Baker Bea | 1 month

ONE.
Where have these last four weeks gone?  I feel like we just came home from the hospital and there is no way we have been new parents to this perfect baby girl for that long already. She really is perfect–as I’m sure all parents would say of their sweet new baby. This has easily been the best (and most difficult) month of our lives but I wouldn’t trade this time with Baker Bea.

The first week of her life we had to go to the hospital and doctor every day to have her bilirubin levels checked and she was finally cleared to go off the light at 6 days old.

Having to watch/ hold her while she got her little foot pricked was torture! Absolutely broke our hearts to know she was hurting and couldn’t understand why. Cory held her when they pricked her foot and felt awful when she would scream in pain and look to him for help and he couldn’t do anything about it. You always hear parents say things about how badly it hurt them to do or allow things that they know hurt you, knowing that it was for your own good–we had to learn it in week one!

The first light that we got from the hospital wrapped around her and was connected to a metal box with a huge hose. After her numbers were still rising after a day, the doctors office gave us a new light that was a pad about the size of a tablet that she had lay on. It was much easier to deal with!

We haven’t been back to the doctor since she was two weeks old but at that appointment she weighed 8 lbs 11 oz (60%), she was 21 1/4 inches long (80%), and her head was 14 1/8 (50%).

Our big girl wore her last newborn diaper on August 1st and is already in between newborn and 3 month clothes, depending on the brand, but mostly 3 month. The rolls on her legs and double chin are to die for!

EAT Baker had issues latching from the beginning due to a tongue tie. We had that fixed when she was four days old and at a week out, we went back to the lactation consultant at the hospital. With the help of a nipple shield, she latched immediately and we thought all was going to be good. However, she still had trouble staying latched. She would get frustrated and then I would get frustrated so I decided to just pump and bottle feed her. It works for us and she’s still getting breast milk. For the first four weeks, this child would absolutely not burp but it didn’t seem to bother her because she would get her gas out by tooting. Like a grown man. I’ve been in the back of the house and been able to hear her from the kitchen, it’s that loud. How can something so small make such loud noises?

Right now Baker is eating 3 oz every 2 to 2.5 hours. I don’t follow a strict schedule or make her wait because Baker Bea Sloan ain’t gonna wait to eat, y’all. I’m talking HANGRY. Because we could never get her to burp, we would feed her the whole bottle but she started spitting up the majority of the bottle. We figured out to split her bottle up, whether she burps or not, and I think we’ve got the spitting up under control. Look, Mom & Dad are figuring this out as we go along, but we’re getting it…there just might be some messes along the way. I’m probably going to bump her up to 3.5 oz soon because sometimes she can barely make it 2 hours between feedings during the day. Since she has gotten a little older, the burping is getting better but she still is stubborn about it.

She’s had the hiccups multiple times a day everyday this first month and those nasty hiccups make her mad! Thank goodness for gripe water- they knock them out immediately. She also makes the loudest gulping noises every time she eats. I promise, we don’t starve her!

SLEEP The first month Baker slept in her rock and play every night but we transitioned her to a bassinet at a month old. While she sleeps great in the rock and play, we wanted her to get used to sleeping on a flat surface so she will sleep better in her crib one day.  Plus, a flat surface is safer according to studies. If she’s had a fussy day, we’ll still use the rock and play though. She does a lot of sleeping on our chests during the day which we all enjoy. I know, I know…it’s frowned upon but sometimes you break the rules–right?

That big ‘ole belly!

Those lips…I just can’t handle them!

She makes the sweetest sounds when she sleeps. It is often sounds like she is singing in her sleep.

She gives “food coma” a whole new meaning.

Her umbilical cord fell off when she was 11 days old. (I may have helped it a little ?) But it was literally hanging on by a thread! She had a little bit of the cord still in her belly button but that fell out soon after.

And she got her first real bath the next day. Baby girl loves her bath time!

PLAY While there hasn’t been any actual playing the first month, Baker has had a very strong neck from the very beginning. While on your shoulder, she can lift her head and turn it from side to side. If there is a ceiling fan in the room, she’ll normally find it and lock in on it. We’ve also started talking to her and trying to get her to follow us with her eyes.

Even though we’ve gotten some smiles, we haven’t gotten any true smiles yet. Right now, they are mostly sweet sleep smiles. Or gas.

Yeah, mostly gas.

One of the biggest questions we get from friends and family is how our three crazy dogs are adjusting to life with Baker. We had no idea how they would all react to having a baby around and for the most part, they have done great. Most surprisingly, Einstein has become her little guardian. He’s our grumpy old man and we really thought he would be the one who wouldn’t want anything to do with Baker, but anywhere she goes, he is following closely behind. True to his laid back nature, Hampton didn’t even realize she was here until the second day. The pictures on the top are when he discovered there was a baby in the house. And Charley. Oh, crazy Charley. While she has definitely been the most jealous because she has always been a daddy’s girl, she’s also still the craziest. We’ve had to make a few adjustments about making her stay off the couch that we often sit on with Baker and even started an obedience class with her. She’s a smart dog and is learning quickly–our hope is that as Baker gets older, she and Charley will be best friends!

A FEW FIRSTS DURING MONTH 1

Everything is technically a first…ha! But we had a few big firsts for our family of three.

Our first outing, besides the doctor, was to Daniel and Tiffany’s gender reveal. Baker was sporting her pink and blue and can’t wait for baby girl Capps to be here in December. They’re gonna be best friends :).

Miss Baker had her first visit from Uncle Caleb- all the way from Austin, Tx!

Her first Sunday at church was at three weeks and mommy has successfully gotten both of us there on time, without Daddy, the last two weeks!

But I failed, two weeks in a row, to get a family picture at church so this after-church selfie will have to do.

She slept through it, but her first birthday party was at Kaylen’s 4th birthday!

We tried out baby wearing for the first time this month and we all love it. She’s been worn to the grocery store, church, and around the house while Daddy cooked dinner.

While daddy had his first band practice postpartum, we girls went to see Aunt Gracie in her first play!

To our Baker girl- the one who made us parents,

Words can’t express how deeply we love you and how quickly you have stolen our hearts. Before we got pregnant with you, we weren’t sure that we ever wanted to have a baby but now we can’t imagine our life without you. Even though we’ve only had you in our lives for a month, it feels like you’ve always been here. Seeing your daddy take care of you fills my heart and I’m not sure there is room to love anyone more than the way I love the two of you.

Your first month has been, surprisingly, easier than I imagined. The transition to parents has come naturally (even against all my fears that it wouldn’t) but you make it easier with being such a good baby. Other than gas + being hungry + dirty diapers, you rarely cry. You don’t even mind having your clothes or diaper changed, most of the time. Daddy is such a good daddy, just like I knew he would be. He always volunteers to change diapers, feed you, and get up with you in the night. How did we get so lucky?!

We love that your personality is already coming through and your facial expressions crack us up. We especially like to “twin” with you and try and mimic whatever expression you are making. Our favorite is your poop face, you circle your lips into an open “o”and your daddy has to kiss those lips anytime he can. We’ve recorded your sweet sleep noises a dozen times already and we hope they don’t go away for a long, long time. After you sneeze, you always go “agh”- we call you our noisy baby. Daddy has already started with the nicknames and so far, Bakey has seemed to stick but a few others are BB, baby girl, and Stinky McStinkerson.

I still can’t believe we have been blessed by you for one whole month already. He is a good, good Father for allowing us to be your parents. We love you, our sweet girl, and we’re thankful for every day we get to call you ours.