Maggie's 1st Month Highlights

Here is a quick run down of us at four weeks:

Weight: 8 pounds, 12 ounces
Length: 23.5 inches

* Sleeps 3-4 hours in her bassinet.

* Drinks 4 ounces from the bottle. Breastfeeding ended at week three. My milk never came in. I have been beating myself up about this ever since I took her off breastfeeding. I really wanted to breastfeed her, but my body just didn't produce the milk. We feed her every 3-4 hours, usually every time she wakes up from a 3 hour stretch. She burps about half way through which sounds more like air going out of a balloon than a burp. She usually gets the hiccups after her feedings. Mike is known as the "mixologist" or "bartender" and prepares the bottles. I am the one that cleans them and typically gets up for middle of the night feedings. Mike is the early riser and changes her and feeds her for the 6 am/7 am feeding. I am sure this will change once I go back to work.

* Diapers- We were using newborn snuggies from Huggies. We liked them because of the line that turns from yellow to blue after she pees. Plus, they had her umbilicord cut out. However, she is filling up the newborn ones and we are about out of them. We have plenty of the "Level 1" diapers so we will begin to transition her into those this week. We have all different brands, several packages.

* Umbilicord- fell off at about 2.5 weeks.

* Poop- this has been a big deal at our house since the beginning. She is all over the page in this department. She is random. When she poops, it usually takes about 2-3 diapers for her to get it all out over an hour period. But poop usually comes every other day. And it is green.

* Crying- she usually only cries if she needs something. So far so good.

* Baths-we give her a bath every other day in her special recliner that sits in the bath tub. She enjoys the warm water over her and likes it overall.

* Clothes Size- We will begin to pack up the NEWBORN clothes this week. They are getting snug and typically go up to 8lbs. Since she is almost 9 pounds, the 0-3 months are where we are heading. Her favorite outfits were the sleeper with the owl on it, FSU t-shirt, green and white striped onesie, and the green/brown combo outfits with polka dots and FUN TO BE me shirt.

* Toys/books- She loves her bouncy seat and swing. We tried the play mat with accessories attached to it for about 10 minutes today and she loved it and looking all around at the patterns. We read to her daily. Some of her favorites are the Runaway Bunny, I will see you in the morning and Brown Bear.

* Pacifier- She usually only takes this at night. She won't take if she is full from feeding. She will only take it for a few minutes if she is wanting to eat before projecting it across the room.

At four weeks we have settled in a bit, but have lots to learn. The nerves have worn off just a bit and we have gotten to know her better and she has gotten to know us. She follows our voice with her eyes and likes to be sung: ABC's, Itsy Bitsy, Wheels on the Bus, Brown Bear. Buster has been great with her. She smiles in her sleep too. Every morning when she starts to stir I sing her, "Good Morning Miss Maggie" song.

At times, I can't believe she is here and that I am Mom and Mike is a Dad. We are truly blessed. We are so fortunate to have such a beautiful and healthy baby girl. The amazement of having a baby has not worn off and I am so thankful for her.

In the next few weeks we need to decide our plan for when I go back to work. I have been searching non-stop for possible leads in the Brandon area. We have two leads right now. Cori, my mom's friend Lynn's daughter who is a USF senior that takes mostly online and night classes and Amy, my intern's girlfriend who is studying to be a nurse and is a Junior at UT. Amy is only available Wednesday's, but that is one day down, four to go. Cori has bit more flexibility, but is confirming her internship schedule. Stay tuned on that front.

Mike is wonderful with her. He is very calm and relaxed. A natural. He watches her with out any hesitation. He changes diapers and holds his breath with the stinky ones. She is definitely going to be Daddy's little girl.