3 Weeks Old!

My sweet angel baby is 3 weeks old today. Wow, it's flown! In some ways it seems like it was yesterday - my water breaking, the hospital, coming home, those first really painful first days. In other ways, it seems like it's been forever. We've really gotten the hang of breastfeeding and it's becoming second nature now. I've really relaxed about it and she and I have really gotten to know one another over the last 3 weeks.

Emma's growing so much already. I weighed her yesterday using our bath scale (weighed myself, then myself with her, subtracted.) She weighed 9 lbs 2 oz - over her birth weight! I guess we must be doing something right!

She slept for a total of 9 hours last night - the only tough part was from 2 AM - 5 AM when she was wide awake. At least when she's awake at night she's pleasant. She's awake, but not crying. I suppose we can't expect much more from a little one who's used to being in the dark inside her mommy and is just learning to live in the world. We're hoping for a little more consistency from her - she's usually a great sleeper one night and then we have a terrible night the next night. We're feeding on demand now, so I can't really schedule her feedings. She eats when she's hungry, which changes from night to night. We're working now on changing OUR schedules so that she's at least getting used to a bath at the same time, the lights out at the same time, getting up in the morning at the same time, etc. We're hoping it works!

She loves her pacifier. We're trying to use it sparingly - when she has the hiccups, in the car if she's hungry and can't eat, or at night when she's falling asleep. I would try to limit it more, but the paperwork from her pediatrician advises using a paci when babies are falling asleep because it reduces the risk of SIDS. They say to leave it out if it falls out, but to put them to sleep with it. Unfortunately, Miss Em wakes up when it falls out if she's not completely asleep :(

She's getting so much more head control lately - she's so fun! She likes to lay on my chest and push with her legs and hold herself up with her arms. She's so strong! Her Daddy played "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" with her this morning and she loved it. It was precious to watch. She's also discovered my hair in the last week. I can't get her to fall asleep if I'm holding her and my hair is down because she stares at it with wide eyes. She's even tried to grab for it once or twice and can track it very well if I move in front of her. She's so smart already!

I can't believe that she'll be a month old next Monday. She's already growing too fast for my taste. Brad goes back to work the first week in August and it's already killing me to think about. Emma and I will miss him!

Here are some pictures of bath time tonight. We've been using some techniques that Kathi Frankel taught us and she's SO relaxed in the tub. She doesn't so much like the "getting dressed" part, but we're working on it. :)

We've also noticed that she's got some waves in her hair when it's wet before we brush it. We're thinking she may have her mommy's curls one day when she has enough hair to see them!

Enjoy the pictures! Claire - the naked pictures are coming, I promise!