One Month Old

Kensington,

A whole month has already come and gone! February 19 marked your 1 month birthday! Its been a wild month having you here with us!

Your sister just adores you. She asks to hold you and wants to give you kisses all the time. You just stare and study her, you know that she will become your best friend one of these days!

You are a pretty alert little thing! You stay wide awake for hours at a time in the mornings and in the evening. You keep your mama on her toes, as I never thought a newborn would stay awake for such a length of time! You are usually pretty content in the morning, and really love to be held. I always asked God for a cuddly little baby, and YOU are exactly what I prayed for!

You spend most of the afternoon napping so soundly. You are such a great little nurser. Eating seems to be your favorite, and that is the one thing that puts mommy's mind at ease.

Right now, your pacifier is your best little friend. You have a love/hate relationship with your carseat and the swing. Some days you love them, other days...well you hate them. Thankfully, you do not spit up much at all, and you burp like a champ!

As sweet and precious as you are, you are a textbook colic baby. You are wide awake and very unhappy every night between the hours of 7 pm and 9 pm. Mommy and Daddy try so hard to make you comfortable, but have not been successful yet! You have already had your first cold (thanks to your big sister), and have been to the doctor twice. At two weeks you weighed 7 lbs 2 oz, and then at one month you weighed in at 8 lbs 15 oz! You are growing so well!

The doctor decided that your tummy pain was what is causing the colicky hours at night, so he has given us some medicine that we will be starting you on tonight!

At night, you sleep for about 3 hours a stretch right now. You have your good nights and then your not so good nights, but we are working on it.

You are a sweet little addition to our family, and we are enjoying the journey to getting to know you a little better each and everyday.

A lady at our church said, "Comparison is the death of contentment". This has just been so true for your daddy and me, as you and your sister are just so very different.The two of you are incomparable. This has been hard for me, because everything that comforted your sister does not work for you. You have kept me guessing, when I thought I had a clue about being a mommy.

You must know that we love that you are your own person, and we are loving those little things that make you YOU! You are one special, beautiful, and unique little girl and we love you so very very much!

2 weeks in and the honeymoon is over!

Our Kensington is now 2 weeks old! We had her check up on Wednesday and here are her stats:

19 3/4 inches
7.2 lbs
She is in the 25th percentile for both height and weight.

When we left the hospital our girl was 6 lbs 3 oz. She lost 5 oz from her birth weight which was 6 lbs 8 oz.

We were happy to see that she had already grown 1/4 of an inch and gained 10 oz from her birth weight. We felt like knowing that, and with the 10-12 wet diapers per day, she is getting a nice full belly with each feeding.

Nursing is still going just great. She takes full feedings that last anywhere from 10-15 minutes on each side. This is still and effortless process for me, and I am so very thankful for that.

On the other hand. Sleep is a thing of the past for Tyler and I. I am seeing that it will be a part of our future, but alas, for now we know not what good sleep is. Its amazing what a lack of sleep can do to you. Lets just say at our house the effects are not pretty.

Kensington sleeps soundly and wonderfully throughout the day. Except for maybe two times during the day she will just stay wide awake. I mean awake for way longer than she should be able too. Twice now she has stayed awake from one feeding to the next. This baffles me, as I know newborns at this age usually have trouble just staying awake to get in a full feeding. Not my girl! We are going to try a 2.5 hour feeding schedule to see if fitting in one more feeding during the day will help her go longer at night.

This whole sleep thing has just made me feel like I know nothing about infants. Its safe to say, that 2 years goes by and you then realize how much you have forgotten.

There are times during the day where the sweet girl is inconsolable. A swaddle wont help. Neither will a pacifier (although, there are times where it will comfort her for a few minutes). Being held does no good. You would think always having a clean and dry diaper would put a smile on her sad face. Nope! Have I mentioned how her cry is just so unpleasant? Precious girl. We are working on it.

We are still getting to know this little one. We cant be too hard on ourselves, how can you honestly expect to know everything about a person in 16 short days?

Then, there are times of the day where she is just wide awake and content. This is better than being awake and screaming, but when I know she needs a nap, its still frustrating. We are thinking she is a little young to be crying it out right now, but I certainly am NOT looking forward to those days in our future.

Gripe water has been a dear friend to us since yesterday. It may be my new favorite baby item.

So all this to say, the honeymoon is over. Real life with two has met up with us in a very real way. We are a happy family of 4, but just honest about the trials that come with the adjustment. We hope that with time, and being confident in our parenting choices, we will have hope for good sleep for every person under our roof!