Maddox Cade–1 Month

Dear Maddox,
You have survived your first month!  Better yet, WE have survived the first month.  It’s always the hardest getting adjusted and working out tons of kinks.  It’s been a LONG month.  I can only compare you to your older brother because that’s all I know about babies.  I do not think you two look alike much at all.  So excited to see how you develop.  You both are pretty comparable with schedules, sleeping, and eating.  I think you are fussier and are taking longer to sleep at night, but I also think I might have forgotten the first couple of months with Beckham.  You definitely like to be held more and will sleep somewhere other than my arms if you go down asleep.  The best wake time you have is when you are in the playroom with Beckham.  You just “stare at him” while he entertains you.

Measurements: At your 2 week appointment you were 9 pounds 2 oz. (75%), 22 inches (98%), and 15 inches head circumference (98%).  A large baby!  At 1 month, you weigh 12 pounds (based on our scales).  You are a big baby! 

My favorite thing:  I’m not gonna lie, this stage is by far my least favorite (no sleep=cranky mama), but there are still so many things I love.  My top thing has to be when you fall asleep on my shoulder.  It’s so peaceful.  I also LOVE watching you smile in your sleep. I can’t wait till it’s the real thing and you’re smiling AT me.

Daily Activities: You day consists of eating, “playing”, and sleeping.  Your wake time is basically sitting in my lap “talking”, sitting in bouncer watching brother play, tummy time on your boppy (we JUST started that), laying on your play mat looking at toys (you don’t like that), or chasing your brother as your dad holds you. 

Eating: Whew!  This has been a roller coaster.  It started off nursing well in the hospital, but when my milk came in, that was a bust.  I alternated with giving you a bottle of breast milk (2.5oz) and nursing.  You were/are not a good nurser.  You take so little and want to eat soon after, which really breaks up your schedule (and wears me out).  You kept fussing shortly after bottles (around 2 weeks), so I increased your amount to 3 ounces.  About a week after that, you seemed like you still wanted more, so I slowly increased it to 4 oz.  I thought it was a bit much, but you were so much more content with feedings and never spit it up.  I had to tell myself you were much bigger than Beckham when you were born, so naturally you will eat more.  4 ounces seems to be the magic number right now.  Every now and then you will take 1 oz more in the morning.  You eat about 7-8 times a day (every 3 hours).  Every now and then you will go a 4 hour stretch at night.

Sleeping: Our schedule right now is basically eat, play, and then sleep about 1-1.5 hours later.  So if you eat at 1pm, you will take a nap at 2:00 usually.  We are still working on making this a schedule.  You love to stay wide awake after your first morning feeding around 7am.  It’s very hard to get you to take a nap after that and will then eat 3 hours later.  Life will be so much better once we all get more sleep.  So c’mon buddy! 

Special Events:
-Umbilical cord and circumcision ring both came off at 2 weeks…so glad…I hate those things.
-First real bath at 2 weeks.  You were not a fan, but like it now until I pull you out.
-First practice with tummy time at 1 month.  Surprisingly you were pretty good at it. 
-First grocery trip with mommy and brother at 1 month.  We all survived and you slept the whole time.  Thank you!