth right as I snapped the picture, and you bit him :-) 

Maybe you didn't get too many germs as a result!

I'm going to try to take a picture of you with your dog and your brother each month so that you can see how you grow. You'll be bigger than your dog before I know it!

Here are some of the fun things we did this month:

• You were born! 
• You met your brother, Carter. 
• Grandmama, Granddaddy, Aunt Bamie, and Justus were there the day you were born. 
• Nana, Papa J, Gran, and Mawmaw came to meet you the day after you were born. 
• We had lots of visitors in the hospital. 
• We came home from the hospital, and Carter and Grandmama had made us a banner and put a bow on our mailbox. 
• We went to church the Sunday after you were born. It was Mother's Day. I will always remember getting to take my new baby to church with us on Mother's Day!  
• You did a lot of things for the first time: 
• First Sink Bath
• First Doctor Visit
• First Sunday
• First Bottle
• First Real Bath
• We stayed really busy!
• We planted a garden. 
• We went to the pool. 
• We went to a fair!
• We went to the park.
• We visited with Grandparents. 
• We played in the backyard.
• Your Aunt Bamie took your newborn pictures, and they turned out really well!
• Your Aunt Michelle, Uncle Brett, and cousins came to meet you!
• We had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. 
• We went to a Huntsville Stars Baseball game.
• We helped with VBS doing 4th grade crafts. 

Here are the things you are doing now:

• You weighed 8lbs. 7 oz. (which was 14 ounces past your birth weight) and you were 20 inches long at 10 days old (75th / 95th)! You now weigh approx. 9 pounds!
• You eat 7-8 times a day for about 20-30 minutes. You've only spit up 3 or 4 times - you keep it all to yourself :-)
• You sleep 3-5 hours at night before waking up to eat. 
• You wake up to eat 1 or 2 times every night.  
• You can lift your head momentarily. 
• You bob your head around when someone is holding you. You are working on gaining more head control. 
• You make eye contact when people are talking to you.
• You grab onto things that touch your hands.  
• You have flashed a few big toothless smiles at us, but we haven't gotten a picture of it yet. 
• You have started to make some cooing sounds.
• Your favorite place to be is in the swing while mommy is showering and drying her hair. You like the noise. You sleep best when it's loud - which is probably a good thing with an older brother.

Here is your typical schedule: 

6:30am - Mealtime (you nurse), then you are usually awake for about 30min - 1 hour

8:00am - Naptime

- You nap in the car, swing, pac n play, your bed, wherever you will be safe from brother :-)

9:30am - Mealtime then Waketime

- During your waketime we go to the pool/playground, go on walks, play in the playroom, swing in the swing, sit on the porch, have tummy or back time, listen to music, etc...

11:00am - Naptime 

12:30pm - Mealtime then Waketime

- Sometimes Daddy comes home for lunch!

2:00pm - Naptime

- This is when mommy takes a nap too because brother is sleeping too.

3:30pm - Mealtime then Waketime

5:00pm - Naptime

6:30pm - Mealtime then Waketime 

- This is when you play with Daddy and brother while mommy cleans up dinner.

8:00pm - Bathtime then Naptime

- Mommy gives you your bath while Daddy bathes your big brother. Then we all kiss brother goodnight, and he goes to bed. This is when you sleep on Daddy's chest if you'll allow it...you prefer mommy right now because I feed you. You will soon learn that Daddy is fun too!

9:30pm - Mealtime then bed! 

2:30am - Mealtime then back to bed. 

- Sometimes you fall back to sleep instantly, and sometime it takes a while for you to get back to sleep. We are giving you some gas drops to help your tummy settle down. You like the sound bear in your crib, and you like your paci (sometimes)! You liked to be swaddled for the first few weeks, but you don't really prefer it anymore. Mommy is hoping you'll sleep through the night before you are 2 months old, but there's no pressure. She will get up as long as you are getting up :-)

REPEAT...

I love you more and more everyday. You are very different from your brother, and mommy is still trying to figure out what you like and what you don't like. I've never had 2 kids before, so I'm still figuring out how to be a mommy of 2. Please be patient with me - I promise we'll figure it all out soon enough. You are a blessing to our family!

Love,
Your Mommy