Dear Justice,
You turned 5 months old on Easter Sunday! Kind of a cool way to celebrate having 5 full months with you in our lives. That said, to be perfectly honest, I was not celebrating this particular milestone because 5 months just seems so old. And I don't know if its because you're the third child or because you're so chill and undemanding or what-but I just don't feel like I haven't gotten quite enough snuggles out of you.
Yup, snuggling you is by far the BEST thing of a lot of my days this month. You brought me a lot of joy in an otherwise very stressful month. This month your cousin Olivet took up the baby-drama torch and she carried it even higher than you did, spending much of the first month of her life in hospital after hospital. Even ending up here in San Antonio! Thankfully the Lord continues to show us how much He loves you sweet babies ( and the rest of us!) and He has done some wonderful prayer-answering which means we got to have a pretty fun photo shoot with Olivet before she went back home ( hopefully for the very last time!). Nothing like a picture with a 1 month old to make you look huge and grown up!
You're thighs continue to be mega squeeze worthy as are your cheeks. You still laugh pretty much any time someone sings to you, or "tosses" you up into the air. This month you graduated into the very same exersaucer that your brother and sister both loved. At first I wasn't sure if you were quite ready for it, you kept getting your arms trapped down in the leg holes-dont ask me how-and then would be sadly resting your chin on the edge of the exersaucer just calmly waiting for someone to come in and rescue you! But now you're a pro and can spin around and play with all the different toys at your whim. You eye hand coordination has really excelled and your love for chewing on everything you can get your hands on has only increased. Current favorite chewing things are Sophie the Giraffe and plastic rings as well as the little mirrored flower that hangs on your play chair.
This month you did very little day time sleeping. In fact, I started to wonder if we'd some how broken you with all of our day time outings ( honestly it isn't that many, its just we have to leave the house SOMETIME, ya know!?) but I think you were just learning and growing and sure enough by the last week of the month you were back to sleeping like a champ during the day and at night.
Your current ( on a good day) schedule is:
Wake up around 8 and coo in your bed till I finally take pity on you and feed you around 8:30 ( awesome mom award, right here!)
You usually take a 45-1 hr nap around 10 ( sometimes its as short as 15 minutes because this is usually the nap you have to take on the "go")
you eat around 12 and then take another hopefully longer nap around 1pm.
You eat again at 3 and have another nap around 4:30/5 ( depending on how long your other naps last this one gets pushed around a bit) and you wake up and eat around 5:45/6pm...exactly when Mommy is usually sitting down to eat dinner.
You then "go to bed" at 7pm and we wake you up for a "late feeding" around 10 or 11 so that you'll sleep until 5:30 or 6am. This feeding is probably your Daddy's favorite because he gets quality time getting to look at you before we put you back down. You're always uber sleepy ( since we just woke you up and all!) and want to go back to bed, but you're still willing to get lots of smiles and coos if we ask you.
You're pretty much the best, sweetest baby ever and when you actually got legitimately fussy this month I was at a total loss of what to do with you! I had forgotten all my soothing skills because you have just not needed them! hahah!
So thanks for getting out of that particular little season quickly! Also thank you for being such a joy in our lives!
We love you so much!
Mommy
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
4 Months
Dear Justice,
What a month you've had! First off, you did finally get to see the same radiologist again for your follow up upper GI and swallow test- it showed, what we already knew: God had healed you! It was truly exciting to see just HOW much!! While the first time you'd had the upper GI you're little body was CONTINUALLY refluxing...now, it showed only one time of reflux the whole study! Pretty incredible! And what a testimony of the Lord's mercy and love for us!
Of course, as irony would have it this month was by far your fussiest month-I wondered if all the gassy/colicy business was because you were now 100% breastfed and you just weren't use to that? But really you had already been pretty much breastfed other than the nighttime feedings and your fussy times didn't coincide with that...see? I clearly put a lot of time and thought into what was going on. But bottomline you've had some serious unhappy times this month!! But, thankfully that's what it is to be a baby and you deserve some uninterrupted scream time. Let's just let it be done, ok?! ;-)
Now, don't get me wrong 90% of the time you're still the happiest most giggly laid-back baby ever! You even did some rolling over and enjoyed time in the Bumpo seat and of course were sweet and cool about life in general.
You went to Nacogdoches with Mommy this month-just the two of us-to see your newest cousin Olivet. You were a dream baby on both trips-only crying at the very end -as in like the last 20 minutes of a 6 hour trip! DREAM BABY!
