My Pregnancy Journal: Happy 1 month birthday Kalia!!

Hard to believe it's already been a month since Kalia's arrival. Man oh man, how time flies. I looked over at her last night while she was sleeping and just couldn't stop smiling. I can't believe she's ours. The love that I feel for her is indescribable. Even with all of the challenges I've faced in figuring this new mommy thing out, she's absolutely perfect and I'm so grateful for her. And for Chris. The three of us (four - Kodi too!) are perfect for each other.

Today, at Kalia's one month checkup, she measured in at :
Height : 23 1/4 '' (off the charts)
Weight : 10 lbs 11 ounces (93 %)
Head : 14 3/4 inches (~37.5 cm) (80 %)

That compares with her birth stats of :
Height : 21.5 ''
Weight : 8 lbs 6 ounces
Head : 34.5 cm

Yeah, I'm feeling all that growth with my all day long milking sessions!!

She's started smiling and cooing so much more over the last few days. It's fun to just lay in bed and figure out ways to make her smile. She does, most definitely, throw her fair share of fits too though. The pediatrician actually thinks that her night fits are attributed to her having colic. Fortunately, she will most likely outgrow this by month three.

The night before Kalia's one month birthday, I pumped milk for the first time. I was so excited to get out three whole ounces. In the middle of the night, Chris got up with Kalia, changed her diaper, and attempted to feed her the two ounce bottle after warming it up. Kalia was not having any of it. After what seemed like eternity (but was really just a few minutes) of her wailing, I went into the nursery and just latched her onto me.

Chris figured out how my pump worked and then showed me. Silly Daddy.

It never occurred to me that she wouldn't accept the bottle. I was so worried about nipple confusion and ruining any success with breast feeding that I didn't even think about it! Fortunately, the night of her one month birthday, Chris warmed up Kalia's bottle, then went and picked her up and took her into the nursery and she drank the remaining ounce with no problem. She was still half asleep though, so that's going to be our 'trick' to get the middle of the night feeding established with Chris. I did have to latch her on after that (she drinks waaay more than one ounce!), but I refused to pump again without knowing if she'd take it or not!

Chris said he actually kind of enjoyed the night time feeding and bonding with Kalia. It didn't bother him at all to get up with her, so that's going to be our new bedtime routine. Sleep is in the near future for me - woot!

To celebrate Kalia's one month birthday, we went to lunch at Moe's (it wasn't crowded, and every other place was, so that's how we wound up there), swung in Target to pick up a few things (middle of the day, again, not crowded), and introduced Kalia to a store she'll be seeing lots of as the years go on - Home Depot!! We did all of this after her pediatrician visit to avoid all of the crowds and germy people. After her immunization shots we can stop worrying so much about all of that. She was the star at Home Depot, but I kept her in the Baby Bjorn right up next to me, so people admired from afar, and with their eyes, not hands!

As a side-note for another milestone that I forgot to document, Kalia's cord fell off of her belly prior to her two week checkup. There was still a little bit of a dot in the middle of her belly, and at her two week checkup, her pediatrician put something in there that dried it up the rest of the way. Thank goodness!

Here's a summary of Kalia's first month in pictures :

In the hospital :