Aelah Grace: 1 Month

An entire month (plus a few days) has gone by since the birth of our precious miracle!  I can't even believe it!  When everyone tells you how time flies, they really, really mean it.  I want to rewind and go back to the hospital so that I can treasure each moment again, relive every single second, write it all down so I can soak it all up at a later date.  She will never be that tiny again.  Her skin will never be quite that soft.  And her eyes...they change 

every. 

single. 

day.  

Ah...but enough of that for now.  For now, I must take joy in every little thing she does.  Live in the moment.  

I am a few days behind with this post but I wanted to wait until after our first well-child visit to see just how much our Aelah Grace has grown!

This basket may not work for as long as I had hoped...  ;)

How am I growing?

Aelah weighed in at 9 lbs and 12 oz yesterday!  She has almost gained 2 lbs since birth...just one ounce away!  :)  Her weight is pretty average, 50th percentile.  But her length, that is an entirely different story!!  At 23 inches (and I'm fairly sure they measured a little short with all of her squirming) she is in the 95th percentile!  We have one tall little lady on our hands!  But that isn't a surprise since Hubby and I are both fairly tall.

What's new?

The first month outside the womb has been an interesting one.  We went from smiling in our sleep the first week or so to smiling when she is awake!  And laughing in her sleep.  Which is one of Mommy's favorite things!  :)  If she is being held, she will lift her head and look around for as long as she can.  Lights can be VERY distracting - even when she is eating.  haha.  

How are we sleeping?

Sleep the first few weeks wasn't too bad - up every 2-4 hours to eat.  Then somewhere between that 3 and 4 week period she decided she was going to be a night owl.  She LOVES to be awake anytime from 9pm - 2am for at least 3 hours.  And she usually isn't very happy that Mommy and Daddy want her to sleep.  So, we have started sleep training.  A bit early, yes, but a must if I am going to survive.  

And by sleep training, I just mean having a nap/bed time routine.  When Aelah starts to get sleepy we go read a story, sit quietly for a bit, swaddle her up, and lay her in the bassinet before she falls asleep.  During the day she wakes to eat every 3 hours and we follow the Eat/Wake/Sleep pattern.  Lots of lights and brightness from 7am until about 7:30 and then we dim the lights.  At this point we don't worry much about noise because we want her to be able to sleep through "the static" so to speak.  But if it comes to it, we will try to be more quiet in the evenings.  We've been trying this for 3 days and 2 of those 3 nights have been splendid!  Asleep by 9-9:30 and up around 7, waking every 3-5 hours to eat.  The night it didn't work we had gone grocery shopping and she took an extra long nap which messed things up I think.