Today we took Elijah in to see the doctor for his one month wellness checkup. One month? It doesn't seem possible that a whole month has gone by since Theresa and I first became acquainted with our brand-new son.Elijah's arrival was quite a journey, and so far my third trip through fatherhood has been quite an adventure. I think that our biggest adjustment has been learning how to balance the needs of a newborn baby with the continual needs of a ten year old and a twelve year old. Fortunately, the older two are pretty self-sufficient, and they have actually come in handy when we needed a spare hand or someone to hold Elijah. They certainly are eager to stay involved in their baby brother's care.
Elijah has helped me recall some of the tricks and skills that I had developed back when Kayla and Josh were each babies. I had wondered how long it would take me to get used to changing diapers again, but actually I was able to recall this skill pretty quickly. I've also remembered some of the songs that I used to sing to Kayla when she was a baby, and some of the joys of taking care of a baby, such as cuddling them, reading to them, and watching them grow.
He is still small, but he has grown a lot over the last month. He is also awake during a bigger part of the day, and his head is less floppy so it doesn't need as much support as it used to.
One thing that I hadn't anticipated was that Elijah would make our other kids seem so big. But, then, I always knew that Kayla and Josh were growing up, so maybe I'm just starting to see them from a different perspective.
Looking ahead
On March 17, Elijah is going to be baptized during the 11 a.m. service at the Mount Pleasant Community Church. This will definitely be a big day for everybody in our family. After that, we're looking forward to celebrating our first Easter with Elijah, and then taking him around during the Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival in April.
