Month One

This little angel nugget has been with us for a whole month! It's safe to say she's wormed her way into everyone's hearts. And with that face, how could she not? A lot of the things I can say about her apply to babies in general, but here are a few fun facts anyway.

• She eats four ounces of formula every three to four hours.
• She goes to sleep around 10:00 or 10:30 every night, and depending on when she ate, she'll wake up anytime between 3:00 and 4:00 to eat. Then she'll wake up between 6:30 and 7:30. Not too shabby!

• For the first time I'm sleeping in the same room as our baby, so I've gotten to hear all the sounds she makes in her sleep. And man, she's vocal! She grunts in her sleep for awhile after she's been put down. And when she's getting close to waking up, she kind of whines/whimpers for a long time before she'll start to cry. Most of the time, I end up getting her before she ever actually cries. She's such a sweetheart!
• She occasionally likes to nap with her head thrown all the way back. It doesn't look comfortable to me, but oh well! It looks cute.

• She always startles when I turn on the bathroom faucet and when someone rummages in the ice drawer.
• When she's upset (assuming she doesn't need food or a diaper change), it calms her down to just walk around with her. She also loves lying on Mommy and Daddy's bed when she's sad.

• As her cry builds in intensity, she starts to snort and/or squeak. I actually call her "squeaky" a lot. She also scratches her face if she's left to cry for too long. Sad!
• I think she looks adorable in this photo, like she's desperately holding on to her pacifier and her bow so no one can take them.

• One time, as Daniel and I were watching TV on the couch and Clara was lying on my chest facing away from me, she turned her head back towards me and started cooing (for lack of a better word). So I put my face against hers and she started nuzzling me and cooing more! It was the cutest. My heart almost burst.

• She has started to clearly enjoy her play mat. The other day I caught her trying to eat the jingling hippo that hangs down low enough to touch her face. It made me laugh, but of course she stopped before I could take a picture.

• She has already given for-real smiles. On September 19th, she did a big, genuine smile for me. But then she got hiccups and got sad.
• She's had a few real baths now, and she's getting more okay with them. But her first bath definitely had some crying. That didn't happen with either Aubrey or Carter, so I felt really bad. By her fourth bath, there was no crying. Hooray!

• She gets hiccups ALL the time. It stinks. They annoy her, and they take forever to go away. She also does a weird gulping sound a lot, as if she's trying to keep stuff down. On the plus side, she rarely spits up.
• She gets upset when I put her in the car seat, but she calms down once it starts moving (even if it's just me carrying it). And, of course, she always falls asleep once we drive.

• She's definitely more needy than Aubrey and Carter were at this age. She needs to be held more. I love snuggling her, but I do wish I could get more done! Maybe someone is trying to remind me to enjoy this all-too-short stage in her life and my last opportunity to snuggle my own little baby. *sigh*
• I introduced her to the as-of-yet unnamed llama that will be her favorite stuffed animal. Pretty cute!