Just as everything with this pregnancy and delivery was different, the time home was different as well. When Luke and Will came home, they were on the NICU schedule, small, and seemingly fragile. We needed to be concerned about every bottle that they took, to ensure that they were getting proper nutrition and continuing to grow. We were also on constant alert for signs of shunt malfunction. In a word, it was stressful. It was absolutely wonderful to finally have them home... but when Nate went back to work and I had two screaming infants looking to me for everything, it was tough!
Perhaps we're older, wiser, more laid back this time... because I don't worry about much with Matt. He's still exclusively breastfed, so I have no idea how much milk he actually consumes. What I do know, though, is that you could lose your lunch money in the rolls on the kid's legs. He's clearly not hurting in the weight department. He's pushing 13 pounds right now, which is consistent with 90th percentile for height and weight. He sleeps when he wants to, and wakes just once in the night to feed. It is all pretty stress-free.
So this time around, my time at home has been more relaxed. I've had a lot of great one on one time with Matt. He cracks me up every day with his facial expressions. He's recently started to vocalize some breathy sounds. No clear words or syllables yet, but he's definitely trying to tell me something. When I speak back, he stops to listen to me... so most of the time, I just let him yammer on about whatever he's trying to tell me. It's a fascinating story.
He's starting to smile more regularly at familiar faces and the ceiling fan... and although he doesn't always do a full smile, Matthew would make Tyra Banks proud with his ability to smize (smiling with his eyes).
Perhaps my favorite time of the day with Matt, however, is when he wakes up in the morning. He takes his time stretching and falling back to sleep despite the craziness around him with getting Will and Luke ready for school. When he's really ready to wake up, we know it... it sounds like a NASCAR race in his crib... "gentlemen, start your engines!" He grunts and farts and burps and stretches many times before allowing his limbs to rest and his eyes to open. "Hello, world! All systems go!"
Matt will be staying home with Nate for the near future. I know that they're going to have a blast together... Matt's already a regular at Target, BJ's, and the post office. He's even been on a road trip to Charlotte and visited both of his brothers at school. No doubt those adventures will continue as Nate shows Matt the ins and outs of waxing the car, sitting up, and bird watching the huge hawk that frequents our backyard.
Wish us luck during this next big life transition! Seems like we're always in some kind of transition... perhaps this is just life?
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