Hey Mister Man!
Did you know you turned one month old this past Tuesday? I truly can’t believe how much you’ve changed in your first 31 days. You started out as a sleeping, pooping, screaming, unpredictable ball of cuteness. Now you’ve grown into a larger, slightly more predictable, and even more adorable version of your newborn self.
1 week old 1 month old
Life has changed a lot for you and me in the past month. For example, I’ve been working on this post for 6 days and it’s just now being finished. Being on baby duty with a little one who now doesn’t like to sleep during the day makes it much more difficult to get any writing done. That’s okay, though.
As you can imagine, this first month of your life has been spent learning all about you, and you’ve helped us discover lots of things that make you uniquely YOU.
Like how you like to be swaddled when it’s time to sleep at night, but only if you’re mostly calm. Swaddling does NOT go over so well when you’re in a tizzy. We have to use some old fashioned bouncing and back patting and shushing to get you deescalated before we can even attempt to squeeze you in all tight and snuggly in either your Miracle Blanket or Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe blanket (both of which we received as gifts from experienced parents…thank you!).
You’ve also showed us that when you’re being a Mr. Fussy Pants, even after all your needs have been met, it then becomes time for us to pull out the big guns:
your bouncer
or the Moby Wrap.
They both work like a charm. You will usually either calm down or fall asleep. Usually.
Speaking of sleep, you’ve been giving us quite a run for our money in the sleep department. It’s been a bit of an issue for us, but I can’t imagine it’s much different than most other parents of newborns. You’ll go a few days of settling into what looks like a routine, and just when we think we’ve gotten the hang of it, you change it up on us. Your sleep schedule seems to revolve around your eating schedule. For now, you seem to want to eat about every 2 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night. You sleep erratically during the day. Then when the sun goes down, you tend to eat your final evening meal somewhere around 9pm and then (sometimes) contentedly drift off to sleep until your next round of feedings occur at 12am, 3am, 6am, and 9am. You wake up every 3 hours like clockwork, and you’re finally starting to have an easier time falling asleep after each of your middle of the night meals (except for the past few nights, of course).
After your 9am breakfast, you make it clear that you’re up for the day by using those big beautiful blue eyes to stare at objects all around the room. At the end of your first month, it’s like the world has finally become clear to you and you just can’t help but take it all in! You seem to love looking at the glowing green curtains, the black and white shelves on the wall, and the colorful piece of art that hangs above your changing table. After you’ve had your fill of observing your surroundings, you then transition into a few minutes of playtime! You and I go back and forth making silly noises and faces. Every once in a while you’ll lock eyes with me and though it’s probably just an accident, I like to think that you’re doing it on purpose. Your morning playtime is my favorite time of the day, and I’m looking forward to when you can coo and smile and wiggle even more!
During the end of your first month as a Kiley, we decided to introduce you to something very exciting — the bottle. We waited until 3 1/2 weeks to do so based on the recommendation from our lactation consultant, as well as our nursing book. We had Daddy feed you and you took to the bottle like a champ! Stage 1 slow flow nipple? Puh-lease! You downed that stuff like Joey Chestnut on the 4th of July. Your mommy, on the other hand? Not so champ-like. Even though I was excited for you to take your first suckle into bottlehood, I actually had a hard time bringing myself to hand it over. It just didn’t seem right! All you’d ever known was me. And now, for the first time, you didn’t need my physical presence in order to seek nourishment? I suppose I’ll feel similarly once I finally decided to wean you once you’re older. We’ve started out with the bottle just a few times per week so that you can get used to it. Then as we get closer to me going back to work, we’ll crank it up a notch to make the transition as easy as possible so that you’ll be able to accompany Daddy to work and get along without me a few days a week. I can’t believe that you don’t already need me all the time! Crazy.
Though you’ve expressed interest in the bottle, you and I are still meal mates when we’re on the go. It was intimidating at first, but I’ve learned to nurse you when I’m out and about and I’m pretty proud of that. However, your first fast food experience? Not exactly glamorous. You didn’t seem to mind the bathroom stall of the women’s room at the local high school football scrimmage, though. (I wasn’t comfortable nursing you in public yet, but you needed to eat and the car was a ways away, up the hill and around the corner.) Since that first time, we’ve added some great locations to your list of places you’ve nursed in public. The best? A table with an ocean view at Shoreline Park. I’d say you didn’t quite take advantage of that view, though.
In the same night that we introduced the bottle, we also brought another little friend into your life — the pacifier.
You knew what you were supposed to do with it, but you weren’t really the most coordinated in keeping it in. One week later, though, you’ve managed to maintain the pacifier through a couple of naps just so long as you’re in the right position and someone’s there to give it a little nudge back in if needed.
We’ve learned that, although you’re fine taking supervised naps on your tummy, you don’t really like tummy time that much yet (you want to army crawl and if it wasn’t for that darn head of yours I think you would have by now!). However, you’ve managed to show off some of your muscular talents while on your belly despite your disdain for being prone for more than a few seconds. Your neck is getting strong, my boy (even stronger than in this video, which was taken when you were about one and a half weeks old).
Something else about you…you’ve proven to be quite the wiggler. Mr Wiggles, you are. I was at a new moms group the other day and I saw all these newborn babes who were sitting quietly in their mommies’ laps while we shared our birth stories and high/low moments from the week. I couldn’t believe it. You, sir, are not capable of that. You’re a mover. If you’re awake, you’re moving. No doubt about it. You wiggle with the best of ‘em. It’s a lot of work though because if you’re not wiggling quietly and cutely, then you’re wiggling — THRASHING is more like it — while screaming. And, yes, you even wiggle in your sleep. It’s very cute.
When it comes to bath time, you’ve seemed to indicate that you quite like it! This makes me happy because, really, who wants a wet, screaming, dirty, smelly baby in their sink? You seem to really enjoy — or at least tolerate — the warm water being poured over you. Or maybe you’re just confused. What is this stuff? I gave you your first sitting-in-the-water-while-leaning-back-on-the-bathtub bath right at the end of your first month (because your neck is that strong now!), and what did you do? First, you looked really confused. Then, you started kicking and splashing in the water as if you were trying to swim. And after that? You peed. The stream of urine barely skimming the surface of the 95° bath water. Ahhhhhhhhh, pure pleasure. I could just see the satisfaction in your cute little pudgy face as you settled into the warm water and just let it all go. I don’t blame you. Then after a few minutes of rinsing and washing, you know what you did? You spit up. White chunks floating everywhere. So much for getting you clean! I tried my best to scrub you with your little orange fishie sponge, but it seemed like a lost cause at that point. That’s okay. This will just be one of those stories I’ll keep in my back pocket, and you’ll beg me not to tell it to the first girl you bring home someday when you’re older, just to embarrass you and show her that you’re not that dreamy. Muwahahaha.
Amidst all of these many milestones, you’ve had the chance to meet most of your Tedmon/Kiley family members in person. The only exceptions are your Uncle Brad (Daddy’s brother, who is currently studying abroad in China) and your Aunt Rachel (Mommy’s sister, who lives in Sacramento with your Uncle Billy, Cousin Billy, and Cousin Lucas). Those who’ve met you have loved you, of course.
I’ll wrap this post up with one of my absolute favorite pictures that I’ve snapped of you in your first month. I love it because it perfectly depicts you being YOU! A cute little ham. (Note that your onesie says Grandpa’s Sidekick.)
"Hey there, Grandad. I'm your favorite, riiiiiiight?"
Thanks for making this past month quite an adventure. We love you, Matthew!
Jenny
/ January 3, 2012What a beautiful boy you have!