Hank's First Month

It feels like forever since we brought Hank home. I mean, hasn't he always been around? I feel like things have changed so much already. But one thing has remained constant--Hank is awesome. I love his sweet, round little face. He is very good at being a baby. In fact, so far he is my easiest baby yet. He rarely cries and is easily soothed. I can lay him down, swaddled up and awake, and he will fall asleep on his own. He is also very good at looking around, eating, and spitting up. In fact, he's so good at spitting up that he likes to take it to the level of projectile vomiting. His best trick is shooting it out both nostrils. Fortunately that kind of spitting up only happens about twice a week. Unfortunately there is no warning and it's pretty much the worst surprise ever.

Hank isn't good at EVERYTHING though. He isn't good at sitting in car seat. He pretty much hates that. That's the most he'll cry--when he's in his car seat. He's better when it's moving, though. He also doesn't like to be picked at. Don't pick his nose or his cradle cap. He's also not an amazing sleeper. Although, I think he's a standard newborn sleeper and I can't complain--too much. At night he usually sleeps in 2 hour increments. Sometimes just 1 hour, and as a special gift to his mama, sometimes 3 hours. So, if I go to bed early enough I can usually accumulate 5-7 hours of sleep. But doing that on repeat for almost six weeks can start to take it's toll, you know?



Hank and I had a very rough start to nursing. His latch was bad and I didn't catch it until there was a great deal of pain on my part and spitting up bloody spit up on his part. (The blood came from me, don't you worry). So I had to take some measures to heal and then we were back on track. He loves to nurse. If you come to visit you will most likely find me plopped on the couch in the same seat feeding my babe. He knows the milk bar is open 24 hours a day and he doesn't hesitate to get his fill. In fact, he's filled up so much that when he got weighed at one month he already weighed 11 pounds 12 ounces.

We have found Hank's name to be great for nicknames and puns. We get to call him things like, Hankle McNankle, Hankey Doodle and Hanker. And then there's Dr. Hankenstein and a personal fave, President Hankley. And you know, Matt almost wanted to change his name at the last minute again. But don't worry, I was prepared. I just showed him the Starbucks commercial from six years ago that made Matt want to use the name in the first place. That was all it took. So thanks Starbucks for naming our baby.



The transition to three children has been quite smooth for all of us. Jane has been in baby heaven, of course. Before Hank was born she said she was excited to see him but figured it wouldn't be too fun because all babies do is sleep and cry. But after a couple days of having him home with us she announced, "I didn't think babies were for me, but they are! They're such cutie pies!" Later she said, "I could stare at him all day!" She also told me, "I wish you would have babies everyday so that I could see them." When she holds him she likes to say, "I think he thinks I'm his mom." One night she started crying before going to sleep and when I went to check on her she said, "Just let me make sure he's ok!" One day she said jovially, "Mom, I know we could NEVER leave Hank home alone. Because he would cry, "Waaa, I want my mommy!" Then she got quiet and when I looked at her she had tears in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong. She said, "I just got sad thinking about it." She likes to tell me what Hank is thinking. It goes like this, "Hank's like 'Oh, it's so cold in here.'" Then she always follows it up with, "Right, Mom?" She's also learned a thing or two about nursing. One day I was putting the kids in the car and Hank was crying. Jane observed, "Mom, you can't go anywhere without your boobs, huh, Mom?" Then she thought a moment and said, "Well, it's a good thing you always take them with you."


(Jane thought it was hilarious that he was sucking on her finger).

Jack's transition wasn't quite as smooth, but not too bad. He never acted like he didn't like Hank, but he did spend a week wanting to be Hank. He'd say, "I Hank" and would pretend to cry and ask to be held. One day Matt was holding Hank and Jack asked to be held. Matt said he couldn't hold him and told him to sit on the big bear they have and pretend the bear was daddy and that Jack was Hank. Jack thought that was a good idea. Later that day Jack got into trouble for something. He ran away feeling sad and when Matt went to check on him Jack was laying on the big bear pretending to be a baby. Then one day Jack spent some time holding Hank and he has been possessive of Hank ever since. He says "My brother!" "My brother is crying!" He would get mad when Jane would say that Hank was her brother too. We have since gotten Jack to accept that. I can always count on Jack saying the same thing when he approaches Hank. He says in a very drawn out way, "Awwww, Haaank." Then he adds in a more excited tone, "He so cute!" He also often points out how small he is. He says, "He so tiny. He has tiny ears. I not tiny." When Hank is not crying Jack says, "He like us," meaning Hank likes his new family. When he starts to cry Jack decides, "He not like us."

But crying or not, I think it's safe to say that Hank loves us and we love him. He's been a huge blessing to our family.

(Pictures on his one month birthday)


(Hank ALWAYS has a quizzical look on his face).