One Month!

My favorite photo captured this week...

We have such a beautiful baby girl!

I cannot believe Elizabeth is already one month old! Part of me can't imagine our life before her but then I also feel like it was just last week that we had her. The month has flown by and she's growing like a weed! 

Daddy had a rough night this week with Elizabeth. They had their first daddy-daughter date while I attended a girls' night. Spending short amounts of time away I figure is the best way to prevent myself from being TOO attached or making the first long stint even harder. She's been eating about every four hours, up until Tuesday. At about three hours on the dot, Steve called me and I could immediately hear her hungry cry in the background. I immediately headed home and found Steve almost in tears with a screaming, hungry baby girl. Knowing what your baby needs and not being able to give it to her has got to be a horrible feeling. I felt terribly for him :(

This prompted the decision to introduce the bottle. We made our first attempt on Wednesday. I poured about 1.5 ounces into a bottle then proceeded to warm the rest in a bowl of warm water............and accidentally tipped the bottle and got water in it......2.5 ounces of liquid gold down the drain! I learned my lesson the hard way! We were able to salvage the 1.5 so while Steve warmed that I started to breastfeed. When she took her burp break, Steve took over with the bottle, which she downed like nothing, then finished breastfeeding again. She had no problem going from one to the other---thrilled! The only challenge now is knowing how warm to get the bottle and how much she needs. Just like everything else, it's a learning process......

Yesterday was a little rough and I almost had my first real breakdown. My amazing husband scooped Elizabeth up right before I did---so thankful for him. With more awake time lately, we're experimenting with a new eating schedule. It started every four, now it's often every three hours. But last night required some research. After some reading, I'm fairly certain Miss Elizabeth is going through a growth spurt. I read that when breastfed babies go through a growth spurt they abandon the schedule they are typically on and begin eating sometimes every 1-2 hours, can't seem to get enough, get frustrated while eating, sleep much less and are restless---we've encountered all these. It's so hard as a breastfeeding mom to hear your baby cry (especially since the only time she really cries is when she's hungry) and feel as though you have no more milk to give, not to mention being incredibly sore from continued 'use'. 

Nights are still going great though! After our restless evening last night, she slept for 6.5 hours straight! She only woke up when I got nervous and woke her up to eat. We've been getting around 5 hours straight many nights but 6.5 was amazing! Many nights when we put her in the rock n play, even if she's still in and out, she falls asleep on her own! We're very grateful for this and really hoping this sticks.

Tummy time is going great so far! Ellie actually seems to enjoy it. We've had her activity mat a few times but her favorite is in the evenings when she lies on her daddy's chest. This has got to be one of the most precious pictures...

This weekend we're lucky to have Steve's cousins as house guests....not so lucky for them to witness Ellie's fussy evening yesterday. :(  On the agenda with them today is to enjoy Ellie's first walk in the stroller and to take her one month pictures (to be posted later)! This is one we captured this morning during her nap :)

She's growing too quickly!