Already?? It seems like the 9 months that you were in my belly lasted an eternity and now you've been with us for an entire month already?!?! These past few weeks have been such a whirlwind between bringing you home, to all of the company in and out of our house, to learning how to handle day to day on our own. We are so glad that you are here though and are so happy to watch you grow and develop! We are enjoying being a family of four so far, even though it is full of challenges. We will continue to adjust to having two kids and you won't be in this newborn phase forever!
Overall, you've been a pretty good baby so far. We had a couple of rough sleepless nights in the hospital, but ever since we came home with you, you've done a great job of going back to sleep after each feeding. Your schedule is a bit all over the place right now - that will probably change soon though. You are becoming much more alert and extending your awake periods. We love seeing your pretty little eyes open! Along with that, you are also crying more the last couple of weeks. Your belly seems to bother you some and/or you seem to have trouble going to the bathroom and this makes you a bit fussy. When this happens, it takes you a little while to calm back down. You seem to be growing a ton, and the stats from your one month check up prove that!
There haven't been a ton of milestones reached at this point but here is a little update:
- Eating - You are a great little feeder and have nursed well from the beginning. You are pretty efficient and nurse for about 15-20 minutes total. You still eat around 7 times a day but this number varies some depending on if you are upset or not. Sometimes you also need to nurse a little extra to fall asleep.
- Sleeping - nights are all over the place right now. You are still up about every 3 hours but have done several 2 hour stretches but also some 4 and even a 6 hour stretch! Sometimes you are so sleepy that you do not eat very long and I cannot wake you back up - we try everything before going back to sleep ourselves.
- Naps - you are usually awake after each day time feeding for about an hour before sleeping for 1-2 hours. You still either fall asleep while eating or have to nurse a little extra if you don't fall asleep on your own.
- Awake - you've been great about not having your nights and days mixed up from the beginning and are really extending your awake times lately. Sometimes in the morning you are awake for a couple of hours (usually because you are a little upset though). We try to practice tummy time when you are awake and talk to you as much as we can. Jackson also gets a huge kick out of seeing you awake!
- Soothing - we've tried the pacifier a few times and you do not want anything to do with it. Besides nursing, the only thing that seems to work right now is white noise. You also seem to really hate being swaddled at night. We've tried leaving your arms out the last few nights and you're sleeping a little better this way.
- Bottles - we've tried a couple of bottles. It didn't go very well the first day and the second you drank almost 2 ounces. We will keep practicing!
- Growing - You went to the doctor today and you've grown a ton! You currently weight 10 lbs 15 oz and are 23 inches long! (You were 9.1 and 21" when born and measured 8.13 and 20.5" at 5 days). Of course you are at the top of the charts - no surprise there. You are wearing all 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers.
- Smiling - you started really smiling at us at exactly one month! It is so sweet when you gaze into one of our eyes and flash that precious grin for a few seconds - can't wait to see more of it!
We really look forward to what this next month brings - we can't wait to see more smiles, hear little coos, and spend more happy awake time with you. It will be a lot of fun to watch your personality develop. It will also be fun for us to see how your big brother interacts with you as you grow. So much to look forward to!
Sweet little Olivia, we are just thrilled you are here. We love having our boy and our girl and are so grateful that God has allowed us to parent you two here on Earth. We continue to pray for your health and development as well as for us to be the best leaders and examples for you and your brother that we can. Thanks for coming into our lives, helping our family grow, and introducing us to a new joy of raising a daughter! We love you so much already!
This is some of your alert time from early on.
First bath - you made it through about half of it before crying!
I just love you in these sweet little headbands!
Your big brother admiring you. He loves seeing your eyes open. He also enjoys giving you kisses!
Asleep on one of our first outings.
Looks like all she does is sleep, huh? Sorry for so many sleeping pictures, I just love her little poses!
First time trying the bottle. It didn't go so well but you are getting better!
Precious girl. :)
