1 Month Favorites

i survived the first month with a baby! it may not sound like a big deal if you've never had kids, but everyone else will give me mad snaps for pushing through. the first month is hard for a lot of reasons: the HORMONES, the lack of sleep, the physical recovery from childbirth, and probably the most difficult, dealing with the emotions of having your baby with you and not quite knowing how to be a mom. some things come natural, but most don't and the emotions of not knowing what to do can take a toll. that being said, these things below really helped all of us get through the first month of Olivia's life.

Gerber Onesies: these may seem simple, but that's the point! don't waste a lot of money on newborn clothes because they are just going to get pooped on. we mostly use these for PJ's, because we swaddle LW and don't want her to get too hot. they wash well and have a big enough neck opening that LW doesn't totally freak out when getting her dressed.

Medela Quick Clean sterilizer bags: holy dishes batman! between bottles, nipples, and breast pump supplies if pumping, i swear i spent at least an hour of my day at the kitchen sink. these bags are awesome! you can do a quick wash with soapy water and then pack one of these bags, pop in the microwave with 2 oz of water for 90 seconds and BAM- you have sterile bottles! It's about $6 for a pack of 5, and you get 20 (TWENTY) uses out of each bag! Depending on how much you need to wash, you can make one box last an entire month. amazing.

Mam pacifiers: there's a lot of controversy about whether babies should have pacifiers for fear of nipple confusion (which i don't believe in) or developing an unhealthy habit and not being able to be without one. but on day 5 we gave in and gave LW a 0-4 month Mam pacifier i got at my baby shower. HEAVEN! sometimes babies just like to suck, and it doesn't mean you are depriving them from eating or love or whatever else extremists say. sometimes it's just comforting for them and that's ok by me. i ended up going to Target and getting newborn sized ones instead because LW has a petite face and the other ones were nearly covering up her nostrils. point for mom!

Aden + Anais swaddle blankets: these have SO many uses. we use them as swaddle blankets of course, light blankets in warmer weather, coverage on the floor for play time, rolled up at bed time to use as a bumper, and as a burp cloth in extreme situations. they are quite large and wash well.

Swaddle Pods: yes, it looks like a baby string bean or baby burrito. but they WORK! after 1 night home, i realized that Olivia is a ninja and can easily bust out of being swaddled in a blanket all night long (swaddling w/blankets works better during naps for us). I sent Dave to Babies R Us and he picked up a two-pack of these Swaddle Pods. they have zippers and are made out of really stretchy material so LW can squirm all she wants, but she ain't gettin' out. babies actually look REALLY cute in them and i think LW looks just like the model in the picture above:

Snuggle Nest: the other item Dave picked up when i sent him to BRU was the Snuggle Nest. since i was so sleep deprived and could sleep better with LW next to me, i wanted to make sure she was safe in our bed. this kept her close, but obviously safe from being rolled over on. it even has a nightlight and music function, but Dave threw away the instructions so i haven't figured out how to put in the batteries. now that she's not in our bed, we use this in her pack n'play. i think she felt like the p&p was too big for her and wouldn't sleep well at all. now she does!

we aren't that far away from finishing up month #2 so stay tuned!

Olivia Dell: 1 Month

So, I'm a little behind in my updating apparently! Olivia is now 7 weeks old but I fully intend to give monthly updates and will still start with her first month. I promise to be a little more on time in the future, but i think it's safe to say i've been just a LITTLE busy the past month!

Height/Weight: i'm going to use our 2 week numbers because we don't have a scale at home and the last time she was weighed was at her 2 week appointment. Olivia has not only gotten back to her birth weight, but she surpassed it! She weighed in at 6 pounds, 4 ounces! This was a HUGE victory, because she had lost just under the 10% mark, weighing 5 pounds, 10 ounces and due to breastfeeding difficulties, was not gaining weight. We committed to supplementing after every feeding and she put on 9 ounces in 5 days! Poor little girl was hungry. I plan on posting about my breast feeding struggles in the coming weeks- it definitely wasn't what i thought it would be. As for height, she grew 1 inch in 2 weeks, coming in at 21 inches!

