{Monthly Recap}: One Month

It's amazing to me that you're already one month old! It seems like the last few months of my pregnancy drug on and on and your dad and I thought we were never going to get to meet you. Now here you are already a month old. When I look back over the last few weeks, I can't believe how fast they've gone by. I joke with your Nana that that's what happens when our nights and days run together... we just lose all track of time!

  Weight You haven't been weighed recently but your last measurement had you weighing in at 8 pounds and 14 ounces and that was a week and a half ago. Prior to that appointment, you were gaining about 12 ounces every week to week and a half. So I'm going to guess that you're about to be pushing 10 pounds if you aren't already there. I remember bringing you home and your car seat looked like it swallowed you whole. Now you look like it was made for you. You fit in it so perfectly.  Health

As soon as you were born we had to put you on Keflex, a medicine to prevent you from getting kidney and bladder infections due to your hydronephrosis. Unfortunately, the medicine really didn't agree with you. Within five minutes of being given your daily dose, you'd start getting fussy. So Mommy and Daddy made the decision to stop giving it to you even though you're supposed to take it until you're twelve weeks old. Now don't get us wrong, if we thought you needed it, we'd give it to you anyways. But since you've been born, your kidneys and bladder appear to have fixed themselves. You have become quite the little pea-pot so there is no indication that your bladder and kidneys are retaining any fluid. If they are then you sure must have a lot of fluid in your body baby girl!   Sleep

When you first got here, you had the same schedule you had when you were in my belly. You liked to sleep all day and would start getting active around 8:00 at night and would stay active until the wee hours of the morning. That was all fine and dandy when you were in my belly but once you arrived, it was a bit tougher. So Daddy and I worked for a few weeks and we finally got you operating on a normal person's schedule; i.e. awake and playing during the day and sleeping at night. Over the last week, it appears you have finally adapted and no longer have your nights and days confused. With that said, you're sleeping in about 2-3 hour stretches during the day and sleeping in 3-4 hour stretches at night and that your daddy and I can handle! Routine At this point, you're still pretty much dictating what happens and when. However, after a couple of weeks with you, your daddy and I started noticing some patterns and started trying to follow them. During the day you want to eat about every 2-3 hours and about every 3-4 hours at night. You like to wake up and play after your late morning feeding and your late evening feeding.  But other than that, you're perfectly content to spend the rest of your time snoozing it up in your swing or bassinet.  Clothes

For most of this month, you have worn newborn clothes. The only problem is you only had a few newborn size outfits because Mommy thought you were going to be bigger than you were when you got here so she didn't think you needed many. Sadly, I was wrong and unfortunately you've had to wear the same few outfits over and over. When you were a few weeks old your daddy made the comment that you had a closet full of clothes and wore the same thing all the time. He didn't quite understand all of your clothes were not the same size but I did take what he said to consideration and decided maybe we should try to put you in some bigger clothes to offer you more clothing options. We started you out in a few 0-3 dresses because it didn't matter if they were too big, no one seemed to notice. But with your rapid weight gain each week we didn't have to keep you in just dresses long. Now you can fit in pretty much all of your 0-3 month clothes. Though you still wear some of your newborn clothes since they fit you great in the belly. You just can't wear any of your newborn clothes that are footed because you've gotten so long that they pull tight on your feet and Mommy's afraid they'll hurt your toes!   Diapers You are currently in newborn size diapers and I'm wondering if you won't be in them for a while. We only had two packs of newborn size diapers in addition to the two packs the hospital sent home with us when you were born. I figured that would be more than enough because you were growing so fast. I assumed that when we finished with those four packs, you'd be ready for size 1's. Yet, after finishing the packages, I tried putting a size 1 diaper on you and it came all the way up to your chest. It was quite amusing until I realized we didn't have many diapers left that you could wear. Mommy had a minor panic attack and your daddy and I had to ride out that day to get you a new package of diapers before you ran out and we had nothing to put on you!    Diet When you were born I was set on breastfeeding you. I had taken classes, read lots of information about it online, and talked to friends and family members. I felt confident that I knew what to do and I thought it would come naturally for you so I thought we would be good to go with it. Unfortunately, it didn't come easy for either of us. After meeting with three lactation consultants and multiple nurses, we realized it just wasn't working for you and me. You had a poor sucking reflux and Mommy's body made it hard for you to get any milk. The nurses and doctors told me that you were losing weight fast and you had become jaundiced due to the fact that you weren't eating since you had only been able to latch once. The doctor wanted to keep you at the hospital longer but Mommy and Daddy said there was no way you would stay there and we wouldn't. So we decided to go home because we thought when we got home, it might come easier for us since we'd be more comfortable but it didn't. The first night home you refused to eat. You hadn't ate in nine hours at the time and you were not happy. Finally, Mommy made the decision to just give you a newborn nurser. You sucked it down so fast and Mommy was so happy even though it was formula. That night while you slept, Mommy prayed and prayed for God to show her what direction to take. I felt like I needed to give up on the decision to breastfeed and only give you formula because that may be what you needed. But at the same time, I felt like that would make me a failure because breastfeeding is considered best for you and everyone I knew did it so I thought I had failed as a mom because I wasn't able to. Not being able to sleep, I got online and started reading information about formula feeding vs breastfeeding when I came across a blogger who wrote about her breastfeeding experience. Come to find out she and her daughter had the exact same challenges that we did and she finally came to terms to put her baby on formula and her daughter had turned out happy and healthy as ever. When I saw that her daughter's name was Harper too, I knew that this was God's way of showing me what to do. Since that night you've been on formula and we haven't looked back! You take it like a champ and are as healthy and happy as can be!   Baby Gear Love

