Dear Grayson - One Month

(I am still working on my photoshop skills and will have to figure out how to touch up my background...but my time is limited now so I just wanted to go ahead and post this!)

Dear Grayson,

It has been a whirlwind of a month and you have adjusted to your new life so well. You are so easy going and happy! We love you so much and feel so blessed to have you in our lives.

In your first month of life you have done quite a bit including meeting lots of family and friends, surviving your first photo shoot (trust me, there will be many more),  moving houses, tagging a long with big brother Ryan to his activities, dining out at fun restaurants, running errands with mommy and hanging out with the family.

Our days are pretty hectic - not much sitting around, but every once in a while we do and it is so much fun to hang out with you and your big brother. I can't wait for you to start interacting more - I think Ryan will find that pretty cool as well. Right now you really like to look around, the fan is a big hit with you, and well, that's kinda it. You eat, you sleep, you poop...and you look around. :) What a life.

Anyhow, our days usually start around 7 or 8am. You wake up and eat. Sometimes you go back to sleep for a little while longer and some days you are ready to hang out and "look around".  We head downstairs to meet daddy and Ryan. I pump and then get you boys ready for the day. It takes quite a while...adjusting to getting two of you ready but also mommy is adjusting to living in a bigger space...with two stories. Up and down the stairs I go.

During the day you eat about every 2.5 hours. Sometimes you want to eat sooner and sometimes you try and go longer. The only times you go longer are if you are sleeping and I don't let you sleep more than three hours at a time during the day - I wake you up because if you are going to sleep that long I want it to be at night! It seems to have worked so far so we are sticking with that.

We eat, I change you and then try and keep you up for a little bit before you are ready to snooze again. Some days you sleep a lot more than others but I know it's just part of being a baby and growing.  I love it when you are awake and just looking around - checking out your little world. You are so cute!

In the evenings you like to cluster feed. Some nights it's a bit more aggressive than others...and I am totally ok with it. We just hang out on the couch and watch daddy and Ryan play. We have had so many people bring us meals that it hasn't been an issue with preparing dinner thus far...although I have been known to prepare some food while nursing these days.  By 8pm you are ready for bed....so I tuck you in your little sleeper by our bed and you are out. I am usually not too far behind you because I never know if you are going to be up a lot...or treat mommy to a long stretch of sleep. In general you have been awesome with sleeping and I haven't been too tired during the day.

Month One Notes:
- First restaurant, Mi Cocina Lakewood with my family (September 15) - 12 days old
- First activity, Kindermusik with Ryan
- First trip to the Zoo (September 20) - 17 days old!
- You wear 0-3 month clothes (we kinda skipped right over the newborn/premie stuff from your brother Ryan). The good news is that now your sizes align perfectly with the months so you should be able to wear all of his clothes.
- Newborn diapers
- Your eyes are still blue

Likes:
- Rock-n-play sleeper
- Puj tub & baths in general
- Warm wipes (we didn't use a wipe warmer with R but I think it's quite nice and you seem to agree)
- Being swaddled (we have just been using swaddle blankets and keeping your arms out. You seem happy)

Dislikes:
- Dirty diapers

I am so excited for the month of October. It is nice to be settled and be able to spend a little more time enjoying you instead of running around like a crazy woman. There are so many fun fall activities going on and we plan on taking you and your brother to the pumpkin patch, the State Fair of Texas, and a fall carnival. We will have our annual pumpkin carving party and you will get to celebrate your first Halloween!  We are also very excited that your grandparents are getting back in town - you still haven't meet you Grandpa (or Papa as Ryan has decided to call him).

We love you so much little man!

love, mommy