Smiles and Sneezes

Ignore my annoying baby talk. It's just for the kid, not you all. :)

For the record

I'm afraid this will NEVER happen again, so I must record it. Nathanael slept for FIVE HOURS last night -- not five hours between feedings or five hours totaled here and there but five hours straight. And it gets better. When I laid him down last night at 10pm, I simply told the awake little boy that it was bedtime, laid him in his bassinet (awake), kissed him on his forehead, and walked out of the room. And he was asleep within a couple minutes of minor fussing! Was that my little boy?! A little after 3am, when I finished feeding him, I did the same thing and he fell asleep quickly on his own again. And as an added bonus (sorry if TMI), after three days of hardly any BMs, Nathanael has once again come into the world of BMs this morning. What a thankful Mommy I am this morning! I'm sure it helps that I feel somewhat well rested as well.

If only there were a formula to repeat all of the above every night! We definitely had an exhausting (but good) day yesterday. Nathanael and I met our friend Liz for coffee in the morning. Then we walked to Tufts and said hello to all my co-workers, followed by a trip to the pediatrician for his one month appointment -- 10 pounds, 10 ounces and 22.75 inches long! Finally, we concluded the day with community group at Nick and Deborah's, and I don't think he ended up sleeping much there.

I took this picture when Nathanael and I arrived home from community group. I had just taken him out of the bjorn, and he was completed zonked. Normally when I lay him on the changing table, he wakes suddenly, but not tonight!

What a cutie...

This one from yesterday morning made me laugh too.

Nathanael at the Public Garden

Dear Nathanael (one month) & Mr. Bear

Dear Nathanael,

Today you are one month old! You have grown so much in the past few weeks. You must weigh close to ten pounds now (though we'll find out in a few days), and you are definitely much longer as you almost don't fit into your newborn clothes anymore! We graduated you to a larger diaper this week as well. It's amazing to watch how fast you are growing. Your daddy and I treasure each day with you as you truly are an amazing "Gift from God."

Your facial expressions make us laugh and melt our hearts, and we love seeing you stick out your tongue. You love your evening baths, and you make us laugh with all your flexing and kicking when we have you on the changing table. We think you are so close to smiling now. It's almost as if your eyes are smiling, and you're not quite sure yet how to form the smile intentionally with your lips. You do well with tummy time on the most part, and you're quite good at following objects with your eyes.

We have been taking walks together almost every day. You are often alert and intrigued by everything around us for the first 15-20 minutes before being lulled to sleep by the jiggling stroller. We marvel at how well you seem to sleep through all the noises!

Daddy and I are adjusting well to parenthood. We still have difficulty in helping you get to sleep in the late evening hour, but even in the frustration of watching you become overtired, we find joy in the additional time to rock and hold and love on you. Thankfully, you usually fall back asleep extremely well in the middle of the night!

You are eating quite regularly every 2.5-3 hours now, and you sometimes even make it 4-5 hours between feedings once at night. But you are a very, very, very slow eater. I think you learned that from your father. :) I guess it's a healthy habit. I tell myself that the extra time it takes you to eat just means that I get to hold you longer.

Daddy and I have enjoyed involving you in our life. We've taken you for a walk on the Minute Man Trail (one of our favorite places to walk and bike nearby); you've hung out with us in the backyard; you've joined us at church and community group for a couple weeks now; you have helped us grocery shop (okay, maybe you didn't help, but you were cute); and you've met many of our friends and co-workers.

We love you so much, Nathanael, and pray for you every day. Your life is an answer to so many prayers, and we are excited to see how God grows and matures you through the years to use you for His glory. We pray that he instills in you a heart that follows hard after Him.

Lovingly,
your daddy and mommy

Nathanael Alim - 1 month old

And a couple outtakes...

Compare these to his 5 Day pictures here.

One month celebration in Boston

To celebrate Nathanael's one month birthday and really just to have an excuse to spend this amazing Saturday outdoors, the entire family headed down for a Boston King Favorites day.

Nathanael had his first subway experience on the T.

We grabbed Upper Crust Pizza on Charles Street and hung out in the Public Garden for a while.

We walked to Copley Square and quickly showed Nathanael Trinity Church, the Hancock Building, and the Public Library.

Then we headed over to the Charles to walk the Esplanade and chill on the grass for a while. (I know this is a bad picture, but it must suffice.)

Since we forgot to take a picture of him with the Duckling statues in the Public Garden, these real life ducklings will have to suffice for now. They were right by our blanket!

We're excited to read him Make Way for Ducklings soon!

Date night at 4 weeks

At four weeks old, Nathanael had his first evening away from the parents. Our friends and neighbors, Nick and Deborah, watched the little guy. We heard that the majority of his time was spent napping with Nick on the papasan, though he also had a few minutes of charming the downstairs neighbors/relatives and cuddle time with Deborah and his bottle.

(This picture is not from that night, but it's still a special Nick and Nathanael picture from when he was a few days old. We have yet to get one of the three of them together.)
While those three hung out in Medford, Greg and I had a date night in Boston. My work graciously provided free tickets to the Boston Pops, so we made an evening of it. Here we are all dressed up for the evening.
We had dinner at Symphony8 before the concert. The food was decent. I have to admit that other than just the incredibleness of being on a dinner date with Greg, I think my favorite part was the Smithwicks. I hadn't had one since pre-pregnancy!
And though we only stayed for about half of the concert, it was wonderful to be able to attend. The music was spectacular, of course.
We grabbed a nice Starbucks drink on our way out, and we were home about three and a half hours after we left. Amazingly, no tears were shed (though close), and we did NOT talk about Nathanael the entire time (though he was definitely mentioned frequently).

