One Month

(Jace is now almost 2 months old and a lot has changed since this was written, but I'd still like to document his first month of life alone!)

Baby boy! 
What a fun month it has been with you in our home. Parenthood is everything we expected it to be and then some! People warned us that it would flip our world completely upside down, but to be honest we have found the transition to be pretty easy. We absolutely love this phase of life. We were nervous to bring you home but you are proving to be SUCH a good baby. We realize how lucky we are to have you. Thank you for being patient with us and for only crying when you absolutely need to. :) We are so glad to have a happy baby.

I've written down a few things about your first month of life that I LOVE and do not want to forget.

You literally peed on me the second they placed you on my chest. I thought it was the sweetest thing ever.

When you were brand new and we were still getting the hang of nursing, before you'd latch on you'd have your tiny fists clenched up in a ball by your face. If you felt your fist you'd turn your head with a big open mouth and start eating your fist. I was positive it was the cutest thing any baby had ever done. Speaking of nursing, I absolutely love it. I love having you so close to me, and the fact that you actually need me. It is hard getting up in the middle of the night to feed you, but they are precious times with just you and I, and I know that I will miss them someday.

The first 3 days of your life you were VERY sleepy. I had to practically torture you to wake you up enough to eat. And when you were awake, your eyes weren't ever really open. I'll never forget the first time daddy and I REALLY saw your eyes. We were sitting on our bed just staring and adoring you (pretty much all we did in those first few weeks) and you opened them wide and just stared at us and/or the ceiling for quite a while. The light was dim and the house was so quiet and peaceful. We could have sat and talked to you for hours. We were so in love with you and looking into your eyes only intensified our love. It was one of the happiest moments of my life.

When you yawn a big yawn you crinkle your nose up and look exactly like daddy.

When you get startled your hands fly out in front of you with your long fingers spread as far apart as they could possibly go, you raise your eyebrows and you look like you are conducting a VERY intense song.

You were born with the strongest neck and back. You always push your head back as far as you can. When you are done nursing and completely satisfied, you arch your neck back with raised eyebrows and crinkly forehead and have your tiny lips pursed together and you just look completely blissful.

Here is an example of you pushing your neck back. Anyone who holds you will comment on your strong neck. I'm positive you were doing this against mommy's spine when she was in labor (ouch). You even have a birth mark on the back of your head.

Baby boy, you are growing way too fast. You have already changed so much but I love the pictures of when you were just itty bitty brand new.

We loved having grandma Lauri here for a few days after you were born.

You are such a good snuggler.

You also make some amazing faces. As soon as you opened your eyes we noticed how expressive your little eyebrows are. 

As I mentioned already, you are an extremely happy baby. You started smiling around 2 weeks old! They were random, but they were definitely smiles. Toward the end of the month they were more interactive smiles that we earned when we smiled and talked to you. 

We LOVE taking pictures of you. Our phones are full of you.

We were brave and took you on your first vacation to the Lodge at 4 weeks. You had a meltdown about half way through the drive and screamed like I have never heard a baby scream before. But other than that you were a champ. Everyone commented on how calm of a baby you are and they hardly ever heard you fuss or cry. It's ironic that the only picture I have of you out there is one where you are fussing. I knitted you a hat during conference and it was just a little too small and you HATE it. haha. You still look adorable.

Your first trip to church was very nerve-racking for mom and dad. You slept all through sacrament and then we went home to feed you. We'll be more brave next month.

Well baby boy, this has been a month to remember. We feel like we've known you forever, and it's hard to believe it wasn't that long ago that you were still in my tummy. Thank you for the joy you bring us every day.

xoxo