Feeding: i'll keep this section just to frequency and amount, because breastfeeding was a very raw subject to me during the 1st month. Olivia was eating every 2 hours and after about the first 2 weeks we started to get the hang of knowing when she was hungry, how much to give her, etc. because she was so tiny and needed to gain weight, we were waking her up every 3 hours to feed during the night. after about 3 weeks, i let her wake me up on her own, and wouldn't you know it- it was still every 3 hours! she was pretty much eating 2-3 ounces during this time, and we were using Enfamil Newborn until i switched to Gerber Good Start Gentle to supplement, because of it's closeness to breast milk.

Clothing: it's no surprise that Olivia is a petite gal! every one told me not to buy a lot of newborn sized clothes or diapers- so i didn't. turns out that we are still in both newborn diapers and clothes (and as i write this we're at 7 weeks!), and they're even a little bit big on her. i know i will look back on this and miss her tiny body, but i also want her to fill out and start wearing some more cute clothes! we are basically just rotating the same 10 onesies or so, since i don't want to buy anything else. however i gave in and bought a newborn sized Easter dress, because a girl's gotta look cute on her first holiday! more on that to come in her 2 month update.

Sleep: what's that? oh, you mean how's Olivia sleeping? a lot better than me! i didn't realize that sleep deprivation could truly be used as a torture method until i had a baby- but it's real and awful. the first few nights home i thought i was doing ok, until i woke up the 7th time and it was morning. i would just start crying, and i'm sure i scared Dave a few times. breastfeeding was going horribly and i just didn't know if i was doing anything right. Dave would take Olivia and send me back to bed, where a few hours of sleep helped put me back together until the next night.

anyways, this is supposed to be about Olivia's sleeping patterns! i'm blessed that her days and nights weren't all that confused, seeing as how she pretty much slept all the time during the first month anyways! but i'm sure my new mother status was not helping because i would snap awake at every fuss and movement. we put her in a pack n' play the first night, where i realized that she just would not sleep. i'm sure having all that space after being in the womb was discomforting. so i gave in and we bought a "snuggle nest" and put her in bed with us. that's right- we were co-sleeping! i never thought i would see the day. but the snuggle nest kept her out of harms way and she slept better. we did not. the snuggle nest took up most of the bed and now we could just hear her even more because she was right by our ears. definitely no sleeping through the night at this stage! she was waking mostly every 3 hours to eat, and i had a few delirious sessions of diaper changing that resulted in accidents!

Milestones: Olivia is fabulous at making eye contact with mom and dad, and she definitely recognizes my voice if i'm across the room. she is not a fan of tummy time during her first month, but seems to like it better when she's in her crib. she can scoot her legs and somehow manages to turn around. within her first week, she was also able to turn herself on her side while sleeping! we were actually relieved because i was nervous about her sleeping on her back. she spit up a lot the first few days she was born and even choked a few times. having her lay on her side meant she couldn't choke in the night. she also likes to practice what we call her "calisthenics." she starts pumping her legs and goes crazy! we like to think she'll make an excellent runner or dancer one day!

Firsts: first bath at home, and first bath while not crying! i was so proud when we made it through a whole bath without even a fuss. Olivia also went to her first church service and survived the LOUD worship! she also had her first doctor's appointment, ride in the stroller, trip to a restaurant (the Olde Ship in Santa Ana- yum), ride in her swing, trip out with mom alone, play date with her future husband Seth, and attended her first baby shower as a guest. most of these were done while sleeping! she had a busy month. Here are a few of those moments:

On our way to our First Dr. Appointment!

First Swing Ride

First Bath at Home

First Play Date

First Ride in the Stroller

First Bath without Crying!

First Trip to the Olde Ship

 And that's Olivia's first month! i'm glad to say we survived and am looking forward to the coming months and watching her grow. Here are a few more pics from our 1 month photo shoot!