James William is 12 days old

At the request of a blog reader, I'm taking a much-needed nursing break to update all on our journey with James.

So far, James hasn't decided to trade us in. Although, there have been moments of serious consideration, especially when dirty diapers or hunger is concerned, and his novice parents are oblivious to his cries. Motherhood is alot harder than I thought it would be, especially after my fanatical reading on the subject. Suprisingly enough, the books don't tell us what to do with our 1 week old who isn't falling asleep at every turn and is actually content to just hang out with his parents. Unnerving, I tell you. =)

Even after just 12 days, we've started to notice how quickly James is growing! his face is filling out - his head control gets stronger every day (or at least, his ability to use his head to propel himself off our shoulder while burping him!), and he's outgrown several outfits already.

Last week, we had our first adventure. When we took James to the pediatrician, we found out that he was dramatically more jaundice (yellow from excess bilirubin - immature liver/breakdown of red blood cells no longer needed now that he can breathe on his own) than he was in the hospital, and they sent out a home health nurse with a "bili bed" - basically, it's the bottom 1/2 of a tanning bed - pure UV rays break down the bilirubin & help his body process it better - that he had to lay on whenever he wasn't eating, getting changed, or being comforted. (turns out, that's how we spend most of our days, 'cause he wasn't on the bed for HUGE stretches of time!) After 2 days of this, his bilirubin count was down to an acceptable amount, and he had started pooping (a great relief for his parents, not to mention his little belly). He also gained 3 oz a day! (normal weight gain is supposed to be 1 oz a day. we're expecting him to start walking any day now!) so what was supposed to be a 2 week wait to return to his birth weight took only 8 days. And he's still eating at the same rate, so we're assuming that his weight gain is still the same rate. we go back to his pediatrician on the 30th, so we'll see how he's doing then.

Max & I are learning how to cope on no sleep. 3 hours of consecutive sleep is a dream. (no pun intended!) We've agreed that taking care of James isn't the hard part - it's managing everything else about life - bills, taking/sending/posting pictures, laundry, cooking, animals, errands, etc. I'm off "no driving" as of tomorrow, so I'm hoping I can get "escape breaks" every once in a while. Mine can't be as long as Max's... by the time I feed James & get him to sleep, I've got about 1 1/2 to 2 hours before he wakes up hungry again.

Grammy (my mom) and Aunt Trudy (Max's sister) were here during his first days - they were a great help with cooking & cleaning, getting us ready for our week alone this week. Aunt Michelle (my sister) will be here friday, and then Grammy & Aunt Holly will be here May 6th. James will get to meet some of his cousins in June (Hendersons) and then Matt, Holly & Lucy will be down later in the summer.

While every day is a new adventure, it also brings another day to fall in love with our son. Today, he imitated me sticking my tongue out at him! he smiles in his sleep, and falls deeply asleep in our arms after a good snack. As max said to the ladies at church - it's amazing how someone so small can change your life so completely & so quickly. Parenting - so far - has been a great partnership with Max. more so than even marriage, it has forced/allowed us to depend on each other, to encourage each other, and to support each other when we're struggling. Max has even contemplated taking a longer paternity break, just 'cause he enjoys being with James so much. I'm grateful that I don't have a job to rush back to (although the income would be nice) - it's allowing all of us to get to know each other at a leisurely rate.

Thanks to everyone for your emails, calls & thoughts/prayers. They're all well received, if not returned immediately.

Much love to all -
Becky, Max & James

This is a video of our first week that I made - the quality's not great, and most of the pictures have been seen before, but it's fun to watch!