one month

Dear Justice,

You are a month old and while it is common ( see both your siblings first months) for me to get behind when it comes to this first month of life...I feel like your first month was extra special crazy!

And yes, I've already written about your birth and then the consequential return to the hospital when you were two weeks old-where you then stayed for another week and then when we finally got out of the hospital we spent your fourth week recovering and getting ready for Thanksgiving so yes...you, my friend, had a very full first month!

 But let me back up! During this very full first month of life we have learned a few things: You have the sweetest temperament known to man! Even when you've been forced on a starvation diet ( do to having various tests done) you would hardly make a peep about it. Even when we knew that your stomach acid was continually coming up into your throat ( and then right on out of your mouth)-and that's GOT to burn- You were so sweet and hardly cried. Ever.
When your IVs came out of your arms, your legs and finally even your head you would hardly cry about that....just enough to let us know that, yes, needles hurt! Or when the IV in your head slipped out of position and started pouring fluid into your head so that you were all swollen...yup. Hardly a peep.

Seriously. You could not BE any sweeter!

And boy, are you loved, when you were put into the hospital for not growing-the prayers going up on your behalf were incredible. People all over, people we'll probably never meet, were praying for you! My how loved you are! We had the top guy from a Healing Center drop everything, get in his car and drive to the hospital to pray for you! He had never met us or heard about us until the moment his cell phone went off regarding our prayer request and off he drove to pray for YOU.  And you are loved by your Mommy...yup, she loves you so much she actually stopped eating dairy. So, when you turn 13 and think that I don't love you for some ridiculous reason-just remember that I gave up ICE CREAM, CHEESE and BUTTER for you and know that I most definitely love you.
And to think that even with all that love, it is nothing compared to how much the Lord loves you! He loves you so much he actually did some incredible healing in your little life during your very first month!! Yes, I've talked about it on my other blog-but it should be noted that while you still spit up quite a bit, you definitely don't spit up so much that people would know just how bad your reflux was! It is truly incredible and we will never want to forget or downplay this time in your life. So, when you ever think to doubt Christ's love for you...just know that His love for you is tangible.

And so we continue in our current routine...I pump milk, then mix it with "thick and clear" and some formula (for added calories) and then we feed you a bottle. Yes, washing bottles is not our favorite, yes waking up and pumping and THEN feeding you in the middle of the night is not awesome, and the fact that your daddy or mommy usually has to spend a least a section of the night sleeping in the sitting up position so that your elevated enough to not loose your feeding-but then most first months of life are not really the highlight. So we will instead focus on how much your brother and sister fawn  over you, or the fact that you dropped your second feeding in the middle of the night super quickly so you're really only down to the one 2 or 3 am feeding, or the fact that you look SO much like your brothers baby pictures ( and your sisters for that matter!) and so we can only get excited about what the future will bring-both for your adorable looks and also getting to live life with you in it!

We are so thankful for you, Justice! and we can't wait to live more life with you!
Love, Mommy