The Johnston Family: Knox

Weight: 9 pounds .06 ounces (21st percentile)

Length: 20.5 inches (10th percentile)

Head Circumference: 36 centimeters (20th percentile)

Dear Knox,
One month is gone. 31 days done. I hate that. I wish I could keep you my little lump of baby extra long. I never said that about your brothers. For some reason this time around I'm ready to slow things down. I guess it's because I've seen how fast you go from sleeping on my chest to preschool and I don't like it one little bit! You know who is really saddened by this truth though? Daddy. He's been gone for 12 of those 31 days for work. He hates it. He hates that he's missed how much you've grown already since he's been gone.

Here's a look at all that's happened during your first month...

Sleep has been sort of amazing because Grandma has been here for the 12 days that Daddy has been gone. She gets up with you in the middle of night to feed you and I just get up to pump.

Napping with the best grandma EVER!

It's pretty awesome or at least it was. She ran away to Africa for 2 weeks and I'm back on night duty. You usually start wanting to go to bed between 8 and 10 and then wake up around 1 am and again around 5 or so. I really can't complain about your night sleeping because it could be a lot worse! You nap several times during the day with one longer nap in the afternoon it seems. You are just too little to have pattern at this point though. Mommy does love predictable behavior though so we'll work on this :)

You are eating 3 ounces at each feeding. During the day you go between 2.5 and 3 hours between feedings and do longer stretches at night (thank you VERY much!). At this point your mommy and her challenged boobs can't seem to make you more than an ounce or two at a time. Obviously that's not cutting it since you want 3. I pump and give you breastmilk first and then you usually get a 2 ounce formula chaser. Your belly gets pretty noisy and you get pretty gassy so we might try another formula soon to see if it helps. Sometimes I still breastfeed you but along with a challenged milk supply my boobs HURT! I mean like toe curling hurt. I don't know if I really have Raynaud's Syndrome in my nipples or if you just do something crazy while you're eating but either way I can hardly handle it anymore so breastfeeding is only happening once or twice each day. I do love how relaxed you are once you get over the "why isn't it coming out faster?" phase of breastfeeding. You just grab on, close your eyes and eat. It's so sweet until I remember again how much it's going to hurt as soon as you're done. I can see why the mom's with non-challenged boobs enjoy this time with their babies.

You are still a small baby. I've never gotten one of the month well baby visit papers with such low percentiles on them. You seem so much bigger already to me though. You skipped 8 pounds entirely! You are putting weight on so fast but even your length seems so much longer to me already. I would really like to keep you little and snuggley but you're already changing.

You are wearing mostly newborn sizes still. Some of it is starting to get a little short so you're moving up soon! That's probably a good thing because I'm a little tired of putting the same 4 outfits on you every single day. You are wearing a newborn size diaper still in Huggies brand but in Pampers you are ready to move up to a 1. We're for sure going to use up the newborn sizes first though so suck it in kiddo!

You aren't a huge fan of tummy time but will usually last a couple minutes before you decide to roll on over. I know that will probably stop when you're a little bigger but it's funny to watch for now because you just look too small to be rolling.

Call it gas if you want to but you have for sure already smiled in response to us. We are a pretty gnarly crew so I'm not surprised by this!

Trying to smile

Still trying

Happy baby!

You LOVE your paci most of the time and I definitely have to keep a couple handy at all times. You are very noisy even with the paci in, which is why you are sleeping in your bed at night. This momma can't sleep through all that noise! You are very good at tracking us with your eyes and even looking around when you hear our voices. You already love to watch your brothers. I know this affection will only grow!

Paci in from day 1

Your brothers pretty much think the world of you! Case has informed me that he loves you more than he loves me. He has also decided that your face is only cute when you are not crying. So you might want to think about that next time you get all worked up (which, by the way is right now as you are sitting next to me cyring). I'm so glad they are such big helpers. They drop everything to run and put your paci in when you cry... come to think of it this might actually be a selfish move because they are annoyed. There's also a lot of arguing over who is going to put the paci in... I'm usually not involved in this argument, I'm just glad someone else is doing it :) Anyways, my point is they really love you a whole bunch!

Case was scared to hold you in the beginning
so this was his first time!

Ty is a huge help and ALWAYS wants to hold you!

I do have some bad news about your hair though. It's receding. It keeps moving farther and farther back on top of your head. Your brothers never lost their hair so this is new territory for me. I always thought babies lost it on the back where they rub it when they sleep. I had no idea you could lose it on top too.

Hair on top...

...And now you have a comb over

I always thought I preferred bald babies (don't tell Ty), now I guess I get a little of both. I'll take it :)

Time is flying little man and I wish there was a way I could slow things down. I'm just trying to soak this time up because I know it will be over before I know it. I love you today and always my sweet boy! Thanks for a great first month!!!

Love,
Mommy