March 14, 2015
Emma is 1 month old today!! Can you believe it? I can and I can't at the same time. Some days have felt really long when running on so little sleep while at the same time, the weeks have flown by! That's life right?!
Reflecting over the past month, it's been great. We love having our baby and being parents and experiencing everything that comes with that!! At the same time, it is challenging. Having to feed every 2-3 hours all day and night is very demanding for a mom. Breastfeeding is not easy and I've had a hard time getting the correct latch which has led to being extremely sore. Not getting much sleep is exhausting. Being sore and recovering from giving birth adds an extra challenge for the first couple weeks. Having postpartum hormones doesn't help either! I'm guessing this first month will have been the hardest emotionally for me (mostly because I'm terrible at dealing with pain) and we made it past that! Yippee!
BUT on March 13th, we woke up at 5 am and realized that Emma slept for 7.5 hours! I felt so rested and amazing after sleeping for 6 hours! What a difference that made in how I felt during the morning feeding. Here's hoping for a baby that starts doing long stretches at night! Really, she's done really well since we stopped setting an alarm to wake her up to feed her during the night. She will do anywhere from 4-6 hour stretches! We've had our rough nights- waking up often, fighting to go back to sleep, and difficulty nursing, but overall, she's been wonderful at night!
Emma LOVES to be held and cuddled at all times. She enjoys sleeping in her swing and bassinet but her favorite place to sleep is on Mommy or Daddy's chest especially after eating. (We have to put her down asleep for her to sleep.) If we swaddle her to sleep, she has to have her arms free and loves to put her hands right by her face. Even if we put her arms down, she squirms until they end up where she wants them. She is kind of a restless sleeper and makes lots of noises and grunts in her sleep. We know the grunts that mean she is waking up and not going back to sleep versus her regular sleep noises. When she wakes up from naps, she is so hangry! (Hungry+angry) I'll be napping with her and then BAM, she's awake and screaming inconsolably while I can barely open my eyes from being in deep sleep. haha crazy girl.
She loves to eat and will do it for hours if I let her! Tummy time is going fairly well- especially when she was rolling over a few times! Now that was a surprise for us! Since day 1, it seems like she's had awesome head control and has been lifting it for weeks and making more progress as time goes on. She is getting better at bath time- especially when we do it on a full belly. She is starting to make more eye contact. She isn't quite at the smiling phase yet but we are hoping that is coming soon! Also, toys don't really seem to interest her yet. She does love making entertaining facial expressions! When content, she will just stare at the ceiling and the lights and seem so memorized. It's adorable!
Now for a picture walk through the past month.
Dan was so great that first week home- he ran all the errands and did all the cooking so I could rest. He stocked me up on snacks for the nursery to get through those late night feedings! I am so blessed to have such an awesome husband. We had some great friends bring us meals as well, so that was a big blessing too!
February 18 was Emma's first doctor's appointment. They weighed her and she had gained 4 ounces since we left the hospital the day before. The pediatrician was amazing and we loved him! He was basically mentoring us and giving us advice but in such a loving, caring way. He made me feel so special and important as a Mom. I teared up! Overall, he didn't have any concerns and Emma looked great!
Sleeping peacefully in the newborn bassinet in the pack and play right by our bed. I can easily peek over the side to check on her.
2.23.15
Here are some newborn photos with the props that arrived after our professional session!
Much happier now!
2.25.15 Tummy time with Daddy!
2.27.15
Our second bath went so much better!
2.28.15
Her eyes are my favorite!
She much prefers a pinky over a binky.
3.1.15
We decided to buy a nice play mat for our girl. It seems to be a bit overwhelming for her right now but she will tolerate it for small amounts of time especially when Daddy is playing with her.
We watched the SU game with Daddy. His dream come true!
3.2.15
Emma's two week appointment was very short- about 5 minutes I think! We saw a different pediatrician this time. Emma was back to her birth weight- 6 lbs 10 oz, so that was good news! This meant that she was getting enough to eat and we were doing alright. It was very encouraging.
3.4.15
Just some cuddles with my sweetheart!
3.5.15
Love them!
Last but not least...
