One Month!!

I can't believe our little girl is 1 month old!!!

 This will be another detailed post, so if you don't want to read, we understand :)

UPDATE:
At Lexi's 1 month appt (a week late Jan 26) she weighed 9 lbs 6 oz, she was 20 3/4 inches long and her head was 14.5 inches around 

When Lexi was born (Jan 21), she weighed 6 lbs 12 oz.  Then, at her first doctor's appointment on January 25, she weighed 6 lbs 2 oz. We found that it was completely normal for her to have dropped weight since her birth but we were very intent on making sure she was back up in weight and we had another quick doctor's appointment on Monday, Jan 28 for a weight check.  She had gained 7 oz over the weekend (2 days!) and had gone up to 6 lbs 9 oz.  The doctor told me that she wanted to see us again on Feb 4 to make sure she was back up to her birth weight.  On her weight check on the 4th she was up to 7 lbs 4 oz.  Overachiever.  :)  With that being said, the girl is a good eater.  In my last post I commented on how she latched right away in the hospital and has eaten like a champ ever since.  She does like to be a little sleepy so I have to try to keep her awake sometimes, but most of the time there is no problem getting her to eat good.  It's very comforting for me to know she's gaining weight since I've heard that can be a worry for breast feeding moms.  She eats about every 3 hours, although if it is anytime between 2-4 hours and she is looking hungry I feed her...no really strict schedule.  

Homegirl did have a lotttt of gas in her first few weeks.  We were a little concerned about it at first but she's really seemed to get used to her bodily functions and had her digestive system mature so it hasn't been nearly as bad recently- whew! She still has gas and we will enjoy us telling stories in her future ;) but it doesn't seem to bother her to where she cries as much now.  Yay!  

She is still in newborn diapers and we have had to start buying them now since she is small and has gone through more than we (and our gifters) had thought.  I don't see her moving to size 1 for a couple more weeks.  She is starting to outgrow her newborn outfits (length wise) and we have started moving to some of her 0-3 month clothes.  The 3 month is still a bit big- she's kind of in an inbetween size right now.

Sleeping is another story.  She does pretty good at sleeping and I was excited once the doctor said that we could not wake her up at night when she was back to her birth weight...however, she still wakes up if it's been about 4-5 hours and she hasn't eaten.  It's not bad waking up 2x per night feeding her usually around 2 or 3 a.m. and again at 6 or 7 a.m. and then she usually goes back to sleep until around 9:30.  She does like to fight sleep though.  She wants to stay awake not to miss anything and she gets a little whiny and then eventually forgets and falls asleep.  Right now we are swaddling her at night because she is a wiggler and flails her arms and wakes herself up.  Her arms are always up in the air.  I never thought I would be one of those rock your baby to sleep moms, but until she's a little older I don't want to let her cry it out yet.  I've also heard this young it doesn't benefit the child to do that anyway.  Right now, we are picking her up and holding her when she cries and that's ok with us.  She might get to one day she doesn't like for us to hold her so I'm cherishing her snuggly demeanor.  I told Marshall I was happy she was a cuddler and hopefully she'll be the little girl that wants to crawl into your lap and cuddle.  :) But for now she realllllyyyy likes to be held.  She is also able to sleep through noise which we wanted to start from the beginning not being quiet and letting her develop that skill.  We also love the faces she makes when she is sleeping.  She moves her mouth all around and smiles... I know, I know, it's a baby reflex at this age- but it's still cute.   

I felt like she has had strong neck muscles since the beginning to be such a little thing.  She bobbles a lot but she moves her head from side to side lifting it up.  We have also started this week putting noisy toys in front of her face and having her follow them.  I've read that babies this age still don't have good vision so we are getting really close to her when we talk so she can see us.  We also saw our first real smile this week!  She turned 1 month Thursday and we saw smiles on Friday.  

She is still not enjoying bath time very much and cries throughout and when we take her out, but we're hoping she will learn to love it once she understands what is going on.  We bathe her every 2-3 days right now.  We have had some adventures with bath time with her pooping in the water and peeing on mommy twice once she's out and in her towel... so back in the bath she went!  She's a little stinker that way!  

She is really liking sucking on things these days.  She loves her paci and it calms her down most of the time she's fussy- that is if she doesn't knock it out with her hands.  And she has recently liked putting her hands in her mouth- which really makes her hands stink. Haha.  She also loves to stretch.  She will arch her back and stretch out her arms and legs all day long.  It's like her favorite thing to do.  

We feel like her looks have pretty much stayed the same- just filled out a little.  Her hair looks like it has gotten a little lighter and her eyebrows are definitely blonde.  So we wonder if her hair will continue to get even lighter.  Although, I have blonde streaks in my hair and the front of my hair is light.  From the beginning I said she looked like Marshall and some pictures still do but I think she has started to look a little more like me recently.  

We had newborn pictures taken of her and she did not want to cooperate for most of the pictures but we did get some good ones.  I found out first hand how hard it is to take a good picture of a newborn baby who likes to wiggle... these are some out takes of her wiggling on Valentine's Day where I was trying to get a good shot.  P.S. I think she looks like me in the last one ;)

 These were some of my attempts for her 1 month shot... she's not too sure what I'm doing.  

 A shot I got of her sleeping this week.  Precious. 

This is when she decided she had had enough.  Not happy.

 I also managed to catch a yawn :)

She thinks she's a model.

A lot of the pictures that I took look like this. Tongue out. That is a popular thing for her these days.

Evidence of her not loving bath time.  This was before her stump fell off and we are now putting her in the bath without the newborn mesh.  Needless to say this was the only picture I took until she likes the bath :)

I'll leave you with another happy shot I got of her.  

Sidenote: The quilt underneath her was a quilt my aunt Nancy made for her.  I told her I loved chevron pattern and yellow and gray and this is what she made.  The other side is a pink and gray pattern.  I am so in love with this quilt I can't even tell you.  She did a fabulous job and I can't get over how beautiful it is.  Lexi seems to like it too :)