Jonah’s First Month

Newborn

to

One Month

I had a special connection with Jonah from the very beginning. I felt such love for him and his sweet little features. It was obvious that his appearance was 100% Arbon. He definitely had a different look from Charlie and Colson and it was so fun to see.

Jonah picked up on nursing quickly and easily. He was doing so well. He had lots of poop and a crazy amount of meconium in his diapers at the hospital. It seemed far greater than his older brothers.

His umbilical stump fell off on June 7th (seven days old).

We noticed that Jonah has a birthmark on his back just above his diaper line. Almost looks like we missed a spot while changing his diaper, if you know what I mean.

Jonah sucks in his bottom lip SO far! When he was born, Jason was jokingly concerned that he was missing his bottom jaw because he would suck it in so far it seemed nonexistent.

Here is a hilarious and completely accurate comparison Jason made to Star Wars:

(Now in 2019, whenever the boys see this character while watching Star Wars they say, "Jonah!")

He slept great for the first week. He would sleep better during the day than at night. He struggled a little bit at the 10:30 pm put down. He would keep whining and chomping on his binky for an hour that would need to be reinserted over and over again.

At one and a half weeks, Jonah’s baby acne appeared. This is basically right on schedule with my babies.

Jonah had a mammoth of a zit! We tried to let it take its course without popping it, but once it reached this level of nasty, we couldn't let it continue anymore!

this is how it looked the next day

Jonah was circumcised at two weeks and was in a lot of pain. Daddy stayed in with him while it happened.

Jonah was doing well with nursing, however, he injured my left nipple. He sucked a chunk right out of it and it hurt so bad! After days of trying to nurse through it, I realized it was not healing and would cause me to get mastitis in that breast. So I decided to pump the left side and nurse on the right until it completely healed. So each feeding he would nurse and took a bottle of breastmilk. I would actually hand pump on the left while he was nursing on the right. After about three weeks of this, it finally healed and I was back to nursing on it again. I was so grateful that Jonah had learned to take a bottle from the very beginning at the hospital!

At Jonah's two week appointment, these were his measurements:
Height - 52 cm (49%)
Weight - 7 lbs 9 oz (20%)
Head Circumference - 36.5 cm (72%)

We have another big headed baby!

As mentioned in the previous post, when Jonah was three weeks old. I forcefully pulled back his foreskin to prevent it from reattaching, but then I ripped open at the incision. It was bleeding and I was horrified that he would need stitches or be scarred for the rest of his life. My mom and I took him to the pediatrician since Jason was gone on a scout camp out and I was staying with my parents. Jonah peed twice while laying on the doctor mat, diaper off. That just added to the drama. The doctor said it would be fine and it would heal on its own without stitches. I just needed to give it another two or three weeks to recover. I was so relieved, but felt so bad because I could tell it hurt.

On June 24th, I started strictly feeding Jonah formula to hopefully get rid of his acne, but for those few days he was more fussy and by Tuesday he was in so much pain from being clogged up and constipated. That night I started nursing him again to help clear him out and I stopped with the formula strategy. I let the acne just run its course and did my best to lay off dairy foods.

Here are more pictures from Jonah's first month of life. For pictures at the hospital, see his birth post. For pictures from his first week (including his at home photo shoot), see his first week post.

Jonah and Tess Thackeray (two months apart)

meeting Uncle Randy

JUNE 2018 - Charlie’s Birthday, Father's Day, and Jason’s YM Encampment

Sunday afternoon (Jonah was just over a week old) we went to Draper to visit Bri and Brad who were in town. Uncle Bryan met Jonah.

The next week I spent most of the days alone with the boys, but they did a great job playing together. They seemed to be enjoying playing with their toys that they hadn’t seen for about a week since they were staying with grandparents. I felt so lucky and spoiled to have so much help that first week! Having Charlie and Colson taken care of for a week was priceless! Family is irreplaceable!

Charlie's Store

On June 11th, we celebrated my mom‘s birthday by having a picnic up the canyon at Nunn’s Park and then doing a bike ride on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail starting from Nunn’s Park up to Vivian Park. I just took Jonah on a walk in the stroller while the others rode their bikes. It was a beautiful evening with great weather and lots of fun.

That week Kim came one day because she didn’t have work and she ran errands for me and took the boys to the park to play and have a picnic. Thanks Kim! Another day, Amy came and brought us dinner and we hung out for a bit. We did another night of Parade of Homes with George, Nancy, and Karl.

