Joel is 1 month!

Today the littlest Kroh is 1 month old.  It feels sort of weird calling him our little guy since he really is kind of a "big guy," but he's still technically the littlest over here.  Today at his check-up, he weighed 12 pounds, 4 ounces and is 22 1/4 inches long, so he's growing like a little weed.  He has been out of his newborn wear for a few weeks now.

The little guy loves to snuggle and is quite the little heater!  He of course loves to eat and fill his diapers as well. Ha! He took his very first bottle of expressed milk this weekend and that went very well so we can hold onto hope that we might get a date night sometime soon.

And I've nicknamed him, our little caveman because he's so noisy sometimes.  At night, rather than cry when he's hungry, he just starts rooting around for me and speaking in grunts.  He seriously sounds like a caveman.

As the weeks have gone by, he has become more alert, and gazes around and loves to look over my shoulder.  His eyes are currently a beautiful blue and I just love looking at them.  We shall find out soon enough if the blue eyes and dark hair will stick around.

Leeland and Hayden are so in love with the little guy!  I just adore watching them together, and while I'm not sure developmentally how far Joel can see at this point, I do know that he follows their voices with his eyes and it seems like he is very into whatever they are saying or playing with.  It's really cool to watch!  Leeland and Hayden introduce him to everyone and get very excited for people to see "our baby."

Happy 1 month baby Joel!  We love you so much and are in awe just watching you grow little man.

2 Weeks Flew....

Looking back now as a Mom to 3, I sort of feel bad for how I rushed Leeland along.  As an anxious, excited new Mom, I couldn't wait for him to be born and was induced only 3 days past my due date... then as he grew, it was things like, "I can't wait for him to crawl,"  "I can't wait for him to talk," "I can't wait for him to walk...run....play sports...."  Always thinking about the next thing.

Now here I sit with this two week old, our third little boy, and I just want to slow down time.  That little boy who I couldn't wait to talk and walk is now beginning his kindergarten year learning to read, doing math, and loving history.  Time is a funny thing, it really does FLY!

So to any new Mommas out there reading this post-- you'll here people talk about time flying, and you'll want to roll your eyes like I did when it was just three of us Krohs, but seriously, take it to heart!  You will have long days, you will have good days, and you will have bad days, but the years are SO so short!

So some things about our 2 week old little man--

His favorite things to do are to eat and poop.  He is growing crazy fast!  He has already gotten back up to his birth weight and surpassed it.   (Born at 9 pounds, 2 ounces.  Left the hospital two days later at 8 pounds, 10 ounces.... and is currently 10 pounds even.). The newborn diapers we had purchased did not even last a full week, and in fact we still have some newborn diapers here that I'm hoping the store will let me exchange.  He's already grown out of the newborn clothes too, though I was at least able to stretch some of those onesies and make them last a solid two weeks.  I seriously had NO idea I was carrying such a large baby.  In fact, I was actually nervous about his weight because I had two separate appointments leading up to his birth (one with a midwife, and one with a doctor) and both commented that he "felt small" when measuring and checking out my pregnant abdomen.

He's waking in the night every 2-3 hours for diaper changes and nursing, and I don't mind.  Sleepless nights are to be expected, and he's pretty darn cute.  And he's also SUPER snuggly which is nice in the middle of the night.

Big brothers Leeland and Hayden are pretty smitten with him and so very proud.  I love to hear them introduce him to people, especially when Leeland says things like "this is MY new baby."  They may cover their ears on occasion when he cries, but they sure are proud to be his big brothers and love him so much.

We've been blessed that Daddy Kroh has been able to be home the last two weeks and it has been incredible.  I'm going to be so sad when he returns to work.  He was not able to take any time off when Leeland or Hayden were born, so this is our first rodeo with paternity leave and I feel so spoiled.  The man worked his tush off to makes sure I had the labor story and water birth I had dreamed of, and now he has spent the last two weeks chauffeuring our big boys to appointments and soccer practices, helping clean house when we are expecting guests, bringing me food, snuggling the littlest when he isn't nursing, changing diapers (including being pooped on once) and handling bed time routines with the big kids.  Daddy Kroh is pretty incredible and he is so good to us!

We can't thank God enough for our 3rd little blessing.  I feel like the words are overused and I know I say it a lot, but we truly are blessed-- there's no other way to say it.

"My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long." -Psalm 71:8