How does that saying go? The days are long but the years are fast? And in this case, the first month?  I literally cannot believe that Ty Baby is already celebrating his first month birthday! It’s incredible!  It’s funny too, because just like the others, I’ve pretty much already forgotten what life was like before him – he just belongs right here with us!  And I was talking with some friends the other day – three under three is no joke – my goal each day is that we survive. Like, literally. As in we are all still alive each night. And my friends and I were joking about how, when overwhelmed by small tiny humans, the best rule of thumb is to always attend to the kid closest to dying (in my case, that’s typically Rex, the one about to plunge four feet off the top of the couch to the tile headfirst, etc). So sadly, Ty gets some alone time while I rescue Rex and handle Landri! And speaking of Landri, remind me to write a post about what toddler tantrums are really like because I think the last 20-ish months have all just been practice rounds, and we’re only just now getting to the real deal. And OH.EM.GEE.

But anyways, in his first month, Ty Baby has tagged along to all kinds of places.  He’s made several trips to HEB, various restaurants including a beer garden, multiple dr apts, and has even had a real babysitter! He’s also made Sunday church 3 out of his 4 Sunday’s so far! He is growing at warp speed – I think I’ve mentioned before that although he was the littlest Lehnhoff at birth, he had already surpassed both Landri and Rex in their corresponding heights/weights by the age of only two weeks and has continued this trend into his third week by gaining a total of exactly two pounds in this time!  That’s more than 25% of his original body weight in three weeks! While Scott was carrying Ty around the other day, I overheard him happily tell Ty, “You’re the length of a nice trout!” Not exactly how I would think to put it, but yes, a healthy growing boy! Speaking of Scott with Ty, his ease of handling a newborn is quite impressive (unless Ty is having a meltdown – Scott does not do meltdowns). Not only does he do it well (no awkward fumbles), his comfort level and confidence is that of a true expert! I guess when you get so much practice in such a short time, that’s what happens! It’s hard to believe that three years ago today, we didn’t have any kids at all and I still worked on corporate America!

Back to Ty Baby…one of the most incredible things about him besides his impressive weight gain, is what I’ve started calling his TF, or “Toughness Factor.” Ironically, Rex had to deal with a similar situation when he was born, but Ty Baby has a much bigger challenge than Rex did, which lead me to develop the TF scale for Ty Baby. As you might imagine, when a newborn enters a home in which both Toddzilla 1.0 (Landri) and Toddzilla 2.0 (Rex) reside, you can only hope and pray that said newborn has a high TF quotient. And luckily for us, that’s Ty Baby. So, let’s see, besides the daily eyeball pokes, eyelid pulls, and hand/foot yanking that Ty endures at the hands of both of the Toddzillas, Ty Baby was squirted directly in the EYE with a supersoaker (high powered water gun) at age FIVE DAYS OLD by 1.0 and the little dude did not even make one tiny peep! Additionally, “Baby” Rex has (unknowingly and accidentally) almost completely squashed Ty Baby on multiple occasions in sweet attempts to hug him. Again, even though Ty’s tiny bones struggled to support the massive weight of 2.0, not a cry did Ty Baby make!  However, the day that  “Baby” Rex (unknowingly and accidentally) sledgehammered Ty Baby in the cranium with the TV remote, Ty just couldn’t take it any longer and his TF quotient dropped a few points as he let out unrelenting blood curdling screams. But as you can see, in general, I think Ty possesses the toughness to withstand growing up as the little brother to these rumble-tumble Toddzillas! And hopefully nature continues to be on his side, allowing him to grow bigger and faster than them!

Here are a few additional fun facts about Ty Baby in his first month of life:

• He had his first real tears (makes mommy sad to see them though!)
• He also required his first antibiotics as he had his first eye infection on his 3 week birthday (likely due to one of those eye poking/eyelid pulling incidents that I mentioned earlier)
• He seems to like Rex’s original song (Jason Mraz, “I Won’t Give Up on You”)
• He is totally cool with loud noises (again, awesome considering who his other siblings are; he’s actually my only baby to be cool when I run my Vitamix!)
• He is quickly growing his first leg roll (behind the knee of course)
• He has a very nice little belly button
• He graduated to size 1 diapers
• He enjoys baths, although I think he’s only had like 3 of them (again, third kid, what do you expect??? it’s not like he’s playing in the mud!)
• He’s pretty good at holding up his head and the way it bobbles around is super cute!

And for fun, I’m going to recycle the questions that I asked Scott when Rex turned one month old… a few of his answers are quite similar, haha!  Scott Says…

M: What is most surprising about Ty?
S: Nothing.  He cries more than any child ever.

M: What is Ty’s most interesting feature?
S: His dark locks.

M: What would you say are some of Ty’s best skills?
S: Crying. Eating.
M: Anything else?
S: He does three things, four things: sleep, eat, poop, and cry.  He doesn’t have many skills.

M: What is Ty’s favorite thing in the world?
S: Momma and milk.

M: What is your favorite thing about Ty?
S: Someday he won’t be a baby.

Oh and in case you missed it, here are Ty’s newborn pictures are here!