Picture taken Nov 15th
At one month...
Audrey weighs 9 pounds, 4 ounces and measures 21.5 inches long
That means she has grown about 2 pounds in this first month! Doctor Tess, our family practitioner Audrey is seeing (in lieu of a pediatrician, which is another story for a different day), really was pleased with this growth. I believe this puts her in the 65-70th percentile for height and weight. (Source: CDC.gov WHO growth standards) She sure does like to eat. And sometimes more often than is "convenient" or ideal for me. But I wouldn't trade those feeding times for anything in the world. I love her facial expressions and those smiles that melt my heart. I love these bonding times with her! And I also realize that the more I feed her, the more milk supply I will have and therefore the longer I will be able to breastfeed. Breastfeeding has really worked out well. It's been hard at times, but I am thankful I get to do it because of the health benefits (for Audrey and me) and because of the cost savings. Formula is expensive! And me (being my frugal self) would just rather not spend money on formula when breastfeeding is free! Do you think she'll be tall? We sure do hope she gets the Larson height, and growing an inch and a half in the first month is a good start!
Picture taken Oct 30th
Audrey is wearing size 0-3 months clothes
I tried dressing her in some newborn clothes at 3 weeks old, but they were really snug. That was my first indication that Audrey had grown in weight and length. We love the side-snap shirts for wear everyday. They are so convenient in that you don't have to pull them over her head. In fact, Carl went out and bought a lot more of those shirts that first week we had Audrey at home. We have shirts and onesies. And they have mittens which is so nice to both keep her hands warm and keep her from scratching herself. Love them! We also really like sleep gowns, sleep sacks, and sleep onesies with the footies. Do you see a pattern? We love clothes that keep her warm and make it easy on us to change her diaper. Audrey has been in "regular outfits" a few time like when we are going out to the mall or to the store or out to eat. But you will be more likely to find her just in a onesie or shirt and diaper around the house.
Audrey wears a size 1 diaper
When we were in the hospital, we got used to the size 1 Huggies (with the wetness indicator). When we got home, we had some newborn diapers that were really handy because they have the cutout for her umbilical cord. But after her cord fell off and we ran out of newborns, we switched back to size 1. There really isn't much difference between different brands of diapers; they all do their job. We use Pampers, Huggies, and Target brand. But we found that we prefer Huggies to the rest. Target's are kinda big and bulky on her, and Pampers has a mesh lining that sticks to her bum when her diaper is really wet or full. It looks like it would hurt. But believe me, we are not throwing any unused diapers away! We will use anything we have. We are so lucky and appreciative that we received so many diapers as gifts!
Audrey has accepted a bottle several times now, which makes me so happy! That gives me the flexibility to pump and then run some errands or just be away from her for longer than a couple hours. Carl and I were even able to go out and celebrate our anniversary on November 13th...4 years and 1 month. Finally, right? We were planning to go out for a nice dinner on October 15th, but Audrey had a different plan for us. :) Grandma Larson was nice enough to watch her for us for a couple hours and Carl and I went to Coopers Hawk for a nice dinner. I even had a glass of red wine!
Audrey is eating about every 2 1/2 to 3 hours, even during the night. Although, she did go almost 5 hours one night. Needless to say, that was awesome! It's really not too bad, though, getting up in the middle of the night. Every night's different, but I've seen this pattern quite often...11pm, 2am, 5am, 8am. Most nights are good nights, although we have had some challenging nights. Through her first month, Audrey slept in a cradle right next to our bed. This was so convenient for the nighttime feedings. The trick, and what determined whether it was a good night or not, was how easily and quickly she fell asleep again. The first week was no problem. She slept soundly between feedings, day or night. But after about 2 weeks, she became much more alert during the day. Even though it's a lot of fun during the day, she sometimes would want to stay up at night, too. And since she was sleeping in our room, I didn't want her to wake up Carl who had to get up early for work. There were quite a few nights of rocking her to sleep only to have her wake up again after only a few minutes in her cradle. And then there was the walking about hte house trying to lull her to sleep. Or giving her a pacifier to occupy and calm her, but usually that's more trouble than good because she wouldn't be happy when the "paci" fell out so I had to be there and awake every few minutes. So, after talking with the nurses at Audrey's checkup, we decided it was time to transition her to her crib. That has worked out really well, and she has been such a good sleeper in her crib. What a good baby! I seriously don't think we could have gotten any luckier with Audrey.
Audrey loves to be held! We have been so fortunate to have many friends and family who want to come see Audrey. And most love holding her. A lot of times, she'll just fall asleep in their arms. When I'm home during the day with Audrey, I try and put her in her bouncy seat so I can cook breakfast/lunch/dinner or eat or take a shower for instance. She likes the bouncy seat and a lot of times will fall asleep. But there are some times when she'd just rather be held. And I am happy to stop and hold her. Seriously, I don't think there is anything better in the world than holding her and looking into that sweet face or watching her sleep in my arms. So precious! (And because of that, I still haven't finished all our thank you notes. I'm working on it. Almost there.) I love seeing Carl hold and interact with Audrey. He was trying to give her a pacifier the other day and commented on how she'll only take it "it it's on her terms, just like her mom". Ha! I guess I am like that...I am more willing to do things when they're my idea. Hopefully this means she will be strong and independent, but not stubborn or difficult. We will see!
Picture taken Oct 21st
Audrey loves to play on her Baby Einstein activity mat.
She loves to look up at the whale and octopus and all the other toys dangling from the top. She will swing her arms to hit them so they make sound and move. And then a couple times a day, we'll turn her over for "tummy time". She's very tolerable of being on her tummy, even from the very first time we tried it. We started tummy time as soon as her umbilical cord fell off around day 10 or so. She proves she is a strong little girl. She bicycles out her legs so they slide on the mat, to the point that we joke that she would get up and run out of here if she could. Also, she can hold her head up for several seconds and turn it from side to side. She also pushes herself up on one arm/leg at a time so her body is in the beginning stages of rolling over. Carl did see her roll over on November 15th, but we think she had a headstart with how he had her positioned on the mat. Either way, she's getting some muscle strength and coordination. Gramps Patton compares her to Secretariat. Ha!
Source: IMDB.com
Audrey likes to make a lot of sounds...coos, moans, grunts, you name it. Grandma Larson says Audrey is "singing". She's just getting ready to voice her opinion!
I think that about sums up the first month. Audrey is such a blessing! She's easy-going, strong, beautiful, loving... the list could go on and on and on.
What a great month it has been getting to know our little girl. We love you, Audrey!
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