Almost 1 Month Old!

It amazes me that the last month has flown by so quickly. It seems like the days go by in 2-3 hr bits. Nicole is such a precious little girl and we love her so much, but it has definitely been an adjustment for us. I was hoping to update this blog weekly, but it has been hard to have a free hand. I seem to always either be feeding Nicole, playing with her, trying to get her to sleep, or using the time she is sleeping to get stuff done around the house. Everyone told us that we wouldn't get much sleep these first few weeks and that has really been the case. When we first got her home, we tried to lay her in the pack n' play in our room and she would not have it. She did not want to lay in her crib, her pack n' plays, her bouncy chair or her swing for more than a few minutes. The only way she would settle and sleep is when we were holding her. Last week I thought we had a breakthrough when we were able to get her to sleep in her crib for 3hr stretches. It was wonderful! Then all of a sudden, she didn't like that any more. We think most of her sleep problems are because of really painful gas. We've tried everything -- the drops, the burping, the tummy rubs, laying on her tummy, and nothing seems to really work. We feel so bad for her because she'll be sleeping and then we see the pain in her face as she struggles to let the gas go. The gas is loud and explosive and can last for awhile. I've been trying to do some research to find out if it is something I'm eating or what. We've decided it may be lactose overload, so I've adjusted the way I feed her. The other solution we found with her sleep is to make sure we don't get her overtired. The last few nights, we've been letting her sleep in her bouncy chair and she has been able to sleep for the long stretches again. Tonight we are going to try the crib again.

Shaun was able to spend the first two weeks at home with us and it was great to have his help. He went back to work last week and it has been interesting to adjust to having her all by myself. I feel like I'm always either feeding her or trying to get her to sleep. After a few days, I knew I had to find a way to get more activity in for her and more "me time." That has been getting better. Some days are better than others. Some days, I'm lucky to get a shower and then other days I'm able to fix dinner and take her for a walk. I love those days!

Nicole has grown so much since we brought her home. I put her in the outfit we brought her home in from the hospital and it almost fits. I'm not sure what her weight is, but she is definitely getting bigger. We got her pictures taken when she was 2 weeks old. They turned out so cute. We had to cut the session a little short because she got pretty fussy, but the pictures still turned out really well. She is happiest when she wakes up. I love to watch her big, wide eyes just look around and take things in. I know that people say babies don't smile at this age, but it seems like she has been smiling from the beginning. I'm not sure if she is smiling because she is happy or for some other reason, but I love to see her smile. Everyone who sees her swears she looks like Shaun. We think it is still hard to tell. I can see she definitely has some of Shaun's features though. Here are some of the pictures: