thea - one month

Oh hello fastest month of my life.  I swear I'm going to wake up tomorrow five years older and not know where all the time went.  I can't believe my littlest is already a month old!  Truthfully my pregnancy and hospital stay seem a million days in the past, but at the same time...

So Thea has been by far our fussiest baby.  She gets overstimulated quite easily, and the only thing that seems to work to calm her down is nursing.  Which is why the kid has gained FOUR FREAKING POUNDS since we were discharged from the hospital.  I am not kidding at all.  When we were discharged Thea weighed 6lbs 5oz.  At her one month appointment today she weighed 10lbs 10oz.  Girlfriend doesn't miss a meal.  She is the same size that Ryann and Elsie were at two months old!  She also measured 22.5 inches long.  They claimed she was 18.5 inches at birth.  So she gained four pounds and four inches in five weeks.  Goodness.  She is now in the 90th percentile for length and 82nd percentile for weight.  Her head has also grown a fair amount, despite the fact that it is only in the 10th percentile.  At her newborn appointment it wasn't even on the growth charts so we'll take it.  And again, her head doesn't look disproportionate so whatever.

I was in denial about how big she was getting, but this weekend I finally caved and packed away the majority of the newborn clothes and opened up the size one diapers.  With the potential of this being my last baby, I feel like I'm being robbed of some of her itty bitty ness.  I know that is silly, I mean heck, there are kiddos born between 9-10 pounds.  But still.  I kinda liked my little nuggets.  Oh well.  The 0-3 clothes and size one diapers are still a little big, but there is simply no wrestling her in to the newborn stuff anymore, aside from dresses anyway.

 

Despite the fact that she is clearly well fed, Thea is not the easy going magical sleeper third baby I had hoped she would be.  Like I said she seems to get overstimulated and overtired rather quickly, so getting her to fall asleep is a battle.  Once she is asleep it isn't so bad, but at night our longest stretch is still usually 3.5 to 4 hours.  I'm hoping that by two months she'll be giving me at least one five hour stretch.

The poor girl must run really warm, and always wakes up super sweaty, even in just a onesie.  I ended up going out on a limb and ordering an Ollie swaddle, in the hopes that it would keep her cooler and improve night time sleep.  It does seem to help a bit with the heat factor, but isn't quite the miracle swaddle I'd hoped for.  It is my favorite swaddle though.  Thea has managed to get her arms out of it a couple times, but for the most part it is pretty fool proof and easy to use.  I really really really wanted to have Thea sleeping in the cosleeper or her crib to avoid the dreaded transition from the Rock 'n Play.  But she sleeps so much better in the Rock 'n Play.

Besides settling herself to sleep, something else Thea could really get better at is not hating the dang carseat.  Oh man.  I recall my other girls not loving the carseat.  Being kind of ticked off when we put them in it.  But Thea?  She down right hates it.  HATES IT.  With a firey burning passion.  If we're going on a longer car trip she eventually passes out.  But a 10 minute drive?  She screams the entire time.  It is also causing issues with us going on walks and just being out and about in general.  I need to invest in either a wrap or some other sort of a carrier to see if that helps.  But girl, you have two siblings with their own little lives.  You are going to spend time in the car seat.  Please, for everyone's sanity, hate it a little less!

Over the last few days we have gotten a few social smiles here and there, and oh my goodness they are just the best.  She could be driving me totally mad fighting sleep, refusing to take a pacifier for the 9000th time (and gagging on it like we are shoving the most disgusting thing ever in her mouth), and then lock eyes with me and bust out the cutest most adorable gummy smile and I just don't care about anything else any more.  Smiling is quite possibly my favorite baby milestone.  How can you be mad when a baby is smiling at you?  You can't.  You smile a goofy stupid smile back because baby smiles are pure perfection.

Let's see, other random tidbits to include... One of Thea's tear ducts appears to be clogged.  Hopefully it clears up before her first birthday!  She is a spitty baby, but it doesn't seem to bother her.  She is a super loud sleeper, always grunting and snorting.  She loves her sisters.  I mean I know I can't say that for sure, but she tracks them like crazy when they are in her vicinity.  When she is really mad she has this pissed off cough sounding cry that Chris and I just laugh at.  Even though she was never really considered jaundiced, the whites of her eyes are still yellow.  The pedi isn't concerned so I'm trying not to be.

Thea my dear, I truly can't believe you are already a month old.  I love to cuddle you and stare at your sweet face.  I'm so thankful you're in my life.  As much as I want you to stay little I can't wait to watch you grow!