1 month: little love letters

Oh my sweet Hadley girl,

I intended to write you this letter on Monday (4 weeks), but here it is Thursday and you're now 4 weeks and 3 days. You seem to be taking up most of my time, but that's ok :)

These 4 weeks since you've been born have flown by so quickly. You're already changing so much. You're also losing some of your hair on the top of your head, but thats ok. We won't make fun of you too much.

You're already developing such a little personality and it's been so exciting to watch you everyday. Since the night you were born you have been smiling. I know, I know, everyone says most babies don't smile until they are a couple months old. Any smiles before that are "gas pains," but I promise -- you smile. The first time we realized you were smiling was when Daddy would hold you and kiss your little checks. You would smile from ear to ear. Now you smile all the time. Particularly, you smile a lot when you wake up from a nap. No one believed me until they saw this:

Now you can't deny that!!!

Since you're still only weeks old I don't have much to report about your growth or major changes. But this is what I have as of your second doctors appointment this past Monday (July 11, 2011):

-Growth: You were born weighing 7 lbs. and 10 oz and were 20 1/4'' long . When we left the hospital you weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. You also weighed this at your first "well child check up" 2 days after we came home from the hospital on June 17. As of July 11, at your 4 week well child check up, you weighed 8 lbs. and 6 oz and were 21'' long! You're moving right along.

-Eating: We had a bit of trouble figuring you out at first. We were told that you should be eating 2 oz. We started realizing that you would eat 2 oz. then scream afterwards. I thought you had a belly ache. Your Nammy suggested we bump you up to 3 oz. and there you have it -- problem solved! You were just hungry. Poor little love. (Although, we are having to give you gas relief medicine with every bottle to help your little gassy belly.) Now we are feeding you 3 oz. about every 3 hours (longer, if you can hold off) Then we give you 4 oz. right before bedtime. We told your doctor what we were giving you and he said that you should really only be eating 2 - 3 oz. 6 - 8 times a day. But you sleep so much better at night with 4 oz. so we will just keep that our little secret! You don't seem to mind the extra ounce anyway ;)

-Sleeping: We are still trying to work out a good schedule, during the day, for you with naps and such. But at night we try and give you a bath about 9 pm and have you eating your bottle about 9:30 pm. Then whenever you've finished your bottle we put you to bed. You're such a slow eater that you could get to bed as early as 10 pm or as late as 11 pm. We've got to figure this out! Either way, once you lay in bed you usually sleep for the next 5 - 6 hours. Then you're ready to eat again. This is usually about 4 am. Then you'll sleep until 7 am - 9 am and you're ready to eat again. Once you're awake for this second feeding you're up for the day.  These past few days you have not been napping during the day. I would like to get you on a schedule so that you can get a morning and afternoon nap in hopes that you don't get so fussy come 7 pm. The only problem is is that you like to fight sleep. You're afraid you're going to miss out on all the action I suppose? We did figure out that you sleep best wrapped up in your green swaddle thing (I don't know the name of it). We also had to give you the boot! I know, you're still so little and tiny, but you're such a loud little sleeper that Mommy and Daddy weren't sleeping either. You see, whatever you dream about seems to be pretty funny because you laugh, in your sleep, all night long. So last week we moved you into your crib in your room. We have a video monitor so it wasn't that big of a deal. Although, the second night of sleeping in your room you slept through the ENTIRE night! Daddy woke up about 10 mintues before his alarm went off and realized neither one of us had gotten up with you all night. We both momentarily panicked, but quickly looked at the monitor and saw you squirming around just fine! Needless to say the sleeping through the night thing was a fluke...

-Play time: Obviously you don't do too much "playing" these days. Some of your favorite things include: laying on the couch stairing at the wall, watching the fan spin 'round and 'round, laying in your swing, looking at the decorative couch pillows, and listening to the dogs then trying to locate them with your eyes.

-Strength/Movement/Tummy Time: You've been holding your head up like a champ since the night you were born. Actually, you never lay your head down unless your asleep. Really! Even when you're laying down you push your legs on the closest stationary object and try and SIT UP! I never imagined I would have an infant that I would really have to say "lay your head down" to. You want to sit up so badly. When someone holds your hands you pull yourself up. You can get half way up right now. I'm sure by next month you'll have this mastered. I haven't really introduced "tummy time" yet. We have laid you on your stomach about 3 times now and every time you pull your legs and knees up like you're going to crawl away any second.

-Events: Some of your first (and only) events to date are: going to church and going to the doctor. Luckily, you seemed to enjoy both. The only thing you didn't like about church was being passed around from person to person. Everyone was so eager to meet you that everyone wanted to get their hands on you. You prefered to keep to yourself. Go figure! You have now been to the doctor twice. These have only been for check ups. You really like your doctor. We were nervous about how you would react to him holding you since you didn't know him, but you've done so well both times. He did warn us that next month you might not like him as much since you'll be getting your first shots! :(

-Funny/Cute Moments: So far only three things stick out in my mind. The first is, when you cry Daddy mocks you and you seem so confused by why he is making that noise that you just stop crying! Second, two days ago you started making this "clicking" noise with your tongue. You woke up that morning and I went in there to get you and you started doing it and you would smile at yourself. Now you do it all day, every day. And finally, you like to explore. Particularlly, you like to explore the basket laying on your changing table. You know it is there. It is always there. When I lay you down to change you, you always reach your hand behind you head in search for the basket. When you find it, you always get your fingers stuck - start screaming - I take them out - and you do it all over again!

Well sweet girl, I want to make sure I don't miss anything and never forget anything. Every little detail of your life is so important to us. We are so excited to watch you grow, learn, explore, change, and learn you precious personality. You're such a joy to us and we love you so much!

I'll love you forever and ever. I promise!!

Love,
Mommy