Our crazy life

Joel has had quite an exciting life so far. He has now been through 6 states. The ship pulled into Newport this past week and we decided that Joel and I would drive up and meet Sam there. We decided this last Tuesday and Joel and I left Wednesday for MD. We spent Wed. night and Thursday with my family and drove the rest of the way to Newport last Friday. Joel did amazing on the drive. He cried when he was hungry, I stopped to feed him, he fell asleep and was quiet until the next time he was hungry. We stopped three times during that trip and it took us 9 hours instead of 6, but everything went really smoothly. I was so proud and thankful for how well he did. We had such a wonderful time with Sam. It was totally worth the pain of getting there to be with him and to watch him enjoy time with his son.



The few days after Joel's birth were totally consumed with learning to take care of him. There were lots of tears and things were just crazy. This past week we were able to get coffee, take walks, eat out and it was so fun.


Joel was such a trooper as we were out and about and we really had a great time as a family of 3. Joel's life will continue to be exciting. He will add at least one more new state to his adventures when we fly to commissioning in Florida next month.

I can't believe how much Joel has already changed. He is starting to act more like an older baby and less like a newborn. Instead of spending most of his time cuddled up on my chest, he likes to have his head where he can look around. He spends so much more time alert now than he did and it's really fun (when he's happy).

He is definitely gaining better control of his hands and head and it's fun to watch. During tummy time he can pick up his head and turn it to the other side. He is also just now starting to fit into 0-3 month clothes, which is exciting. I was getting super tired of the 5 newborn sleepers that fit him. He has had a handful of smiles that I think were on purpose- mostly at Sam this past week. I can't wait for consistent smiles.

This month has definitely been crazy and there is no end in sight, but I'm so thankful for how far we've come and for God's continuing faithfulness.