Joshua Daniel: Three Months

Little boy should only be about a month old right now, it's weird for me to think about that. I'm sure it'll normalize with time, but it hasn't yet. Not complaining at all that we've had extra time to love on him!

Joshua is basically only in newborn clothes now. His preemie clothes are getting too small. Kinda sad, but he's growing so well. He's still in newborn diapers, but once we run out of those we'll probably move him up to size ones. 
He has been doing pretty well with his night stretches, going anywhere from five to eight hours without a feeding. Mama has loved that! During Dan's paternity leave, he took the night shift a few nights in a row. He seemed to go longer when Dan was on duty than with me. We don't do the "wake the baby up to feed them" thing. 

Dan's paternity leave was honestly magical! Haha. He's never really had one before being in undergrad and then med school, so this was glorious. I firmly believe it helps him and Josh bond better as well. It helped my mental health more than I can express. I only had about a week of surviving on my own before my parents came for Thanksgiving, and things went ok. I'm a little nervous about how it's going to be once they leave.
Joshua has officially met all his grandparents now! I'm so grateful for my parents and in-laws in being so active in our kids' lives. And soon he'll meet all his Aunts and Uncles.

Joshua has started smiling more. I love that his personality is coming out and his wake periods are getting a little longer. He's also working on his voice. I love hearing his little coos and watching him try and get them out. 
Joshua got circumcised this past month and did pretty good with that. He only seemed to be unhappy the day it happened and then was fine after. Everything looked great as his follow up appointment and his surgeon told me it has a "lifetime guarantee" haha. 
Poor little guy did get sick again. It seemed like he was just over his last cold when he got another one. Kind of hard to avoid all the germs when he has three sisters in school going to three different classes and two of them riding the bus and all the other things. Hopefully he gets over it quick and we can avoid him getting sick for a while. 

Evelyn thought he needed his bear by him.

The cutest turkey I ever did see.

First Thanksgiving. Outfit from Grandma Becky.

Hayley made her sisters all matching bracelets and she thought Josh needed one too.

We're all loving life with little brother!

Joshua Daniel: Two Months

Joshua is home! It's been the best having him home and we're all so thrilled we get to smother him whenever we want.

Thank you to my friend Tailor for taking these pictures for us

Joshua had his first appointment with his pediatrician a few days after coming home. She was recommended to us by Josh's neonatologist and I really like her. He was 6 lbs. 4 oz. at that appointment. I was impressed by how much weight he's gained back since being in the NICU. But when you have a dedicated feeding schedule that helps. We'll see what his weight will be now that he's been almost exclusively breastfed for about a month. It blows my mind to think that the size he is has been the size of our other babies in my womb. How do they fit in there?! It's amazing.
Josh is still fitting in his preemie clothes, but we've put him in some of his newborn ones even though they're a little big. He's in newborn diapers and hasn't had as many blow outs since being home, which is nice. Ha his poor nurses that had to deal with all those. Bless them.
I think he is having some reflux because he seems to get uncomfortable if all his burps aren't out. He does spit up pretty often too but it's usually on the minimal side, thank goodness. Aunt Nikkole is a NICU nurse and so I've been chatting with her about things and she told me it's common for preemies and could be because their esophageal sphincter isn't fully developed. He has still been eating every three hours, with the occasional recent four or five hour stretch at night. He's a good eater.
Poor little guy is sick and has been for about two days now. Thanks to his sisters who smother him. I can't say I'm too surprised since all three of them are in school and those are petri dishes for germs. They aren't the best at staying out of his face either. He hasn't developed a fever or anything, just has a stuffy nose and a little cough. (He has another doctor's appointment tomorrow so I'll talk to his pediatrician about it because it concerns me a little more since he was a preemie.) It makes me sad when he cries when I have to suction his nose or when he coughs. Sick babies are no fun.
Dan started his paternity leave last Monday and it has been glorious to have him home to help. It's good for Josh to have some bonding time with his Dad too. He's the best Dad and I'm so grateful for him.
Josh sleeps in a swaddle that we got from the hospital. He doesn't like having his arms down by his sides when he's swaddled, he tries to break free if he's like that. He likes to have his hands up by his face. Sometimes he likes to fall asleep with his pacifier and sometimes he doesn't need it. He does really well in his bassinet at night.
Even though he is two months old, we still have to take his adjusted age into consideration. That's gonna throw me off until we don't have to worry about it anymore (which we were told is around 2-3 years old). So we basically have to treat him like a newborn and the milestones he should be hitting at that time, which makes sense but it's still weird to me to think about that.
We didn't think Josh liked his mamaroo but we recently tried speeding it up and that seemed to help him be more content in it. He mostly sleeps in his car seat and has done really well when I've had to take him places. He doesn't like how tight the straps are and will puff out his chest and cry so I loosen them a little whenever we get to our destination if he's going in the stroller or not getting out right away.
Josh likes to be held and definitely sleeps better when he is. Since the girls are in school during the day (Paige only half day) I can snuggle him a lot more than I feel like I could with the girls. This has been very different since I don't have other toddler(s) at home along with a newborn. I did forget how tiring it is but I feel like I've been able to nap a little more in this situation. Or at least nap better since I don't have a toddler waking me up or worrying about what they'll do while I try and sleep haha.
The girls have been good helpers with him. Sometimes too good, hence why he's sick. They love "little JD" and are so glad he's home. They continue to pray for him to be healthy and grow every night. They're good big sisters. I love all four of them so much!

Surprise visit from Dr. Dad! He had some cases at the same hospital.

Newborn clothes are a little big.

NG tube is out!

Time to go home!

I think all four of our kids have some sort of picture like this.

Cute jammies from one of my gym friends in Lubbock.

We love our little Joshy boy! He is the best little caboose I'm grateful Heavenly Father blessed us with.