Little Things: Ada, One Month

Ada is one month old today. The last week with her has been a pleasure, in large part due to a much-needed visit from Ama (my mom). Ama took all of the night shifts while she was here, giving E Ben as much sleep as he needed and me as much sleep as it was possible for me to have in between nursing sessions. Her five days (and almost more importantly, six nights) were very restorative for our family.

Ada is growing like a weed. She has gained a pound in the last two weeks, and is right around nine pounds at this point. She is nursing very well and starting to develop an approximate schedule. I'm most happy about the fact that she is doing a lot better at night, going about four hours between feedings (and occasionally five hours) and only crying a little bit while falling back to sleep at night. She is still mostly sleeping on or next to one of us at night, but she is doing better at sleeping during the day in her swing or sometimes in the bassinet.

Ada has had her first social smiles in the last week. During her alert periods she is very interested in people and activities, especially enjoying the faces of the people she knows best. Ada and Jude also have a nice connection. She likes it when he spends time with her, reading her books or holding her hand. The two of them in the crib together is really cute.

Size-wise, Ada is out of both newborn and size 1 diapers - we are now using the size 1-2 and they fit well. She is filling out the newborn size clothes well, and starting to be able to fit into some of the 0-3 month outfits. We mostly dress her in sleepers, although Ama put her in a few cute ensembles while she was here.

All in all, Ada seems to be doing just what a baby of her age should be doing. She is eating a little less frequently (but each feeding is larger), starting to recognize the difference between daytime and nighttime, and sleeping for longer stretches at night. She also has a few fussy periods each day, which is only to be expected as she approaches the "six-week maximum fussy age". She is best soothed by swaddling, movement, and being held close. Wrapping her up and taking her for a walk in the sling pretty much always does the trick. She has no interest in pacifiers and spits them out in disgust when we offer one to her. Ada is spending more time awake and alert and seems to be taking in the world around her.

Here are a few photos from the past week.

Ada studies Jude's "Big Brother" book in his crib one morning.

A little bit of tummy time on top of Jude. He loves being close with the baby and thinks that she is so funny.

Sleeping in Ama's arms. She did a lot of that in the last week!

Another asleep pose. She likes to have her arms up around her face while sleeping - if she falls asleep unwrapped.