Peter Cottontail

Josiah celebrated his first Easter this past Sunday in a special outfit from Granny.  The fun only lasted a few hours before Josiah decided he had a good way to get Mom and Dad to take the outfit off…

One Month Old!

Today is Josiah’s one month birthday!  I can’t believe that one month has already passed by!!  Josiah is starting to be more active during his wake time and I’m excited to see how he continues to develop.  Jed and I had a great time this past month getting to see so many family members and friends.  We also celebrated our first wedding anniversary this past Monday and Jed had arranged for Phillip and Cami to come over and babysit and he surprised me with a dinner date to Cheddar’s (which is the restaurant where we met exactly 2 years ago).  We had a great time and it was so nice to have the opportunity to go out on a dinner date with my husband.  We are looking forward to warmer weather and the chance to spend more time outdoors.  Josiah has enjoyed two walks in his incredible jogging stroller and I’m looking forward to many more walks!!  You will also have to check in again to see Josiah’s super cute Easter outfit-it is SO adorable!!   

Here are some of his one month accomplishments:

Holding his head up for long periods of time and looking around more.

Able to make eye contact and focus on the person talking to him.

Sleeping around 5 hours at a time at night.

Smiling

Enjoying his “tummy time”, which happens to be where he discovered that sucking his fingers can be so much fun!

Almost outgrowing his newborn clothes and moving into those 0-3 month outfits.

Giving Dad the “pound”

Life with Josiah

As I was reading and preparing to be a mom, I read the highly recommended book, “Baby Wise” which Jed and I decided we would implement in our family to have order and structure in our lives and Josiah’s.  As I read the book, I thought, “This seems relatively simple.  We put him on a 2 1/2-3 hour schedule and everything falls into place and he will be sleeping through the night by 6 weeks old.  Great!”  Unfortunately Josiah’s arrival into the Coppenger house wasn’t this simple.  The first few hours at home were filled with lots of tears (from both Josiah and mom) and me quickly learning this “Baby Wise” wasn’t as easy as it sounded.  I was never more thankful and excited to see my mom and my sister arrive that Thursday evening.  They were so helpful at giving me advice, taking over the cooking and cleaning and helping me with diaper changes, first baths and teaching us the ever-wonderful technique of swaddling!  Grandma and Aunt Erin got to stay for a few days and then Granny Shusha came in on Sunday and continued to be a gracious servant in the kitchen, with the housework and being my personal assistant.  Jed and I sought parenting advice from anyone who would give it to us–I was really feeling desperate for some good sleep!!  My loving husband was so kind and thoughtful to send me away for an evening of much needed rest, so before Granny Shusha left, she and Jed took over the reigns for a whole night and I headed to the Bethancourts and received a much needed eight hours of sleep!!  Josiah did great that night, sleeping for 3 consecutive hours at a time, which at that point was a record!  His sleeping patterns have only improved since then and he is sleeping an average 4-6 hours  at night and Mom and Dad are both so very thankful!! 

Josiah is starting to hold his head up and look around more.  He’s got a strong neck!!  And last Saturday we took him in to have him weighed and he was up to 8 pounds!!  He had gained one pound and four ounces over the course of a week.  Mama is proud!  And today I would say that he has started smiling more…usually it was just before he fell asleep, but today it was during his wake time, so I am looking forward to more of these moments.  He seems to be enjoying his waketime more and I love watching Jed play with him during those times.  We even got to go outside today because of the nice weather and I think he really enjoyed the fresh air! 

This week he will be three weeks old and I cannot believe how his looks have already started changing.  All the nurses told me that the time would fly by, so soak it all up.  So as the time keeps flying by, I’ll try to keep you all posted on all of his changes and the many things he is learning.  I’m loving being a Mom and I think we have the greatest son ever!