Our Life's Little Adventures: One Month Old!

Happy one month to my littlest love! Throughout Ty's first year, I wrote a blog post with updates about his life on his monthly birthdays, which I still love to go back and read to see how much he's changed. Someday, when I have a bunch of free time (will that ever happen!?), I would like to print them for his baby book. Now that I have a new little one to navigate the first year with again, I'm excited to document Brady's first year, like I did Ty's.

I'm already amazed at how much Brady has changed in his short four weeks of life. He has gained nearly two pounds and grown a full inch in length. Newborn-sized clothes lasted only a week, and I have already had to take out the 6 month pajamas, because his long legs are poking through the bottoms of his 3 month ones! His little face has filled out and has taken on features nearly identical to his Daddy and big brother, Ty! He is absolutely beautiful.

After a stressful first three weeks of life, I can honestly say that we now have a brand new child, who is happy, comfortable and thriving. Despite my numerous efforts to eliminate foods from my diet while nursing him, and to treat Brady's silent reflux symptoms, he still spent much of his days squirming in discomfort, crying in pain, and having a very difficult time falling and staying asleep. It was heartbreaking to watch, because nothing I tried worked. Finally, I decided to try giving him formula instead; I had to know if it was breastmilk that he was reacting to, or something else entirely (there were several medical conditions that his doctor was considering testing him for, because we just couldn't pinpoint what was going on). Literally, after just two bottles of soy formula, Brady transformed into a new baby. For the first time in his little life, he was able to sit in my lap and just look around...no squirming, no crying, nothing. It was truly amazing. It was a really difficult decision for me to make, for many reasons. Breastfeeding is pushed hard on new moms, but what they don't tell you is that sometimes it's not the best for every baby. In our case, it wasn't. I'm so grateful for our supportive pediatrician, who agreed that formula is the best choice for Brady, so I am able to feel confident in what I am feeding him. And after finally having the chance to get to know my baby without the pain and discomfort, there's no looking back!

On his three-week birthday, Brady started smiling in response to our smiles and voices. He has the best smiles, and the cutest little voice that he uses to make noises when we talk to him. He is just such a sweet baby. When we hold him, he curls up in a tiny little ball against our chests, and will spend hours just snuggling if we let him! I'm still amazed that we were blessed with not one, but two, of the sweetest boys we could have ever asked for!

He doesn't have many interests at his ripe old age of 1 month, but he has definitely taken a liking to the whoozit toy that Ty was obsessed with also! We finally started doing tummy time in the last week, since he's been more comfortable, and he can already hold his head up a few inches off the ground for short periods of time. He is such a big boy!