Jude is one month old!

Today is Jude's one month birthday! I can't believe it's just been a month. It's already hard for me to remember life before he joined our family! Having two young children isn't easy, but he brings so much joy into our family that the hard work is TOTALLY worth it! Here is what Jude has been up to his first month of life outside the womb:

-He is nursing exclusively and eating about every 2-3 hours during the day.

-He is sleeping in his pack n play in our bedroom. We plan on keeping him in there until he is sleeping through the night better. I'm not too keen on the idea of going up and down the stairs 3 times a night!

-He has been sleeping about 4-5 hours at a time at night. He will usually go to sleep when David and I do around 11 and sleep for about 4 or so hours. He will then go back to sleep (usually easily) and go for another 4 hour stretch. After that, he sleeps for about 3 hours, and then he is up for the day. I'm happy with how he is sleeping at this point, and hopefully the stretches of sleep will start to get longer and longer :)

-After he wakes up for the day (around 9 or 10) he has some happy, awake time. This is usually his best time of the day. He is just so content and happy, and Aubrey and I have fun talking to him during this time.

-Jude and Aubrey have been taking naps at the same time! I didn't expect this, but it has been wonderful! I will feed Jude, swaddle him, and put him in his pack n play. Right after I get him down, I put Aubrey down for her nap. I then usually get about 2-3 hours to get stuff done while they sleep. So nice!

-He enjoys his swing most of the time. He used to take his naps in his swing, but I wanted him to get used to napping in his bed, so I try to limit the amount of time that he sleeps in the swing.

-He enjoys being carried in the Moby wrap. When I put him in it, he promptly falls asleep. It's nice to have my hands free to get things done when he is fussy and needing to be held.

-He likes bath time ok as long as we constantly pour warm water on him.

-He doesn't have a schedule yet, which is fine with me at this point. I still feed him on demand and let him sleep when he wants to. I'm finding that he is developing his own little routine though, which is working out nicely. Our days are becoming somewhat predictable, and that helps me so much.

-He has fussy time every night from about 9-11. Some nights are worse than others, but he is at least a little fussy every single night during this time. I have been keeping him up until David and I go to bed to try to get more sleep, but I might try putting him to bed earlier to see if that helps.

-He was super fussy last week, and I was starting to think he might have some reflux issues like Aubrey did. He doesn't cry every time after he eats though, so I'm not sure. He does spit up a lot, but not as much as Aubrey. The past couple of days have been better, so I'm hoping he was just going through a growth spurt. We are just going to watch him and see what happens.

-He still fits into his newborn clothes, but he is definitely filling them out more. We can tell he is getting lots bigger.

-He weighs around 10 pounds!

-He is starting to hold his head up pretty well. He is still super unstable, of course, but when he is on my shoulder, he likes to pick his head up and look around. We need to start having some tummy time this month.

-The most exciting thing that he has started doing is SMILING! He smiled at me for the first time a couple of days ago, and it was just the most beautiful sight! Then yesterday, he smiled at David for the first time. His smile just lights up his little face, and I can't wait to see more of them!

We are just so in love with our little man, and we can't wait to watch him grow and develop his own little personality!