Month 1: The month of "Firsts"

Our sweet baby girl is a month old! How can it be? 

 The beautiful blanket was made for her by her Great Aunt Nancy Wilkerson.

All too soon she will take up the whole chair! 

Dr Appointment: 

We went to the doctor two weeks ago for her two week check up and it was quite the ordeal. Mommy thought everything was going great and that Miss Blakely would be back up to birth weight. However, when the nurse put her on the scale, she was still 6 lbs 13 oz, which is what she was when we left the hospital. Mommy was quite distraught, but Dr. Hilary assured us this happens frequently and offered some solutions. She is doing much better, and continues to gain weight appropriately now. We are anxious to see the progress we have made when we go to her two month appointment! 

Stats as of Two Week Appointment

Height: 20 inches, 58th percentile...surprisingly low considering mommy and daddy are tall! 

Weight: 6lbs 13 oz, 12th percentile....little peanut, but we are working hard to chunk her out! 

Head: 99th percentile...HUGE, This is why momma had to push for 1.5 hours during delivery!

Sizes:

At 4 weeks, she is still in newborn clothes and diapers. We tried some 0-3 months clothes on this week, but her skinny little body just swims in it. However, newborn sleepers are getting a little short on her long legs! 

Social:

She lets anyone hold her. However,just be prepared to let her suck on your finger or have a pacifier ready. I think she recognizes mommy's voice because when someone else is holding her she will lean towards her momma's voice. She also, only in the past few days, has began to purposefully smile. We are excited for the interactive days ahead!

On The Move:

Well, the only way she moves is if the person holding her moves. However, she seems like she is trying to roll over when laying on her back, especially on the changing table. We need to be better about more tummy time...goal for month two! 

Food:

Ever since her two week appointment, this has been an area of stress for momma. After the two week appointment when we discovered she was only getting a half ounce each feeding, instead of 2-3 ounces we began supplementing after each feeding with formula (after a couple days I had pumped enough that we were able to supplement with breast milk). We spent 10 days doing 30 minutes nursing, 15 minutes supplement feeding with a tube and syringe, and 15 minutes pumping...wait 2 hours and repeat. Talk about extremely draining and tiring. However, after 10 days she had gained enough to get back to birth weight and we were able to begin tapering off the supplements. 

Now at 4 weeks we are breastfeeding with supplement only a few times a week (only when she is still fussy after feedings). I am still trying to pump 3 times a day, but it is hard when I am home alone to pump while taking care of her. She now weighs, as of today....7 lbs 15.5 oz! 

Sleep:
This is the most asked question, are you getting any sleep? Our response...are we supposed to, we have a newborn? I am handling the sleep deprivation relatively well. I am actually relatively enjoying my nights up with little miss. I keep reminding myself that our time at this stage is so short, it won't be long before she doesn't want to cuddle at night. I am glad we invested in a big comfy rocking chair for the nursery. We spend many a night hours rocking in the chair, staying busy by praying for others, singing songs, reading books, and yes....browsing facebook and pinterest.  Noah is a wonderful daddy and will get up with her often on the weekends and even during the week occasionally.  I usually don't let him get up with her more than once a night during the week since he has to work.

However, now that we have our feeding/weight gain issues under control she is able to make longer stretches between feedings at night. In fact, one night this week she slept from 10:30pm- 3am when I woke her up to feed her and then she slept from 4am- 7am. I am reading a book that Dr. Hilary recommended called Baby Wise and it gives great practical steps to sleep train infants from an early age, on the premises that babies that sleep consistently are happy babies and mommas that have babies that sleep consistently are happy mommas. The first step they recommend is to make the first feed of the day at the same time everyday. So I am trying to feed her everyday at 7 am knowing that is what time I want her to wake up and eat during the school year so that I have time to get up and get ready and then get her up to feed and change and head out the door! I highly recommend this book to new moms :)

Likes:
She loves to cuddle! She also really likes it when you sing to her. She loves to suck on mom and dad's finger to soothe herself. She also finds it soothing to be rocked, bounced, and patted on the booty. She likes car rides as long as the car is moving (heaven help us when we hit traffic!) and will fall asleep quickly. 

Dislikes:
She does not like to have her diaper changed! Overall, she is a pretty content baby.

It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital meeting her first the very FIRST time. Speaking of first, it has be a month filled with "Firsts"

Here are some "Firsts" we captured on camera....

Blakely's FIRST bible. Given to her by her Great Grandparents: Bill and Bertie Evans

FIRST Sunday at church. So many people were so excited to meet her! 

This is Olivia, she was the very FIRST preschooler from mommy's class that she met. Olivia's mommy teaches with Blakely's mommy and they are good friends. And, Olivia and her family live right down the street. Olivia adores Blakely and I know that Blakely will adore Olivia as well! So glad Blakely has such a great girl like Olivia to be a role model! 

This is her very FIRST bath (at home). Obviously, not a fan but luckily baths following went much better :)

This is our very FIRST picture as a family! 

This is Blakely's very FIRST time meeting her soon to be best friend Claire Mae Pickens. Claire's mommy is good friends with Blakely's mommy. Claire is 2 months older than Blakely.