Growin' Like a Weed : Andrew - 1 month

Height: 22" 

Weight: 9lbs 9oz 

Likes: Mommy, Mommy's milk, sleeping, and being held ALL THE TIME! I seriously can't set him down for more than 2 minutes, if I do... he screams. HURLA HURLA HURLA (the sound of his cry and boy oh boy is it loud)! He also likes to pass gas a lot aaaaand nurse all the time. Bath time has been OK too, BUT we've only bathed him twice! hahaha He kind of likes his paci, and he's a big fan of making me completely unproductive and zero fun because I have to do everything with him strapped on to me all day. Ohhhh buddy. You better be glad I have a peace from the Lord that you're the last kiddo because I'm breathing you in deep and soaking up all of the love my love.

Dislikes: HIS CARSEAT! Lord have mercy! Short car rides around town are HELLACIOUS! HURLA HURLA HURLA eyes wide open, sweat covering his head and back, arms and legs spread wide in sheer panic. OHHHH sweet Jesus please help Drew to cope with the car. And. AND. He was gifted a Pipa Nuna (yeah like a $270 carseat) soo we can't blame it on our el cheapo one the girls used. He's also not fond of being naked, getting his diaper or clothes changed.  I think I can change him in 3 seconds flat. I'm getting pretty good at it because MAN OH MAN he's loud! And did I mention he didn't like NOT being held. Eh. Yeah. I think that sounds familiar. Swing... nope.  Carseat... nope.  Stroller... nope.

Sleeping: Dude rests perfectly if he's on me (or really anyone) who is alive and moving. haha bonus points if you pat his tushy! He truly only takes long naps this way.  If you set him down, he wakes up.  Sure, we've had a few fluke days were he napped in the bed or swing, but they have not been consistent.  He sleeps in a twin bed in the nursery, right beside me and some pillows, unswaddled on his back/side with old used socks on his hands yeah yeah yeah, I know, TERRIBLE sleeping conditions, but it works for us!  He wakes every ehhh 2-3 hours a night to nurse, then falls right back to sleep. I put him down for the night around 10 he starts the day around 8. All in all I can't complain.

Eating: Nursing. On demand. All day long.  He gulps a lot of air because when I let down he doesn't want to miss any of the milk, hahahahaha then he burps, often while still on my boob and carries on. Or he falls asleep. Or he poops. Oh does he ever poop! Lots of poop. Brooke used to call him SQUIRT because of the intense sound it made when he was pooping! haha ohh Drew be doo! And he pees, a lot. SOAKS through diapers like I've never seen before! But thankfully I haven't gotten sprayed yet! 

Playing: He has been set down a time or two on the floor and the girls flock over to him. Tay likes to dance in front of him while he's in his swing and it makes us all chuckle. He hasn't started cooing or anything fun yet BUT he is a hoss! This guy is SO strong BUT he's also REALLY awkward to hold. He can't just relax when he's awake and held. He's either arching his head back or trying to stand/crawl up you. Really, it's odd. He lays down and looks around every now and then and he seems to tolerate tummy time just fine. 

Big Sisters: Are about to kill me.  Y'all 3 kids was a lot, but we got into a great rhythm and were really thriving... then along came Andrew and the combination of newborn phase (which I'm not a fan of having something be COMPLETELY DEPENDENT ON ME) came along and the girls went crazy.  FOUR KIDS ALL DAY LONG WITHOUT PRESCHOOL/SCHOOL is a challenge. I feel like I'm constantly nagging them to be quite, clean up, don't destroy this, don't talk to your sister like that, and on and on and on. Oh. And on top of that, Brooke was diagnosed with refractive amblyiopia (aka a lazy eye) so now she has to have glasses and 2-3 hours of patch time. My stress level is at an all time high. PLEASE JOIN IN PRAYING FOR MY SANITY AND THE HOPES THAT WE CAN GET INTO A ROUTINE AND I CAN FIND SOME SORT OF PEACE AND BALANCE. My word for the year is EMBRACE and I'm really, really trying to figure out how I can't give all of the struggles and overwhelming pressures of the day over to the Lord and restore a bit more joy and normalcy to life.

ALL THAT BEING SAID... we love our sweet boy! We couldn't picture life with him, now we couldn't imagine life without him! To God be the glory! <3 be="" glory="" god="" nbsp="" p="" the="">