Since I last posted about Rose's sleeping difficulties, she had a long stretch of sleeping well. By sleeping well, I mean 2.5-3 hour increments. I guess I had to bash her for her to step up to the challenge! :) Although I did praise her sleeping yesterday to a friend and then she had a bad night last night. Overall, I'd say she is a pretty good sleeper and generally takes several 3-3.5 hour naps. It's just difficult to predict when they will take place.
Over the past two weeks we have seen some dramatic changes in her. Since 3 weeks she has started focusing on the musical mobile that is attached to the crib and can be rotated over the changing table. From the changing table, she follows the red cars as they pass in front of her (there are alternating red and blue cars).
She is our little squeeker and has started making some cute baby sounds. Unfortunately, they aren't as frequent as her bouts of screaming (usually for food). Rose can go from content and smiling to screaming in a matter of seconds. It's fairly often that I can't feed her fast enough.
She sure does like mommy's milk and she seems to be growing like a weed. Weighing her on our not-so-accurate scale, she seems to be somewhere between 8lbs 4oz and 8lbs 8oz. And she's about 21" tall. When she stretches her legs - which she does when content on the changing table and when she's having a fit - she appears to be outgrowing her 3 month pajamas!
Over the past month, we've taken lots of trips out including: dinner at McCormick and Schmick's, attending a La Leche League gathering, grocery shopping and lunch at Whole Foods (twice!), visiting mommy's coworkers, shopping at a consignment sale, and many hikes/walks while in the Moby Wrap. It is certainly a challenge to time a feeding and diaper change right to make it to scheduled events and we've had a few times where Rose has screamed for a majority of the car ride. I've also had the not-so-pleasant experiences of trying to nurse her in the Moby Wrap (which I have found to be impossible in the newborn hold) while shopping at the consignment sale and on a couple of our walks.
The first month has been quite the learning experience for us and parenting certainly is no easy feat. I try to take cues from Rose on what she needs, but also try to adhere to a schedule and a routine. Some days I have been able to complete chores (like organizing all of our winter and summer clothes in bins), and other days my only job has been to feed myself and Rose, get showered, and nap. I continue to be grateful for my mom being here. She always has breakfast ready for me and many times brings it to me in bed or in the rocker. And, she takes care of Rose while I get to take a nice, long, warm shower every day! That shower is one of the highlights of each day - especially when the weather is crappy and we are not going to get out for a walk.
I leave you with the not-so-great photos from today's photoshoot and a video that shows Rose's attentiveness to her musical mobile. It also demonstrates some of her many facial expressions and a couple of sneezes! Since the weather is supposed to be amazing for the next 4 days, we'll see if we can get some better photos of her at 1 month.
Rose's video
