une petite aventure: Evie: 1 Month

It's already been a month with our sweet girl! And at the same time, it's only been a month?

She is such a joy! We are all enamored with her! Holt especially has started becoming more interested in her--he loves to give her hugs and kisses and when she cries he says "ok Evie!" Goodness I just love it. If you missed her birth story, read all the details HERE

She is still in NB clothes and diapers--which is really weird for me because Holt was out of those within the first 10 days! She is also still sleeping in our room for now. My plan is to see how the next month goes and then maybe start transitioning her in to Holt's room after that.

I was really hoping she wouldn't have the dairy allergy, but she started showing signs of it around 2 weeks of age. All of a sudden one day, she had two really slimy diapers and kept drawing her legs up in pain. So, I started the process of eliminating dairy. At first, I thought I could just take out the big ones--milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, sour cream and cream cheese. I could tell a pretty big difference even within 24 hours because she wasn't having near as much gas pain and her diapers got much better. But about a week later, she started having a little slime and more gas again. So I have now started weeding out ingredients and beef. I may start slowly adding them back in a couple months from now and just see what happens.

We are slowly working into a semblance of a routine. When I was pregnant with Holt, one of my friends introduced me to "Moms on Call" and it has been a lifesaver! It's a series of baby care books written by two pediatric nurses and it is such an amazing resource. They are advocates of putting baby on a schedule, which we are too, and they have sample schedules to help you figure out what works best for your family. Right now, this is what our routine is working out to be:

7-7:30AM Evie eats//Holt wakes up, breakfast
8:00AM Evie back down for short catnap
9:00AM Evie eats
9:30-10AM Evie naps in her crib//Holt plays, we watch tv, etc
12 noon Holt eats lunch in highchair//Evie eats
12:30PM Holt down for nap
1:00PM Evie down for nap (and hopefully mama naps!)
3:00 PM Both up from nap//Evie eats
4:00PM Evie naps//Holt plays
6:00 PM Dinner//Evie eats
7:30PM Holt to bed
9:00PM Evie eats
10:00PM Evie to bed//mom and dad to bed
3-4AM Evie wakes to eat

Sometimes our schedule is off by 30 minutes, but this is the idea we try to stick with.

Evie is starting her first "leap." (PS, if you don't have the Wonder Weeks app, get it ASAP! It is so helpful!) She is exhibiting all the signs: crying more, wants to be held more, and nursing more. She is starting to become more alert and is actually "seeing" me which is so neat! She has also started her fussy time which lasts from about 6:30/7:00PM-9:00PM or so.

Holt started swimming lessons last week, so Evie and I have been trucking along to watch and be supportive. Daniel is doing lessons with him so I can take care of Evie and they have been doing so good! Daniel is such a great teacher and he has been so calm and patient with him. There have been a few rough ones, mostly from him just being tired, but Holt has made some progress.

Weight: I have no idea. We don't have a scale at home. But, I'm guessing 8 ½ pounds or so?
Length: 20.5 inches

Milestones: *she can hold her head up for a long time! I haven't timed it, but I bet she could hold it up (when on your shoulder) for at least a minute *she can pick her head up and turn it side to side when on her tummy *she can put some weight on her legs and "stand" for a couple of seconds

Sleep: She is a great sleeper! She goes to sleep between 9:30-10PM and usually wakes up between 3:30-4AM to eat before going back down. Most of the time we are up between 7:30-8 for the day. For naps, we have been putting her down either in her crib or pack and play and we are trying to put her down slightly awake so that she starts learning how to put herself to sleep.

Feeding: I am so thankful to have another great nurser! This girl loves to eat. I think this time around, I was more relaxed and confident that we would have a great nursing relationship. Also, I knew what to expect which helps a lot. Even though she has the dairy sensitivity, I was able to catch it early so I am confident that won't impact my supply this time. My goal is to nurse her for a whole year, but no matter what happens, I am proud of what we have already accomplished!

Month 1 photo dump: