Julia Rose at 1 Month Old

Rose turned 1 month old this Monday (the 17th).  It has been a big month for her and she is just such a sweet little lady.  We are completely smitten.  I'm not sure what she weighs right now - I will have to try to find a scale or stop by the gym or something to see if I can find out in the next day or two - but she is definitely packing on some baby chub.  Her face has lost most of its scrunched up newborn look and has smoothed out with the most beautiful, round little cheeks and dark brown eyes that may not have settled into their true color yet. 

The first couple of weeks were a little tough for the little miss while she figured out the whole sleeping thing.  And to be honest, she still goes down hard a lot of the time.  She loves being held and rocked and drifts off in our arms really easily but within 5 seconds of being gently laid down in her crib/swing/rocker she starts squirming and yelling for the warmth of a snugly body even though she seemed totally and completely out just before that.  It can be both exasperating and endearing all at once but it usually seems like the real problem is that she has little gas bubbles that need to be patted out. 

But once she IS asleep, she sleeps well, taking 4 hour naps most afternoons and only waking up twice a night for feedings.  There have even been two times where she skipped her 1:00 a.m. feeding and only woke up once, at 4:00 a.m.  Her morning nap(s) are much shorter because she wakes up much more easily and, while still tired, can't seem to settle in as well for a snooze, but we're working on figuring that out too.  (Do I keep her up longer in the morning? Or put her down sooner? Or not swaddle her? Or try to get her to take that nap in the swing?  Or lay her down awake instead of trying to rock her to sleep and let her drift off on her own?  So many questions.)

Rose is a Tummy Time master.  She doesn't have any problem spending a little quality time on her stomach on a quilt laid out in the living room, especially when Mommy or Clara will lay beside her and offer toys to squish and crinkle or rattles to gently shake.  Her neck muscles are getting really strong because of it and she can hold up her head really well for a one-month old. 

Rose has a very alert gaze and is already starting to track objects that interest her.  Sometimes she will get this intense focus on something that none of us can see and she will just stare and stare at it and keep going back to look at whatever it is that has caught her eye. 

Rose is pounding 5 ounce bottles (although she usually leaves half an ounce behind like she just can't quite suck it all out) about 5-6 times each day (so she is probably drinking around 25-28 ounces per day right now).  She is a little bit of a slow eater and we started giving her formula for gas and fussiness because of all the little air bubbles that seemed to be troubling her.  We also started giving her infant gas drops, which seems to have helped.

This past week Rose has started showing off her new skill - smiling.  She mostly reserves them for daddy but every now and then I catch a glimpse of one of her little grins.  They light up her whole face and make my heart just want to explode with happiness.  The cuteness is unreal. 

Rose is still in 0-3 month sizes (she was done with newborn size clothes after only a week) but she is starting to even seem like she is pushing the limits of some of her jammy legs so we might be moving her up to 3-6 month sizes here in the next week or two. 

So far she hasn't lost any hair (yay!) and she has some definite length in back, although the hair on the rest of her head is definitely much shorter.  But my friend, Heidi, gave us a gift card to an online baby hair bow store called Baby Wisp with teeny clips that actually stay pretty well with what little hair Rose has without having to be glued on with corn syrup or anything. 

Rose LOVES her baths.  Her umbilical cord fell off at exactly 2 weeks so her first "real" bath was two days later and she has had one pretty much every night since.  Clara is dying for Rose to be big enough for them to take a bath together but for now "helps" out by talking to Rose and showing her the rubber duckies.

Clara is doing a great job in her new role as big sister.  She stubbornly calls Rose "The Baby" most of the time unless she is talking directly to Rose.  Clara loves to hold her, caress her head, and give kisses.  The other day I was loading both girls in the car and Rose was not very happy about it so Clara said "Rose, you need to calm down" in a firm voice. 

Every now and then Clara has a hard time giving Rose the space she needs to fall asleep and gets upset when I tell her it is time for her to read a book or play with a puzzle in her own room for a few minutes while I rock Rose to help her settle down.  At times like those I wish I had just turned on Cat In The Hat because it might keep Clara better distracted than having to entertain herself in her room for a few minutes on her own (I'm learning here, people) but I definitely don't want to reward bad behavior by letting her watch a show after throwing a fit (she will literally say "the baby is awake so I will be LOUD!" if Rose so much as opens an eye halfway and then shout to prove that she can make noise) so then I am left dealing with a tantrumming 2 1/2-year old while trying to get Rose to settle in for a nap (this always seems to happen in the mornings when Rose has a hard time napping anyway - or maybe she has a hard time napping in the mornings because this happens).  But that is the exception to Clara's behavior, not the normal situation, so I don't mean to make it sound like chaos reigns supreme on a daily basis or anything.  And adjusting to a new baby can't be easy so really I anticipated that it could have been a lot worse.

We just love our two girls so very much and feel so blessed to be their mom and dad.  Rose is just the sweetest little person and we can't believe how lucky we are to have her.  We can't believe how much she has already changed in her just first month.

 

Here's looking at you, kid.