One Month of Rowan Christine

And just like that we have a one month old, Happy One Month Rowan Christine!
As cliche as it may be we cannot believe how fast this first month has gone. Life has sped up so much and it needs to slow down any time now. Even though it has only been a month since we welcomed Rowan into our lives it is hard to remember what life was life like pre-baby. We could not imagine life without her and cannot wait to see what this adventure is going to be like.

Here are Rowan's Month 1 Photos and Updates…

CHANGES + MILESTONES :

• She has gained almost two lbs since she was born and is now 21.5″ long! She is in the 88th percentile for height and the same percentle for weight! We got some use out of a couple of her newborn outfits in the first week but quickly outgrew them and now she is wearing 0-3 month clothes.
• She rocks over to her side to sleep but doesn't actually roll over. She also prefers sleeping on her belly during naps and after she has burped. As long as one of us is holding her we allow her to do so but make sure she is a back sleeper during the night.
• She is sleeping during the night in the bassinet and napping during the day in her Rock n Play Sleeper.
• She has some really strong neck muscles and can hold her head up for quite some time. We still have to be there to catch it because when she gets tired her head is falling like a ton of bricks. Everyone comments on how strong she is.
• While nursing she has started holding onto my breast and Anthony said she does the same with her morning bottle. 
• She has started making little sounds here and there like she is trying to talk to us. I figure in the second month she will really start making more coos and being a little more interactive.
• She loves getting a bath and barely makes a peep.
• She has met a lot of our family and friends so lots of pictures have been taken that I need to get developed and put into an album for memory purposes because we will soon forget since time has officially started flying by.

PEDIATRICIAN CHECK-UP & GROWTH:

We went to her two week appointment with the pediatrician last Monday and Rowan is a healthy, growing little girl. She has surpassed her birth weight which we kind of knew because Daddy has been weighing her on the bathroom scales. She was up to 10.5 lbs from her 9 lb birth weight and 21.5 inches long from 20 inches long at birth. That progress makes this Momma extremely proud!

EYE COLOR, HAIR & BABY GIGGLES:

Miss Rowan's hair is starting to lighten up and her eyes are this grayish but turning much bluer every day, just like Mommy and Daddy's eyes. They are so big and bright. Rowan also has the biggest smile which she flashes around pretty often! Every time she does so I try to grab the camera so I can capture it. There have been a couple times that she has giggled but it was following a gas bubble so I don't think it was necessarily a real laugh just yet. 

SLEEP:There is no sleep schedule going on around here just yet. Other than we can count on her to be awake every 2-3 hours throughout the night to nurse. In the first couple of weeks we were really thrown off track with the constant getting up throughout the night. She was up to nurse, needing a diaper change or we were jumping at every little noise she made. Those first nights at home really were kind of scary and looking back I am not sure how we were even coping during the day... Naps, lots and lots of naps were going on. 

Last week we kind of started getting into the groove of things and kept everything bedside so that diapers could be changed while laying in bed and nursing could be done right there as well. A few nights we slept on the couch, okay maybe for a week straight we were sleeping on the couch. Rowan was sleeping in her Rock n Play Sleeper and since our bed sits so high up it made for a real struggle getting to her in the middle of the night so the couch put us right at that level. This week we decided to get back to our bedroom in hopes of getting back to some normalcy and switching her to sleeping in the bassinet so there will be an easier transition to her crib once the day comes for that. We are doing a little bit better in there now and we actually had two amazing nights in a row (Sunday & Monday night this week) that our lovely little lady slept for 4 hours straight. Talk about amazing and a wonderful little treat!

SCHEDULE:

Little Miss is still not sticking to a consistent schedule other than I can tell you that she eats every 2 to 3 hours, has a wet diaper every time she wakes up and even sometimes in between and has a poopy diaper 2-3 times a day and sometimes has one in the middle of the night. She has slowly started to be awake more than she was in those first few weeks. During this time I love to walk her around the house and let her look at everything (even though I know she can't recognize it yet I see her focusing on certain objects like door frames and picture frames hanging on the wall)

FEEDINGS:

In my opinion Rowan has been a fantastic eater. She latched right on when we were doing skin to skin right after delivery and after some tips with the lactation consultant nursing has somewhat been a breeze. Other than in those first two days at home when I was waiting on my milk to come in and I was scared she was not getting enough nourishment and that we were going to get scolded at the 1 week check up that she was not gaining and that we would need to supplement. Throughout the day I nurse her and then Anthony will give her a bottle of breast milk in the early morning (5 a.m. or so) when he is awake and he wants to give me some time to sleep. We have been using the Dr. Brown's natural flow bottles in the 5 oz. size and have no complaints. She has upped her drinking amount to almost 6 oz. so here soon I think we are going to opt for some bigger bottles.