Sorry if that was an overload of pictures. I think every face she makes is too cute to not take a picture. My poor family has had to deal with daily texts from this proud mama.
BUT on March 13th, we woke up at 5 am and realized that Emma slept for 7.5 hours! I felt so rested and amazing after sleeping for 6 hours! What a difference that made in how I felt during the morning feeding. Here's hoping for a baby that starts doing long stretches at night! Really, she's done really well since we stopped setting an alarm to wake her up to feed her during the night. She will do anywhere from 4-6 hour stretches! We've had our rough nights- waking up often, fighting to go back to sleep, and difficulty nursing, but overall, she's been wonderful at night!
Emma LOVES to be held and cuddled at all times. She enjoys sleeping in her swing and bassinet but her favorite place to sleep is on Mommy or Daddy's chest especially after eating. (We have to put her down asleep for her to sleep.) If we swaddle her to sleep, she has to have her arms free and loves to put her hands right by her face. Even if we put her arms down, she squirms until they end up where she wants them. She is kind of a restless sleeper and makes lots of noises and grunts in her sleep. We know the grunts that mean she is waking up and not going back to sleep versus her regular sleep noises. When she wakes up from naps, she is so hangry! (Hungry+angry) I'll be napping with her and then BAM, she's awake and screaming inconsolably while I can barely open my eyes from being in deep sleep. haha crazy girl.
She loves to eat and will do it for hours if I let her! Tummy time is going fairly well- especially when she was rolling over a few times! Now that was a surprise for us! Since day 1, it seems like she's had awesome head control and has been lifting it for weeks and making more progress as time goes on. She is getting better at bath time- especially when we do it on a full belly. She is starting to make more eye contact. She isn't quite at the smiling phase yet but we are hoping that is coming soon! Also, toys don't really seem to interest her yet. She does love making entertaining facial expressions! When content, she will just stare at the ceiling and the lights and seem so memorized. It's adorable!
Now for a picture walk through the past month.
Dan was so great that first week home- he ran all the errands and did all the cooking so I could rest. He stocked me up on snacks for the nursery to get through those late night feedings! I am so blessed to have such an awesome husband. We had some great friends bring us meals as well, so that was a big blessing too!
February 18 was Emma's first doctor's appointment. They weighed her and she had gained 4 ounces since we left the hospital the day before. The pediatrician was amazing and we loved him! He was basically mentoring us and giving us advice but in such a loving, caring way. He made me feel so special and important as a Mom. I teared up! Overall, he didn't have any concerns and Emma looked great!
Sleeping peacefully in the newborn bassinet in the pack and play right by our bed. I can easily peek over the side to check on her.
2.23.15
Here are some newborn photos with the props that arrived after our professional session!
2.24.15
Our first bath was a little rough but Mommy still had to take pictures!
2.25.15
One night, we picked up a pizza and headed out to the beach to catch the sunset. It was beautiful weather and nice to get out of the house!
2.25.15 Tummy time with Daddy!
2.27.15
Our second bath went so much better!
Her eyes are my favorite!
She much prefers a pinky over a binky.
3.1.15
We decided to buy a nice play mat for our girl. It seems to be a bit overwhelming for her right now but she will tolerate it for small amounts of time especially when Daddy is playing with her.
We watched the SU game with Daddy. His dream come true!
3.2.15
Emma's two week appointment was very short- about 5 minutes I think! We saw a different pediatrician this time. Emma was back to her birth weight- 6 lbs 10 oz, so that was good news! This meant that she was getting enough to eat and we were doing alright. It was very encouraging.
3.4.15
Just some cuddles with my sweetheart!
3.5.15
Love them!
Last but not least...
I love her new friend! I saw it on Pinterest months ago but was so sad the elephant was out of stock. Then a friend posted on Facebook this one for her baby girl so I asked her where she got it and I was able to order one for Emma! What a great keepsake for her with all of her birth facts. And it'll make great month to month pictures! It just arrived today- just 2 days after her 1 month!
This is so awesome...I love being able to see and read about how things are going for you guys. Emma is super cute and all her different faces are very picture worthy. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you read it and like it! :D
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