11 weeks.

jonasu (another new nickname) is eleven weeks old today.  huh.  that’s odd.  i really thought he was ten weeks old today, but i seem to have missed a week somewhere in there.

in any case, we have had an impossibly sweet, laid-back, happily cooing and gurgling little baby in the house for the past eleven weeks (really?  it’s not ten?).  he’s so far been the textbook definition of easy baby- eats good, poops good, sleeps good (he’s been sleeping 7-8 hours most nights since he was 5 weeks old without my having done any sleep training with him!).

jonah has fit seamlessly into our family and into our lives and i can’t really imagine life without him.

God is so good.

but like my dear friend put it, it seems like you have to put life on hold for a few years when you’re starting over with a new baby.  i definitely find that to be true.  we have to begin at the beginning again.  we go back to the starting line.  we do not pass “go”.

and aside from ambitious weekend birthday trips, we’ve lately just been staying close to home.  it’s so much easier that way and thankfully, the kids all really enjoy staying home and having lots and lots of time for free play.

like allie said yesterday, “mommy, i like it best when everyone’s home together.”  and i absolutely have to agree.

because staying home means…

that allie-girl gets lots of time to love on her baby brother.

and okay, lauren also enjoys a good cuddle with the baby too.

hello, little brother.  hello, big brother.

i believe i mentioned that allie loves baby jonah, yes?  enough to where she loves doing anything for him, even changing his diaper.  i don’t know what i’d do without my little helper girl.

daddy checking for baby foot funk.  (and no, he didn’t have any).

this is jonah’s most favorite way to sleep.  correction- if you picture ME there in place of the pillow, then you’d know his MOST favorite way to sleep.

allie loves baby jo…  wait, i said that already, didn’t i?

when two little sisters set up a pretend picnic in their room and ask you if they can have real food to eat at their pretend picnic, the answer to that is always yes.  so you give them grapes, goldfish crackers, raisins, raspberries, and homemade lemonade.  and it most definitely helps to turn a blind eye to the otherwise messy room.

there were a few weeks where jonah would get into a fussy snit in the evenings and laying him tummy-down across an arm was one of the few ways to calm him.  phil wondered if it was just because it was harder to cry in this position.  i said he just liked it.  why, doesn’t he look happy to you?

thinking deep, eleven-week-old thoughts.

so, while having a new baby in the house does mean having to give up certain freedoms and putting many things on hold for a good long season, it turns out to be a small sacrifice after all.  because the trade-off is worth it a million billion times over.  🙂