One Month of Fun

Well, we have all survived the first month of Jacob’s life. The last 31 days have been filled with dirty diapers, sleepless nights, joys and tears (for both Jacob and Jaci), lessons learned, and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Malone. All in all, we have come to love Jacob more and more each day and wouldn’t trade the moments with him for anything in this world. Each day he is a reminder to us of God’s great love and grace.

During the last month, we had the blessing of my parents coming to stay with us for a few days. It was awesome to have others to stay up with Jacob in the early morning hours when he didn’t want to sleep. It was also great to have a piece of home here with us in Korea. Of course, they spoiled us and Jacob with their love and gifts, but we were okay with that! I learned from this experience that no one can replace a mother in your life. It was so freeing to have my mom helping and giving advice–it just meant so much more coming from her since I figure (in my opinion) her kids turned out fine.

One of the “fun” parts of having our baby overseas is that we had to apply for Jacob’s passport within 30 days of his birth. So, we had to trek up to Seoul and head to the US embassy. It all wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact that once we got there they informed us that the passport picture size had changed and that the cute pictures we had of Jacob were too small. Thus, we had to wake him up and in between screaming episodes get him to open his eyes for a picture. Mind you that we were trying to get this done in one of those small picture booths like you may have seen in malls. My dad said when we came out of the embassy 2 hours later he saw in my eyes for the first time the “angry mom” look and knew at that point I had for sure taken on motherhood. And he was right, I was not happy, okay I was downright angry, that “these people” made me have to make my child cry for 45 minutes just to get a 2cm bigger picture!!

Another exciting event that occurred in the first month of Jacob’s life was his dedication ceremony at church. We were so excited that Grandma and Grandpa could be there with us.

Jacob had his 1 month appointment last week and weighed in at 5.4kg (11lbs, 14oz). Which means he has put on 3 pounds since birth. He has already outgrown all of the clothes in the newborn pile and is working on out growing his 0-3 month clothing. It was quite humorous one day I put on an outfit only to discover later that it was preventing him from fully stretching his legs–oops!

Below you will find some pictures from the last couple weeks and later I will post some video clips of Jacob with Grandma and Grandpa.

Big yawn!

Hey, do you like my “Donna” quilt?

Jacob & Grandma at the train station ready to go to Seoul.

Dedication service at CIC.

Napping with Papa Dave.

Happy Halloween everyone!

After One Week At Home

It has been one week since we arrived home from our five day hospital stay. The time seems to have both gone quickly and slowly at the same time: The minutes when Jacob is nursing (especially in the middle of the night) or crying seem to drag, but then when he is sleeping or playing they just fly by.

I cannot believe how much he seems to have changed already in his short two weeks of life. I am beginning to understand the commonly stated phrase: “they grow up too fast, hold them while you can”.   A part of me just wants to lock him in baby-cuddle mode for a while so I don’t have to worry about him growing up too fast.

All in all, the adjustment to parenthood for me has gone quite well.  Jacob is a very content baby. He usually only cries when getting changed, bathed, and awakened from sleep. He is a good eater which has made this stage of life much easier than I had expected.

The last few  days I have spent trying to get Jacob and myselft on  a schedule. I think he has gotten his nights and days figured out now, so we are well on our way to getting into a predictable routine.

I think we will head out for our first outing today…I haven’t left the house since last Saturday and should probably get some fresh air and some exercise.
So, if the rain holds off and I can get us both ready for the outdoors we will head to the women’s Bible study I had been attending before Jacob was born.

Thank you all for all your prayers, emails, and phone calls. I feel God has truly blessed us beyond what we could have asked or imagined in providing a healthy baby boy for us to love. A large part of that is due to your prayers and His awesome grace, becuase there is nothing Mike or I have done that could have earned us this great blessing.