 - We absolutely love the Aden + Anais swaddle blankets. I splurged on these myself for you because so many people recommended them. Thank goodness I did because so far, they are the only blankets we have used with you since we came home. You don't like to be covered but they are so lightweight that you don't seem to notice them. They also are made of muslin so they're pretty thin and you don't get too hot if they are laying over you. 
 - Your Fisher- Price Snugabunny Swing has been the greatest lifesaver ever. We keep it downstairs in the living room since we pretty much live downstairs during the day. Grandma thinks you enjoy your swing so much because it sort of cocoons you. I think she's partially right. I think you also like it because it rocks you and you're definitely going to be a rocker like your mama. You also like to just lay in it when you're awake if we have the bird mobile turned on. You like to watch it go round and round! - We love your Dr. Brown bottles. When we first put you on formula we didn't have many bottles since I had expected to breastfeed you. Thankfully we had gotten a small package of 4 oz. baby bottles at a shower even though I hadn't registered for them. We used those for a few days but you would spit up a lot and we wondered if the bottles might be the cause. I had registered for a few Dr. Brown's bottles and even though we only had the 8 oz. bottles and you were only drinking 2 oz. a feeding we decided to try them. You did great with them and we noticed a huge difference in that you pretty much stopped spitting up. So we put all the other bottles away and went out and bought more Dr. Brown's bottles and you've been taking them ever since! Crying

For the most part, you are not much of a crier unless you're really hungry. You really are more of a fusser. If you aren't happy you tend to start huffing and grunting. But when you start huffing, grunting, and start moving your arms and legs, your daddy and I know that we better figure out the problem fast. Once those hands and feet start moving, your crying will start. And boy oh boy do you have a set of lungs if you choose to use them! It's amazing how loud you can get when you're so little. And when you start using those lungs, you always turn red and splotchy from head to toe and you almost always ball up your fists. I joke with your dad that you're going to be a temper-tantrum-thrower. Let's hope that's not true though.    Milestones

Being that this is your first month of life, you've experienced so many milestones that I can't even recount them all. You have experienced so many firsts this month: your first bath, car ride, stroller ride, night at home, dinner out, trip out in public, trip to church, trip to Mommy's work, trip to Daddy's work, trip to the lake, trip out to the ball field to watch Daddy and uncle Duez play ball, and so many others. It's been amazing watching you take in the world through your eyes.    Likes - You absolutely love being on the move. You don't care if that means being rocked in a rocking chair, going for a stroller or car ride, or just being carried around as Mommy and Daddy do things around the house. As long as you're on the move, you're happy which makes for happy parents since we're always on the go. - You love your bath time. When you had your first bath at the hospital you screamed your head off. I was really worried that bath time was not going to be your thing. But that was definitely not the case. You are without a doubt going to be a water baby. You love laying in your bath tub. You can be fussy and we can put you in the water and you'll stop whining and start smiling right away.  Dislikes - At this point the only thing you really hate is having your food postponed. When you're hungry, you start moving your arms back and forth. I tell your dad you're practicing your backstroke but he thinks you're practicing your pitching skills; he has high hopes that you're going to be a left handed pitcher since that seems to be the arm you move the most. But regardless, once the arms start moving, we know you're getting hungry and we have about a minute to fix your bottle. If not, the feet start moving and then the cries and squealing will start.  - You're not a big fan of having your hands and feet messed with. I have to wait until you're in a very deep sleep to file your nails down. If you know I'm messing with your hands you get irritated. The same goes for your feet. Everyone wants to touch your little feet but as soon as they get their hands on them, you yank them back. Everyone comments that your feet are ticklish but it's not that. You just don't want them messed with. However, you will let Mommy touch them if she rubs the middle of your foot. Apparently you like foot massages! - You aren't a fan of being swaddled. When you were in the hospital you didn't seem to mind so much but once we got home, you decided you weren't having any of that. I contribute it to the fact that you don't like your arms and legs in a bind. You like to be able to move them since you're a little wiggle worm!