1 Month

Dear Mia,

You've arrived!  You're here!  And you've turned our lives completely upside down!  It's incredible to me that one little swaddled human can be so destructive to such and organized set of parents.  I mean, where does the time go?  You probably sleep 20 hours a day and yet, it seems like I'm always at your beck and call.  It's embarrassing, really, that I've been home with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since you were born (5 weeks ago) and yet I haven't even had the time to start writing in your baby book!  Or write a blog post!  Or order your birth announcements!  Or even simply print a picture of you!  And let's just say a little prayer for automatic bill pay because I'm positive I wouldn't have found the time to pay any of those... and we'd hate to lose our house at a time like this!

So needless to say, I'm a little behind.  Please forgive me.

You turned 5 weeks old today and are already a totally different person than you were on the day you were born.  You look us in the eyes, coo, burp like a 50 year old man, and when you smile (albeit unintentionally) our hearts stop.  You hate being cold and in order to give you a successful bath we subject ourselves to heat stroke and turn the bathroom into a sauna.  You love your car seat and will shop with me for hours.  You love to be swaddled and snuggled, listen to music with Daddy, and have a love/hate relationship with your pacifier.  You love it in your mouth... you hate it in your mouth... you hate that it's not in your mouth... you love that I've put it back in your mouth.  We do this all day long.

At night when we put you to bed you will fuss about the status of your pacifier (see above) but to calm you down all we have to do is stroke your hair and rub your cheek.  Sometimes we'll also swaddle you and turn on a little heater because you like to be nice and toasty.  It can take some time to get you to fall asleep but it's worth it because you sleep through the night!  You sleep from 11pm to 6am each night.  You'll never understand how incredibly amazing that is until you have a child of your own.  You think you'll be able to handle living on 3 hours of sleep until you're actually required to do so... and then it's a whole different ballgame.

You will launch your pacifier across the couch when you're done with it.  You love your right arm and always manage to break it free of your blanket constraints.  You also love to lay on your right side- a position you assume on your own at naptime and bedtime.  You started rolling over on your side at only a few weeks old and it scared the hell out of me!  I watched you do it one time.  You swung your left leg over your right with such force that it brought the rest of your left side with you.  You are such a troublemaker!  Don't you know that you're supposed to be sleeping on your back?

You hate to wait for your bottle in the morning, have the boogers sucked from your nose and are still startled when the dogs all bark in unison.  You poop when you eat- complete with grimacing, grunting and leg thrusting.  It's both the most adorable and disgusting thing I've ever witnessed.  Sometimes you poop with such force we can hear (and feel!) it.  Gross.

Over the past 5 weeks you've met most of your immediate family members including your cousins: Aaliyah; Lily, Bella and Corbin.  They all think you're pretty fantastic- along with your Grandpa Snipes, Grandma Snipes, Grandma Young and your Aunts and Uncles.  Everyone you meet comments on your full head of long, brown hair, including Lily, who insisted she brush it upon meeting you for the first time.

You had your one month check-up with your pediatrician on April 5th.  You were 21.75 inches long (77th percentile); weighed 9 pounds, 8 ounces (62nd percentile); and your head circumference was 37.6 cm (66th percentile).  I didn't have any major concerns to discuss with her, other than your recovery from jaundice, and she said you were looking great.  Yay!  I also checked with her that you are eating and sleeping within the normal range (3oz of breast milk every 3 hours) and she said that since you're at a healthy weight, we're doing all the right things.  Let's keep it up!

You change ever day, Mia, and I'm so blessed to be your Mom.

Love,
Momma