In Your SELF Interest: 1 Month

From one day old...

...to one month old.

Emery had her one month check up yesterday. Before going, Darin and I both made guesses as to how much she weighs. I guessed 8 lbs. 4 ounces. Darin guessed 8 pounds 14 ounces. I was shocked when they said she weighs 10 lbs. 4 ounces! Her newborn clothes and diapers did seem like they were getting a bit tight...

She went from the 22nd percentile in weight at birth (7lbs 2 ounces) to the 78th percentile in weight at one month. She's trying to keep up with her siblings for sure!

Length: 22 inches (87th percentile)

They checked her bilirubin one more time since she had struggled a bit with jaundice her first week of life. Despite still looking a little yellow in the face and eyes, they said it looked great. The doctor mentioned that there is a such thing as breastfeeding jaundice which she might have, which just means there is a certain molecule missing to break down the bilirubin, but she said it will go away with time.

First outing (other than a doctor's appointment) was a little picnic on the lawn of the Y (after a doctor's appointment on her 4th day of life).

She had 4 doctor's appointments that first week of life due to the possible jaundice and to check for infection since my water was broken over 24 hours. It was a bit frustrating having to go out every single day that first week home, when I really just wanted to rest and cuddle her, but I'm grateful they checked her so closely.

Her siblings love to take pictures with her whenever they can.

Shae looks for any opportunity to share his fuzzy blanket with her.

They also love sharing their stuffies with her.

A little 2 week photo shoot:

The big kids wanted in on the action.

Taking a step back at the bigger picture of the baby photo shoot.

First ever back of the car diaper change right before her first ever hike at the Emilie Jonas trail (which was WAY steeper and muddier than I could have imagined. Not my best 10 day postpartum/newborn decision).

At least there was a good reward at the end of the intense trail.

Feeling the heat after working so hard being carried during her second ever hike at Fillmore Glen yesterday.

Dad's the real star of the show for carrying her the entire 2.5 hours that we were hiking. A pretty good looking star if I do so say myself.

First bath. Thank you Shae for these photos :).

She was VERY happy to get out of that water.

We tried having her sleep in the pack n' play for the first two nights home, but that didn't go so well (that flat back thing is just not what she wants). She slept in the swing for the first week and then we moved this rocker contraption thing from a friend into our room and she has been sleeping in it since.

Speaking of sleep, she is going through a little evening fussy period. We can usually get her down by around 11 p.m. and then she wakes up to eat around 1 or 2 a.m. and then again at 4 or 5 a.m. Give or take. After the 1 or 2 a.m. wake up, she will go back down for a few minutes and then start grunting. Darin gets up with her at that point and can usually get some extra burps out of her. After that early morning wake up, the grunting really begins. We thought she might be struggling with gas for awhile, but lately it just seems like she is ready to wake up at that time. Fingers crossed that that changes with time. After that morning wake up, Darin will usually bring her in to bed with him to try and get her to sleep a little longer. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, he brings her out to the living room to hang out while I get some extra zzzz's.

The first week of her life Darin slept on the couch or in Shae's room so that I could sleep without him snoring (between the baby and him, I was getting no sleep!) It worked well b/c I was able to focus on her at night and Darin was able to get a full night's sleep to be able to focus on the kids and house duties during the day. We now share night duties a bit more as she doesn't always go right back to sleep after a feeding.

During the day, we have started trying to put her in the crib in her own room for at least one nap during the day, but again, she just doesn't sleep as long flat on her back. At this point she is taking most of her naps in the swing in the living room. I thinks she likes the noise those sibling kindly provide :). And the nap time headbands from sister.

Other things of note:

For the first two weeks we usually went through two diapers at every diaper change b/c she would often start peeing right as we were putting the new diaper on. She had a good aim and fire shooting of poop right in to Darin's hand once (a good story to keep handy for the dating years :).

At about 2 weeks old she got to meet two of her grandparents.