And spent our time in Nacogdoches being passed from one grandparent to the next with equal coos and smiles for all! In fact, the one full day in Nacogdoches we spent the majority of it up at the hospital waiting for Olivet to be born- because of one thing or another all three of your daily naps equalled about 30 minutes each and yet did you fuss and cry? Nope. Not once.
You would even wait patiently for me to come feed you if I was tied up with your Aunt Anna or some other distraction.
One nap, I literally swaddled you, stuck the paci in your mouth, put your noise maker lamb next to you on the couch and just diverted my eyes for about 5 minutes and you went right to sleep! Who does that?!
Yes, we love your laid-back ways and are grateful for the joy that you bring to our lives. You're perfectly happy to chew on your fist and drool enough to fill up swimming pools and watch the world go by!
We can't wait to see what you decide to do next, and we love all that you bring to our family!
All my love,
Mommy
What a month you've had! First off, you did finally get to see the same radiologist again for your follow up upper GI and swallow test- it showed, what we already knew: God had healed you! It was truly exciting to see just HOW much!! While the first time you'd had the upper GI you're little body was CONTINUALLY refluxing...now, it showed only one time of reflux the whole study! Pretty incredible! And what a testimony of the Lord's mercy and love for us!
Of course, as irony would have it this month was by far your fussiest month-I wondered if all the gassy/colicy business was because you were now 100% breastfed and you just weren't use to that? But really you had already been pretty much breastfed other than the nighttime feedings and your fussy times didn't coincide with that...see? I clearly put a lot of time and thought into what was going on. But bottomline you've had some serious unhappy times this month!! But, thankfully that's what it is to be a baby and you deserve some uninterrupted scream time. Let's just let it be done, ok?! ;-)
Now, don't get me wrong 90% of the time you're still the happiest most giggly laid-back baby ever! You even did some rolling over and enjoyed time in the Bumpo seat and of course were sweet and cool about life in general.
You went to Nacogdoches with Mommy this month-just the two of us-to see your newest cousin Olivet. You were a dream baby on both trips-only crying at the very end -as in like the last 20 minutes of a 6 hour trip! DREAM BABY!
And spent our time in Nacogdoches being passed from one grandparent to the next with equal coos and smiles for all! In fact, the one full day in Nacogdoches we spent the majority of it up at the hospital waiting for Olivet to be born- because of one thing or another all three of your daily naps equalled about 30 minutes each and yet did you fuss and cry? Nope. Not once.
You would even wait patiently for me to come feed you if I was tied up with your Aunt Anna or some other distraction.
One nap, I literally swaddled you, stuck the paci in your mouth, put your noise maker lamb next to you on the couch and just diverted my eyes for about 5 minutes and you went right to sleep! Who does that?!
Yes, we love your laid-back ways and are grateful for the joy that you bring to our lives. You're perfectly happy to chew on your fist and drool enough to fill up swimming pools and watch the world go by!
We can't wait to see what you decide to do next, and we love all that you bring to our family!
All my love,
Mommy
Monday, January 25, 2016
3 Months
Dear Justice,
Oh my sweet boy! Time is definitely going by pretty fast, as it always seems to in the first few months...and yet it also seems like you've been around a LOT longer than just three months! What's with that!? Anyway, I just wanted you to know a few things about this last month's developments. First of all, you are now down to only having your evening and nighttime feedings pumped and thickened! Hooray! What a relief! It also seems to not have affected you much at all! And we've also thankfully dropped you down to only ONE dose of Reglan a day-this is really good news because that stuff is not the greatest medicine and I am constantly praying that none of its awful side effects ever reach your little body...the reason for these changes is we finally got to visit the GI specialist and he was pleased with your progress. He has also scheduled another Upper GI and swallow study to be done next week and I have been praying all month that the results would show that your reflux has all but gone away! I'm also praying the same radiologist is there to preform the study so that he too can be amazed by the work of the Lord! I'll let you know what happens...
Other than your reflux non-issues the only news is that you're continuing to develop your own little personality-easy with the smiles and babbles and enjoying getting to sit in the bumbo seat and lay on the play mat ( I finally decided it was safe since you have hardly been spitting up at all!)-we've got to get those neck and back muscles strong! You definitely have distinct cries-something I don't really remember as much with your brother and sister-and the one where you're ticked off or straight up mad is kind of my favorite ( isn't that mean of me!?) I guess its just sort of fun to see that you ARE a little person with your own definite opinions! For instance you've recently started NOT liking it when I talk while I'm feeding you. You really get mad! I suppose you want me to sit in silence while you eat- sorry friend, that just can't happen!
