One month!

Heath turned one month old on July 3rd. It is true what everyone says, time has flown by and so much has happened in one month's time. I'll try to capture a few highlights here of Heath's first month of life.

- At 9 days old Heath moved into his second home at Maple Hill West, sadly parting Pomfret that treated him so well for the first week of his life.

- Heath has been a champ eater and enjoys eating all of the time. He does not refuse food- ever. In fact he had a growth spurt at 2-3 weeks where he ate every 90 minutes. At 5 weeks he is starting another growth spurt with hunger pains often.

- At 2 weeks he moved from the bassinet to his big boy crib, prompted by his noisy sleep habits that were keeping mom and dad awake.

- At 3 weeks he started sleeping at night with a 4-5 hour stretch followed by a 2-3 hour stretch. This of course has changed now that we are back in hungry growth spurt mode. But it was beautiful while it lasted and we have hope it will return.

- Heath loves to follow his morning eating with some time in the bouncer and 'push it out' time as we call it where he usually fills his shorts with some grunting. He is the happiest boy during this time practicing his smiles and cooing for us.

- We have really enjoyed cloth diapering. We tried disposables for one overnight attempt to see if it would help him sleep longer- it didn't and they smelled terrible- I was just trying to use up what the hospital gave us. Heath has already outgrown his infant G diapers and about to retire two of his fitted diapers as well as this boy keeps growing!

- Heath has been coming to Vintage with us on Sundays since his second week and behaving pretty well. The most fun is when he conveniently fills his shorts during the silent times- he is a loud gassy little boy. :)

- After week 2 Heath started having what we call 'fussfests' which are colic episodes of screaming without any desire for being consoled. They are exhausting and you feel a bit helpless as a parent but we are learning a few tricks and trying to intercede the fests with some interventions when we see them coming. We are seeing a bit of improvement.

- Heath has had many visitors from out of state come and stay- Grandma and Grandpa Manz, Oma and Opa Henkelmann, Great Uncle Dietmar and Great Aunt Dania, Uncle Greg and Aunt Whitney, and tons of our local community from church and work have stopped in to meet the little guy.

- It has been a roller coaster of a month with the move and my health issues, but we are discovering many new things about Heath and love having him as part of our family.