First week of November: We mostly laid low at home with my mom still visiting. The older kids went to their friends' house for a play date and again for small group, and Ricky went to a church outreach meeting.
Second week of November: Another chill week. My mom went home; we had our pastor over for lunch one day; our church body begins bringing us dinner meals for the next six weeks (!); and, the older kids went on another play date while we took Raphael to the Chiropractor (no crying or waking, just rested on Ricky’s chest while being adjusted:).
Third week of November: More homebodiness, just friends coming over to visit and see the cute baby;)
Fourth week of November: We were able to go to my parents’ farm for a few days over Thanksgiving! Raphael is a great car rider; the kids got to play with their cousins; Raphael got to meet his aunt and uncle; and, I crashed and rested (life with a newborn)!
Aolani is so motherly and helps me take care of the baby. Her maternal instincts are sweet, and she feels important and big (which she is)! She is also becoming quite independent and strong-willed (disagrees and argues with me a lot :( ).
Micaiah's mishaps (actually Mommy’s mishap, a humbling tale): One day Aolani came to me to inform me (tattletale) that Micaiah’s giving jar was empty even though his spending jar was full of money (since they haven’t tithed recently, he must have taken the money from giving and put it in the toy jar -- see money jars). I turned to him and astonishingly say, "You stole money from God?!” Ignoring his firm denial and shaking my head in disapproval, I continued, "Even if Mommy didn’t see or find out, God sees and knows everything!” Then he burst into tears and kept saying that I wouldn’t listen to him. I assured him I would listen. He reminded me that he had given me all the money from that jar when we collected money to buy Bibles for Buddhists. That’s right! I felt the heavy weight of guilt. Micaiah is so quick to give, generous and tenderhearted! After apologizing for wrongly assuming and falsely accusing, I gave him a big hug and reminded him that God loves a cheerful giver :)
Raphael did a lot of growing this month! He lost his umbilical cord on his eighth day, gained three pounds, turns and moves a lot when lying down, grew out of newborn diapers, is practicing neck control, and did his first laughs for Ricky and I separately over Thanksgiving break (melt my heart!). He is our little noisemaker, making all those sweet, precious newborn grunts and squeaks. During the first month of life, I focus on breastfeeding and establishing a strong nursing relationship since it will hopefully last at least two years. So we spent a lot of time in the recliner just resting and nursing and growing. My milk came in on day three, and I went straight into oversupply, which I anticipated since I was only nursing one child (I had it with Aolani). To combat this issue, I nurse on just one side for two subsequent feedings before switching to the other side. This way my body gets the message to slow down milk production. This month I am somewhat working on sleep and next month’s focus will be on trying to figure out a routine that will work well with our family’s life. Right now, Raphael is still sleeping in our bed at night, probably until he can sleep at least six hours straight before waking to nurse. (Ricky is extremely hard to wake, even with alarms, water, hitting, my shouting, baby wailing... So when the baby needs to eat at night, I need to be able to reach him because Ricky will sleep through it all!)
I have written lyrics to well-known lullabies for the kids (i.e., one, two, three), and here is Raphael’s (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star):
Twinkle, twinkle little star Raphael is who you are Raphael, it’s God who heals Trust in Him, your heart He stills Don’t you know He loves you so Yes I know He loves you so Twinkle, twinkle little star Raphael is who you are
I put in every shot of Raphael during this shoot (by my mom), even if it's not great, because I treasure each expression! He's 1-month old here.
Almost all of these pictures include Raphael; we all just can't get enough of cute, little, chubby squish!
