Wowsers, Brooke is two months old now! It really has flown by quickly, and it's nice to know that it will only get easier from here (we hope). :)
Newborns are just the snuggliest things in the whole world! Sometimes it's so blissful, rocking her and holding her, thinking about how it's really not very long that you can hold your child with one arm, close to your heart, and I should try to enjoy every minute. Other times it's frustrating and you just want her to settle down, stop crying, and stop wanting to be held so darn much! Such is the life right now. I'm looking forward to her sleep schedule becoming more consistent. Some nights she does really well, sleeping for a 5 or 6 hour stretch. Other nights she wakes up every 3 hours or even more often than that. The hard part is not knowing which nights will be the good nights and which will be the bad ones.
Here she is at six weeks old (in fact, all of the pictures in this post are taken at around six weeks old):
Newborns are just the snuggliest things in the whole world! Sometimes it's so blissful, rocking her and holding her, thinking about how it's really not very long that you can hold your child with one arm, close to your heart, and I should try to enjoy every minute. Other times it's frustrating and you just want her to settle down, stop crying, and stop wanting to be held so darn much! Such is the life right now. I'm looking forward to her sleep schedule becoming more consistent. Some nights she does really well, sleeping for a 5 or 6 hour stretch. Other nights she wakes up every 3 hours or even more often than that. The hard part is not knowing which nights will be the good nights and which will be the bad ones.
Here she is at six weeks old (in fact, all of the pictures in this post are taken at around six weeks old):
*At her two month doctor's check-up (actually at six weeks, before we left for Christmas vacation), we confirmed that Brooke is growing and healthy! She weighs 10 pounds exactly. She's right at the 50'th percentile for weight and the 50'th percentile for height. Perfection! After having two girls who have always been in the 90 percents for height, it's nice to have an average-sized baby. Here's hoping she won't grow out of her clothes as quickly as the other girls have!*She's been smiling at us, and it's of course ADORABLE. One of these days I'll capture it on film and post it here. Love those new little smiles! She occasionally laughs too, and I love it!
* She's kind of a fussy little thing. She wants to be held most of the time, and it's difficult to settle her down. She seems to get gas pains a lot, and cries frequently. We wrap her up in the swaddle wraps with velcro at night, which does help to soothe her, and we sleep with a lot of white noise going in the room. I guess this is tough work, getting used to life in this world.
*She likes her baths now! As long as we keep the room warm enough, she has a fun time kicking her legs in the water. I love to hold her and cuddle her right after her bath, when she smells so clean and fresh.
Life with a newborn. . . it's pretty crazy! Especially life with a newborn and two other young kids. It seems like there's just never a free moment. We even have to eat in shifts! One of us holds the baby while the other eats, and then we swap. Do other parents do this too???I took some pretty cute pictures of Brooke in her little Santa hat. I've never had such a little baby at Christmastime before!
(Does anybody else remember Rodney the Hallmark reindeer from their childhood? I was so thrilled when they brought him back a couple years ago and made him even cuter!)
Santa Baby!!!
Natalie had to get in on the photography action. She's such a sweet big sister!
Fussiness and all, we love little Brooke!
Brooke is so precious! I miss the newborn stage, but your post reminded me of all the little things that make life tougher with babies. I remember surviving on no sleep and not being able to eat as a family. Things will get easier soon enough! Your girls are all pretty close in age, so hopefully in a few years, you will all be able to play board games together. My 3 year old and 1 year old both LOVE the Brown Bear Brown Bear game! We can all play it together as a family of four! But make sure to enjoy your sweet baby, because she'll be grown up before you know it!
ReplyDeleteIs she still blue eyed? I haven't seen here in a month.
ReplyDeleteThose two months went fast--did the holidays have anything to do with that? It's so fun when they start to like their baths...Kaia got Harry bath toys for Christmas and he loves them!
ReplyDelete~Carla
We eat in shifts too if he doesn't want to be in his bouncer or on the floor. Usually he's hungry at the same time as me anyway, so I've learned to eat with one hand when I can. And if you think Brooke is bad, Caden still wakes up every 2-3 hours every night at four months old!
ReplyDeleteI'm sooooooooo jealous of all your girls' massive amounts of hair!!! SO stinkin' cute! I bet it's nice to have a baby who is in the "normal" range, less to worry about!
ReplyDeleteWe had the Hallmark Reindeer and my mom let me have our set this year! Love Rodney. And Brooke is adorable. Have you tried her sleeping on her tummy? I know it's a SIDS no-no, but it helped my babies sleep longer and get rid of the colic. Second-hand smoke is a big part of SIDS, and since you don't have to worry about that, it's worth a try. Especially since you can wrap her up warmly and there won't be lots of blankets for her to get tangled in.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of or read "The Happiest Baby on the Block"? The author talks about the 5 S's of the "cuddle cure." Swaddling, swinging, shushing, sucking and "shaking" which is more of a vigorous bounce than a shake. Worked for my kids, too. Good luck!