Dear Chris: 5 Weeks

Dear Chris:

I can't believe we've had you for such a long time! I think back to the first few days with you in the hospital. You were so skinny and fragile. I didn't feel like we had much interaction, but I loved to hold you. Fast forward to today: you may not be fat, but you are definitely chubbier! It's amazing how I can tell the difference. I can even tell that your little hands have more meat on them. I love that you are getting fatter. You fill out your onesies, so I finally feel like you aren't so teeny. You even have a bit of a double chin sometimes when your head is down.

You are awake so much more! You love to look around and love to stare at lights, which makes me a little nervous ha ha. I don't want your cute eyes to get hurt! But it is fun to see you look around and look at me so much more! Now I just am waiting for some more smiling.

You hardly mind your car seat now! I think you know it means you get to go outside, and I think you love outside. You always calm down whenever I take you out there. You also love the car. You almost always fall asleep when you go in it. That makes me feel so much better, because it was always so sad to hear you cry as I drove because I couldn't do anything!

You are still a little cuddler and have given us some long nights where you wouldn't sleep unless being held. We still count our blessings, though, that the majority of the night you sleep very soundly, only waking up when you're hungry. I feel like getting you to sleep is like an experiment: each night we tweak just a little thing and see if you sleep better with that change. It makes me laugh, but it really has helped you sleep better!

Feeding you at night can be a little hard. I get so tired! I am so glad I have the boppy to prop you up, so when I have fallen asleep, I don't have to worry that you could roll off my lap. To help me stay awake, I eat lots of snacks! Cheese nips have been the latest snack. Rice cakes and fruit snacks have also been my snacks. I am so glad to have an iPhone, too, to entertain me.

Speaking of that, the fact that I can play on my phone while you eat is amazing. You latch on so well! I rarely have to help you eat. So it's like what everyone said: around a month, it gets easy. Thank goodness!

A sad thing is that I think you have acid reflux. You've been having a very gurgly stomach, more gas, more spit up, and you've been pretty upset during and after feedings. I thought maybe I just was eating something you didn't like (I already can't eat chocolate, broccoli, and spicy food because it makes you too gassy), but I couldn't figure out what would make you so unhappy after cutting those things out. Once I figured out it was acid reflux, we keep you upright after feedings and that helps a lot. We propped up a side of your crib mattress so that you can sleep better, and that seemed to help. Now, the doctor told me that I should stop eating dairy to help you out. I love my milk! But if it makes you less uncomfortable, I won't have any. I'm excited to see if this helps you! If not, you might have to get a prescription from the doctor to lessen the pain.

You continue to be a generally pleasant baby. Your dad and I love to look at you and love to hold you. You are so loved and we are so glad we have you! Keep growing, little one!

Love,

Mom and Dad

"Happy birthday to Jed; We're glad you're not dead..."

(You can thank our future brother in law, Danny Adams for the blog title)

Who's birthday is it today?

This guy's!

My dear Jed is 24 today! That seems so old to me and yet I know it's so young. This is the third birthday we've celebrated together. Ca-razy. To celebrate his birthday, I am going to say some of the things I love the most about Jed!

1) He is very in tune and responsive to me and my emotions. Let's be honest: women are emotional. Pregnant women are ridiculously emotional. Not only had Jed learned how to respond to me and my emotions pre-pregnancy, he did amazingly while I was pregnant, as well as with some of the ups and downs in this first month of having a baby. I am so grateful for a husband who pays attention to how I'm feeling and does his best to make me as happy as possible! In addition to that, even if he's upset too, he does his very best to work past that and help me feel better. What a guy!

2) He is so smart. Jed knows so much about history, geography, politics, Star Wars ;), current events, and so many other things, but those are the things I know very little about. I ask him about a lot of things and I am always so impressed with how much he knows. We've been recording Jeopardy (maybe this is nerdy, but we are loving it!) and Jed knows so many of the answers! (If only he knew more about literature and authors, he could totally rock the show!) I also love that when he finds a topic of interest (say, for example, our new baby), he is a great researcher and an avid learner to try to find out everything he needs to know. I feel confident in his abilities to take care of our family and teach our children.

3) He is a great church member and priesthood holder. Never have I worried that he could not care for us spiritually. Jed knows a lot about the scriptures (I suppose 2 years of a mission will do that to ya) and I love it when we have discussion on spiritual topics because he often has an idea I have never thought of. I also feel so blessed that I have a husband who fulfills his callings and priesthood duties. He stays worthy to take me to the temple for a date once a month as well as give me blessings when I need them (which with the pregnancy and the pre-eclampsia, I needed several!). So I feel blessed to have a worthy man by my side!

4) He is a funny man. I think my friends and their husbands would agree, it is so fun to have Jed around. I love his humor and we have a lot of fun together.

5) He is a great dad. Jed has not had much experience with babies, especially newborns, but despite that I don't worry one bit that Jed won't do well taking care of Chris. He has such love for him and is so caring. He also is really great about asking me to show him how to do things when he doesn't know. I love that! I know that because he does that, he doesn't just expect me to be the caretaker of the children. He wants to learn so that he can do it too. I know I'll be the main caretaker, being the stay at home mom, but I'm glad that Jed is so good at learning how to be a parent so that if I am ever away, he will be able to take care of our children by himself and our house won't fall apart! Now I just need Jed to want to learn how to cook....

So I hope I don't make you jealous that I have such a great partner in life and eternity. Ha ha, but seriously, I have a great man in my life and I'm so grateful for him. Happy birthday to my love; I can't wait to share many more birthdays as the years go by!

Bath Time!

Tonight was Chris's first bath! He could only have sponge baths before, so now that his umbilical cord and ring (circumcision) have fallen off, we could have a real bath!

I was worried for the bath.... would he hate it? Well, he didn't! He loved it. He was a happy camper almost the entire time, and the only time he cried was when I took him out of the bath and was drying him off. I understand--it's awful being so cold!

In the tub

Finally dry, finally happy

After the bath, after getting all cozy and warm and getting his perfectly soft hair brushed, I thought we could read. And he loved it! I didn't expect much from reading, but he actually looked at the book the entire time. His eyes never left the book! I'm very excited. We have a little reader on our hands.

Here's a few other pictures we've taken the last couple of days:

This is a favorite of ours. Ha ha he was a happy camper to just sit there.