Oh my sweet boy! Time is definitely going by pretty fast, as it always seems to in the first few months...and yet it also seems like you've been around a LOT longer than just three months! What's with that!? Anyway, I just wanted you to know a few things about this last month's developments. First of all, you are now down to only having your evening and nighttime feedings pumped and thickened! Hooray! What a relief! It also seems to not have affected you much at all! And we've also thankfully dropped you down to only ONE dose of Reglan a day-this is really good news because that stuff is not the greatest medicine and I am constantly praying that none of its awful side effects ever reach your little body...the reason for these changes is we finally got to visit the GI specialist and he was pleased with your progress. He has also scheduled another Upper GI and swallow study to be done next week and I have been praying all month that the results would show that your reflux has all but gone away! I'm also praying the same radiologist is there to preform the study so that he too can be amazed by the work of the Lord! I'll let you know what happens...
Other than your reflux non-issues the only news is that you're continuing to develop your own little personality-easy with the smiles and babbles and enjoying getting to sit in the bumbo seat and lay on the play mat ( I finally decided it was safe since you have hardly been spitting up at all!)-we've got to get those neck and back muscles strong! You definitely have distinct cries-something I don't really remember as much with your brother and sister-and the one where you're ticked off or straight up mad is kind of my favorite ( isn't that mean of me!?) I guess its just sort of fun to see that you ARE a little person with your own definite opinions! For instance you've recently started NOT liking it when I talk while I'm feeding you. You really get mad! I suppose you want me to sit in silence while you eat- sorry friend, that just can't happen!
You're rocking a 10pm till 4:30am ( it would be later, but I have to pump before you can eat so that stinks) sleep time and are on a pretty good 9am,12, 3pm, 6pm eating schedule otherwise. Most days at least ONE of your naps is nonexistent to short because of the need for us to leave the house. Turns out it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get anything done with your current 3 naps a day plus your sister's one nap. So yeah. Mommy is a tad stir crazy.
But sweet boy, you are worth a little stir craziness. We live for your smiles and your babbles and can't wait to watch you grow even more!
Praising the Lord for all He has done in your life so far! Mommy
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
2 months
Dear Justice,
You're officially two months old! Your second month was, in some ways, just as fast paced and full of activity as your first- though luckily this time it was a little less "crazy weight loss" and "hospital stay" and more "holiday madness". Thankfully, continuing with your previous personality, you breezed through this month with the same sweetness as the last. This month you did give us a wonderful treat of learning how to smile. And boy are you easy with the smiles! How incredibly sweet and infectious your little smiles can be, and how very much the best part of my day they can be!
This month you did give us one scare when you started coughing up blood at night! Oh no!! We felt terrible! But after upping your reflux- acid controller meds that hasn't happened again- however I felt terrible since we really hadn't been giving that particular medicine to you regularly because you weren't spitting up much... But the blood proved that while you may not be spitting up, it was still coming up into your throat! How awful! How uncomfortable! And yet who would have known? Because you are so uncomplaining and chill!
Continuing in the pattern of me telling you how great you are, this month you started regularly sleeping from 10:30pm till about 4:30-5am. This added stretch has really helped a mama out! Thank you !! Because let me tell you, sleeping through the night can not come soon enough in my book!
Let's see, the only other thing i must remind you, is that, thanks to Christmas you took your first road trip ( you did fabulously) to Nacogdoches and got to meet all your family that hadn't yet gotten to meet you! Justice, you are SO blessed to have such a wonderful group of people who love you and pray for you. It was wonderful to get to talk about how the Lord has helped and healed you even in your short life so far. I hope that you will know how covered in prayers and love your life is and always will be- and may you have courage in Christ because of that Great Love that Jesus showed for all of us. ( we are just a tiny little piece).
And as for your healing, I truly believe it is continuing to happen! The road trip caused me to feed you "straight from the source" twice (while on the road) and when you handled it so well with minimal spit up, I just continued to do so for the next week... It was definitely more convenient to not have to pump and then feed you! But above all, it shows me how well you are doing keeping your food down! How far you have come sweet boy! With your chill personality it could be easy to forget just HOW far in these two short months, but we will not forget! At your 2 month apt, we learned that you are now in the 50% for height and weight- which is great! We can't wait to see what this next month will bring for you!
Much love,
Mommy
Friday, November 27, 2015
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
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
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