The Larson Ladies: June 2014

Our Clara turned 1 month old on June 5th.

Here is an update from her first month…

At her two week doctor visit, Clara weighed 9 lbs 4 oz and measured 21.5 inches long. Next time we go to the doctor is for her 2 month checkup, so I don’t have an official height and weight at 1 month, but I do know that she’s growing a lot!

10 days new

Clara is wearing size 0-3 months clothes. She could fit in newborn clothes for the first week or so, but they were really tight after that. We learned with Audrey that we loved the side-snap shirts for wear everyday. And those prove to be super convenient for Clara as well. I am dressing her a lot, though, for the day. It’s so easy to dress an infant in the summer… just throw on a onesie and we’re good to go! At night, she’ll wear a onesie or a side-snap shirt and a sleep sack. She never liked to be swaddled once we got home, so the sleep sacks work great. She’s warm and comfy and can still keep her arms out to the side as she likes to do.

3 days new

22 days new: the day she
lost her umbilical cord

24 days new

Clara wears a size 1 diaper. We’ve already used a variety of different kinds of diapers. We’ve used the Target brand diapers (Up & Up) and we like those. We like the Huggies, which were our favorite with Audrey. And we have received a lot of Pampers as gifts, and those are becoming my favorites. In fact, the owner of Carl’s company gave us a very generous gift of about 20 boxes of Pampers diapers, from sizes 1-6. What a great gift! We are really grateful to everyone who has gifted us diapers. We are certainly going through a lot of them!

14 days new

16 days new

At one month, Clara has not yet had a bottle. Carl attempted to give her a bottle one night that she was eating like crazy, just to give me a break. But I was sitting next to him and while he was giving it to her and I think that threw her off. She wanted no part of it. We’ll attempt this again very soon. Have to get her used to it for when she goes to daycare! I’ve been trying to pump at least once a day, so we’ve got a pretty good supply already saved up in the freezer which is nice.

Clara is a really good eater. And frequent eater. She eats consistently about every 2 hours or so. Sometimes it’s every 90 minutes, and other times she’ll go longer. But during the day she hardly ever waits a 3 hour stretch. This is why she’s growing a lot! That being said, she is a pretty good sleeper… once we can get her down to sleep that is. Once she falls asleep, she will take 4-5 hour stretches. I love it. The day after Memorial Day, she went 7 hours between feedings!! I woke up in a panic that something was wrong. But she was just happily sleeping. And when she wakes up at night to eat, she doesn’t cry, she’ll just make some fussy noises and I’ll know she’s ready. Clara is still sleeping in a cradle next to our bed in our room. I don’t see this changing anytime soon since she and Audrey share a room. But it hasn’t been bad at all. Clara is a good sleeper… again, once she gives in and falls asleep! She’ll be up until 12:30-1am before she falls asleep. Her fussy period is between 7ish and 12:30 or 1am when she finally falls asleep. Seems that she just wants to eat constantly and be held and walked around. The girl likes to move! She doesn’t like a paci as much as Audrey did. It will soothe her for maybe a minute, but then she spits it out. And she resists it a lot of times. She might just not be a paci girl.

1 month old

I had mastitis when Clara was 3 weeks old. The day after Memorial Day (after her long sleep!) my breast felt pretty tender and sore. I thought that it was just very full after not feeding her at night, so I nursed her and then pumped to drain it. I didn’t get that much when I pumped and it didn’t relieve it or make it feel less full. Later that night, I got really achy and just didn’t feel well. The next morning when I woke up, I had a 102 fever and was super achy and tired. I called my OB and the nurse that I talked to said that it didn’t sound like mastitis or anything breastfeeding-related. I know I am only WebMD educated, but it sounded like textbook mastitis to me, so I pushed back a bit but then agreed to call Dr. Tess, my general practitioner. He told me the nurse was wrong and that it was mastitis and got me on an antibiotic right away. The antibiotic cleared it right up and my fever went away by that night. Whew! And the nice thing was that even though I was feeling crummy, I was still able to feed Clara. Glad we’re over that hurdle and I hope I don’t get it again!

As far as development, Clara’s been pretty strong from the beginning. She’s been trying to lift her head up from the day she was born. Even Dr. Tess commented on her strength, both leg strength and neck strength, at her 2 week checkup. And Clara rolled over from her tummy to her back when she was 4 weeks old, on June 1st. I just couldn't even believe it! What a strong girl. Carl was in Audrey’s bed reading her stories and putting her to bed for the night, so he missed it. But I was hootin’ and hollerin’ so when Audrey fell asleep, he came out to see what was going on. She hasn't rolled over again after that first time, but I keep waiting for it.

Clara's first tummy time on 5/27/14, the day her umbilical cord fell off:

After she rolled over on 6/1/14.
She looks like she's smiling, but really she was crying :)

What a great month it has been getting to know our little Clara. I just can’t imagine life without her. We love this girl to pieces! And that’s all of us... Audrey, Carl, and me. In fact, Audrey gives her so many kisses during the day. Just loves that girl! “Isn’t she cute?” Audrey proclaims! And she’s so proud to tell her friends at school and even strangers that she has a baby sister. I hope she and Clara are always proud to be sisters!

Holding hands

What sweet girls!

This one is too funny not to post! Audrey attempts to give Clara a kiss at the same time that Clara opened her mouth. So funny! And look at Audrey's "staticky" hair. She gets that from me!