One month

I can hardly believe it but this little girl is already a month old! It has been a whirlwind of visitors, dirty diapers, doctors visits, long nights along with the usual play dates, trips to the park, household chores and daily shenanigans that a toddler brings. Needless to say, coffee has become my new best friend. As if it wasn't already.

Abby is happiest when she is being held and can sleep for hours on end while lying on your chest. Attempt to put her down and she'll wake up in seconds. So this means we are holding her ALL the time. Not a big deal in the magical world of one child, but with a toddler in tow it's been very challenging to say the least. Inevitably they want things at the same time, so I've had to get pretty creative at times to keep them both happy. I am hoping as Abby gets older we will get a better routine figured out. Luckily she likes being carried in the baby carrier so this works well when we are at the park or on walks. Ellie certainly hasn't slowed down so Abby is always on the go with us. Such is the life of a second child.

She is eating every two hours and if we're lucky we will get a three to four hour stretch in the middle of the night. I have nicknamed her "squeaky" because she makes so much noise when she sleeps. She sounds like a ship creaking or a pig grunting. So far she seems to be breastfeeding well, at least better than in the beginning and we haven't had to supplement.  She still has some issues with a narrow latch or she is swallowing too much air or something because she tends to get really gassy/burpy/spits up and we have to break up her meals into small meals (one boob at a time).  This means she's eating more frequently.  So between the wanting to be held all the time and needing to eat frequently, she's a needy girl! The good news is she is growing really well.  At her one month check up she had already grown two inches.  I'm not sure if that was due to a measuring error but two inches is a lot!  She's in the 90th percentile for height. She is definitely chubbier than Ellie ever was at this age.  I was looking back at pictures of Ellie at this age and they look almost identical. Time will tell!

Here are her one month stats:
Weight: 10lbs 8oz
Height: 23"
Head Circumference:  39.4cm

She is getting very strong and can hold her head up for a pretty long period of time.  She is smiling and cooing a lot, especially after a good burp.  I'm not sure if this is intentional yet but she can look directly at you and follows your face with her eyes. She has started to grip on to things and wont let go - namely the skin on your neck. 

Ellie is really in love with her. She is the first person she wants to see in the morning and always ask for her right away. She is usually pretty gentle with her and likes to kiss her on the head.  Ellie is really into body parts right now and wants to point to her eyes, ears, mouth etc. so we have to watch her like a hawk otherwise she'll poke her eyes out.  Sometimes when Abby starts crying, Ellie will run over to the pack n' play and start rocking it back and forth, I'm assuming to calm her down.  This usually makes things worse but it's really cute. She has done really well adjusting to being a big sister.  She definitely has her moments of jealousy when I can't help her right away or when she can't sit in my lap, but all in all she's handled it really well. I am so grateful! 

This week has been my first week solo as my parents have left and Tom as gone back to work.  It is definitely really hard to manage them both on my own, but not impossible. It's a lot of balancing needs, chaos and crossing my fingers but so far so good.  Once we can fall into a schedule life will be much easier. It's hard to get everyone's needs met, let alone my own. I have to remind myself to breath, drink water, sit down etc. and on the days when I get a shower and eat three meals I'm feeling pretty accomplished.  Tom and I remind each other that this time period is such a short blip in the scheme of things and it will be over before we know it. I'm still in a fog but we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Luckily these girls are cute! And to prove it, here are some recent photos.

Tia & Unk

Freshly arrived

Getting ready to go home

Buds

Super cool

Love!

On a walk

Snoozing

Abby's first bath

Looking for ants