Dear Matthew,

One month ago today you were born. To say that your entrance into this world has changed our lives would be a vast understatement. Physically, your Mama and Baba have not slept a full night’s sleep in quite awhile (me long before your were born, because when you were still in my belly, I got up a LOT to go to the bathroom and sometimes to just sit and think about you and everything else going on). We are growing as your parents, and trying to figure out your likes and dislikes. It is hard to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak anything but babytalk!

What you like:
- Your Baba. You love spending time with your Baba, and sometimes only Baba’s rocking and holding will settle you down from a mad fury. You seem to like it when he plays Elevator with you (when he holds you in his hands and rocks you up and down and up and down), and when he props you up on his legs. You open your eyes up really wide and stare into his face. When Baba holds you, the position you like best is propped up onto his shoulder, where you can nestle your head into the crook of his neck.

- The Boob. You have really, uh, latched onto the breastfeeding thing. The first thing you did was latch on, textbook style, and we’ve been going strong for an entire month! It’s working too - you are growing strong and fast. Sometimes when you get into a Mood, you squirm, grunt, and play “hide and go seek” with my nipple until you get it just right. Sometimes you take little catnaps at my breast until you decide you want to finish. You’re nursing about every 2-3 hours (this afternoon you went three hours twice between feedings!) and are pretty consistent about that during the night, too - we can reasonably anticipate two feedings a night - one at around 1 or 2 am, and then another around 5 or 6am.

- The Night. You are still a night owl, and one of these days we’re going to try to swing you around! Your Baba is also a night owl, so sometimes, we will nurse together, you will be WIDE AWAKE and ready to go out dancing, at which point your Baba will take you to the living room so I can catch some sleep.

What you don’t like:
- Diaper changes. You flail about as soon as we take your diaper cover off, not to mention your diaper. Your arms shoot out and you frown deep furrows into your brow when we begin the process of cleaning up whatever damage you’ve done down south.

- Baths. Same here. Something about being naked offends your delicate sensibility, so we try to make bath time as quick and painless as possible. That doesn’t stop you from being pissed off as hell at the universe!

- Being Angry. You hate being angry and you work yourself up into a rage so mighty your face turns purple, you hack yourself into Old Man Coughs, and you stop breathing (this freaks me out). You’ve also started to cry real tears, which just breaks my heart. Stop that! At the same token, we can’t help but laugh at your rage. Forgive us for laughing, okay?

***

Our days are sort of routinized now, as routinized as they can be considering your newness. We get up pretty early in the morning, as once the sun comes up you’re a bit more alert. We nurse, I get breakfast #1 (oatmeal, usually). Sometimes you nod off to sleep while we nurse, sometimes it’s afterward as we sit together on the sofa and you fall asleep on my shoulder. Once you’re napping, I try to tidy up or nap myself (usually the latter), and then try hard to wake up and take Ava out before Baba starts work. Baba works from home, so you get a lot of smooches and hugs from him during the day. I sometimes eat breakfast #2 (a pb&sfj sandwich) and nurse you again. The afternoon brings naptime and playtime and then Baba makes dinner before we have bathtime (every other day) and then transition into night. All of this is going to change when I go back to work, but I am not going to worry about that now!

Some notable notes for you -

7/31/06 - your umbilical cord stump fell off. That gross little wedge of dried blood and flesh was the last little bit of me that you had on your body and I was excited and woeful to see it depart.

8/14/06 - today - I think, I think, you deliberately smiled at me twice tonight while we were snuggled together after nursing. I THINK.

Nicknames: Mama’s Eggroll; Baby Guy; Matkins; Fusspot; HRH (His Royal Highness).

Today’s stats from the pediatrician visit (she said you were doing great, although you couldn’t stand her and her cold hands and her poking and prodding - and if you didn’t like her today, you are surely going to detest her next visit, when you get your first round of vaccinations!):

Weight: 11 pounds, 1.4 ounces (!). This places you in the 59th percentile for weight.
Length: 22 1/4 inches (up 2 1/4 inches from birth!). This places you in the 38th percentile for height.
Head circumference: 15.55 inches (up .55 inches from birth). This places you in the 54th percentile for head circumference.

You are doing splendidly. We’re still trying to figure out how to be your parents, so I hope you’ll cut us some slack as we mess things up occasionally (like yesterday when you headbutted Baba in the teeth? Oh, both of you were whimpering then!).

Love,
Mama