Grant- One Month

It has already been over a week since our sweet boy hit his one month mark.  And these pictures are a week and a half old already.  It just shows you how busy he keeps me.  But, I still wanted to document his cuteness at this age. As well as capture a little bit of what life with our little Grant James is like.

The first month was incredible.  Other than a slight lack of patience due to the lack of sleep, Chris and I kept commenting on how perfect everything was going.  Here are some of the other things we observed:

• Grant would cry if he was hungry or overstimulated.  Other than that, he was a content as could be. 
• We learned quickly that Grant loves to get rapid kisses on his lower cheeks and neck.  Even at two days old, his eyes would get wide (like above) and his breathing would speed up with excitement.  Now it is an almost sure-fire way to get smiles from our little guy.
• We love that Grant (for the most part) has a little lamb cry.  It is much softer than our girls were at that age and, therefore, way easier to cope with. :) 
• Grant despises his car seat.  Really, he loathes to be in it. 
• He is super-tolerant of his two adoring sisters getting in his face.  They poke and prod at him and he just looks on with love and awe. 
• Grant despises the bath.  Really he loathes to be in it. (Deja vu?)
• He fit into his newborn clothes until right about the one month mark.  He can still wear some newborn onesies - but they are getting quite tight.
• There are few things Grant loves more than a tight swaddle and some good hard pats on the back or bottom.
• We've searched for the best lullabies for him and think we've narrowed it down to:  Sweet Baby James, When You Wish Upon a Star, Rainbow Connection, and All Through the Night.
• Grant slept in Mommy and Daddy's room for the first three and a half weeks.  He now sleeps just across the hall in his own room.  But with his door open and our door open, he pretty much is in the same room still. :)
• We're totally a nickname family. Therefore, he is called Budgie Buddy (or just Budge), Granty-Wanty, Granters, His Royal Grantness, or the longest (and oddest one): His Lordship, the Earl of Grantham (that's from me and it's admittedly inspired by my favorite show- Downton Abbey).
• Chris will deny this, but he totally gets the most smiles from Grant while playing.  Grant tends to be more serious when I play with him.  But when I feed him and hold him, he brings out the big smiles.
• As Grant rounded on four weeks old, he started suffering from lots of colicky symptoms.  The one we had labeled our "easiest infant - by far" was soon crying around the clock.  We had almost a week straight of his endless agony.  Desperate to help him, I cut chocolate and almost all dairy out of my diet.  This seems to be making a difference.  We also have tried Mylecon (though it didn't really work with our first two) and massaging lavender essential oil on his tummy.  These help too.  The most effective help though is a strict routine that goes a little like this: feed, burp, feed, burp, feed, burp, feed, burp, wipe up spit up, feed, burp, feed, burp, feed, burp, feed, burp, wipe spit up, change diaper, feed, burp, feed, burp, feed burp, wipe spit up, hold upright for twenty minutes, then swaddle and lay him on Mommy's chest at a 45 degree angle while Mommy pats (rather vigorously) any gas bubbles out.  He usually falls into a deep sleep on my chest and can be laid down from there.  This is really the magic routine . . . it just makes every feeding last about an hour plus.  And when he is feeding every two hours . . . one (as in me) runs out of time to do anything else very quickly. And because of the reflux, he sleeps better propped up a little.  So he spends most nights in his swing or infant seat. 

Now for the gushing part, we unabashedly adore this little baby.  As in - every one of us can't help but gawk and coo over him . . . even when he is fussy.  He is totally the king of the household.  I love to see Chris fall to pieces over him.  For some reason, I thought it might be easier for a dad to be in love with baby girls more (probably just because they are the opposite sex).  However, Chris might just be the most ga-ga for our baby boy than all of us.  It melts. my. heart.