Thursday, August 9, 2012

Emerson: One Month

August 1, 2012

  • Most of your newborn-sized clothes don't fit you anymore, and now you're wearing 0-3 month outfits...which is good, because you were gifted so many adorable summer ensembles, we're trying to get you in all of them at least once before you're too big...or, the weather gets cool. (Which doesn't seem likely...this has been an abnormally hot and dry summer, and cooler fall weather seems very far away.) I got a bit sad packing away some of your first outfits, including the one you wore home from the hospital. You've grown so much already, and it's hard to imagine that you were once so small that you fit in them!
  • You weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz. at your 2 week check-up. 
  • You outgrew your teeny-tiny, newborn-sized diapers a few days before you turned a month old. Now you're wearing size 1, which at first seemed huge, but now fit just right. (We're not using the cloth diapers just yet...too many other things to figure out first!)
  • You're feeding "on demand"...and goodness, you do demand! You like to snack during the day, and often just eat a little here and there. You range from wanting to eat every half hour to every three hours during the day, and seem to "stockpile" in the evening, eating far more frequently before bedtime. 
  • You are so strong! You've been consistently holding your neck up since you were just a few days old, and your strength is clearly increasing. We love watching you "exercise" and build those muscles as you lift your head off our chests (which happens to be your favorite place to sleep).
  • You took a bottle from Dad once, and it made me oddly sad. You were drinking my milk, but I felt distant from you watching you eat from someone else. Subsequent bottle attempts have been less successful, but we'll keep trying. We think it makes practical sense for you to know how to eat that way, but between you and me, it's okay if it takes you a while longer to learn.
  • You will not take a pacifier. You're not interested in it at all, and seem to act as though you know it's a trick and a sorry substitute for the real deal.
  • You wake up to nurse an average of twice nightly...sometimes three times, and every so often, just once! You nurse and go to bed (finally, around three weeks old, in your crib!) between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. and then we wait to see what happens during the night. You keep us guessing! 
  • Your eyes are really focusing now, and you like to gaze at whatever is in sight...often, the large window in the living room. You are most content where the action is, and far prefer being a part of things/moving around to being alone in your bassinet.
  • Sometimes it seems that you're tired of being a baby, and are ready to get up and go.
  • For the most part, you seem quite serious, taking in all of your surroundings and thinking about what's going on around you. But, you are content most of the time and seem rather easygoing...a quality that most definitely comes from your daddy. We like to think you're quite secure and that you know you're safe.


We love you more than we can express and have found such joy in getting to know you this month. Every day has been a new adventure and we are full of anticipation for all we'll get to discover about you in the days to come. 
Thank you, precious girl, for making the past month one to remember. 
You are an absolute wonder.