Happy One Month Claire!

Wow- what a month it has been.  We did it though---we survived our first month as parents and Claire has made it through her first month of life!  What an adventure and huge blessing it has been!  

Claire, we still can't believe God made you just for us.  It is truly amazing!  We love you so much!

Here you are at one month old!

You seem to be having a growth spurt over the past few days.  You want to eat at least every 2-3 hours during the day, often times even more with only a brief 30-45 minute break between feedings.  At night you nurse almost constantly from 6:00-10:00.  When you are hungry you sure do let us know.  You go from asleep or quiet and alert to immediately screaming and flailing your arms.  Mommy jumps right into action as fast as she can grabbing the boppy, TV remote, cell phone and a bottle of water (a snack if I'm lucky) and we start nursing ASAP!  The longer it takes me to get to you, the more upset you get and the harder it is for you to latch on.  You're a very slow nurser for now.  Each feeding takes about 1-1.5 hours!  I've read that you will get faster with practice!  That would be great!  This is our
"breastfeeding station"!

 

We are still mastering the art of breastfeeding.  We have latching issues we are working on and sometimes you cry and scream instead of latching on or you bobble on and off, or "fall asleep on the job", but I hope that it's all worked out by the time you are 6-8 weeks old.

You wake up 2, sometimes 3 times during the night, but thankfully after eating, burping and a diaper change you go back to sleep pretty quickly.  You usually wake up around 2:00 am and 5:00am, but it's never exactly the same.  We are looking forward to getting a little more sleep one day!  

When you are waking up you do the most precious little stretches with your arms.  It just melts my heart!

You are starting to keep your eyes open more often and soak in the world around you.  You really like the chandelier in your bedroom and the living room fan!  These seem to amaze you and sometimes will even stop you from crying!

We've had some fussy, fussy days that lead me to read The Happiest Baby on the Block!

The theory in this book seems to fit you to a T!  Now Mommy and Daddy practice the 5 S's and it helps to calm you down!  You love to be swaddled (it keeps you from hitting yourself in the face when you cry) and you love it when I wear you in the sling!  You sometimes sleep in your swing or your bouncer, but you really prefer to be in someone's arms!

If you are not eating or sleeping you like us to be doing something with you.  You're content for about 3 minutes and then you want a change of position or a change of scenery.  You keep us busy!

You like to go on walks in your stroller with us and Bindi!  Daddy usually brings his remote control car along too!  It is one of  my favorite things to do as a family!

You seem to really enjoy bath time.  It's no surprise since I feel like I spent half my pregnancy in the bath because it felt so good and then you were born in the bathtub too!  I bet you will be a great swimmer once summer comes!

You are already outgrowing your newborn onesies and you are in a size 1 diaper.  Newborn pants still fit you, but 0-3 month onesies are best!

When I look at you it seems like the world around me stops.  Everyday I get to know you more and more and I fall deeper and deeper in love with you.

 I feel so blessed to have this time with you.  I truly can't imagine not being with you every moment of the day.  I am so excited to see more of your personality as you grow.  Mommy and Daddy think that you are going to be full of personality.

We already can't believe how much you have for being so little!