1 month

Ezra has hit the one month milestone!

Here are the stepping stones this month:

1 week old:
Ezra had his newborn photo's taken at the photographers studio.  Overall a long day, but we are sooo happy with the pictures she was able to get.  We were all (Mommy, Daddy, Ezra, and Grandma Jolliff) tired after this all day outing...and to be completely honest, I wasn't sure I was ever going to leave the house again afterwards ;)

2 weeks old:
Ezra attended his baby shower hosted by the church family.  He was pretty fussy leading up to the event and crying at the beginning, but after feeding him again, he dozed off for the rest of the event and was passed around for snuggly time by a number of the women of the church.  He is well loved already!  Grandma Jolliff left for home this week, and I especially had some adjustment issues without all the wonderful help and extra set of hands for soothing, burping, laundry, cleaning etc.

3 weeks old:

Moms at feeding time.

The boys, Ezra is sad our friends are leaving.

Our friends the Remple's visited today with their 6 month old son!  Ezra slept through most of the visit as he does most things, including 3 weeks worth of church services.  Hooray!  Although, we still look forward to the day Ezra might sleep though the night, Nate and I have fallen into a evening partnership of Nate getting Ezra up when he is crying and ready to eat, changes his diaper, and then hands him off to me to nurse and then put back down.  I'm especially grateful for Nate's involvement in the evenings.  And Ezra really is (generally) a good baby at night, going down easily after each feeding.   A normal evening has Ezra waking every 3-4 hours to eat.  We have on one or two occasions had a 5 hour stretch.  We have also had some stretches where he struggles through gas bubbles and is hard to calm, but really it's not that often.



4 weeks old:

Our "family vehicle"

Daddy and Ezra getting ready to go out.

Ezra is growing stronger!  He is now 9 pounds 11 oz, a whole 2 pounds heavier than when he was born!  His face is growing fuller and changing before our very eyes.  In the last number of days he has started having longer stretches of wakefulness, and has contentedly sat for 45minutes to an hour in a swing or chair taking in his surroundings or object nearby.  We both love seeing him awake, and happy.  Ezra is also starting to adjust to daily routines without completely losing it every time we strap him into the car seat, take a bath, or change a diaper.  It is so nice.  He does still cry during these transitions, but not every time.  And he has been building a good reputation with his fan base ;)  We have left him a few times now with friends while we went out for some car shopping, and he has done wonderfully.  He stayed with our neighbor for 1.5 hours one day and with some other friends for just over 3 hours another day and did great both times.  He also continues to have a perfect streak in church where he sleeps through service or this past week was awake and quiet for about 1/2 the service before falling asleep the rest of the time.  He has also begun to spit up pretty regularly in the last week.  Not so great for laundry, but it is what it is.  Oh yeah, and we bought a new family car.  We shouldn't get stuck in our crescent this winter!

We are now entering a pretty busy holiday season, and most evenings find ourselves out or hosting at home, but it has been wonderful to connect with so many people who are eager to meet Ezra and spend time with him.  Grandma and Grandpa Wiebe will be arriving in about 2 weeks and will be sure to enjoy the chance to hold and get to know their new grandson.  And Nate and I will look forward to planning a Christmas date night to take advantage of the in-house support again!