1 Month!

Little Miss Hope is 1 month old (exactly 4 weeks 3 days at this writing)!

I can not believe she has been here for a whole month, the time has truly flown by (so sad!).  She is becoming less and less of a newborn!  Whaaa.  I just love that newborn baby cry (well, not ALL the time), and all the squeaks and sighs and smells of a teeny tiny newborn baby-- we are just soaking all of that up!  She is starting to have her more alert times when she likes to look around (her favorite fixations are the lamp, couch cushion, and the letter "W" wall hanging).  She is starting to coo and find her sweet little voice, too.  We're also seeing more and more purposeful smiles (rather than accidental smiles or smiles towards inanimate objects). 

Jeremiah is starting to want to interact with her more and more, now that she actually responds and interacts a bit!  She usually has big smiles for him in the morning, which is so precious to see!

Big bro entertaining little sis.

A smile for Mommy!

Her belly button cord thingy fell off at exactly 2 weeks, so we were able to give her her first "real" bath.  J thought that was pretty cool and was all about helping!

Really, Mom?

After-bath hair.

Really, Hope's hair deserves a blogpost of it's own.  It is just CRAZY!!!  I can't count how many comments we get from complete strangers about her hair when we are out and about, I just think it's so funny!  I really should have tried to keep count of the times I've heard, "Wow, look at that HAIR!" in the last month! :) 

There really is nothing I can do with it-- the front part is sort of a Donald Trump comb-over.

The Donald.
 

The Hope.

And the back just sticks up like crazy and goes all directions.  Bows can help a little bit (like in the pic at the top), but then this happens:

So yeah.  At least she doesn't seem to mind.  So far she has not lost any of her hair or even gotten the bald spot on the back of her head.  I honestly think her hair is just getting thicker and longer-- seriously!  I'm going to have to try to get a pic of her mullet soon, too, I think.  We just think her hair just adds to her already cute and funny personality! 

Sweet sleeping babe with major comb-over.

Hope has not been to the doctor since her 2 week appointment, but at that time she was 9 lbs 9 oz, so 4 oz past her birth weight).  Judging by her chubbalicious cheeks and the fact that her little newborn chicken legs are filling out nicely, I'd say she is well over 10 lbs by now.  I can definitely feel a difference when I am carrying her around.  She'll go back to the doctor at 2 months, so we shall see where she is with the percentiles at that time!  In the past month we've had our fair share of illness here, so we are hoping and praying that the rest of this fall and winter will be illness free and healthy!  J had a cold when we brought Hope home from the hospital, so both Hope and Adam ended up geting that, too.  Thanks to my iron strong teacher's immune system, I avoided it. :) Then last week J got a horrible stomach virus that had him out of commission for 3+ days (and earned him 2 trips to urgent care with an IV and fluids for dehydration and blood work/x-rays to rule out appendicitis, etc).  Adam ended up with that virus, too, for about a day and a half, and even MY immune system couldn't fight it and it took me down for about a day as well (I'm guessing that sleep deprivation is making us easy targets, unfortunately!).  Thankfully, Hope never got that stomach virus, and I attribute that to breastfeeding-- yay for that!!

So what about Jeremiah?  What has he been up to, besides bringing home germs?  He has seriously stepped up and is being such a great big brother, and it is so fun to see!  He is also super helpful and likes to bring us diapers or put the paci back in her mouth, etc.  We also had his very first parent/teacher conference tonight and we could not be more proud!!  **Bragging Mommy Alert**

His teacher just had such wonderful things to say about him, and we feel very blessed to have him at ZCS for preschool.  It has been so good for him (besides the germs)!!

And Molly?  Well, she's been enjoying lounging on baby items...

and the occasional pacifier for a snack.

What?

We are looking forward to a quiet Thanksgiving here at home, and hopefully getting the Christmas decor out this weekend.  Wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving-- we have so much to be thankful for this year (and every year... but especially this year)!!!!! :)