1 Month Old

1 month old!

2 weeks old

Dear Calvin,

Oh my. Here we are at the first month milestone. I have already packed up the newborn sleepers and newborn-size diapers. You are vastly over your birth weight (already up to 9 lb 7 oz at your 2 week checkup). You are cultivating some mighty fine chubby cheeks. And it is growing harder to remember what life was like without your sweet presence in our family.

Navigating the world with 4 small boys has certainly kept me on my toes, but I'm so thankful for you and the little posse of cowboys God has given to our family. We look a little like a parade in the grocery store... You in your carseat stroller with Victor pushing, Elliot in the cart I'm pushing, and Josiah with his mini cart. But so far the most direct comment (from a gentleman who saw us sorting ourselves out at the entrance to Cub) was, "Wow, 4 boys? You're so blessed." Which we certainly are.

At one month...

- You are eating and sleeping very well. You have routinely been going to bed between 8 and 9pm and then sleeping until an amazing (average time) of 2am! Sometimes it's 1am, once it was 3:15am! But regardless, that amazing gift of a chunk of hours to sleep at the beginning of the night has been tremendous.

- You can still be a leisurely eater, but it does not typically take more than a half hour anymore. Being the fourth-born, you eat out and about on a very regular basis. Car, park, church, soccer field, coffee shop, etc. Happily, you're a pretty low-maintenance eater, so this works out pretty well most of the time. You also have done well at adapting to sundry brothers forgetting that there is someone hidden under the nursing cover and knocking you on the head or such while you eat.

- You are a sweet little snuggle bug, and I think I'm taking advantage of this a little more than with your bigger brothers. Less agenda, less stress over figuring out a schedule (most days), and more enjoyment of this fleeting season.

- When we're out and about you split time between your carseat/stroller and the Baby K'tan. You do well in both, although when you're alert and feeling perky you push back like crazy in the K'tan to see what's going on around you.

- You are a strong boy, already holding up your head to see what's going on around you. You haven't been a huge spitter, but you will occasionally douse us both. This is typically saved for special occasions when we are far from home and in a public locale.

It strikes me regularly these days, how much we need God to break in and save us from ourselves. And so I pray for you again the verse that is on my heart for you:

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). 

May the strong and personal mercy of God rest on you and make you His own forever.

I love you, little Calvin.

Momma