Lucas: 0-3 Months

I think this has been the fastest 3 months of my whole life! When Levi was a newborn, plagued with with a terrible case of colic and reflux, every day felt like 1,000 years. When he turned three months old I remember thinking "Only 3 months?! Surely you are at least 9 months old." But with Lucas, time seems to just fall through my fingers no matter how hard I try and hold on to it. Now, some of this is probably because we are so busy lately. However, I think a lot of it is because Lucas is SUCH a good baby.

Lucas came home from the hospital sleeping 4-5 hour increments at night. By 1 month, he was sleeping 6-7, and by 2 months he was sleeping 8-9 hours at night. Mitch and I have treated Lucas exactly how we treated Levi at his age. Levi woke up every hour until he was almost 7 months old and yet Lucas slept 9 hours in his crib every night this past week. What I'm trying to say is, I have absolutely no parenting advice or sleep advice! The Lord blessed us with a terrible sleeper the first go around, and He blessed us with an AMAZING sleeper this go around (and we are SO grateful that He did!) There are a million reasons why I am so thankful that Lucas is good sleeper, but the main one is that I went back to work full time when he was 6 weeks old. There have been a lot of really hard things about going back to work so early, and I am so thankful that I wasn't having to function on no sleep on top of everything else.

Our friend Paula came to visit!

In addition to being an amazing sleeper, Lucas is incredibly laid back and happy about 80% of the time. This is another blessing from the Lord that I did not deserve but I am so thankful for! When Levi was diagnosed with Autism in June, I started praying begging the Lord to make Lucas an easy baby. Between having a (newly diagnosed) Autistic 2 year old and both Mitch and I working full time, I was terrified of adding a colicky newborn to the mix. Thankfully, Lucas is as far from grumpy as they come! Although he does have his fussy moments, all in all he is really the happiest baby.

Lucas smiled for the first time at 5 weeks and has smiled every day since. Most of the time, all you have to do is look at him and he will immediately grin back. At around 9 weeks old, he started giggling and has now developed a pretty cute little laugh. Currently, his favorite things to laugh at are fake, exaggerated sneezes and Daddy's high-pitched helium voice. So if you see me in public, I do not, in fact, have a cold. I just have an adorable baby with heart-warming laugh that I need to hear all. day. long.

Levi's adjustment to Lucas has been realllllllllly slow, but he is getting better week by week! For the most part, Levi just ignores Lucas all together. Sometimes, Levi ignores Lucas so well that he doesn't even see him on the floor under his feet. Or on the bed as he rolls over him. Or in my lap as he smacks him with a book. Did I mention how resilient Lucas is? In all seriousness though, Levi truly has done amazing with Lucas. In the beginning, I really feared that he would feel threatened and might lash out at Lucas, but he never has and I couldn't be more thankful or proud.

Adjusting hasn't just been hard for Levi, but has been challenging for all of us! Between Mitch and I both working & being really involved in our church, life has been pretty crazy for the Jaeger clan lately. Not to mention, going back to work at 6 weeks postpartum was tough on this mama's heart (and milk supply!). However, the Lord has been so careful with my tender heart and has given me good bonding time when I feel like I need it most. He also has allowed me to finally establish my milk supply and continue to exclusively breastfeed, which is a huge answered prayer and completely the Lord's doing (I was ready to give up by my second week back to work!)

Life has been exhausting and wonderful,. Overwhelming, yet so rewarding. And we wouldn't have it any other way!