Norah - One Month

My Little Diva Doll Baby!

This post is about a week late, but better late than never! I've been thinking back about the last month and I honestly think I was on complete auto-pilot! As most new moms know, you do what you have to do to survive on an ungodly lack of sleep. The first few weeks were hard and I felt like a first time mom because I couldn't remember how anything went or was when Jack was a newborn - it was like experiencing it all over again. The good news...we survived! Norah is a much more laid back baby than Jack was, but that's not to say she hasn't been challenging - she has! We are starting to get on a bit of a schedule, which is nice but I'm really not trying to hard yet because I will be going back to work in 3 or 4 or 5 weeks (I haven't fully decided yet) and I know her whole routine will change at that point and a new schedule will develop. Norah will be going to the same daycare Jack does, Jack has been going to Tonya's since he was 9 weeks old and we couldn't have gotten luckier to have found her! I feel great about Norah going to Tonya's and I know she will be well taken care of it, but still there is that little bit of sadness inside that I won't be the one taking care of her everyday! But I also have to be honest and say that I'm a bit excited to go back to work and get back to my "normal" - you know, putting fresh clothes on every day, showering every day, putting on make up, brushing my hair daily and wearing it down instead of in a ponytail, having conversations with adults, going to the Y at lunch to step class or for a run through the park, etc. etc. etc. Enough about me, let's get to Norah's One Month Update!

EAT - So far Norah seems to be a bigger eater than her brother was. She is eating 3 ounces every 3 hours day and night. Hopefully we will be able to bump her up some over the next month and she will sleep a little longer at night! There have been a few nights where she slept 4 hours, but for the most part we are pretty much on a 3 hour cycle 24/7!

SLEEP - Norah is starting to stay awake for a little while in between feedings - she is usually awake 1 to 1.5 hours then naps the other portion of the 3 hour span. She usually does fairly well at night...she seems to have a little bit of awake time after her 10pm feeding which is her last "planned" feeding of the day before we let her sleep as long as she wants during the night, but it's never too much more than an hour or so - some nights though she won't settle down until 12:30am! Ouch! I'm hoping we can continue to work on only having one feeding in the middle of the night and get that pretty much routine before I go back to work! She is currently sleeping in a Rock and Play Sleeper right beside my bed, this sleeper keeps them at a 30 degree angle which is recommended for reflux babies - she seems to like it.

HEALTH - I think we have been to the doctor every single week so far! She was jaundiced (like Jack) so we had to make 3 trips to the doctor within the first week and a half to monitor it, then she started displaying signs of having reflux (like Jack) so that took some more doctor appointments. We tried Norah on Zantac first and it didn't seem to control her pain, so we are now on Prevacid Solutabs (like Jack) for her reflux. We haven't quite been on it for 2 weeks, but it's been a life saver - Norah went from crying constantly and only being able to sleep about an hour at a time before waking up from the pain to sleeping 3 hour stretches and being a happy baby! She does seem to be awful gassy, but usually doesn't have too much trouble passing it - every once in awhile she will need a tummy massage or some leg work to help get the gas to pass, but she is nothing like her brother was when it comes to gas! We are on a "gentle" formula and seem to be doing great with it.

PLAY - Norah doesn't really play yet and she doesn't really like any of her toys yet either and prefers to be held when awake. This is difficult with an almost 3 year old, but I'm getting better at knowing Norah is fine if she whines a little and Jack is getting better at waiting patiently - sort of! We have started Tummy Time which Norah will tolerate for about 2.5 minutes, she sometimes will lay on her play mat for maybe 3 minutes, and the swing lasts maybe 3.5 minutes! We are going to have to keep working on getting her more interested in toys other than Momma's arms! It seems like every time I put her on her play mat or we do tummy time or I attempt to get her to swing in her swing she spits up (dang reflux) and then gets the hiccups and it's pretty much over from there. I've been wearing her alot in the early evenings after we get home from picking Jack up from daycare because he is always needing/wanting something and she of course doesn't want to be put down!

LEARN - I think the only thing Norah has learned at this point is how to wrap her Momma around her little finger! No really, she does pretty good at self soothing and putting herself to sleep the majority of the time. She focuses on faces and has starting making her first sounds! She is also really strong, she can hold her head up for a few seconds and uses her little legs to try to stand in your lap! She also started smiling right around the one month mark and it's so cute! She knows Momma's voice and tends to calm down if I talk to her from across the room.

GROW - Norah weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce and was 21.25 inches long at her one month well baby visit! She is wearing newborn diapers and still fits (semi-nicely) in her newborn clothes.

Norah and her Lamb, Lenny!
xoxo