A Letter to my Son {1 Month}

My precious son,

I cannot believe how quickly the last month has flown by. It feels like just yesterday your daddy and I were sitting at the hospital just staring at you in awe. In your very short time with us you have already made us better! But before I go any further, I owe you an apology... 

When you still lived in my belly I prayed over you non-stop. Every little kick, flip or squirm made me stop and tell God how thankful I was that he was blessing us with a sweet baby. I asked God to protect you, to help you grow perfectly and to help prepare your daddy and me to be the parents that He wanted us to be. Son you were truly covered in prayer, not just by me but by our entire family, way before you ever took your first breath. God answered every one of those requests just as we had asked and we thanked him repeatedly for blessing us with you.

And then it was time for you to make your grand entrance! Your daddy and I sat in the car before walking into the hospital and prayed over your arrival. We prayed for the doctor and nurses that would help usher you into the world. We prayed for me, because your mom is a very stubborn woman and wanted to have you without any medication. We prayed for your daddy because he had to deal with your mommy without medication! And we prayed for you - that everything about your birth would be nothing short of perfect. Again, God answered every one of those requests just as we had asked and we thanked him repeatedly for blessing us with you.

Then we brought you home with us and we were so excited to start this new phase of life! We mastered breast feeding. We learned not to get shot when changing diapers. We pushed through those sleepless nights. We took you places - church, ball games, restaurants. I was in high gear making sure your every need was met, doing my best to conquer this whole new mommy thing and working hard to make it all look like it was done with ease. 

Then one morning while I was feeding you and scrolling through some of my favorite blogs I came across a post talking about late night feedings. The writer explained how special that time was for her and her baby - I was with her, I love that precious quiet time that we share when all the rest of the world is asleep! The writer went on about how much she cherished the cuddles - Yes! Me too!! - and how she really appreciated having that uninterrupted time to pray over her baby - Whoa. Stop. The. Boat. Her words stopped me in my tracks... hit me like a ton of bricks... My sweet son, it embarrasses your mommy to tell you this, but I think it's important for you to hear. Your mommy had been so busy taking care of you (and being pretty proud about it) that she had forgotten to take care of the most important part. 

As your mommy, I believe my job is to care for your every need and son, I must apologize that I let your biggest, most important need slip right through the cracks. My silly pride came directly before a big ol' fall and you were the one I neglected in the mean time. More important than anything else I do for you - more important than implementing tummy time or singing lullabies or even remembering your Vitamin D drops - the single most important thing I can do for you is to pray over you. I'm sorry, so so sorry, that I let days go by that I didn't cover you from head to toe in prayer. How in the world I got so busy that I forgot to pray for you is absolutely beyond me, but I did. However, I can assure you of one thing, mommy has been making up for lost time! 

Pops taught me when I was very little that he didn't promise unless he absolutely, 100% meant it and that when he did promise, I could count on him to do everything in his power to keep that promise. I think that's a pretty good rule so I'm choosing to do the same thing with you. I will never promise lightly. I will only promise when I absolutely, positively, 100% mean it and when I do promise, Cooper King, you can count on the fact that I will do everything in my power to keep that promise. So today, I am making my very first promise to you:

I promise to never let another day go by without praying for you.

On your first Sunday of life we took you to LifeChurch. The pastor, Craig Groeschel, said something that day that I believe was meant specifically for me to hear. He said, "Your greatest contribution to the Kingdom of God may not be something you do, but someone you raise." I truly believe, with my whole heart, that my life calling is to raise you to be a man after God's heart. That job comes with a lot of responsibility and I know mistakes on my part are inevitable, but I am going to do my very best - I will never let a day go by without praying for you. I will watch for teachable moments. I will spend time reading God's word to you and with you. And most importantly, your daddy and I are going to do our best to show you what being a true follower of Christ looks like through our lives. 

Precious boy, I am praying non-stop that the evidence of God's love and forgiveness and mercy will always shine through me so that you will eagerly seek after Him. I pray that God gives me strength and wisdom and guidance to show me how to raise you in a way that you never question His love for you. And I will thank Him, oh, how I will thank Him for letting me be your mommy. You are the very best gift and we are so honored He chose us to be your parents.

So, again, I'm sorry I messed up... it won't be the last time. Thank you for making me want to be a better lover of Jesus... You've only been here a month and you're already making me better! I love you precious boy...

All my love,

Mommy

One Month Milestones:

Eye Color - Steel blue, almost gray

Weight - A little over 10 pounds

Height - We haven't measured you since you were born but I can tell you are growing because when I lay you in my lap you only fit from your head to your bottom, your legs have to come up! 

Clothing - You can wear a few newborn clothes, but mainly everything is 0-3 months. You fit the newborns perfectly in width but you are wayyy too long for the snaps or leggings. In the 0-3 months everything fits you length wise, but is way too wide. Trust me on this one, in the long run, this is a great problem to have!

Nicknames - Currently I refer to you as "little bird" because you always have your mouth open just like a baby bird looking to be fed.

Sleep - We have not yet attempted to put you on a schedule (mainly because mommy and daddy don't want to be put on a schedule!) but you're sleeping well! You sleep anywhere from 3-4 hours at a time at night, occasionally more. There are a few nights, I think when you are hitting a growth spurt that you are hungry almost every hour... those aren't my favorite, but we've survived them! Thankfully they are few and far between.

Hair - You haven't lost any hair with one small exception - the spot right behind your cowlick. I have no clue what caused that part to fall out, as you clearly haven't been sleeping on the front of your head, but it is a definite bald spot. Luckily, with a little creative combing we cover it up pretty nicely. Daddy thinks your hair is getting lighter, but I think your daddy is losing it... I would describe your hair as very dark brown to black and you have lots of it! You could probably use a bit of a trim in the back but I don't see that happening any time soon... 

You LOVE your hands. They move non-stop! You cross your hands while eating which is pretty darn cute. On the rare occasion that you get upset in the car, I can reach back over the car seat and you will hold one of my fingers with one hand and you will stop crying (melts mommy's heart!). You interlace your fingers with no problem and thankfully, you've stopped trying to get your thumb in your mouth... something I worried about at the start! You also want your hands free while you sleep so we start your swaddle under the arms. 

You have been lifting your head since the day you were born! You've always had remarkable head control and you were apparently very interested to see what was going on since day one. You will just pull your head up, keep it very steady while check everything out and either keep watching or if you aren't completely enamored, lay your head back down. 

You smile more than any baby I've ever seen! You smile while you sleep, while you are awake and when tickled. On the flip side, your pout before you cry is absolutely hysterical. You are the king of sticking that bottom lip wayyyyy out! We feel bad laughing at you while you are crying but we can't help ourselves.

You are just starting to coo and it sounds like you say "Wow" or "Whoa." You've now said both with completely perfect timing twice! Once immediately after Grandpa had told us about a surprising cost on a part of the new house he is building and once when Pops was driving a little recklessly. You have impeccable timing already! Haha!

You love to be cuddled and it makes everyone so happy! Everyone wants to hold you and rock you and you are all for it! You prefer to fall asleep laying chest to chest on me or daddy. You tuck your little feet up and turn your head to one side, resting it on your hands and out you go! 

You are a very good baby and we are so thankful. We can strap you in the back seat and drive for days and you just happily ride along. We can take you to restaurants, church, wherever and you rarely ever fuss (unless you are hungry). You are making us look like we know what we are doing and we appreciate it! Ha! Just know that whether your the best baby in the world or the worst, your mommy and daddy love you more than you can imagine.