One Month

Saturday CB was one month old. We were at a family reunion in Weiser, Idaho, so I didn't get to post until today. However, we did have a little photoshoot courtesy of CB's Aunt Linda, who made her a set of onesies for pictures every month during her first year.

Here are some things I know about CB after being her mom for 1 month:

Likes:

• Tummy time
• Baths
• Being swaddled like a burrito
• Bouncing
• Eating
• Snuggling
• Riding in the car
• Looking at faces
• Having people sing to her

Dislikes:

•  Having her diaper changed
• Waiting to eat
• Hiccups (which she gets multiple times a day)
• Getting dressed (particularly when the neck is too small to go over her head easily)

Accomplishments:

•  Sleeps 4-6 hours at a time almost every night, slept 8 hours straight on the night of her 1 month birthday. (I was checking to see if she was breathing when I realized it was 8:00 and she hadn't woken up since she'd fallen asleep around midnight. It must have been the country air up at the Winegar Ranch. )
• Holds her head up for 10-20 seconds at a time
• Successfully traveled to Weiser (a 6 hour trip each way) without making her parents or grandparents crazy
• Slept quietly through her baby blessing at church (pictures of her in her sweet little blessing dress are forthcoming) and  was quiet throughout her first Sacrament Meeting. (We'll see how she does when we go to more than one meeting next week.)
• Pooped through a diaper, nightgown, and blanket onto her sheets. A week later, did the same, but on Grandma. 
• Lost all of her hair on top, but so far has successfully kept it in the back, so she looks a little bit like a tiny old man. 
• Somehow being a little too big for most of her newborn clothes (especially onesies, which are now kind of ridiculous to get over her head), but a little too small for the 0-3 month clothes. (Meanwhile, I have a weird mix of feelings - I want her to grow because that means she's healthy, but I don't want her to get bigger because that means she's getting older ALREADY and oh my goodness when did your legs start getting chubbier, little girl?)

 Notes:

CB, being your mother is crazy - and the craziest thing about it is that it feels completely natural. The first few days it was so awkward trying to figure out how to even hold you, and now I can just scoop you up from anywhere, and I can often tell what's wrong when you're crying (although lately you've started to have some tummy aches, and when those happen we sometimes just have to wait it out). I can spend hours just looking at the faces you pull and the intent way you seem to be studying things. Even though you can't really communicate yet, you already make me laugh right out loud on a daily basis.

Aside from the daily checks to see if you're still breathing or whether you have a temperature, the other day you spit up and started choking on it while I was changing your diaper. I looked up to see your wide, scared-looking eyes and your arms flailing frantically, and it terrified me. Luckily you started coughing and crying as soon as I got you upright, but I felt like holding you a little closer for the rest of the day. (In fact, your dad was trying to put your pants back on, and you kept crying and coming out of them, and it was taking such a long time that I finally said, "She just needs to be held for a minute!" But really what I meant was, "I need to hold her for a minute, because I just saw my baby choking."

At your two month checkup, the nurse had to squeeze a whole bunch of blood out of your little heels onto a card for your state metabolic screening. You were crying and crying, and the second she was done and I scooped you up and started talking to you, you stopped crying and just looking up at me with sad little eyes. It was the moment when I felt like somehow I'd really entered this magical world of motherhood. Somehow, like my own mother, I'd developed that gift where just holding you could make you feel better. It was the most amazing feeling.

Love,

Mama