Ethan is 1 month old

 

It is hard to believe that a month has already passed. Our baby boy is now one month old! Is it possible that he has slept through the first month? Just kidding, but he truly is such a great sleeper. Ethan is typically up in the mornings from either 6:30-8:30am or about 8:30-10:30am after one of his feedings then will go back to sleep and be up again in the evening typically around dinner time 6pm until 8-8:30pm when he will nurse and go to bed for the night. At night (starting around 3 wks old) it is typical for him to go 4.5-5hrs after being put to bed before nursing again then following that with 3-3.5 hr feeding. A few nights ago he actually switched and did 3 hrs first and then 5 hrs after which I was hoping would stick around, but has not yet repeated at this point. He wakes to feed 2.5-3.5hrs during the day then is back to sleep. Usually his first feeding after being awake from the night is shorter, but throughout the day 3hrs is very normal.

Ethan is not a huge fan of his car seat. In general, if he is sleeping he is okay with it, but he is often startled awake or gets a burp in his tummy or something and will go crazy until you pick him up and take him out of his car seat. This is obviously not ideal. This past week I tried swaddling down his arms after he was strapped in which has seemed to help a great deal unless he is simply hungry then it's best to just get him somewhere that I can feed him to make him happy.

At 2 weeks Ethan was 9lb 5.5oz and 22 inches long. At Ethan's 5 wk appointment he weighed 11lb 4oz!! Wow! He is certainly a growing boy. Exactly 3 lbs gained in the first 5 weeks of his life. He was also 22 & 3/4 inches long. (Gained over 2 inches) Ethan was wearing newborn diapers until 4 weeks old when we ran out and he now wears size 1 which fit great. He also wore NB clothing until then, but now I have put NB outfits and onesies away and he is wearing 0-3 and 3 month clothing (mostly Carters brand it seems).

Ethan smiled at me for the first time on my birthday, October 3rd. It was so sweet. Since then he has chosen to smile at many people especially in the evenings. He is a happy guy! At 3 weeks old he started noticing his mobile on his swing for the first time as it went around. It was so cute to watch him as he looked so fascinated by it. He also enjoys swinging at the animals on his bouncer and probably has the most fun laying flat on his activity center hitting the animals and kicking his feet. He is also very happy just to lay on a blanket on the floor and kick.

From the start Ethan recognized Ryan's voice which was so cute. He turns toward him whenever he is in the room and now will smile at him also as if to say "I'm so glad you're here too!" It is absolutely precious. While in the delivery room about an hour after he was born when Ryan came to meet him it was obvious that he knew Ryan's voice and would turn to him then which was so neat.

I'm not quite as good about giving him "tummy time" as I was with Ryan other than laying him on my chest. I am trying to be better about it at least once or twice a day. He is great at lifting his head while on someone, but on the floor he lifts it a little for a few minutes maybe then seems to not be interested and would rather just lay there sometimes sucking on his arm or hand. I'm sure he will master this in time. One morning while giving him tummy time he was lifting his head high and rolled tummy to back 3 or 4 times. So strong! He has not yet repeated it though.

There's my little Ethan update. I am really not good about blogging anymore, but trying to get better. Enjoy a few 1 month photos. Thanks to my bestie Melissa for the cute monthly stickers!

~Emily