First Month

Kensie was two months last week but I am just getting around to documenting the first month of her life. I will catch up one of these days.

At Kensie's first month appointment she screamed bloody murder almost from check-in to check-out. Everyone in the waiting room was giving me dirty looks. The nurse said, "Wow, she has some lungs". The doctor confirmed my suspicions that Kensie has colic but assured me that it should get much better by two months.

First month stats:

25th percentile for weight: 8 lbs 5 oz.

50th percentile for height: 21 inches

10-25th percentile for head circumference: 35 1/2 cm

Here is a summary of the first month with Kensie.

I will never forget those first few days after she was born. At the hospital she laid in her little box next to me and I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I couldn't believe that this tiny, beautiful, baby girl was ours! Bringing her home from the hospital was so fun as it felt like we had a little doll to take care of. She was so tiny, cuddly, and sweet.

Kensie was a natural at nursing from the start. It didn't take long until she was wanting to eat ALL the time. She would root and act hungry and then fall asleep after eating for about two minutes. This ended up being a vicious cycle because shet wanted to eat every hour. ugh. SO...my doctor told me to do whatever it took to keep her awake. I kept a wet washcloth on the rocker every time I fed her and would wipe her forehead with the wet washcloth to keep her awake. I also tickled her toes and back. It worked sometimes but she still got really sleepy. This got a little better after about two weeks but I still have to work to keep her awake.

The first two weeks she had her days and nights mixed up. She slept all day long and then kept mom up most of the night. She was waking up every hour at night and would have a fussy time late at night. She wouldn't go to sleep until 11 p.m. or midnight. At about three weeks she got things figured out and started sleeping a lot better. She starting sleeping for two to four hours at a time.

Kensie didn't cry much the first two weeks of her life. The first time we heard her cry loud was the first time we gave her a bath. At three weeks she started getting more fussy and letting mom and dad know she had lungs! Every night around 7 or 8 p.m. she would start crying. Then it would escalate quickly to a full-on scream mode. Nothing we did could console her. That was SO hard.

Cute little things she did during the first month...

She makes funny facial expressions just like her dad

She sticks her hands straight up and waves them in the air

She does cute poses and rests her face on her hands

She thinks she is falling and flails her arms anytime you lay her flat on her back

She does a kissy face

She grunts like an old man all the time, especially when she sleeps

When she is done eating she purses her lips

She does BIG stretches and arches her back

As soon as we change her diaper she likes to poop and pee in between diapers

She wore newborn clothes the whole first month

She likes going outside and going for car rides

When I change her diaper she sticks her legs straight out and holds them mid-air

The first month with Kensie was a lot harder than I imagined it would be between the sleepless nights and the colic. But even after a long night of crying and keeping me up, the next morning I couldn't even stay mad at her because she is so stinkin' cute:) Even though she has been a challenging baby we love her lots and love having her as a part of our life.