One Month Old

Sweet Katherine,
You are already one month old. The newborn stage is always fascinating to me in that the time flies by and lasts forever all at the same time. You are the joy of our family and our little celebrity. Someone always wants to hug you, hold you, and play with you. We just can not get enough of you and are so very grateful that you are in our family.

All in all, I'd describe you as a good baby with difficult moments. There are times where you are just a dream baby- you'll happily be awake and looking around for a long time, you'll put yourself to sleep, you'll snooze through busy times, etc. At the same time though you'll have difficult moments- evenings when you won't let us put you down at all without screaming, middle of the night feedings when you don't want to go to sleep, pooping right in the middle of church. I will say that most of the time, you're a great baby which makes our adjustment to four kids a little easier.

You are such a great nurser, and I'm so thankful that we haven't had any of that added stress this time around. We are having to supplement with some formula, but I'm so used to that now that it hasn't been a big deal. Since pretty much the moment you were born, you just knew how to nurse, and we've have zero issues or times when you've refused or struggled to latch. You're always happy to eat and you love to suck on anything- bottle, pacifier, fingers, you're not picky at all and go back and forth with nursing and bottle feeding with no issues at all. Good job, Baby Girl!

You nurse 8-9 times per day and we're supplementing with about five oz of formula a day (an ounce after most of your feedings)  to make sure you're getting your belly full. You nurse every 2.5-3 hours during the day. You're an efficient eater and nurse for about 20 minutes per feeding

At night you'll usually have a four hour stretch between feedings and then want to eat every 2.5-3 hours after that first long stretch. I usually feed you between 9-10 at night and then you wake up wanting to eat again around 1-1:30 and then again at about 4:30. Then you're ready to eat again around 7ish. Most of the time you'll fall asleep easily after your middle of the night feedings. You have nights where you want to stay awake and party in the middle of the night too. We're working on it.

 At your one month check up you weighed 7lbs, 2.5 oz and were 20 inches long (Daddy jokes that you shrunk since you were born). You are still wearing newborn clothes and diapers, but they no longer swallow you up like they did when you were first born. Now they're fitting normally, ha! You're a tiny little peanut and your head is still too small for a lot of your hats and headbands.

You don't spit up very much, but you poop ALL the time- like 6-10 times a day usually. I know that's not uncommon in newborns, but you definitely poop way more often than any of your siblings did as newborns. There have also been multiple times when you've pooped while I'm changing your dirty diaper and plenty more when you've just been waiting for a clean diaper to do your business again. 

I swaddle you at night. I don't really know if it helps you sleep better or not, but you don't seem to mind, so I'll keep it up. I don't usually swaddle you during the day for any of your naps, maybe because you're not on any sort of consistent nap schedule right now- Fourth child problems. You are pretty good at taking a long nap in the afternoons when your sister naps.

You tend to have long wake periods and long sleep periods. You can stay awake for a couple of hours at a time, but you can also sleep for hours during the day too (only waking up long enough to eat and then you're right back asleep).

You are usually happy and awake in the mornings after your 7:00 feeding. I love that you are happy then because it's usually a mad house around here from about 7:30-9:00 trying to get everyone (including you), fed, dressed, lunches and backpacks packed and ready for school. You're just chill though to hang out on your play mat or in your swing. You do usually have someone in your face wanting to play with you, so I think that helps, but I'm always impressed with how content you are to be alone in the mornings.

The evenings are a complete opposite story though. You are much more needy in the evenings especially after your big siblings are in bed. You're hungrier and usually won't tolerate not being held. Maybe you just know that your daddy is home so you can get away with being so clingy. You eat around 9:00 and then a lot of nights you want to stay awake and play for another hour or so before you fall asleep. A lot of times I end up nursing you again to help you fall asleep. I think you just know that you have us both to yourself during that time and want to take advantage of it, ha!

I feel like you live in your car seat a lot of days between school drop off, pick up, ballet, gymnastics, appointments, errands, etc. Thankfully you sleep great in your car seat, although there are times that you show off your strong lungs while we're driving.

The perk of being the fourth child is that you are SO very loved by your big siblings. I've seen the sweetest moments when your big siblings just genuinely want to show you how much they love you. You're the first person anyone wants to see in the mornings. They are such great helpers too- bringing you toys, singing you songs, putting your pacifier back in your mouth, holding you, throwing your diapers in the trash, helping bathe you, someone is always wanting to help take care of you.

We catch you smiling a lot in your sleep and you're starting to focus more on our faces when we're talking to you. 

I'm soaking up all the sweet moments with you, all the while dreaming of the night when I'll get more than two or three hour stretches of sleep. You are a joy. I'm so glad God gave us you. You are loved more than any baby I know, and we can't imagine life without you.