One Month

Well sweet boy, here we are. The very first of your monthly posts. We're only 4 days late, which is actually an accomplishment. This first month has been an adjustment for all of us in the best way possible. We are busy and exhausted and in love our sweet little family of five. We are learning what it looks like to be outnumbered here in the Oprea frat house.

Our sweet, Jude. You are certainly loved by your big brothers. Finn wants to help with every little thing and Ryder just squeals your name (babyyyyyy Duuuuuude!!) I have to remind both of them to "give you space". It won't be long before you can hold your own, but until then I try to keep the truck throwing to a minimum around you.

You may be the youngest, but you are certainly not our littlest. You're up to size 1 diapers and 3 mo clothing. At your 1 month appointment, you were up to 10lbs 15oz and 23in. This is probably average, but considering your brothers are such peanuts it feels big to us.

You're learning how to sleep and eat and are still waking every 3-4hrs to eat at night. We're doing some sleep training during the day with your naps too. You would eat every 2 hours if I let you, but your big brothers occupy too much of my time for that to happen, so I've been working to try and stretch out your day time feedings a bit. You're not a fan of this at all, but it's necessary if I'm going to keep all three of you alive. To quote Friends you are a bit high maintenance, but I love maintaining you.

You love:
-being held
-your vibrating bouncy seat
-eating
-falling asleep right after you eat
-riding in the car as long as it's moving

You don't love:
-when we put you down
-tummy time
-when I don't feed you right away
-when I take your clothes off to keep you awake after eating
-stopping for red lights in the car
-5-7PM

Here are some pictures from the past month. We have your very first Halloween next week, so you'll get a firsthand look at chasing your brothers around the neighborhood in search of sweet treats.

First bath

Wearing Finn's old Halloween pj's a couple weeks early, because I wasn't positive they'd fit you on actual Halloween.

First walk around the cul-de-sac

Fall Family Field Trip

I'm not sure if it was the fact that we are all going a bit stir crazy, the cool temps and sunshine or all of the above, but yesterday we took a day trip to North Georgia to go apple picking and visit a pumpkin farm. Finn has actually been asking to go "pick apples off of trees" for awhile now and considering this is the very end of the season, we figured this was our only shot. Not to mention this is not an activity I can do solo, so we took our first field trip as a family of five. We loaded up the car in the morning and an hour later we were on our way north with all of the snacks and DVD's. Yes, the drive is only a little over an hour, but we knew we'd be going napless and I was not about to risk a ride home with all three of them screaming.

We got to the apple farm, and we let the big boys jump on this bouncy pillow thing that was most certainly one big staph infection waiting to happen but they loved it and I had to feed Jude.

Then we headed to the orchard. Dustin and I laugh at this often, because one of our favorite comedians jokes about how excited people get to pick fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, apples... "so tell me- how much money do I owe you to do your job for you?"

One child would've eaten a dozen apples and the other wanted all of the doughnuts.

 Then, we headed to Burt's Pumpkin Farm down the road for a tractor ride and a chance to see some really big pumpkins because let's be honest, we buy our real pumpkins from Trader Joe's for a third of the price. Nonetheless, the boys had fun and it made for some good photos. This was our second trip to Burt's. Our first was when Finn was 13 months old and I was newly pregnant with Ryder.

 

The progression of these pics makes me laugh. Finn wanted to sit at the top. Ryder had to follow him. Finn wanted to hug Ryder. Ryder wanted him to get off.

 We survived and made it home in time for dinner, baths and a 6:30 bedtime. Happy Fall, friends.