Cara is ONE Month!

I am ONE month old!

 



I wasn't sure which one I liked more for
Size reference. I'll probably keep both

 

I like: Sleeping, tummy time (but only for a few minutes), going on walks or on a car ride, and staring at things (seriously. She doesn't get reactions yet, but she loves to just stare at things. Especially our big windows in the living room)

This is her staring
At the windows and railing
She loves just staring at things

 

I dislike: Being left alone or in one spot for too long during my awake time, anything in my ears (she hates when we do q-tips after bath time and tries to pull them out immediately), bath time, and the time RIGHT before a feeding. Usually it's around the "5 minutes till we feed her" mark, but around 6 AM and 9 PM it's half an hour. She also doesn't seem to like bed time - that's one of her "awake" times right now (we're working on switching that around).

I am now: At her two week appointment she was 7 lbs 4 oz and 20.2 inches long. Up from her birth size of 6 lbs 10.9 oz and 19 inches long. The pediatrician seemed impressed that she was UP at all. Our unofficial weighing (we step on the scale without her and then with her to see the difference) says she is now almost 9 lbs and around 21 inches long. She fits newborn clothes and some smaller 0-3 month clothes, but she is just barely (like as of this week) starting to growing out of her newborn clothes. She's our tiny (but growing quickly) little girl.

Week 1 vs Week 4 !!

A Typical Day looks like: Wake up at 9 for a feeding, get burped, changed dressed for the day. She'll usually be awake until 10 AM so I'll read to her, do tummy time, let her lay on her back to squirm and look around (unless she's being fussy and NEEDS to be held). At 10 she'll sleep usually until I wake her up for her 12 PM feeding. She'll eat really quick, we'll burp and change her diaper and then she's back to sleeping (NO wake up time after that feeding at all). She'll sleep until 2 ish when I'll play with her or talk to her some more (or just walk her around the house - whatever makes her happy) and then we'll do the 3 PM feeding. After that Daddy is off work so he'll come visit for a minute and then he gets an hour of "him" time (where he can workout, play video games, etc.). Once done he'll come take Cara and I'll get an hour of "me" time (take a nap, workout, etc.). Then we'll eat dinner together and play with Cara. Then around 6 she gets another feeding and we'll go on a walk to the mail boxes and around the neighborhood to get her to sleep for bed time. Once asleep we watch Netflix or a movie together and hang out. Around 9 we go upstairs, feed/burp/change her to get ready for bed, then we get ready for bed and do everything we can to get her to sleep before 10:30 (because I have to get up at midnight, 3 AM, and 6 AM for feedings with her and I need ALL the sleep I can get before that starts). I'm thinking the awake time after 3 and sleep time after 6 is throwing her off her bedtime so we're going to have to work on that.

We're working on changing the above schedule though so we'll see how that works next month.

 

 

This Month I: Got to feel grass for the first time and hated it! I helped mom celebrate her first Mother's Day...and was so well behaved for her. We also did our first real bath on Sunday (5/28) and she had different feelings with it. She cried at first, then seemed to like it, then seemed to feel it went too long and got fussy again. She also hated being out of the warm water and freezing cold again - go figure - but she kept a foot in the actual water the whole time. It was pretty adorable! On the flip side we also experienced our first blow out (THAT was fun) and did some fun family outings to a few different places.

Mother's Day Family Pic

 

First Bath Pic

 

Parent's Notes: The first month has to be one of the hardest months (it's hard to say for sure since it's the first one). We had many challenges with figuring out feeding schedules, getting used to WAY less sleep, and what gets Cara to sleep at night. There were MANY moments of crying (on both Cara's and mom's end), but we mostly have it figured out now.

 

And now that I'm used to the sleep schedule and what makes her happy I can honestly say no matter the hard times watching this little girl sleep and develop a bit of a personality is amazing! It's ridiculous how much you can love a little being and how obsessed you can get with trying new things with them to teach them. I love when she stares at me and I can talk to her about all the things I want to teach her and what I want for her (and watch her hilarious facial expressions). She just seems to soak things in all the time. We love this little girl to death and it's been so exciting having her as part of the family.


Silly Faces Pic
 

Goals for next month:

• Working on sensations (mostly feeling different things, listening to different sounds like music, and smelling new smells since her sight and taste are all about as good as they can be for now)
• Getting her neck stronger (she'll lift it during tummy time to quickly turn her head, but she's not SUPER talented at it and when we hold her up against our shoulders she wobbles a whole lot)
• Working on grabbing/playing with small toys - like her rattle and crinkle toys
• Figuring out a good nap schedule to make bed time easier
• Read about month 3 so we know what to expect then (I read about the next month ahead of time so I've already read about month 2)
• Mom start to do workouts (and continue to correct her Diastasis Recti)