Videos for the family

I've been meaning to upload these videos for a couple weeks now, so they're a little old. Hopefully they'll publish correctly. Two videos are close-ups of Nathanael awake and one of him waking up.

Our little guy is four weeks old today!

Sleepy Nathanael

More of our little guy

A few pictures I've been wanting to share...

Our absolutely amazing doctor - Dr. McCrary.
He's a stellar doctor and man of God.

Zonked out in his swing with his little elephant lovey

Thoroughly enjoying his boppy play gym -- thanks, Robin; it's a hit!

Meeting his honorary grandmother (my "other mother" as we call her) at the Boston Logan Airport Wednesday afternoon. Galen, Beth, and Jenn had a brief layover in Boston and were able to spend a few minutes with us and meet Nathanael. What an unexpected blessing!

Last night, we gave Nathanael his first real bath, and he LOVED it!
We were quite thrilled as well.

King Family time

Nathanael has been thoroughly loved on by all his grandparents now. And Greg and I have been the spoiled ones this time with all the meals and laundry and dishes and cleaning with which our parents and siblings have blessed us!

The King grandparents spent the last week with us. Here are some pictures of his precious time with them.

Meeting Grandaddy King

Meeting Grandmom King

Three generations of King men (quite the resemblance, don't you think?)

I think Auntie Angie has gotten the shaft with Nathanael time since all the visitors have been hogging him, so here's a pic of a few minutes they stole together. I know they'll make up for lost time in the next few weeks and months.
The three of us love and miss you, Grandaddy and Grandmom. Thanks for such a special visit!

First Sunday, Mother's Day, and Dedication

Today was a big day for our family. It was our first Sunday taking Nathanael to church. As you know, it is also Mother's Day. And finally, our church held a special time during the services for families to dedicate to raising children in the ways of Jesus. (We call it Baby Dedication at our church.)

Greg gave me the perfect Mother's Day gift -- a new pendant for my necklace. I have an angel's wing pendant that I bought after our first miscarriage and have worn it since then. Greg bought me a small, classy silver pendant of a mother holding a baby to add to the chain. Now I have them both near and dear to my heart always.

Getting to church was a little hectic as Daddy had to be there at 7:30. We made it by 7:35. Not bad for our first time and some unexpected travel plans. (Daddy missed his bus so we had to scramble to get ready an hour earlier than planned.)

Here are some pictures from the baby dedication time.
There were so many babies; this pictures doesn't even show them all!

Nathanael was sleeping well, so we left him in his carrier; you can barely even see him in the pictures.

Here's little Nathanael in his first church outfit. All of his dressier outfits are still a little too big for him, so we went with a cute hand-me-down from Eli.

I call this his keyboard pose. Doesn't he look like he's practicing playing the piano?

And here's my little pumpkin showing how strong he's getting. Look at him raising his head!

Can it really get any better than this?

Bath time

Call us bad parents, but it had been over a week since we'd given Nathanael a sponge bath. So today was finally the day to get this boy clean again! (Well, he was at least clean for a few minutes.) I discovered that Nathanael truly enjoys bathing; we had a fun time together. It actually felt like a little Mother's Day gift.

Adorable clean little boy

Action picture of my adorable little boy spitting up
(which he did all over his neck about four times as I was bathing him)

Tribute to my mom

To my dearest mother,

I have only been a mother now a little over two weeks. But one thing that has become abundantly clear to me is this: you sacrificed so much for me over the last 30 years. I cannot say thank you enough for loving me and putting up with me, delighting in me and disciplining me, and most importantly praying for me and teaching me to know God's love in Jesus (ESPECIALLY in the midst of motherhood sleep deprivation ;).

On this Mother's Day 2010, I say thank you and wish you great joy! And one day, your grandson will wish you Happy Grandma's Day too!


With Love,
your youngest daughter

My men

My two men picked flowers for me on May Day (May 1st)!

I am abundantly blessed to share life with these two amazing men.

Meeting more friends and family

While still in the hospital, Nathanael also met...

Curtis, Brandi, Hannah, & Brennan,
(I can't believe we forgot to take a picture with them!)

Katie & Eden and Kelli & Quinn,

and Dan, Ann, & Ameliah.

Since arriving home, Nathanael has also been loved on by...

Eliot, Jessie, & Eli,

(Mommas and our miracle babies)
Uncle Drew,

Aunt Carrie,

and Chase (who flew all the way from LA)!

My mom continued to be a HUGE blessing all through the week.
Thanks, Mom! We miss you so much!

Nathanael was doing really well this morning, so we even ventured out on a brief walk to Tufts to meet some of my co-workers. He slept through the entire adventure to my glee. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see many of my work friends, even though brief! (Sorry, no pictures of those introductions either.)

I know many more of you have been asking to visit, and we have not forgotten about you! It's just really difficult to fit everything in while still trying to learn how to parent this little unpredictable infant. Thanks for your patience!

We had hoped to make it to the 6pm service at church Sunday, but this crazy HOT weather required a Home Depot run for another A/C unit (thanks to the recent basement flood which ruined our prior one). Oh, and this ridiculous Boil Water Alert is not helping matters either. Of course it had to happen just as all my family were leaving Boston! (We lost our dish washers!)

Nathanael is excited to keep meeting you all!