in metaphors: A Month with Baby Toby

A whole month? Already? Here's the scoop on how this month with baby #2 has been:

Toby's weight: 9 lbs 2 oz (started at 6 lbs 13 oz) way to go!
[Since everyone's gonna ask anyways] Toby's sleeping: he does pretty well at night- with a few 5 or 4 hour stretches between feedings. That means usually 3-4 hours (max) at a time of sleep for us. Not bad!
Toby's health: had a few finger infections courtesy of his terrible mommy. I trimmed his nails and although I thought I was an experienced pro-star nail cutter, I trimmed his finger tips a bit too which turned into nasty infections. A round of antibiotics, 2 trips to the clinic, and some probiotics later and his fingers are all better!
Toby's personality: week 3 Toby had been acting super colicky and fussy, always needing help to get to sleep. Jason and I were thinking "man, this is one tough baby, Silas was so much easier!" (Then we reviewed actual facts and discovered that Silas was the same way. Aka: we forgot how tough these little newborns can be). Needless to say, he loves to be held and rocked, so we do that a lot to get him to sleep, and he spends much time in the swing and in a carrier. We're getting used to this pattern and trying to roll with it...
Differences from Silas: we cannot get this kid to take a soother. Silas was a soother baby from day one in the hospital but so far Toby just gags on it (bummer). Toby doesn't spit up! [What?] Silas was a major horker. I mean, 6 receiving blankets a day kind of spitting up. But Toby? Nada. {Yay Toby! Yay Mommy's clothing!} We think Toby's generally gonna give Silas a run for his money. He's growing faster, is super strong, and rolled over from his tummy to his back the other day {not sure this is normal, but am refraining self from worrying}
Similarities to Silas: fussiness, alertness, size {generally small} and well, he looks IDENTICAL to him. I mean, so much so that Jason and I were wondering if it is scientifically possible to genetically produce identical children at different times [is it?]

Highlights of this month: all the awesome social time we've had and the numerous visitors, outings, and part-ays. We never got out this much with Silas this early! I guess cause Jason's off, because of this time of year, and because Silas just NEEDS to get out, we have been off and running:
Christmas parties (2), date night dinner for Jason's birthday, Christmas shopping, tree-chopping down, a birthday party, visiting great-grandparents, visiting with cousins, visiting Nana and Papa, Captain kids trips, swimming trips...the list goes on.

Lowlights: stupid C-section recovery. My incision is still not healing and I'm not too keen about it. 3 trips to the OB and all he keeps saying is 'here's some more gauze.' Nice. Silas has also been pretty challenging lately too with discipline. Cute. But challenging. Can say his alphabet almost independently. But challenging. Able to repeat anything he hears. But challenging.

My health: besides the aforementioned incision and general C-section pain, my thyroid has so far remained okay. PRAISE the LORD! I'm sleeping as much as anyone can with a newborn {thanks to my incredibly awesome husband who helps in the night} and I feel generally optimistic about the fact of God's healing in my life. What a huge relief!

Goals: Jason goes back to work this week [gulp]. I am a bit nervous about it but here's my plan: stay positive, laugh, lower my expectations, celebrate my accomplishments, make lots of social engagements to keep me from being isolated, and be glad if I get to shower once a week. Achievable? Hope so.

Can't believe it's been a month because it's flown by but there's been a lot of activity and change. Overall, even though some days I wonder how we will ever do this again [if that's God's will] I feel like since this is our second I can tell myself that 'it will only get better,' 'this is just a season' and 'one day I'll feel like this is manageable' again. Yay for second-time-a-round confidence!

Sneak peak at some photos we had taken by our dear friends the Macphails:

p.s. look at how similar these brothers look!

{Silas is above, Toby is below...or is that right?}

One more highlight. Seems silly but I discovered Pinterest and this has made me super happy because it's given me lots of ideas for activities to do with Silas. I am more and more excited about teaching him things at home and not just trying to work around Silas, or finding toys for him to play with, but instead being more intentional about planning fun and educational activities for him. Check out a few things I've tried: