One month!

It's unbelievable, but our little Annaliese is already one month old. She has grown and changed so much in such a short time. I plan to try to stay on top of tracking that development each month on the blog, and I'll probably not be right on time, I'll plan to get it up just after the 17th each month. I guess in the process, I'll also be tracking our own development as we grow as parents - bonus! We're figuring out her ways of communicating little by little and we're getting to know each other better day by day. A lot of it comes pretty naturally and it's a beautiful experience. But I'm so glad to be home in the States for this time because I'm learning a lot from my mom and just being able to talk with other people about things. 

Day 1

Day 6

Day 10

Day 16

Day 22

Day 30

Here's a little update about Annaliese's world of sleeping, eating, diapers, and play...

Sleep: Annaliese is good at sleeping, meaning that's what she does most of the time, 18-20 hours a day. She celebrated one month by sleeping her first night through! We got about six hours last night! She doesn't have any sort of schedule yet, but we do try to "wear her out" when she's awake in the evening so that she'll be more likely to sleep longer at least until the first feeding. She typically sleeps in two and a half or three hour chunks of time, both at night and in the day. If she fusses, sometimes we just lay a hand on her and she'll calm down and continue sleeping. We don't wake her up for anything right now, and probably won't really aim for a schedule until we're back in Albania and "normal" begins. We swaddle her at night, and it's clear that we all sleep better when she's swaddled well. Her daddy likes to swaddle in blankets, but I prefer the SwaddleMe. She's down with either. We've already outgrown some of her first receiving blankets, they're just not big enough for a nice tight swaddle and she'll bust out of them. Our preferred swaddling blanket was one made by my Great Aunt Hazel, it's big and hopefully lasts us a while. She's taking a pacifier now, which sometimes helps her to relax and fall asleep. Her mouth is still too small for most, but she takes the one the hospital sent home with us. We use the pacifier when she's fighting sleep or still acting hungry after big feedings. She sleeps in a Pack and Play beside our bed at night, and in our arms or a cradle my Great Grandpa Wisner built and that I slept in as a baby. 

Eating: We're nursing and it's going well.  We had a rough time latching in the beginning, so we use a shield, and she doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with getting rid of it, but I'm trying every once in a while to take it away. We're not on any sort of eating schedule yet either and just feed on demand. It seems like she's had a couple of growth spurts where she's wanted to eat frequently - every hour or so, but usually she's letting us know she's hungry every 2.5 to 3.5 hours with a cry or her hands in her mouth. We tried giving her a bottle for the first time last week and she took it without any trouble. I've pumped and frozen a good supply and it's been nice and convenient to give her a bottle a few times when we're out and about. Daddy likes to give her her bottle and get in on the feeding. A lot of the time, he does the changing and burping before a feeding while I'm getting ready. She was throwing up a lot in her first couple of weeks, but now it's just minor spit ups mostly, so she seems to be getting the digestion thing down. She's certainly getting chubby cheeks and chunky thighs, growing out of her newborn clothes, and gaining weight!

Birth: 7 lb, 3 oz. 20 in.

Discharge: 6 lb, 14 oz.

First appointment (5 days): 7 lb, 1 oz.

Second appointment (12 days): 7 lb, 12 oz.

About 4 weeks (on the scale with me): 9.4 lb.

One month appointment today: 9 lb, 11 oz. & 21 1/4 in.

Diapers: Sorry about the poop talk, but it's just a normal part of life now. Daddy definitely changed more than me the first couple weeks, but now it's even-ing out and we're about half and half. We've had some projectile poops when we have the bad luck of a sneeze in the middle of changing. Kenny jumps out of the way like it's lethal, but I usually take it. I think that it's better to clean clothes than the window screen, carpet, or furniture, but Kenny was a professional carpet cleaner his college summers and apparently prefers it to being covered in stink. Her diapers aren't that stinky though - hooray for nursing! 

Play: Her best friends are the ceiling fan, her reflection, and the trees outside the bedroom window. She has a much stronger focus now and follows people or objects moving. She turns at sounds. We're can hardly wait for her first facial reaction to us. She doesn't seem to mind tummy time, especially when we get down and join her. Her neck and back are getting stronger and she has quite a bit of control. She mostly reads with Daddy and sings with me and Granna. She often cries when Daddy sings to her! She has a strong grip on things - fingers, shirts, my necklace. She's beginning to make different sounds and may be beginning to discover her voice - she's got the sweetest little coo. She kicks and  waves her arms like crazy when she's lying on her back awake. She's so much more alert and active than when we brought her home, it's incredible!