One Month!

Beanie turned one month old yesterday.

I have to keep saying it coz its true - time is flying by so fast. When I look at her newborn photos and see her now I can see how much more "grown up" she looks compared to just a month ago.

I cannot even imagine how my life was without her just a few short weeks ago. To steal a movie line -- she really does complete me in every way possible.

Each day as she grows I see different parts of her personality.

She is definitely feisty and knows her mind. I am going to have my hands full with her!

She does not like it when we stop feeding her mid-way to burp her. She lets out very vocal protests.

She hates having her arms covered, so swaddling is pretty much out the window. That sucks because she often wakes herself up by involuntary movements of her arms and I need to make sure that she wears long sleeves so she does not get cold. I had to hunt around but finally found some nice long sleeve onsies for her to wear now that its warmer.

She loves being held close and cuddled at every opportunity and of course, I oblige :-)  Even though I hope that my cuddling her to sleep I am not setting a bad precedent for the future. But she is only so little once so I am okay with it. I love how her tiny head fits so well in my neck and the way she nuzzles it.

Its funny how she loves to go "rooting" and I am so proud that she can latch on really well and has a good suck. She has since Day 1 which has been great. She does tend to fall asleep when BF'ing so I am always trying to gently get her to wake up.

She does not have any nipple confusion, in fact she tends to suck the bottle with the same gusto so we invariably have to get her to stop and slow down since the volume of milk is so much more.

She is a super noisy sleeper and makes all sorts of weird sounds, cries, etc which have me jumping out of bed every so often to check on her. She sleeps in a bassinet next to my bed, but I still have to raise myself up and swing my legs off the bed to get a peek. That results in sleepless nights for me even when she is sleeping.

My own milk supply is better and I can pump about 2-3 oz every 3 hours. Depending on how frequently and long she nurses and how hungry she is I am supplementing an ounce of formula - not every feed  - since my supply is better, but sometimes at night so she can go a bit longer and maybe once during the day.

I ended up switching her to Sensitive formula to see if it helps with the gas/fussiness and I think it is making a difference.

She is beginning to track things with her eyes and can keep focused on my face when I feed her. Its funny because if the binky falls out of her mouth, she tries to use her head and tongue to grab it back or her hand, which she really cannot coordinate just yet.

She is at times able to use the back of her hand to hold the binky in place, or rest on the bottle. The other day she grabbed my finger in such a way that I could not remove the bottle from her mouth!

She loves taking a bath. She has had two since her belly button fell off. I expected her to cry when partially immersed in water, but she was calm and really liked it. Right now we use a basin but I will wash the baby bathtub and start using it soon. We do baths in the morning time since its new to us, but maybe later I will switch to evenings/nights.

Yesterday she was on the play mat and was trying to roll over on her side. Her head control is pretty good and she can hold it up although I always have her put it down when she is over my shoulder since I think its still not fully stable.

I have done tummy time a couple of days for 2 min and she hated it and cried. But I will continue to do so eventually building up to 5 min. They say 5 min at this stage is good enough.

She hates pooping, and cries and grunts and fussies every time. Sometimes getting herself into a state of hysterical crying.  Google seem to say its normal since babies digestive system is not developed and they don't know how to poop, but still hard to watch. I help by bicyling her legs and massaging her tummy. I will ask her pediatrician.

My parents are besotted over her. Some days I have had my Mom go home and spend some time at her house but she always comes back sooner than planned saying she missed Beanie. My Dad comes over twice a day with the same reason to see her. The first few weeks he did not pick her up since it made him nervous. Now he is getting more comfortable and while he does not hold her he plays with her hand, feet, etc. I think in the next week or so he will be okay picking her up.

She has the sweetest smile which she flashes occasionally. I think in the next few weeks she will be able to respond with smiles and get more interactive.

I am so in love with this little person and feel so very blessed to have her in my life.