Introducing...

Jarom Mitchell Bledsoe

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 NOT: JEROME, JARON, JARED, OR JAROMY

 

Our sweet little Jarom arrived in the early morning hours of September 5 after a short, easy labor (another post will be coming with his birth story). It has been two and a half weeks since his arrival and life in the Bledsoe home has been filled with happiness and lots of love! Trinity and Ethan absolutely adore their baby brother and have since the moment they laid eyes on him. When we brought him home, the kids ran to the front door and greeted him with big smiles and loads of curiosity. I was pretty certain that Trinity would take to him well, because she did such an amazing job when Ethan was born and she understood much more of what was going on this time around. I kept her in the loop during the pregnancy and brought her to all of my doctor appointments. Throughout the pregnancy, she would talk to Jarom using my bellybutton as [what she thought was] some sort of amplifier. She would constantly ask “how much longer until Jarom pops out of your bellybutton?” and she would tell me about all the things she wanted to do with him when he arrived. So I was confident that she was ready for him and would have no problem adjusting to being the oldest of three. Ethan, on the other hand, I wasn’t sure about. I’m never quite sure how Ethan is going to react to any type of change. He generally doesn’t do very well. I tried rubbing his hand over my belly during the last few months and repeating “baby” but he didn’t really seem to understand. So I held my breath, prayed, and waited. Jarom was extremely comfortable in there and decided to hold out until 41 weeks to make his arrival, but once he finally got here… Ethan FELL IN LOVE. I have to admit that I was not expecting him to react the way he did. From day one, he has been enthralled. The first day home from the hospital, all he wanted to do was hold and kiss Jarom. He must have kissed him 300 times that first day. It melted our hearts. So far, the hardest part about having three children is keeping the other two off of the baby 24/7! But if that’s the biggest challenge… I consider myself blessed.

 



Daddy walking into the house for the first time with Jarom

 

Jarom is an amazing baby. After I had Trinity and people would ask how we were adjusting, I would say “they just don’t get any easier than Trinity!” But… Jarom proved me wrong. I literally have never seen a more content newborn in my life. Sometimes we don’t even know he’s woken up because he just doesn’t cry! One minute he’ll be sleeping peacefully and the next minute we look over and he’s wide awake, just looking around. He is an exceptional nurser and an awesome sleeper. I can honestly say that since we’ve been home from the hospital, we haven’t had one sleepless night. He sleeps anywhere from 4-9 hour stretches, wakes to nurse, and goes right back to sleep. I can’t explain how much of a relief this is after having a baby who nursed every other hour for the first 10 months of life! My little Ethan was not a sleeper. As much as I love him, he was a VERY hard baby. I thank the Lord that I didn’t get two hard babies in a row because I really don’t know how I would have handled that. But thankfully, He knows what I can handle and never gives me more than that.

 

 

So life is good over here! We’re getting into the swing of things and enjoying every minute of being a family of five. My mom was here for about ten days; five days before Jarom’s arrival and five days after. I can’t even explain what a huge help she was. She kept our house immaculate, kept our bellies nice and full with her mom-cookin’ and loved on her grandbabies all day long. It was very hard to say goodbye to her, but luckily I married a man who takes amazing care of me and keeps me going. He is the most helpful, loving man I know and I am so thankful that he is here to share this experience with this time around. Ethan was about as old as Jarom is now when we had to send him back to Afghanistan to finish out his deployment. We have said many, many goodbyes while in the Army, but that was definitely one of the hardest. I am thankful for the stability that we are experiencing at this point of our lives, I am so thankful for this precious addition to our family, and I am thankful for the incredible support system that we have- both near and far. We are blessed beyond measure!