Jonah and Tess, just two months apart

The neighborhood was doing a yard sale, so the boys did a lemonade and popsicle stand. They had been dying to do one. I felt a little guilty that the neighbors were spending the money they were making on their yard sale immediately on our treats. Next time I’ll give them “free lemonade” vouchers beforehand. The boys made $12 and spent five of those dollars on kiddie chairs from the Sellars and cookies and otter pops that were being sold by the Steed‘s.

We had a big Arbon barbecue at Great Grandma Arbon’s. It was a special day having LoyAnn’s birth mom here to visit for the very first time after recently finding her!

Jason was busy preparing for the Young Men Stake Encampment in Bear Lake.

Then it was Father’s Day! We had a pancake breakfast. Some gifts were socks, a frying pan, and treats that had been chosen by the boys. We had dinner at the Gruber‘s celebrating Father’s Day and Karl and Charlie’s birthdays.

Enjoying the World Cup, this year in Russia

Charlie turned six years old! He had his friend party and special breakfast the day before on Monday the 18th because Jason had to leave the next day for the scout camp. Charlie requested Poppyseed Muffins. For his party we got a water bounce house from Plan-It Rentals and the kids loved it! The friends that came were Kenyon, Roman, Elsie, Talei, and Afton. Basically Charlie’s primary class and Roman. We would have invited Elsa and Greta, but they were in Beaver for the funeral for April‘s dad. We were so sad about his sudden passing. It was devastating! We had pizza for lunch and popsicles for a treat.

Charlie's wishful schedule for his party

On Charlie’s actual birthday, we said goodbye to dad and then they had fun playing with Charlie’s new presents. Randy Gruber came over to meet Jonah since he was in town. Kenyon came over to play, and then we surprised Charlie with dinner at Pizza Pie Café with Kim, Kyle, and Camry. They met us there and then came back to our house for cake.

Charlie wanted a Super Mario cake

We had a park date with Grandma Gruber at the Orem Park behind Walmart. We had a McDonald’s picnic and had fun there with the ducks and walking around the loop. Then at home, some of us napped while Nancy and Charlie drew pictures of our day. Then Jaleah brought me dinner and we visited while George and Nancy trimmed the bushes in the front yard. Such a huge task and a surprise! They just up and did it after I had complained that they were getting too big. They are so thoughtful and attentive that way!

Thursday night and Friday night were spent at my parents. The boys stayed up late Thursday night doing chalk city with Bryan. On Friday the boys did lots of jumping on the tramp and bike riding. Unfortunately, I pulled back too hard on Jonah’s circumcision and it split! It was open and bleeding! I was horrified! I was so scared that I had scarred him for life! My mom and I took him to the doctor. Luckily we learned it would be okay. We just had to keep some gel on it and care for it for a while longer, but it would grow back together just fine. I was relieved! That night we did s’mores over the fire pit. We got home Saturday afternoon to see Jason and to hear all about his camp out! Here is a link to a video Jason made of the camp out.

Pictures from Jason's Encampment at Bear Lake:

I tried feeding Jonah strictly formula to help clear out his baby acne (we have had issues with that with all of our babies), however by the end of the second day, he was in so much pain I could tell that it is making him constipated, so I start nursing him again.

We had a play date with our PG friends at Stacee’s house in her backyard.

We visited the Riverton Gruber kids who were being tended by Grandma and Grandpa while Max and April were on trek.

One day Kenyon came up to me with a baby bird in his hands. I freaked out a little bit at him in shock! Three baby birds had fallen out of the nest while Charlie and Kenyon had been climbing the tree. When Jason got home, he used some cardboard to lift them back into the nest to hopefully keep them alive and summon the mother bird back.

We participated in a teeth bleaching fundraiser for my cousin, Ashley, that involved us going and getting molds of our teeth.

We did a hike around Silverlake with the Riverton Gruber’s, Grandma, and Karl. My mom tended Jonah at her house while we went up.

We started watching the World Cup soccer games that was being held in Russia this year. This is always a fun time, especially for Jason.

Here are more pictures from the month:

The boys staying with family that first week Jonah was home from the hospital (see last post for summary of events):

Charlie writing out the Mother's Day song from school

Strawberry Harvests:

Charlie kept requesting "summer school"

Garden update:

Aunt Alli came to meet Jonah and brought her friend, Sarah




Jason's shop











sous vide tri tip


baby acne starting to shine