This week has been rather unusual in the sense that 6 of my friends have delivered baby boys in the last 5 days! This caused Gregg and me to take a look back at our first days with Zeke, and see how far we've come. That first night in the hospital we were overwhelmed with a baby that wouldn't stop crying. We didn't know what to do, and we just wanted to get some sleep. An amazing nurse took him for several hours so we could sleep.
We woke up somewhat refreshed and determined to implement Dr. Denmark's schedule as quickly as possible. We did a modified version, nursing Zeke at 2am, 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, and 10pm for the first couple of weeks. At 2 weeks we dropped the 2am feeding and put him to sleep in his room. We also chose to sleep him on his tummy from the very beginning. We had to place him on his side in the hospital because of their rules about sleeping babies on their backs. We trust Dr. Denmark and all of the mothers who have followed her recommendations for generations. We prayed about these issues and were confident that we had made the right decision. We have decided to go "against the grain" in regards to a lot of our parenting decisions, and I have a feeling that will not change as he gets older!
Now that Zeke is 1 year old, we continue to follow a structured schedule, and he is thriving. We look at our friends who are beginning this journey with newborns and pray that they would trust their instincts and enjoy this time with their newborn babies.
I recently received the final set of "milestone" portraits from Summer Adams, our photographer. We documented Zeke at 4, 8, and 12 months for these sessions. Here is a look at the photos from the beginning until now....Enjoy!
Four Months Old:
Eight Months Old:
One Year Old:
"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another." (John 1:16)
We count Zeke as one of the greatest blessings of our lives. What a year!!!
We count Zeke as one of the greatest blessings of our lives. What a year!!!
