In Love...(Weeks 1-7)

With this little guy! Almost 8 weeks have passed since Asher joined our family and now, it is really hard to imagine what our life was like without him. Granted, it was a little easier to get out of the door to go somewhere, but overall the transition has been really smooth! Praise the Lord! Can I just say he is so pretty...I know you shouldn't say that about your little boy, but really he is. That is the most common response we hear from other people...they say, wow, he is just too pretty and then say, well handsome is a better word to use!

I love the newborn stage...the sweet smiles, yawns, and sounds, the tiny hands, feet, and clothes, the sweet cuddling. There really is nothing more precious (Although Avery telling me she loves me completely unprompted comes close)! I am certainly aware of how quickly it will pass and I am trying to soak it in. Something inherently newborn is swaddling and for the first few days, Asher was not fond of it. This totally freaked us out, due to how much Avery liked it, so we tried it again sometime around 1 week old and he loved it. I really like the swaddle me blankets...so quick and easy for during the day and for family who haven't mastered swaddling with a regular blanket. There is just something so wonderful about a swaddled baby...all snug as a bug :)

So far, Asher has taken really well to a schedule. At the beginning he ate every 2.5 hours during the day and we have moved to every 3.5 hours now. He is only awake for a total of about an hour before he is ready to go back down for a nap. And boy, does he nap like a champ...I can count on at least a 2 hour nap each time I lay him down. He would probably sleep longer, but I never let him go over 4 hours, so that he will sleep at night. Speaking of sleep at night, we had maybe 2 or three rough nights during his second week. For the most part now, I feed him at 10, he is down by 10: 30 and sleeps till 3 or 3:30. I feed him and he doesn't wake again until 7. He also sleeps on his stomach and loves it. Don't get me wrong... we are looking forward to sleeping through the night, but for now, feel good about the rest we are getting and are thankful for God's blessing in this area. I say "we" because Levi wakes up with me every night and gets Asher ready for me to nurse (unswaddles, changes his diaper) and then puts him back down after he is finished. This gives me time to use the restroom and afterwards, change nursing pads and get some water. He is up every morning at 5:30 an leaves the house by 6:15...What an amazing man to sacrifice for me in this way! My love language is acts of service and I couldn't ask for a more servant minded husband! Asher has a wonderful example to follow.

To plug Babywise once again, let me just say... the method is so natural and if you just watch your baby and how they react to being tired, rather than rushing over to comfort them immediately, you can learn a lot about their needs and help them self soothe. Sleep, Feed, Wake, just makes so much sense. For Asher, it was learning that he doesn't want to be awake very long in between eating and going back down. He is as happy as can be when he first wakes up and then while eating, but about 15 minutes after he is finished, he is ready for a nap again. If you do not put him down pretty quick, he gets really fussy.

With a sister as girly as Avery, he has lots of baby dolls in his future!

I have told several people that I think I am more smitten with Asher than I was with Avery. In the early days with her, I was just so busy trying to figure everything out that there wasn't much time for relaxing. This time, things have been much more laid back and I have had time to just be in awe of how perfect and precious my little boy is. I must say that he is smitten with me too...smiling when I sing to him and trying really hard to find me when he hears my voice.

Avery must really love him to share her prized Elmo!

Nursing has gone pretty smoothly...he nurses really well and I have plenty of milk, which is an awesome blessing. I just love how his little hand holds my finger while he is nursing. It melts my heart! With that said, nursing is not a cake walk. It takes time, dedication, and sacrifice. While I have had some pain, I have worked to get through it and hope to be able to continue to nurse through most of his first year.

As far as growth goes, Asher was 7:6 at birth and left the hospital at 7. At one week he was 7:3, at  two weeks he was back at 7:6, and at his 1 month checkup (5 weeks old) he was 9:12 (50th for weight). His length was wrong at the hospital...they charted 21.5 inches, but at his 1 week visit he was only 20 inches. He wasn't even back up to the hospital length at 5 weeks, measuring 21.25 (25th percentile). I am looking forward to his next check up!

Asher, it has been so much fun getting to know you the past two months! You are such a blessing to our family. Asherboy, little man, Ash man, we all love you bunches!