Owen - Four and a half weeks old!

It's hard to believe that Owen is a whole month old. There's a huge learning curve to this life with a baby thing, and I won't deny that all of us are still figuring things out, but at the same time it's hard to remember the days before we had him with us.

So much time and so little time has passed.

Things are still pretty sweet around here - we're in love with our boy. There are moments, of course, when he's screaming, or eating constantly, or fussy and nothing will calm him, where it's just plain hard. But there are lots more moments where we can't get over how amazing he is.

Every day he changes more, makes new sounds - chirps and crows and coos - and more intentional sounds. Instead of immediately dissolving when he's wet or hungry or lonely, he calls out for us, then waits for us to respond, and calls again. When he nurses, he tickles my ribs with his bottom hand, and nests his top one in my cleavage or hangs on to my neckline or takes a handful of my sweater. When he needs a burp he grouses with his mouth full until I bring him up to my shoulder.

When we put him down on the floor to play he looks so hard at every new book and toy. He seems to want so very much to roll over or crawl (not yet, baby, not yet!) He stares into people's faces now, and looks around for his dad or I when he hears us in the room.

He weighs 10.5 lbs now! He's growing out of his newborn duds! Fortunately, John's cousin sent us a giant bag of hand-me-down clothes, so with all the gorgeous outfits he's been receiving as gifts, he's well dressed through several sizes!

He's a little thrown off by so many visitors still, and spoiled by so much sleeping in arms, but he's starting to build a nighttime routine. He'll eat around 12:30, around 3:30 and around 7. And OK, so he spends 45 minutes to an hour awake each time, which doesn't add up to a whole lot of sleep, but things could be much, much worse!

Today we took him in to the Herald to visit with his dad's ex-co-workers and he was a little angel the whole time. With a quick parking lot lunch, he was ready for time with Grandma and Dad while I got a haircut. It was a tiny bit nerve-wracking to be away from him for an hour, but we all survived (he slept through the whole thing and I concentrated on being just a couple streets away.)

Everyone keeps being impressed that we're up and dressed and out of the house - but it's for my own sanity more than anything else, believe me. If I spent the whole day in my housecoat I don't think I'd do very well! It's been wonderful to be co-parenting through this whole needy stage as well - there's no pressure to make sure that John gets tons of sleep so he can be productive, so if things go awry on my shift I don't feel guilty getting help, and it's been good to have so many willing people to hand him over to during the day as well.

We had him baptised last Sunday, and he was very good for that as well, even if I did have to feed him in the pews. He screamed bloody murder in the restaurant afterwards, but he never does like to wait for his food. There are photos, as usual, in flickr.

Thanks for joining us on the journey!