Yesterday Graham was one month old. I can't believe we've been enjoying him for a whole month already, the time has flown by for sure. He has changed so much in just four weeks....for starters, he's not having his screaming spells *quite* as often, which is wonderful. Now, those screaming spells were most likely caused by my diet and so the elimination of dairy is probably to thank for the moments of peace and quiet, but still...we're grateful for the change.
He has most definitely been following us with his gaze and smiling at Matt and me. I read that by this week, he has matched our faces to the voices that he's known for the last 9 months, so it's sweet to know he recognizes us now! He sees us, smiles, and also makes sweet noises with his voice instead of just grunts. I wouldn't call is full blown cooing, but it's on the way which is exciting. He loves his bath at night....he just looks at us and loves the water running over his head, it's so funny to watch him. I think we've gotten past the pooing in the bath....it only happened the first two times...but it made us laugh!
He is sleeping as well as can be expected for a newborn. We usually give him his bath, rub him down with baby lotion (because it smells so good!) and then Matt rocks him to sleep. He loves that time to talk to Graham and just watch him drift into la-la land, and it's so sweet to watch them together! That first stretch of sleep is usually 4 to 5 hours, which is so nice. So he then wakes up between 3 and 4, again between 6 and 7, then he sleeps until between 9 and 10 before we get up for the day. I can't complain because when he eats in the middle of the night and really early in the morning, he goes right back to sleep with no issue.....of course watch him be awake all night JUST because I wrote that. I hope not.
At his one month doctor's visit yesterday, we were really hoping that he was back up to his birth weight. Last week we had a weight check and he weighed only 6 lbs. 12 oz. - which is way too low for him being 3 weeks old and born at 7 lbs. We think he must have lost a considerable amount of weight dealing with the dairy in my diet. So anyway...yesterday was a big deal in the weight department. He weighed in at a staggering.........drum roll......... 8 lbs. 3 oz! Even the doctor was impressed with his huge weight gain in one week. This puts him only in the 16th percentile for his weight while his 21 1/4 in. in length put him in the 45th percentile for height. His head circumference is 14.76 in. which is in the 38th percentile. So....we have ourselves a long scrawny little guy with a normal (not huge like me as a baby) sized head.
We just love him so much, it's fun watching every little thing he does and learns to do. We pray for him every day...for continued health and growth and that God would continue to use him to sanctify us!
Here he is enjoying his mobile. This is a new thing for him and us....to leave him in his room, in the big-boy crib all by himself! He can handle playing/staring at the quilt and mobile for 30 minutes sometimes before wanting us to come *rescue* him.
It was fun though, watching him kick and squirm as he watched it and listened to the music!
His left hand.
