Emma: 4 Weeks/1 Month Old

Little Squishy,

Sweet Emma, you are one month old today!  Time is flying by!  I think that life is only going to get increasingly faster now that we have two littles in our family.  You are still in such a sleepy state and I'm loving it!  But the last few days you have started to wake up a bit more.  Unfortunately the night time is still your favorite time to be awake, but last night you did sleep for two 3.5-4 hour stretches, so things may be improving!  YEAH!  You are such a relaxed baby and rarely fuss (except when we put you in your crib...your least favorite place to sleep).  The past few weeks we have been working on getting you into a routine of eating, playing and then sleeping.  You have done very well with the eating part of the routine, but the sleeping hasn't been as good.  You don't mind sleeping, as long as it's in our arms or in your swing.  I've tried to be laid back about it all and just be happy that you are sleeping!  Hopefully you will eventually learn how to sleep in your bed during nap time, but for now I will just enjoy all the extra snuggles!!  Even though it is tough to get you to fall asleep for a nap, when you finally do you sleep like a champ for nearly 2 hours each nap!  This is the routine we aim for every day, but it definitely is VERY flexible and never happens exactly as planned.  I toyed around with several different schedules this past week, but this is the one that seems to work best for everyone.  I may eventually add in a dream feed around 10:30pm, but when I tried that this week it made for an awful night (lots of wakings).  I also tried cluster feeding (when you feed every two hours in the evening) a few days this week and that also seemed to make for a bad night's sleep.  So we will stick with the every 2.5-3 hour feedings and see how that works for now.

Schedule:
8am - Wake, Nurse, Play
9am - Nap
11am - Wake, Nurse, Play
12pm - Nap
2pm - Wake, Nurse, Play
3pm - Nap
5pm - Wake, Nurse, Play
6pm - Nap
7:30pm - Wake, Bedtime Routine, Nurse, Right to bed (around 8:30pm)
*You wake me up at least twice per night (around 1am and 5am)*

You are still only nursing on one side per feeding (for 8-10 minutes per feeding), but seem content and are definitely growing well, so I assume you are getting enough.  I know I am producing an excessive amount of milk though because even after she finishes nursing on one side, I am able to pump several ounces out.  When I have pumped instead of a nursed during a feeding time (when I am giving her a bottle instead) I am able to fill a 5oz bottle in under 7 minutes, from one side (using a manual pump!).  It's insane!  I give all the credit to nursing Hannah for so long (14 months) and my body just knowing what to do.  I am definitely thankful for such a great supply!

I'm fairly sure you hit a growth spurt this week because you had a few nights where you were insatiable.  I even gave you a 2oz bottle of formula for the first time the other night because nursing just didn't seem to be filling you up.  You gulped it down!  I then pumped 2oz just to be sure that my milk supply stayed up to speed with your eating.  Unfortunately the formula didn't help you sleep any longer than normal, but it did seem to fill up your tummy.  And I was glad to see that you would so easily take a bottle of formula....you just never know if formula might be needed some day down the road.

You are not a big fan of the pacifier, which Mommy doesn't like.  It's so funny because with Hannah I was so adamant about her not using a pacifier (which she LOVED) and now with you I just wish you would take it!  Oh how things change with a second baby. :-)

You have started spitting up less (since I finally realized you don't need to eat from both sides....too much milk!), but when you do spit up it almost always comes up through your nose.  Ouch!  The other night we were out to dinner at Chick-fil-a (your first visit) and I looked over at you in your car seat and saw that you were COVERED in spit up!  There was SO much...you were soaked, your blanket was soaked and you were sitting in a puddle of spit up!  Disgusting!  But there you sat, just as chill as could be.  Oh my.  I calmly cleaned it all up and thankfully had a spare onesie in the diaper bag.  We didn't have an extra blanket though, so we covered you in paper napkins.  HAHA  Oh the adventures of life with a baby! 

This week you started to like bath time more, which is a nice change from the screaming you did before. We also noticed how raw the skin in your neck folds is, so we started putting aquaphor under there to help it heal.  Thankfully your skin is still free of any baby acne, but your eyes continue to water non-stop (just like Hannah's did when she was a baby).  I'm sure it is just a clogged tear-duct, but when we go to the doctor on Tuesday (7/24) I will be sure to mention it to her.

Mommy has been working very hard on getting you to smile, but you won't.  I think you are going to be a serious one. :-)  You are able to hold up your head briefly while on your tummy and can turn it from side to side.  You can also follow an object from side to side as we pass it in front of your face.

1 Month Stats:
- Diapers: Size 1 (you seriously go through at least 10-15 diapers per day!!)
- Clothes: Newborn
- Shoes: Size 0
- Weight: 9lbs. 8oz.
- Height: 22 1/4"

We are so happy that you have joined our family and look forward to getting to know you better as time passes.  We love you little squishy (that's my nickname for you because you are just so scrumptious)!