Dear Natalie: One Month

 
Dear Natalie,

You are one month old! All the cliches are true... it's hard to believe it's already been a month, and at the same time, we can hardly remember life before your arrival. After months of anticipation, it's been so much fun to begin to discover your personality and see what you look like. Based on your 3D ultrasound picture taken about a month before your birth, I had a suspicion that you might look a little bit like me, and so far that seems to be the case. You were born with dark hair covering your head (which has started to thin out in front), and the shape of your face and some of your features look like mine. But, your eyes look like they might be dark blue, so time will tell if you take after Daddy in that regard.

In your few short weeks of life thus far, you have been a really good baby. You are your own little person with your own preferences and tendencies, but it's hard to avoid comparisons with your brother-- he wasn't an extremely difficult baby, but you are definitely my "easy" baby so far. In your first two weeks of life, you didn't do much besides sleep, wake briefly to eat, and then fall back asleep again. In the second half of your first month, you emerged a little bit from the sleepy newborn phase, but you are still giving us one 4-6 stretch of sleep each night, followed by another 2-3 hour stretch of sleep. We are far from any sort of regular schedule, but you usually fall asleep for the evening between 9:30-11pm, wake for a feeding between 2-4am, go right back to sleep, wake again around 6-6:30am, and then sleep for one more hour before waking for the day around 8am. Certainly no complaints here! You sleep in the bassinet attachment of our Pack'N'Play in our bedroom, but you started taking morning naps in your crib on August 5th. You already have a pretty regular morning nap emerging-- usually beginning around 8:30 or 9am and lasting for about two hours each day.

You are also a champion eater, and breast feeding is going really well for us. It's been much easier than my first time around. No supply issues and not more than a day or two of initial pain. I am exclusively breast feeding, but I began pumping once every other day or so when you were two weeks, and you took your first bottle from Daddy on August 2nd without complaint. Since then, you've had a bottle on several other occasions. The only issue we've encountered thus far is that you seem to overeat and then spit up quite a bit. We're not sure yet if it's reflux, but being really full irritates your stomach and you need lots of help to expel the extra gas and pressure.

Happy one week birthday!

You are growing like a weed. At your one week doctor's appointment (which actually occurred when you were 6 days old), you had already exceeded your birth weight, weighing it at 7 pounds, 9 ounces. At your two week appointment, you weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces. And then I had to take you in right around your one month mark for a rash that had developed on your face, and you weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds, 8 ounces. You've grown out of most of your newborn sized clothes as of about three weeks, and we moved you up to size 1 diapers at four weeks. I'm a little sad to see you move out of the adorable wrinkly, curled up newborn stage so quickly, but your increasingly squishy little cheeks and thighs are pretty cute, too. Plus you have a great 0-3 month wardrobe full of fun, colorful summer rompers, so I've enjoyed playing dress up.

With Gammy

Your personality is shining through more and more. You have the sweetest disposition, and you've already started giving us little smiles. You started smiling periodically within your first week, and while they may have been unintentional at first, they've grown more and more frequent. You have an adorable open mouthed, lopsided grin that I can't get enough of, and I can already tell you that you are happy by nature. You've succeeded in charming not just me, Daddy, and Nicholas; but also Gammy and Bapa; Grandmama and Dzia Dzia; and lots of friends.

With Grandmama

You've spent many of your newborn days on the go. You made your first trip to a restaurant with me and Gammy for lunch at Epicerie when you were just 9 days old. That night, Daddy, Nicholas, and Bapa joined us and we all had dinner at The Grove. You've also made trips to stroll down South Congress, to join us for tacos at Torchy's, and to accompany us on errands to the grocery store, Target, and the mall. Fortunately, you are an easy going baby and seem content to just go with flow.

First outing to dinner a a family of four (someone wasn't interested in being in this photo...)

As our second child, I worried a little bit that you would miss out on some of the attention that your brother received. And while I certainly don't have as much time to focus exclusively on you as I did with Nicholas, I've discovered that being a more experienced mother this time around has made me feel so much more relaxed and allowed me to truly enjoy your newborn days.

The stress and anxiety I felt during my first foray into motherhood is gone, I am just relishing you as a tiny baby and enjoying all of the ups and downs of your infancy. I know how fast these newborn days pass, and so even the middle of the night feedings don't bother me. I love observing all of your many expressions and your little jerky newborn movements, I love feeling your smooth baby skin against mine when I feed you or rock you, and I love just watching you take in the world around you.


You have brought us so much joy in such a short period of time, and I am already so happy and proud to be your mother.

All my love,
Mommy

Introducing...

Miss Natalie Ann 

July 16, 2014

7 pounds, 6 ounces

20 1/4 inches

Natalie entered our lives in true diva form via a very surprising emergency c-section two and a half weeks ago. We were grateful to have a wonderful medical team to help us through the birth, and fortunately both she and I are healthy and doing great. While the birth itself was very scary and a little traumatic, since we've been home, she's been a rock star baby, eating and sleeping like a champ. At her two week appointment, she had surpassed her birth weight by over a pound (up to 8 pounds, 10 ounces), and most nights she will give us one 4-5 hour stretch of sleep. Not bad for less than three weeks in!

Natalie has already charmed a slew of visitors, including my mom for two weeks and my dad for the later part of her visit, lots of local friends, and one of my best friends from college who lives down in San Antonio. Jason's parents arrive tomorrow, and after a week (mostly) alone with two kids, I'm very much looking forward to two extra pairs of hands. Big brother Nicholas is doing well-- he definitely has his ups and downs, but most of the time he is very loving and gentle with baby sister. Mid-July in Texas is a little like what I imagine January in Minnesota to be, meaning we are spending little to no time outside. It's been tough being cooped up inside with a newborn and a rowdy two and a half year old who needs lots of physical outlets for all of his energy, but Jason has been great about taking him to the pool multiple times over the weekends, and we squeeze in quick walks to the mailbox or early morning playtimes in the backyard whenever we can.

Overall, Natalie has been a joy to have around, and it's been so much fun to experience a newborn baby again-- this time as a more seasoned and relaxed mom. Parenting two littles is just about as time consuming and tiring as I had expected, so my posts will probably be even fewer and further between than usual, but I hope to post the full birth story in all it's dramatic glory soon. Until then, I am signing off to fold a pile of tiny onesies and then snuggle my girl.