9.22.15
Dear Oliver,You are one month old today, and we can't believe how quickly time is flying! Mommy might have shed a few tears leading up to today. You will never know how much you have blessed our lives, and even though this has been a tiring month, it has been the best month of our lives! Being your parents is the most fulfilling adventure we've ever embarked on, and we are so in love with you!
Your daddy and I are just enamored with you, and I can't even count the number of times we've just looked at each and said things like, "I can't believe he's here" or "I just love him so much" or "He's so precious." You are so cute, and we could just eat you up! You make the sweetest little noises and have some of the most precious facial expressions and movements. I love the way you stretch and push your little booty out when you're done feeding. And, you do an incredibly precious duck face. You also do have an "I'm unimpressed" face, and some funny ones, like your "poop face". I seriously wish I could just capture all of this on video or in pictures because I never want to forget anything about you during this most sweet time.
You were 9 lbs. 4 oz. when you were born, but you lost weight in the hospital (down to 8 lbs., 6 oz). We worked super hard trying to get you back to birth weight, with a combination of breastfeeding, formula supplements, and pumped milk supplements. But don't you worry, you have certainly made up for that lost weight--and then some! You gained 10 oz. during your second week, and we were officially able to stop supplementing with formula-- just breastmilk for you now! At your one month appointment today you weighed 11 lbs. 9 oz (89th percentile!)-- holy smokes! I think we are all getting our arm workouts in lifting and holding you all day! You've also grown 1.5 inches since you were born, now measuring 23 inches (97th percentile!), and boy, your head-- soooo big-- 93rd percentile for head circumference! It's a good thing we didn't buy too many newborn clothes because you could only wear those for a hot second! We were worried you wouldn't even be able to use up the 2 packs of newborn diapers we had for you!
Baby boy, you are also so strong! You started holding your head up for a few seconds at a time around week 2, and every day we've noticed you holding it up longer and longer! You enjoy floor time (although you usually just stare at the ceiling or anything but the fun play gym we have for you!), and you are trying SO hard to roll over! Just a few days before 4 weeks you did roll over from tummy to back, and we were super excited to cheer you on! We know it's just a matter of time before you're rolling over from back to tummy! It's so cute to watch you try, and your daddy and I have to restrain ourselves from jumping in when you start to get frustrated!
You've been a great sleeper from the start, and we are so grateful for that! You take little 2-3 hour naps in the day, which is a nice time for us to catch up on things around the house and sometimes on sleep for ourselves! We used to have to wake you every 2-3 hours to feed at night, which usually meant we were up about 1-2 times during prime sleep hours, but now you're sleeping for longer chunks of time at night (and we were told we no longer had to wake you to feed between 12-6am), and we appreciate it so much! You love your Swaddleme infant wrap for nighttime sleeping, and you look like the most precious burrito baby when you have that on! You've been sleeping in the bassinet part of our pack-n-play right beside us, and make lots of precious baby sighs all night long. During the day your favorite place to nap is in the swing! The funny thing is that at night you are so great at self-soothing to sleep, but during the day, you absolutely (for themost part!) will not tolerate being put down in the swing, the rock-n-play, or the bouncer unless you are already asleep! It's OK though, because we love snuggling with you, especially when you fall asleep on our chests!
You're still making up your mind about bath time. Sometimes you're not having it, and you scream the whole time. Other times you're pretty chill and don't put up a fight. You absolutely love being snuggled up in your hooded bath towels afterwards, though!
You mostly only cry for four reasons-- when you're hungry, are having gas pains, need a diaper change, or are fighting sleep (which happens mostly during what we call your "witching hour" from 3-6pm). Somewhere around week two you did at least realize that getting a fresh diaper was a good thing and you stopped the tear fest during the diaper changes! When you're fighting sleep we have a number of tricks up our sleeves, but our last resorts are walking you up and down the stairs (which you love!) or putting you in the car-seat and either taking you for a walk or, as daddy has done a few times, just pushing the stroller around the downstairs! Car rides are also a full-proof way to help you get your snooze on, but we have not yet had to resort to taking you for a ride in the middle of the night--although daddy would secretly love this because he'd try to sneak in a trip to Waffle House with you!
For the most part you are a super chill baby! You've loved hanging out in your swing and your Boppy lounger. But, you really are happiest being held, which we are all happy to do! We've tried reading some books, but you'd rather just stare at the ceiling-- you are so fascinated by whatever it is up there that you like to look at! You also love looking at the photos on the wall in mommy and daddy's room!
We've gotten to go on a few outings, although they've mostly been to doctor's appointments. We did take a trip to Old Navy, Best Buy, and Target when you were 3 weeks old, and you were a rock-star and slept the whole time! Don't worry, month 2 is going to be full of many fun outings now that mommy is feeling so much better!
Finally, you've gotten to meet so many family members and friends this month and have been quite the host to lots of visitors! You are so, so loved!
And now for pictures galore...
Love,
Mommy & Daddy
Love & miss this little buddy!
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