One Month Old

Avery is one month old today! It's hard to believe it was four weeks ago that I was at Tripler Hospital in labor with her. I mean, on one hand, it feels like I've been doing this gig FOREVAH. Especially since there's often little distinction between night and day... I sleep when I can and nurse all day and all night, so it seems like one long continuous day sometimes. The passing of time is really evident when you look at her, though. She's getting so big! She's already outgrowing the three outfits that fit her in the early days, and developing this little personality more every day.

At one month, Avery is fond of:

Being held. All the time. No, really. If you think I'm kidding about this, come on over and we'll put you on the baby-cuddling schedule! Right now she is napping in my lap. As long as someone is holding her, she will sleep for 4-5 hours at a stretch. But if you put her down, she'll wake up in 5-10 minutes. When Adam is not working, he stays up all night with her and carries her around as he does his computer work, watches tv, goes to the bathroom, etc. When he's at work, my mom will take her from her 9 pm feeding until 12 or 1, and then I get her the rest of the night. I have tried unsuccessfully to put her down in the pack n' play and the cradle, but the longest stretch of sleep I've gotten from her was about 90 minutes in the cradle, and that was with me rocking her every 15 minutes or so when she started to wake up. I've resigned myself to co-sleeping at this point, even though I don't *really* want to. When she's snuggled up next to me in bed, she will sleep for about 3-4 hours and nurse twice in the night at 12 or 1 and again at about 4. Then again at about 6 or 7, after which she will nap again for several more hours. As much as I thought I did not want to be a co-sleeper, it is really sweet having her snuggled up with me in bed (even though I don't get very restful sleep!) she is so precious laying there with her feet curled up in my belly and her little hand on me. How can I fight it.

Sleeping with her arms over her head. This is a baby who doesn't prefer to be swaddled. We've tried swaddling her in a variety of special blankets, but she always manages to get her arms free. It's supposed to help them sleep better, this swaddling, but I think Avery wakes herself up struggling to free her arms!

Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Exhibit C:
Pooping and peeing with her diaper off. Oh, it's the best of times! She does this so frequently I'm beginning to wonder if it's something about the diaper that she DOESN'T like pooping and peeing in. The best way to do it is to wait until the big person finishes wiping your bum, and then just before the new diaper gets in place, you rocket poop explosively across the entire dresser, splattering the curtains, the camera, the diaper caddy, mommy's hair (because I'm bending over her when it happens), several clean diapers, and all down the back of the dresser. Then to really seal the deal, you have to pee all over yourself while the large people are trying to clean THAT mess up. This means you get a new outfit out of the deal.

Grunting, snurgling, and carrying on, asleep or awake. She carries on so much that we call her the Dragon, as in "don't wake the Dragon." Just from listening to her you'd think I gave birth to a velociraptor instead of a sweet little pink-cheeked babe.

Avery does not like:

Her carseat. Oh, it's fine if she's sleeping when she goes in it, but rest assured on the way home from your adventure she will be overstimulated and will not want to nap. No, she would rather grunt and become increasingly frantic with the kicking and arm waving and struggling against her situation until she escalates into the most heartwrenching sobs, complete with pouty frowny face and now REAL TEARS! I know, can you believe she's crying real tears now and it KILLS me, she looks so pitiful and there's nothing I can do because we're in the car!

That's pretty much it for the dislike column. Well, she hates being even a tiny bit hungry. Don't try to change her diaper or take your time getting situated with the nursing pillow and a glass of water if she's ready to eat or else she will squawk with righteous indignation. And then when she gets to the boob, she will pant and snuffle and wag her head back and forth until she latches on like a little carnivore devouring a hambone.

Look at those cheeks! You can really tell she's chubbing up! Compare to one week old: