Officially in Print

Look who made the newspaper!

She gets cuter and cuter every day! It is impossible for me to believe that she is already four weeks old. Also that it is already December! November seems to have just disappeared. On Friday, Elly will officially be one month old. Crazy. I am so glad (and lucky) that I am getting a chance to be a stay-at-home mom and spend so much time with her... watching her as she learns and develops.

On Tuesday she got her first real "big girl" bath in her baby tub. Her cord fell off a few weeks ago, but Brent wanted to be here for her first real bath so I had just continued with sponge baths until we could give her a bath together. She hated it.

 ....but she survived and we survived! Plus you can really tell she is starting to get a belly! and pinchable cheeks. So cute!

We are doing great with getting her into a routine. She was awake almost all day yesterday and slept almost all night. She wakes herself up every 2-3 hours to feed, but she puts herself right back to sleep afterward. This is really helping Brent and I catch up on some much needed rest. As far as her being fussy and awake, we have determined that caffeine is the culprit and that her little body cannot handle it, so I have to give that up until I am done breastfeeding... or until she gains a few more pounds.  That's okay, she's worth it! She has also been sucking on her thumb more, rather than just trying to eat her entire fist. Her facial expressions are still cute as ever and we are noticing a lot more smiles (and seeing lots of her tongue)! She is learning and developing so well, we are so proud of her!

big beautiful eyes!

Yesterday we had a home visit from one of our lactation consultants (we see two, but they both work together). She said everything is going great! She watched a feeding session and was impressed with how well Elly latched and stayed focused. She also said that I could back off on the pumping, doing it only a few times a day rather than after every feeding! Great news for me.

Today we have a meeting with our registered dietician. Since Elly had a low birth weight she wants to track my diet to make sure I'm getting enough of the nutrients that Elly needs to grow properly. I don't think we have an issue, but it will be good to make sure. Elly will also get weighed while we are there... Brent and are I thinking she is over 5 pounds.... we'll see!

Brent is off today, so after our appointment we plan on finishing the decorating! and probably watching ELF!