Avery: 1 Month

Dear Avery,

April 7th you turned 1 month! Its hard to believe we’ve been a family of four for 1 month already! You have challenged us and filled our hearts with love even more than we could have imagined!

When you were first born you latched right away! Since then we have had a few bumps in the road with nursing. I think it is all due to your poor tummy. I can feel the gas bubbles in your tummy as I try to burp you. We would have a feeding where you would eat on one side and then I’d switch you to the other and you’d just cry & cry like I was torturing you. But each week it has gotten better & better and I’m hoping it will continue to go in that direction. On average you will nurse every 2-3 hours during the day.

Since your tummy is gurgle-ly you spit up quite a bit, almost guaranteed you will spit up during each feeding. It also takes some good patting and time to get you to burp. I can tell you are uncomfortable and just need to burp, but boy sometimes we sure have to work to get that gas bubble out. Poor little boy!

As far as the sleep department, I’d say you get a C-! I know there are babies that are worse, but your big sister is proof that there is better too! On average during your first month you would sleep 4-5 hour stretches at night. You did have a few nights thrown in there that you were up 3 times, but the majority of the time you were only up twice. During weeks 3 & 4 we got into a routine of swaddling you nice & tight and putting you down in your crib after your 7:30pm feeding. You’d sleep till midnight or 1am and then you would be up again around 4am. My hope is that we can get that 4am feeding pushed back to 5:30-6am-ish over these next few weeks. Your longest stretch at night was about 5 1/2 hours! At first it was hard to get up at night and I felt like a zombie when I’d get up with you. Now I have learned to enjoy our time at night together knowing you are going to grow up all too fast! And this is only for a season!

One thing I have in your room, that we didn’t have for your big sister, is white noise. We downloaded a few to our itunes and put one of our ipods in your room on a docking station and you seem to like it. Its nice to know that the white noise drowns out any noise in the house…AKA your big sister!

You had your first bottle this month. It was after a rough nursing session. I didn’t know what to do since you wouldn’t nurse. I tried a bottle and you took it right away. After that bottle I was scared you wouldn’t nurse again, but you did and have went back & forth a few other times! So thankful!

I love all your sweet little sounds you make! I need to be quicker with the video camera so I can capture those coo’s, little cries, etc. And you sure make us giggle with your snorting, sometimes its while you eat or other times its when you’re burping, lil piggy!

Speaking of noises, you toot quite often! Pretty sure every time you do, you also leave a little surprise in your diaper for us! Because of this you got a terrible diaper rash, I mean open sores terrible. I felt awful for you. We tried 3-4 different creams, wipes, diapers, etc. Nothing seemed to work. What finally worked is Aquafor and corn starch…within 1-2 days it was completely cleared up!

Unfortunately you aren’t very “regular” though. When we brought you home from the hospital you didn’t go for 3 days and were close to getting a suppository. Thankfully you ended up going #2 and we didn’t have to do that! I think you knew what was coming and didn’t want any part of that! I have learned now that your “regular” is about every other day.

You are a pretty good napper! After you eat you are usually up for about 30-45 min and then you go down for a nap. I try to get at least 1-2 naps in your crib/day. Just like at night, I swaddle you and put you in your crib and you will nap for 1 1/2-2 hours until your next feeding. Your big sister didn’t nap much in her crib when we were home on maternity leave, therefore she wasn’t a good napper in her crib at daycare. I learned from that and hoping you will nap well once you go to daycare. We have had our share of times where you nap on my chest, I cannot resist those sweet snuggle times with you! You also like to nap on your tummy, so sometimes I keep you in the living room with me and let you nap on your tummy.

Another new item we have for you is a video monitor. I cannot believe we didn’t get one for your big sister! I love being able to not only hear you, but see you as well! I can zoom in and get a close up and we can even push a button and talk to you through the monitor!

You like your bouncy seat, but aren’t too sure of the swing yet. I will you put in the swing sometimes and just turn on the the music & mobile. You seem to not like the swing when it is actually swinging. We also got your play mat out this month and you like to look around at that too! I’ve only tried the baby carrier a few times and you’d be content for 10 minutes or so, but not much longer.

You do fairly well at bath time, unless its close to feeding time! Closer to your 1 month mark we started putting your baby bath tub in the big tub when Adelyn is taking her bath to get both baths done at once! You seem to be entertained with big sister close by! Its not until we take you out of the tub that you are completely unhappy!

With your big sister we stayed in the majority of her first month of life, but we’ve gotten out & about a lot with you. You went to church for the first time this month on Easter Sunday and once a week later for a funeral (both times you slept the whole time), we also went to Grandma Cindy’s church one Sunday, we took a 1 hour road trip to a family Easter, we’ve been to Grandma & Grandpa Greene’s house a few times, Great Grandma DeWall’s house once, lots of Target trips, quite a few doctor visits, we visited Mommy & Daddy’s work, lunch dates, 1 trip to the mall, a few walks to the park, and mostly it’s been going to pick up your big sister from daycare.

You aren’t happy when we put you in your car seat, but once we pick it up and either swing it or get you in the car you are content and fall asleep quickly. Your big sister loves sitting next to you in the car too!

When we were in the hospital the nurses tried putting you in newborn diapers, but we knew all too well you needed those size 1’s! And I think you wore 2 outfits that were newborn and the rest of your clothes have been 0-3 month. You are just too long to fit in those newborn clothes!

Sweet Avery, your Daddy, big sister, and I all love you so much. We have loved having you in our family this past month and are excited to watch you grow!

Love, Mommy

*ONE MONTH STATS*
weight 12lbs
length 22 1/4 in (2 week appt)
eating 100% breastfeeding
clothes mostly 0-3 months
diapers size 1