about my one-month-old

I am now the mother of a one-month old. Graeme Grayson continues to ignore my pleas of "Stay little! Stop growing so fast!"

This makes my heart sad. How did he get so big already?!

Alas.

Really though, each new day brings something new for him and for us. It's so fun to watch him experience new things and see the world through his eyes. When something catches his gaze, he stares so intently and with such curiosity. It makes you stop and think. 

Wow. Ceiling fans are a pretty cool invention.  (see what I did there?)

And watching out the window while we drive is nice indeed. 

And I guess hands are something fun to look at.

This is his face when he notices the fan in our room.

Last night, Aaron and I got to sneak out together for about an hour while my parents watched Graeme. We discussed the insanity that a whole month has passed since we became parents. As we were driving, Aaron said he was talking to Graeme earlier that evening about how God knew him before he was born. And how God knew everything about him already, like who his friends would be, what he would like to do, and what his favorite songs would be. (Side note: this makes me love my husband a million times more)

That's pretty awesome to think about. God knows Graeme completely and loves him unconditionally. God chose Aaron and I to be his parents, so we get to love him and learn everything about him as he grows up. 

This month has been challenging sometimes but very rewarding. I have loved being a mom. It has come to me pretty naturally, but then again I have wanted to be a mom since I was little and played with my baby dolls all the time. And I know being a nanny is not the same as being a mom, but I also believe my two years as a nanny were tremendously helpful in preparing me for motherhood. When I started keeping Keyen with me full-time, he was around 6-weeks-old. Bensen was 19 months or so. It's obviously different now in that I don't get to leave at the end of the day and have the weekend off. On the other hand, I'm not trying to keep up with a toddler as well...that was tricky! I am very grateful for my time with Bensen and Keyen, and I really learned a lot from being their nanny.

Me with baby Keyen.

Me with Graeme using the same carrier because Rodney and Sherry are awesome and gave it to us.

It's been fun getting to know Graeme this month.

Things that make him fuss are:

• The beginning of baths. Once he starts getting warm water poured on him, he's fine.
• The end of baths. He cries until he's dry and dressed.
• The nasal aspirator. I think that would make anyone cry though.
• Diaper changes when he's tired or hungry. If he's full and awake, he doesn't mind them much.
• Otherwise, just normal baby cry things like random gas pains, being too tired or too hungry, wanting to switch positions, and occasionally a fussy time for no apparent reason.

This is a fussy face because he was done laying down and wanted to sit up.

He's a happy baby on the regular. He's never cried for a very long period of time. He's a content little guy and easy to please.

Naps are generally good for him and for me. He can nap pretty much anywhere, but we usually make sure he has his sound machine or if we are out we use an app on our phone to make the white noise that he's used to when he goes to sleep. We don't rock him to sleep and rarely let him have his pacifier to go to sleep (because he accidentally spits it out and then gets all frustrated and it prolongs his going to sleep...it's a whole ordeal). He'll nap in his crib, in his pack-n-play, in his rock-n-play, in his swing, in his carseat. We want him to be flexible. There have been a couple of days when he won't nap well. He sleeps for 45 minutes or an hour and then wakes up. Most days though, his naps are at least an hour and a half or two hours.

A nap in the carseat isn't so bad once in awhile.

Nights are great. I mean, no, we haven't slept an entire night straight in a month now, but considering that we have a newborn, nights are great. Graeme goes to bed in his crib between 7-8pm generally. We wake him (well, he's usually half awake at least) to feed him again between 10:30-11pm before we go to bed. For about a week, he would wake up at 1:30am no matter when his previous feeding was. But I think we've broken past that and he's slept until almost 3am for a couple of nights. Either way, he only wakes up twice during the night right now. After the first wake up, he wakes up again between 5am-6am. I am in no way ready to start the day then. If he could make it until 7am (heck, I would even take 6:45), we could work something out. But, he's yet to make it to 7am, so I put him back to bed. Then I make sure he's up by 8am at the latest to start the day.

This is what I had to wake up the other morning. It was hard. The cuteness was almost unbearable.

Graeme loves ceiling fans and lights, like I mentioned earlier. I guess all babies like those things, but its super cute to watch him fixate on them for minutes on end with barely a blink. Music captures his attention too, as well as being read to. He is getting good at tracking objects that move past his face and people as they walk back and forth and to and fro. I sure wish I knew what he was thinking.

When he's awake, he prefers to be upright instead of laying down. He's pretty good at holding his own head up. He doesn't mind tummy time as long as it's not a very long time. And he'll lay on his back for awhile if you're pumping his legs for him. He likes that a lot for some reason.

He likes riding in the car, and he actually stays awake in the car pretty often. We can see him in the mirror that hangs off the back seat, and he just stares out the window in awe. It can be a major distraction while driving because he's just too cute. Hopefully he'll enjoy our six hour car ride to Atlanta next week!

I could keep bragging about him, but I'll stop. I'm just perfectly smitten with this kid and I think he's the greatest. Also, this blog is where I keep track of my memories. And these are my memories of Graeme's first month on earth.

Our first month with Graeme was spectacular. I can't believe in only 11 more he will be one year! If the next eleven months go by as fast as the first one, we are in for a short year. We will not take any of it for granted.

I love you, Graeme! Happy one month!