Caleb’s One Month Update

This weekend marks one month since little Caleb made his appearance into the world (you can read the story of his birth HERE).  Like I had shared about in this post, I had all sorts of fears about what these first few weeks with him would look like.  Even though I have some experience with little ones, caring for the 24 hour needs of a new baby is a new world for anyone! And you know what? It hasn’t been as crazy as we thought!

I’m excited to occasionally use this space to document how life with our little man is going, so I’ll break this post down into a few sections covering the highlights (and challenges) of learning to be his mama.

Falling In Love

Like I shared about in his birth story, Caleb made his appearance into the world pretty quickly.  The moments of pushing were relatively calm and peaceful, and when they finally lay him on my chest it felt completely surreal.  I’ll be honest – I didn’t burst into tears or feel this overwhelming sense of love wash over me.  More than that, I just felt a sense of peace and relief.  I have felt myself starting to fall in love with him more and more each day since then, but in that first moment I felt a sense of peace and a quiet, sweet knowledge that this little life was now mine (and ours) to protect, hold, and take care of.

Jordan and I talked about it later that weekend, and our emotional responses reminded us a lot of our wedding day.  Everyone talked about how emotional and overwhelmed we’d be, but in the moment as we figured out the details of everything and were filled with adrenaline, it was almost too hard to really be present and get emotional.  The emotions and falling in love came gradually as things slowed down and we had time to process everything that had happened.  And you know what? I think that’s perfectly fine.  We love our son a whole lot and have loved seeing our hearts for him grow and deepen with each day that passes.

Breastfeeding Challenges And Successes

We had some issues with getting him to latch in the beginning, but the nurses were super helpful and eventually we were able to get things going.  Overall he’s been feeding great and gaining weight well, with some occasional issues with being fussy and not latching (and screaming to the point that he had me in tears because I couldn’t get him to latch).  I’m trying to give myself grace and know that we’re both new to this and it’s okay if it takes us some time to figure things out together.  I learn new things about him and what he likes every day, so even though it’s had its hard moments, breastfeeding has been sweet and I am so grateful we have been able to do it!

On that note…I have been so overwhelmed by how many sweet mamas have reached out to message, text, or email me encouragement about these first few weeks, especially when it comes to breastfeeding.  You all know who you are, but I can’t thank you enough for reminding me that it takes a village to make a mama and raise a child.  I am so grateful for y’all!

Getting To Know Our Son

Over these past four weeks it has been so fun to start to get to know Caleb, to learn how he likes to be held and soothed, what positions he nurses in, to stare at his little face and laugh at the sweet and silly facial expressions he makes with his delicate little lips and big eyes.

Let’s be real – the newborn phase is pretty much just a cycle of sleeping, eating, pooping, and snuggling.  Caleb loves to sleep on anyone’s chest and the best way to guarantee he’ll sleep is to let him perch like a little tree frog on my or Jordan’s chest.  He loves to be held and rocked and I love seeing his big eyes look up at me when I rock him to sleep in the middle of the night.

Watching Duke games with Dad!

In the last week or two he’s started to wake up a lot more and his little facial expressions crack us up.  He has such delicate features and loves to purse his lips in a proper little kissy face or give me some MAJOR mad faces (usually closing one eye and giving me what I affectionately call the stink eye).

When it’s time to nurse and his tummy’s rumbling, he starts bobbing and weaving and climbing up the chest of whoever’s holding him.  Since we’re Walking Dead fans, we call him our little zombie as he tries to eat Jordan’s neck in his quest for food (sorry, bud, Dad can’t give you what you want).

He’s not a big fan of baths or anything that involves taking his clothes off and shows us how nice and strong his lungs and voice are every time we try.  His first real bath cracked us up because he screamed furiously the entire time then promptly fell asleep on Jordan’s chest afterward, clearly exhausted by the traumatic experience Mom and Dad just put him through.

Overall, these last four weeks have been slow and sweet and full of lots of beautiful time together as a family.  I’m so grateful for all that we’ve learned since Caleb was born and can’t wait to see his little personality start to blossom and come out in the weeks, months, and years to come!

Caleb, we love you so, so much and are loving every moment of learning to be your parents.  Thanks for giving us lots of grace, for loving us and snuggling us even when we don’t have all of this figured out.  We love you more than the moon and the stars!