I am having a hard time believing that my daughter is already 7 weeks old. Where does the time go?! As crazy as this sounds, I am grieving her newbornness gone by. I know she's still a newborn, but I'm talking about those skinny legs without any fat rolls, her limp, sleepy body that couldn't be aroused, her puffy face from labor and delivery, the absence of creases at her wrists and ankles, her fingernails and toenails that were perfectly manicured from the womb, her fisted hands, etc. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying each day with her and I love every new change. I love the rolls around her thighs. When I change her diaper, I am amazed at all of the folds and I love each one of them. I love her little wrists that get red from the creases that are beginning to form from the baby fat she's gaining. I love the sound of her precious voice. She smiles and talks so much. During the day, Jackson and I have so much fun deciphering her aahs and oohs. He loves asking me what she's saying and I have fun trying to think of things. I love watching her nurse and noticing the different things she does - expressions she makes, position of her hands, grabbing me or my shirt, nestling her sweet face next to my skin when she's full, satisfied and sleepy...
So her first month went by like a flash and now we are nearing the end of her second, which I can't wait to blog about. There are so many memories that I would love to forever engrave in my mind. I want to preserve each one of them because I love them so much. My children bring me so much joy and they amaze me each day. I might not succeed in recording enough of their milestones, but I will succeed in spending lots of time with them. Hopefully, our time together will not return void when they are adults.
Now, back to Allison's first month:
- Her first two weeks were easy. I say easy because I could not believe how agreeable she was. She slept well from her first day of life and rarely cried. It wasn't until she turned two weeks that she got very fussy...or colicky as most people say. From two to four weeks, we had several nights with very little sleep because she cried so much. It broke my heart to watch her cry in pain. At times, I cried with her because I felt so bad for her and because I was so tired. Her fussiest hours were in the evenings and into the night, which is when Jason is home. I felt so bad for him because he was only around her when she was fussy. I took dairy out of my diet, thinking it might be causing the pain in her tummy because I couldn't eat dairy when I was nursing Jackson. I thought it was helping, but then she started having fussy nights again. The day she turned one month, I gave her probiotics. I felt she needed them since I had been given antibiotics during labor for GBS. I would have given them to her sooner, but since she'd been fine the first two weeks, I thought she didn't need them. Wrong! I gave them to her daily for a week and she was so much better. Gratefully, I haven't noticed her having a painful tummy since then.
- Few things make Allison cry. One is a dirty daiper. Allison hates having dirty diapers. In fact, she will wake from her sleep to have her diaper changed. Sleepiness is another. Whenever she is tired and ready to go to sleep, she gets fussy...IF we aren't paying attention to her cues by preparing her or her environment for sleep. She likes to be up on our left shoulder or nestled at our chest as she falls asleep. We then lie her on her tummy to slumber peacefully. Sometimes, she'll move her head from side to side 20 times until she gets comfortable. She will also go to sleep on her own if we lie her in her bed; however, we prefer to hold her as much as possible. We remember how quickly these days passed with Jackson.
- I love sleeping with my baby girl. She nestles her face in my neck or on my chest and falls into the deepest sleep. I prop pillows under both of my arms and cuddle her for hours. I know these times will pass too quickly so I'm treasuring each one of them.
- Alli can scoot herself all around her bed. I will lie her down in one spot and find her completely turned around when she wakes.
- Baby girl gets hiccups EVERY day. I feel terrible because nothing makes them go away...not even nursing.
- She burps easily. I rarely have to "burp" Allison. She does it on her own and has since her first time.
- At one week and one day old, Allison smiled at me! My parents had just left and Jason and Jackson were mowing the lawn. Allison and I were in my bed. When she woke up, I was talking to her and she smiled. I thought it might have been coincidence, but she kept doing it. After her nap, I talked to her again and she smiled IN RESPONSE. Her smile is so precious. I think she looks so much like her daddy when she smiles, especially when she smiles more to one side and the eye on that side partially closes. I also think I see dimples!
- When Allison was born, she came out hugging herself. Now that she's here, I can see why. She loves to fold her arms in front of her and clasp her hands. Whenever we hold her up on our shoulder, she folds one or both arms and rests her chin on them.
- We have lots of nicknames for Allison. I love names that easily make nicknames! Some of these nicknames came from me, but many of them came from Jackson. They are: Alli, Allibelle, Allibear, Allibearies, Bearies, Al, Belle, Belle-ies, Sister, Sis, SisterBear, Sissy, Sissybear, and maybe more that I'm forgetting!
- I'm very excited that she knows my voice. It's amazing how quickly a newborn responds to its mommy's voice. She knows when I'm in the room and my voice will soothe her.
- She sucked her thumb for the first time while outside the womb when Jason and Gail were weighing her on her birth day. She sucked it a few times afterwards, but has not shown herself to have an intense need to suck like her brother did. She will suck on her fists, but not very often.
- At four weeks old, Allison started talking. I love it when they start talking! She focuses on my face and tried to immitate the sounds I make. It is so cute watching her mouth form different shapes. I can tell that she is trying to hard to produce sounds. It's wonderul! By five weeks, she was talking during each awake period.
- This last one isn't an Allison milestone but a Mommy one. By four weeks, I felt back to normal. I have felt great since she was born, minus misaligning my back, but it wasn't until her 4th week that I realized how much strength you lack right after birth because I felt so much stronger.
10 days old:
Jackson loves it whenever she's awake. He always wants to hold her:
Meredith drove us to Allison's 2 week check-up:
At the midwifery clinic with Gail (Alli was 12 days old):
Superdad:
Jeff and Lisa are the most generous people I have ever met. Seriously! Jeff has done so much for us as we moved into our home and Lisa has graciously let him. He is a jack of all trades - plumber, electrician, landscape architect, finance man, etc. You name it, he's probably done it. He works with Jason and has been an enormous blessing to him at work. Here they are with Allison at 2 weeks old:
16 days old and trying to capture her smile (Notice the one eye that partially closes? Jason's does that too!):
3 weeks old:
First day of church (3 weeks and 1 day):
They love snuggling together.
We're getting braver with letting him hold her:
4 weeks old and her first Farmer's Market:
1 month old!
These last photos were taken the day after she turned one month. I should technically post them with her 2nd month post, but I think it's close enough!
She usually wears spit-up. It happens often, but she obviously doesn't seem to mind:
Wow! That's one more check mark I get to make. Done!
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