1 month old

Liliana:

Happy 1 Month Birthday!! 

I can't believe it...you're already one month old!  The time has gone by so quickly, and Daddy and I have loved getting to know you.  I wanted to write you a letter every month for the first year of your life so that hopefully, when you're older you can read these and see who you were from the very beginning.  Maybe when you have children of your own, you can pull these letters out and see the similarities and differences between your own little girl and yourself.  I have been making notes throughout the last month of your most distinguishing features, so here we go...

In general, you've been a great sleeper through the night.  You wake up around every four hours and gulp down your milk.  You did have about three rough nights, but in the first month, that isn't bad at all!  At the end of your first month, we started not setting alarms on when to feed you, so now if you decide to sleep through the night, we'll just let you!...last night you made it 4 hours and 15 minutes, so it's baby steps. : )

You love the warm baths we give you every other evening.  However, you absolutely hate being dried off and getting lotion on your body.  I've tried explaining to you that one day, you'll LOVE it when you're getting massages with lotion, but you don't seem to hear me through your cries of terror.

Around two weeks of age, you discovered the art of stretching your neck...it's the cutest thing.  You put your arms straight up, pucker your little lips, and stretch that neck nice and high. You had hiccups constantly the first couple weeks.  When I was pregnant with you, you had hiccups all the time, so I wasn't surprised that you had them so often.  You only get them a couple times a day now, and that seems to make you happier.  Sometimes you get them in the middle of the night and it's adorable because you fall asleep between each hiccup and wake up and get very frustrated with yourself. 

The first couple weeks, we were worried about your bilirubin levels because you were born so early.  We had to go to the hospital a few times, but thankfully, you fought through it all and we never had to put you under the bili lights!  That made Mommy, Daddy, Tata, and our wallets very happy.  Speaking of Tata, she spent two out of your first four weeks right by your side.  Tata already adores you and thinks you're an amazing baby. 

As for your developmental milestones:  you ROLLED OVER when you were 11 days old!  This was an AMAZING accomplishment and we were so impressed.  Daddy, in particular, started telling lots of people about how brilliant his little girl is.  Now, we try to do tummy time every day together, but you roll over so often that it's not very fruitful.  Your head control is outstanding too.  You hold it up for a few seconds and proceed to get frustrated that you can't hold it up any longer. You aren't cooing yet, but I can't wait to hear that little noise.  You are smiling already, but not because you know what you're smiling at...it's usually because you're pooping or about to pass gas. ; )

You were born with so much hair.  When I was about to push, I told the nurse that your hair was the physical feature I had been most curious about when I was pregnant and I kept wondering if you would be born with hair.  After just one push, the nurse said "I can tell you she has hair, and lots of it!"  We've been worried the hair on top of your head is going to fall off and you'll be left with a crazy mullet.  So far, this hasn't happened, so we're lucky.  I'll update next month if this changes!!  We'll have some pretty bad blackmail pictures if this does eventually occur. Speaking of hair, you LOVE LOVE LOVE grabbing on to my hair when I'm holding you and ... it kinda hurts Lili Bear!  But, I love it.  Mommy needs to cut her hair pretty badly, but doesn't want to because she loves it when you grab on to her hair and her necklaces.  It makes her feel so close to you.

As for your relationship with your Daddy, you guys are already like two peas in a pod.  He just adores you and loves spending time with you sleeping on his chest.  You crack him up already when you try to crawl while on his chest.  My favorite thing so far is how similar you look to his baby pictures.  Really, it's uncanny!!  Grammy brought pictures of Daddy when she came to see you for the first time and we all were amazed at the resemblance.  Speaking of Grammy, she loves you so much!  I think she sees a lot of Daddy in you, and that must be so special.  We shared a great moment together the day before your month birthday.  On our first Father's Day as a family, Daddy got the kiddie pool ready and put you in your cute speedo swimsuit that he bought you.  Guess what?  You didn't cry, not even once when we put you in the pool.  I think he was so proud. 

Liliana, I love you more than I ever thought possible after just one month.  I love seeing you grow, I love seeing you sleep, I love seeing your smiles, heck I even love seeing your poopy diapers.  Thank you so much for coming in to our lives.  We adore you, never ever forget that.

Love,
Mommy