1 Month Old!

Eleanor is a month (and a half) old!  She is officially 6 weeks and I thought it was about time I got my act together and started writing little notes down as to what she's up to these days.

-She’s been working on developing the chubbiest cheeks around and her work has been paying off.  Eleanor’s weight dropped a touch too much in the hospital so the first two weeks of being home from the hospital were focused on feeding her nonstop (nursing, then pumping and then supplementing breast milk with every feeding).  It was intense and massively exhausting for me to keep up that pace but boy did all the hard work pay off!  At her one month old check up, Eleanor weighed 9 lbs 2 oz (up from her original 7 lbs 2 oz at birth).  The weight she had gained was double what the doctor had expected!

-Eleanor is NOT a fan of having her diaper or her clothes changed.  But can you blame her really?  How many people do you know actually like their tushy waving about in the air?  Eleanor is a modest one, you know.  She is getting much better now and doesn’t scream every time we change her but she definitely still puts up a stand here and there.  Those first few weeks though Aaron and I dubbed changing her as a “two person job”—one person to hold her hands and soothe her while the other person goes as fast as possible to get that diaper on and off.

-She loves swaddling, driving around in her car seat, listening to white noise, taking baths and being sung “Angels We Have Heard On High.”

-Eleanor is destined to be some choir-conducting master because her hands are always moving in some swirly motion.  We’ve even caught her moving her hands about while she’s fast asleep in her car seat.  I thought all newer babies maybe moved their hands this much but people have told me that Eleanor’s hand movement are much more than the norm.

-Eleanor snorts when she cries and it’s just about the cutest thing you’ve ever heard.  She’s starting to do it more and more, so although we think it’s endearing, we do hope she stops it by the time she’s 20 because that could be kind of embarrassing for her.

-Eleanor is super long.  She was in newborn clothes for her first three weeks and then we could finally stick her in some 0-3 month old clothes. Almost immediately after starting her in 0-3 month clothes though it seemed like she was growing out of them lengthwise!  She was born at 20 inches and is now up to 21 ½ inches as of her 1-month check up.

-Eleanor now loves to eat and eat and eat.  She has been eating every 2 hours, day and night, as of late.  This means that I am only getting an hour of sleep here and there through the night and therefore am a zombie most days.  We are praying that this current 2-hour trend through the night is just a growth spurt and will end soon.  Oh please let it end soon…

-This girl loves sushi!  I’m telling you, it’s true!  I had my first sushi meal post-pregnancy for my birthday and then that night Eleanor slept the best she’s ever slept for us.   Then the next night she was back to waking every 2 hours.  Moral of that story: I need to eat sushi every day.

^^Can you see the start of real rolls on her legs?!

-As of last night, Eleanor is sleeping in her crib at night!  I would put her there for her daily naps but worked up the guts to officially move her there full time.  

-When she naps her eyes are sometimes partly cracked open.  Cute or creepy? You decide.

-She loves her daddy.  Aaron holds her on his arm in this special way where she is on her stomach with her head in the crook of his arm.  She just calms right down.  And her cheeks squish out and she gets these big eyes.  It’s cute.

We love her oh so much.  The little sleep and the late evening fussing can be difficult, but when we look at her face we just melt.  

I didn’t realize what people meant when they said having a baby was “hard.”  I definitely thought I knew what it meant.  I was mentally preparing myself for the pains of early breastfeeding, the late night feedings, the recovery of birth, etc. etc.  However, I just didn’t really know until it all happened to me.  I really needed these full 6 weeks for my body to feel fully recovered, which I was not expecting at all.  I felt decent after 2 weeks but not 100% until 6.  I thought I would be exercising at 6 weeks but honestly I feel like my body may need a couple more weeks or else I may undo some of my recovery time.  I wasn't expecting that.  

I have definitely cried with exhaustion and a sense of being in over my head, but then I have also been so happy to have our little family of three.  

^^Oh the chubbiness and oh the smiles!

The other morning I had just finished feeding Eleanor and was rocking her back to sleep when I saw that Aaron was just starting to wake up for work.  I laid Eleanor on the bed between me and Aaron and we just laid there as a family. Aaron kissed us both, said "I love my girls" and then we had a kind of family group hug.  Then Aaron got up for work and I put Eleanor back in her bassinet so I could sleep some more.  I love little sweet moments like that.  

Despite the hard things, I have been amazed at how much I really like being at home all day with Eleanor.  People warned me about the isolation and the boredom, and maybe that will come, but for now I am loving it all.  

^^Trying so hard to hold her head up

And I feel like Eleanor really is my best friend. It sounds so strange because we have only ever had one sided conversations and she sleeps most of the day, but I love her company.  If the day has been more busy (as in I'm not just sitting on the couch all day staring at her, which is most days) then I start to miss our "us" time.  She is my bud and I love having her around.  If only Aaron could be there all the time too then life would be beyond wonderful.  I am more grateful than ever though to have Aaron working and providing.  It's a full time job to provide and a full time job to take care of Eleanor.  I'm so grateful that we are in it together. 

So that's our little update, both of Eleanor's development and our development as parents.  Time is already flying by so I hope to soak up all the moments as they come.