The Next Step: My Little Lainie-Month 1

Jacki, I need some help with a creative title :-)

I absolutely can't believe Lainie came into the world a full month ago. Life is in superspeed now and we're just trying to soak up every minute!

Lainie has been an absolute joy to have around this month. She is starting to wake up and be very bright eyed. She has some great alert periods. At this point, I'm going to guess her eyes are going to be blue. They are much lighter than Ruthie's were at this stage, but I know we won't know for months.

As much as it shocks me, she does not look like Ruthie or Joel. She has my skin color and to me, at this point, she looks the most like my sister, her Aunt Nana. I don't have a picture that shows that, but I'm working on it.

She is a fantastic eater and I couldn't be more thankful.

At Birth: 7 pounds

3 days old: 7 pounds 1 ounce

2 weeks old: 8 pounds 1 ounce

4 weeks old: We weighed her on our (probably somewhat inaccurate) scale with Joel holding her and each time it put her at 9 pounds 8 ounces! I really think it took Ruthie over three months to get as big as Lainie is (even if the scale is somewhat off). Its amazing how fast she is growing.

The pediatrician told us the goal at their two week appointment was to be back to their birthweight so the fact that she had gained a pound over that, we were thrilled!

She eats about every three hours. The first two weeks, I fed her on demand and then went into the babywise plan and man that makes such a difference for us. I think I would lose my mind if I didn't have a schedule.

Daytime Sleep:

She's doing great. We're getting into our routine and the past few days have been right on schedule. She is sleeping the last 1 1/2-2 hours of each three hour block.

Nighttime sleep:

She's a newborn. One of my sweet friends let me borrow her cosleeper and wow, it is awesome. I wish Lainie was in her crib like Ruthie was, but I've gotta sleep and it is so much nicer to reach over and pick her up and not have to walk across the room. I realize how lazy that sounds, but it is what it is. At night, she sleeps from about 10pm-4am (waking to eat once, but not actually waking up), but the 4am time period is when she wants to hang out. All in all, I think she's doing great sleeping and while I'm tired, there have only been a few days when my eyes felt crossed.

Swaddled:

Yes Please. At first we thought she hated the miracle blanket, but now I swaddle her and put her down and she calms much quicker. I love that thing.

Paci:

Oh Yeah. Apparently we have paci-loving girls! I'm using the MAM paci's with Lainie and the Nuk with Ruthie. I wanted them to be different so when its time for Ruthie to say bye bye to the paci, it would be less confusing. I hope it works!

She loves:

The swing, thank the Lord.

The paci, swaddler, being held, being held upright and having her back patted (Ruthie likes to help with this). She also loves having her forehead rubbed and moving around.

She doesn't love:

-bathtime, but its getting better. Ruthie helped me bathe her yesterday and it was so cute!

-laying on her back awake, which I guess is fine, since she needs to be on her tummy awake anyways.

Other:

Her hair is starting to fall out on top. It has a lighter look and in some pictures has a reddish tint. I don't see it as much in person but we'll see!

It seems silly to put her firsts, since everything has been a first, but she went to her first Christmas tree lighting