1 month!

Our little lady is one month old! Well, technically 5 weeks and one day, but I'm running a little late... kill me! :)

"Cool Octopus!"

One month details:
Height: We didn't have a doctor's appointment, so I'll estimate about 22.5".
Weight: Ummm, I don't know. Based on how much she was growing at her two week appointment I'd say probably about 11lbs.
Clothes: Size 0-3 months - packed up the Newborn stuff yesterday and it was so sad. She can still fit into some of the newborn stuff, but the pajamas and onesies are definitely too small, so I thought it would just be easier for me to pack up everything. 0-3 month pants sometimes fall off though... :/
Eating: She eats usually about every 2-3 hours, sometimes more, sometimes less. At night she will give us one long stretch. I've been pumping the last couple weeks at least once a day while she's eating to build up a stock for when I go back to work and we have probably 50-60oz built up now. Peter gave her her first bottle on Sunday night and she didn't really love it, but I think it could have been done a little better. (Not after she was already screaming for food and in a sitting position, not standing.) But he gave her another one the next morning that we had ready in advance and she took 3oz no problem!
Sleep: She sleeps sometimes in small little spurts, and others for long stretches. She really prefers to be held, but sometimes she will let us put her in the swing for a little while and usually gives us 4-5 hours in the bassinett at night.
Awake: She has just started having longer stretches of awake time, ranging from about half an hour to an hour and a half or two. We just sing or talk to her, and she loves storytime with Nate. We've also been doing belly time a couple times a day. She can only take it for about 5 minutes or so, but Nate likes to do it with her and she lasts longer when he's there, and even turns her head to see where he is if he's moving around. She can move her head and hold it up very well. She has to put it down every now and then, but she's doing pretty good.

Nate doing "back time" with Mia

Holding up her head!

Smiles!: She gave us her first "real" smile on the 26th! It is beautiful
Coos: She has been cooing away recently and it is my favorite sound!
Nate: I feel like Amelia has been easier than Nate was. I'm sure she really isn't, but I was dealing with "First Time Mom Syndrome"! But, since my mom has been gone, it has been more difficult dealing with both of them. Since my last post about how amazing Nate has been things have taken a turn for the worse. He told Peter that he didn't want to be a big brother any more and asked if she could go back in my belly. He also said that he thought I didn't want him any more. :( So we have been trying to find the line between making him feel special and like we still love him without letting him get away with whatever he wants. I'm not sure we've found it yet. I'm hoping things will get a little better once get back on a regular schedule when I go back to work next week. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Big Brother Nate

So, Nate stayed with his Nonna while I went to the hospital. She said that all day he kept asking when he would get to see his little sister. We wanted to make sure that he was the first person who got to see her, so my mom brought him by as soon as we had a few minutes with her and had her all cleaned up.

The first thing he asked when he walked in the door was, "Where's my baby sister?" We told them her name and (luckily) he can say it no problem! He wanted to hold her and we showed him how to do it.

First time holding his "Baby Sister"

He came back to visit twice the next day too, and even exchanged gifts with Amelia. He got her a little bee for her car seat that plays music and she got him a Tiny doll from Dinosaur Train that matches (and interacts with) the Buddy doll we had gotten him for Christmas. He loved it!

Since we have been home for over a week now, things have been pretty good. He is very sweet with her and has come in to our bedroom every morning asking the same question he asked at the hospital, "where's my baby sister?!", but sometimes we do have to remind him to be a little more gentle. I think there are moments, especially at nap and bed time, when he wishes he still had my full attention, but I think he doesn't really mind as a whole. He gives her lots of hugs and kisses, and the sweetest moment I've seen so far happened a couple nights ago. I was changing her diaper on the couch while he was watching his nightly episode of (probably) 'Dinosaur Train' and she started crying. He kept watching, but reached his hand over and just put it on her head while I finished cleaning her up. I almost cried.

Tough love

Helping with bathtime

Hopefully it can stay this way now that my mom has gone back to California and he no longer has his roommate and spoiler. We are trying hard to make sure that he still knows that Peter and I love him and that Amelia hasn't replaced him in any way. And hopefully that will just get easier as she gets older, but for now I think we are all doing a great job!

The birth story

Well, she decided she didn't want to come on her own even though I tried everything "natural" to get her to come... We even went to the mall the day after Christmas! My blood sugar got really low but little Cranberry did not want to come. So, we left Nate with Nonna and headed to the hospital at 7am on the 27th.

They put us in our room right away, so I was in bed and watching Today by about 7:10. They had to ask me a bunch of questions and fill out all of  the "paperwork" (which is now mostly electronic). The Dr came in and measured me (I was around 3-4cm) and broke my water around 9, then they started the pitocin. The contractions started kicking in around 9:30. Unfortunately since I was on pitocin I had to be monitored, so I couldn't get in the tub or walk around... I had to stay in or right next to my bed unless I needed the bathroom. I tried everything I could but when they came and checked me at about 12:30 and I had only progressed 1cm, I caved and got an epidural. I was really hoping to be strong enough not to need it, but I couldn't really bear the thought of another 10-12 hours of labor stuck in bed. I'm really glad that I did though. :) I was able to sleep a little bit and started progressing much quicker at that point. I don't know if it would have happened anyway, or if my being able to relax helped to speed things along, but in another 2 hours I had progressed and was ready to push! Unlike with Nate I didn't feel like I HAD to push NOW, so the hour or so I had to wait for the Dr (he wanted me to labor a little longer to make sure she was nice and low) was much better. And, I guess she was ready to come out at that point because it only took 3 pushes and we were done!

Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice and her body once, but it was so long (unusually so) that there was plenty of slack. So, it wasn't cutting off any of her needed supplies or nutrients and never registered any sort of stress during labor. Thank God for that! They did their initial quick tests and got her cleaned up just enough to give her to me for some Koala time. We were very happy to welcome our new little girl to our family!