claire - one month old!

Claire at one month - Jan. 24, 2012

Weight/Height: Claire hasn’t been weighed or measured since her two-week appointment, at which she was 7.1 lbs – up 4 oz from birth – and 19 ½ inches. I’m guessing she’s hovering around 8 lbs right now based on my attempts to way her on our not-so-accurate scale. She seems a little longer now, though still petite.

Clothes: Definitely newborn, and I’m guessing we will be in the same size for at least another month. Little girl is just that…little. I’m anxious to put her in some of her cute, bigger outfits but also love how little she is and am glad I am getting good use out of those newborn sizes! We love the long-sleeved Gerber onesies with built-in mittens and sleepers with footies. We have a lot of “jammie” days around here. The newborn Pampers Swaddlers fit her great, but the Newborn Huggies Little Snugglers are too big.

Eating Habits: Claire is eating about every 3 hours and will go between 3 and 5 hours at night. She successfully took her first bottle, and now Daddy is feeding her one bottle a day, usually right after work.

Sleep: Claire sleeps pretty well. When she first came home, she’d sleep one stretch of six hours each night, and Bob and I rejoiced! It’s cut back a little, but she’s only a month old so that is to be expected. I will be THRILLED when she decides to sleep through the night though. Sleep is much better when she is swaddled, so I’ve been swaddling her during the day as well. We’re currently working on figuring out a bedtime routine so that will hopefully help her to know that it’s time to go to bed.

Eye Color: Still blue – and I’m still holding out hope for a little blue-eyed baby, though it would be miraculous. But her Grandma would be thrilled!

Biggest accomplishment: Claire is starting to get control of her head and neck muscles, though she still has a ways to go. She is focusing more on things, especially her Mommy and Daddy – which we LOVE!

How We Spend Our Day: We are working on hammering out a schedule, so at this point we are flying by the seat of our pants! We do a lot of eating, napping and spending time on the activity mat or in the swing. On these rare nice days we’ve had, we’ve taken a few walks around the neighborhood, which Claire seems to enjoy. J She usually takes one nap a day in her crib and one in the swing. At night she’s in her bassinet in our room.

Likes:

• Bathtime. Although she’ll cry at first because she is cold, she really likes the warm water. She must take after her Momma.
• Claire also loves her pacifier, and Momma would love it if she would learn to put it back in soon.
• She loves music and is content to lie in her crib and watch her mobile turn until the music turns off – then she howls til we reset it.
• Snuggling with her Daddy is a big pleaser too!

 Dislikes:

• Being dirty – who can blame her? I wouldn’t want to sit in a wet/dirty diaper either!
• Waiting for food. Sorry about this, baby girl, but Mommy can only go so fast!

Just keeping it real. But, let's face it, she's even cute when she cries. :)

Favorite Moments: Well, since this is month one, I’d say that Claire’s birth on Christmas Eve is the top moment right now. I’ve also really enjoyed watching her with our families and friends. There is not much sweeter than seeing your dad hold his first grandchild. We’ve also had a few smiles or grins and those are just priceless. I’m not sure they’re on purpose yet, but I’ll take them anyway I can get them!

See you next month, friends!