It passed us by in a haze of interrupted night time sleep, seemingly endless diaper changes and a parade of meals dropped off by some wonderful friends. We've been well fed, well cared for, and generally well rested, all things considered.
The bigger kids are adjusting well to having their new little brother in the mix. Having grandparents to play with is a helpful distraction.
We've changed well over a hundred diapers since coming home from the hospital, and for that I am thankful. I've dealt with a lazy eater, an over-efficient eater, and a non-eater. I can count on one hand the number of times Levi has spit up since he was born. This stands in stark contrast to the horrible reflux we endured with our last newborn. Having a child who eats on a regular schedule, takes a good feeding each time and poops and pees like a champ to show us he's eating enough is a welcome change.
Levi is already into a great routine that only interrupts my sleep once a night now. Perhaps it's because he's my fourth, or perhaps it's because I just don't have time to care too much with all these other little munchkins running around demanding my attention, but whatever the reason, things are going much more smoothly than I had anticipated. Our new little guy is fitting right in to our family's routines, and seems pretty easy going so far. He really doesn't have much choice, when you think about it.
He's healthy and growing strong, and is already back up to his birth weight. Except for the incident where he peed on his umbilical stump and needed some medical intervention to make the putrid smell go away, he's done great since coming home from the hospital. He's apparently hot-natured, just like his big brother Jacob, and for our little July baby, this means he's worn nothing but lightweight onesies in his seven days of life. No socks for this guy. He breaks out in an awful heat rash anytime I take him outside in this sweltering summer or during especially vigorous feedings. (But not having to make matches of tiny newborn socks does make the laundry go by a little faster.)
Our first instinct was that he looked just like his older sister, and as a puffy newborn, he certainly did. But he's beginning to take on his own look now, and it's an interesting blend of our other kids. He has Jacob's smile (though it's still only a reflex right now) and his same big saucer eyes. That cute little button nose is the same one all my kids share, but there's something just slightly different about Levi's that I can't quite put my finger on. He has Caleb's blond hair, though not nearly as coarse. He has the same light complexion as his dad and his two oldest siblings, but redder, especially when he's mad. The hair atop his head likes to stand straight up and curl over just slightly on his forehead. This, combined with his ruddy face, make me think of the Lollipop Guild kids from The Wizard of Oz. Only my kid's cuter. Much, much cuter.
In summary, he's adorable, he's healthy, and he's a perfect fit for our crazy little family.
If only I could convince him to stay little.
No comments:
Post a Comment