Iris @ ONE MONTH

One Month Old : 12-29-12

Brian and I are in complete awe.

Every day she changes.

She's more alert, awake longer during the day in between feedings, although there's no feeding schedule - cat naps and cluster feedings are par for the course.

She eats like a champ and we love that because then she sleeps like a rock, usually in three hour chunks at night. Daddy knows the trick to getting her back to sleep at night after eating, already she knows the safety and security of his loving arms. With mommy - it seems to be party time.

Her eating habits have also led us to move up to size 1 diapers, the newborn diapers just couldn't contain the carnage any longer. 

She's an embarrassingly loud eater - hopefully the slurping and gulping doesn't carry through to her dating years!
Plus, baths aren't her favorite right now, hopefully her attention to hygiene will develop as well.
She has hairy ears. This worries her daddy.

We're trying to introduce the bottle, a couple of times a week so daddy can get in on the feeding action... we tried the Madela slo-flo nipple (which is a lie) - this led to a few choking/projectile vomiting bouts and hopefully didn't scar daddy for life. At the recommendation of new mama/cousin Jes we're going to try out the Playtex Nurser next, hopefully with much better results for daddy. 

I am pumping a bit - starting to stockpile a milk stash for the dreaded day I have to go back to work, but feeling fortunate my milk supply is such that I can do that for her.

She's developing rolls in all the right places, and her smiles and coos are becoming more frequent and on cue. Her fingers and toes are quite long and she loves to hold onto things when she's in our arms - the edge of a blanket, the collar of our shirts, a bra strap (mommy), chest hair (daddy). We'll have to move up a clothing size soon - her feet won't fit in the newborn stuff much longer. It's scary how strong she is already, pushing off with her feet and holding her head up for eerily long period of time (and then suddenly letting it crash into your shoulder).

Her eyes are wide and bright (still slate blue) and she tracks our faces and voices as we move around her.  Her eyelashes are getting long like her daddies.

She seems really alert and aware of her surroundings for her age, of course, we already think she's a genius. We're pretty sure she has each room mapped out - by markings on the ceiling or something.  ☺

She gets really still and quite, and often grins when we take her into our bedroom, she locks in on the ceiling fan - the wedding picture of mommy and daddy on the wall behind he bed - she knows it's the feeding room. It's amazing.

I would say she's a pretty content little girl - loves to sit in her little bouncer chair and keep an eye on Trooper. We're learning to distinguish between the hungry - change me NOW - and just plain mad cries - but to be honest, she doesn't cry much. She does great in her car seat - isn't a fan of the whole getting buckled in process, but once she's in and we're bumping around in the car or the stroller, she's happy as a clam and then usually passes out. This is great because it allows us to get out of the house and Iris has already been on quite a few adventures - taking Trooper for walks - going shopping - visiting family and friends.

 When she isn't snuggled and scrunched up in a ball - she loves stretching out to her full 22+ inches (daddy and mommy measured her)! She also assumes this stretched out position for passing gas and pooing. She takes pooing quite seriously, with a red face, crossed eyes and loud man-grunts. 

We catch ourselves exclaiming how cute she is about a million times a day.

We're so proud.

Nicknames:

Baby Girl

Toots-McGee

Little Buddy

Lady Iris
Flower and Little Moon
(but daddy isn't too fond of the last two "hippy" nicknames from Auntie Bethy)

Happy first month Lady Iris!

Mommy made chocolate chip cookies for the occasion, they were delicious.