Shep - 1 month old...

I am a little past due on this post, so I figured I better get it done before I lost the information from his doctor visit. At one month old, Shep weighed in at 11 pounds and 1/4 oz, 21 1/2 inches long and had a 15" head circumference. The doctor said he was the picture of health. He goes back next week for his 2-month immunizations (just a nurse visit) and then we don't have to take him back in (except for illness) until he is due for 4-month immunizations.

He is going 2 1/2 to 3 hours now between feedings and once in a while he'll make it 4 hours...thank you, LORD! He is still in a size 1 diaper and wearing 0-3 month clothes, although neither will last much longer. He still looks like the other kids and as he gains more weight and his face fills out, he seems to look even more like them to me. Today, for some reason, I see my brother in him more than I have before. He is getting much stronger each day and holds his head up very well now. I don't it won't be much longer until he can lay on his belly and raise up his head to look at me. He is still having some problems with his belly and gas due to the amount of air he swallows when nursing, but it is slowly getting better. I can see the improvements from day to day. He burps like a grown man - no exaggeration here. People don't believe me until they hear it - across the room!

He is at that stage where he watches your mouth move when you talk to him and he moves his mouth and tries to talk too. It's precious. And he loves to be talked to. Final note: he is rotten. Wants to be held all the time and rocked all the time. I am trying desperately to break him of this, but the grandmothers (both biological and adopted) aren't helping. (o: I think that week in the NICU the nurses held him a LOT more than they let on.