1 Month

It's hard to believe that Jonas has been a part of our family for one month already. The time really is passing quickly. He has brought us a lot of joy in the past month, and I'm looking forward to see what the next month will bring!

"Firsts" from Month One

• First Christmas
• First New Year's
• First walk in the stroller



• First bottle



• First party (at our friends Mike and Beth's house). We thought we were pretty awesome parents bringing our 4-week-old to a party. Then another couple showed up with their 4-day-old. One-upped.
• First time to a restaurant. We even braved a sit-down restaurant (Lytle Land and Cattle) with a group of friends. He slept in his carrier the whole time like a little angel.
• First trip to the grocery store
• First doctor's appointment
• First time to church



• First bath. He's not a fan, but he seems somewhat resigned to it now. He doesn't cry; he just looks at us like, "Why are you doing this to me?"

 Things I Want to Remember

• Right before he falls asleep, he gives the sweetest little grin. 
• He always has a suspicious look. I call him Mr. Suspicious.

• He gets the hiccups all the time, just like when I was pregnant with him.
• He always puts one arm up in the air, like he's saying, "Yeah!"



• He loves music - the mobile on his play gym, the lullabies his swing plays, Darby's guitar, and the singing at church. 



• He usually lays with his head turned to the left. One night, I told Darby to turn his head to the right, so he wouldn't get a flat spot. When Darby turned him, Jonas's eyes got huge and he got super still. It was as if he had just discovered a whole new world and his mind was blown.

Jonas's first Christmas

We were so happy that Jonas arrived before Christmas. And, after knowing how long his labor took, very glad we didn't opt to schedule our induction for Christmas Eve, which was one of our options!

We exchanged gifts with Darby's parents on the Friday night after we got home from the hospital. They returned to Waco on Saturday, and Darby's mom came back for a longer visit on New Year's Day. I'll post more about that later.

My parents and Hannah were with us the entire week of Christmas. And Matt and his fiance, Leila, were able to come over quite a bit. They all showered Jonas with plenty of snuggles. It was great that Jonas had so much time to spend with his G-ma, Papa, and aunt and uncle.

"Aunt-elect" Leila

Snoozing with Auntie Hannie

Uncle Matt

Papa

G-ma

Unfortunately, Darby and I came down with a stomach bug on the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas, so we were pretty ragged. I was disappointed to have to miss out on our Christmas Eve pizza dinner and game playing. Darby did cheer me up by bringing me my stocking in bed. We got Jonas his own stocking, but we didn't fill it this year. We figured he wouldn't appreciate it. :)

Hannah and her boyfriend, Brad, staged a photo shoot with Jonas. We're using some of the pictures for our birth announcement.

He wasn't thrilled about being stuffed in his stocking.

Looking cute in his Christmas outfit.

We were both feeling better on Christmas Day, so we enjoyed opening presents with my family. Jonas slept through the whole event.

Darby and I always take a picture in front of our tree. It was so fun to add Jonas this year!

My mom's extended family came into town on Thursday night, so we headed over to Aunt Lea's for dinner and frousin time. Jonas got to meet his great-grandma Katherine, great-aunt Katina, and frousins Amy, Rob, and Matthew. Naturally, on his first evening out, Jonas went through the outfit he had on and his back-up outfit. Luckily, Aunt Katina let him open his Christmas gift early, so he didn't have to be naked the whole night. And we learned an important lesson: the diaper bag is now stocked with two backup outfits.

Great-aunt Lea

Great-aunt Katina

Great-grandma Katherine

Frousin Amy

On Friday morning, we went back over to Lea's to open gifts and have our traditional Christmas lunch. Again, Jonas slept through all of the present opening, and he didn't even say thank you to anyone! Normally, we all get together on Christmas Day in Dallas, but everyone agreed to change up the date and location, so Darby, Jonas, and I could participate. I'm so grateful to everyone for being so accommodating.

A Baby's First Christmas ornament. Jonas seems thrilled by his presents. :)

There are a lot of benefits of having a baby around Christmas. The primary one for us being that Darby is off work for several weeks. And I love that our families were able to spend so much time with him right after birth. But, to be honest, I found it a little overwhelming to handle both a newborn and the holidays at the same time. Normally, I love Christmas, but I just felt like I couldn't totally enjoy it this year. I felt like I missed out on things because I had to excuse myself to feed Jonas every few hours. Both Darby and I have the feeling that Christmas just didn't really happen this year. So, while Jonas's first Christmas was certainly special, I'm looking forward to his second Christmas when I'll hopefully be a little less zombie-like.

Christmas-ed out.

2 weeks ago

2 weeks and 1 day ago, Darby and I went to my routine doctor's appointment and were surprised to come out with an induction scheduled for the next day (my due date). That was not how I had hoped things would work out, but I was excited to know we would be meeting our little boy soon.

After Darby's departmental Christmas party the night before the induction. 39 weeks 6 days pregnant.

2 weeks ago, we got up at 3:30 a.m., after very little sleep, and headed to the hospital to start the induction process.

The morning of the induction. I think my facial expression perfectly captures my emotions. I'm trying to be excited, but I'm mainly nervous and scared. And really, really tired.

We thought we'd be meeting our little boy 2 weeks ago today. I was pleased with the idea of him being born on his due date. But, he had other plans. After 24 hours of labor, Jonas David Hewitt entered the world on December 19 at 6:07 a.m. Much to everyone's shock, he weighed 9 lbs. 5 oz. and was 21 in. long. We had known he was big, but no one thought he was that big. I won't post all of the details of his birth story here. But I did type it up for my own memory. If you're interested in reading a loooong story, I'm happy to share it with you.

Our sweet big boy. The labor was difficult but totally worth it to get him here.

Darby holding him shortly after birth. The pictures of me holding him right after birth will never see the light of day. :) I see all of these beautiful pictures of moms looking tired but radiant holding their seconds-old babies. I look much more ragged in my photos. And while I certainly look happy, the primary emotions are exhaustion and relief.

All ready to go home from the hospital. He wasn't sure what to think about his car seat. We went home on Friday around noon. I was so ready to be done with the IV and the constant interruptions for blood pressure checks, instructions, medication, etc. 

It's hard to believe how much life has changed in 2 weeks.We're getting settled into life as a family of 3. Jonas is an incredibly easygoing little guy who really only fusses when he's hungry and sleeps in decent 3-hour stretches. Even so, it's a pretty big adjustment.

Darby and I might be biased, but we think he's the cutest baby we've ever seen. Every little facial expression and noise is cause for exclamation. I just can't get over the fact that this little person was living inside me. It seems impossible.

His arrival was nothing like I had intended or expected, but I couldn't be happier that he's here.