One month old

Dear Annika,

Today you are one month old. To echo the cliche, because it's cliche because it's true: it feels like you've been here forever but also I can't believe you're already a month old.

So far you are a delightful baby. Like your brother before you (I'm sorry, please prepare yourself for a lifetime of comparisons), you are, so far, a happy and mellow baby. You cry only if you're hungry or in pain--in fact, you cry so rarely that when the pediatrician did the standard heel stick at your two-week appointment and you cried, I was shocked to see actual tears pour out of your eyes. I'd never had an opportunity to notice before--and I haven't seen them since. Most of the time you're peaceful, and when you're awake and not eating you like to hang out in our arms or in your swing. The swing isn't quite the amazing magical tool for you that it was for your brother, but you do some good napping in there and also don't seem to mind hanging out in there when you're awake, at least long enough for me to grab a meal or take a quick shower occasionally.

So far you're turning out to be a decent sleeper, too. You are sleeping in your crib at night, usually from about 11-7 with one wakeup. Your nighttime chunks of sleep are usually 3.5 to 4 hours long, and the last couple nights you've been extra delightful with 4.5-hours chunks that I'm realllly hoping will turn out to be a nice lasting habit of yours. We don't have you on any kind of daytime schedule but you take a couple good long naps most days too, in addition to a few shorter snoozes.

Recently you're starting to wake up more, and stay awake for longer stretches. You have been big into the eye contact for the last week or so, and a couple times your dad and I could swear that you have smiled back at us when we've smiled at you. This isn't something you do consistently, though, so maybe it's just a coincidence (or we're hallucinating it) but I get the feeling that you'll be smiling more often starting sometime pretty soon. You also track things with your giant eyes, and you seem to especially like your Whoozit and your mobile.

In the last few days we've started putting you on your activity mat occasionally and you seem to like that as well. You will hang out there for up to half an hour at a time, waving your arms and sometimes bumping into the toys. You will also tolerate tummy time, at least briefly, and your neck strength is impressive. You lift your head and turn it from side to side during tummy time, and hold it up for surprisingly long periods when we hold you upright.

So far you are growing fantastically. You take a bottle after every nursing session, and are eating over 20 ounces of formula per day Today you weighed in at 10 pounds 3 ounces, which puts you in the 77th percentile. I estimate that you're about 22 inches long, or perhaps a bit more. You're just starting to grow into some of your smaller 0-3 month outfits, which is great because there are so! many! cute ones that I am just dying to put on you. Don't worry, most of them are purple.

I've been on maternity leave this past month and your brother has been in preschool, so you and I have had more time than I was expecting to hang out, just the two of us. And that's been really lovely. You are such a peaceful, adorable, alert little thing, and I'm really looking forward to this next month when you will start being more aware of and interactive with the world around you. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying the time staring into your eyes while you stare back, and thinking about the personality that will start to blossom soon. I know it's going to be amazing, because you are amazing, and you have been from the start. We are so grateful to have you in our lives.

Love,
Mama