FIVE hours!

Nadia went to sleep at 9:45pm (without ANY crying) and slept one hour (I slept 30 minutes of that time as we were watching Monk until 10pm and then I had to get ready for bed). Then she was up for an hour (I did try to put her down after 30 minutes and even let her cry 5 minutes) and then she slept for FIVE hours (no crying this time either). WOOHOO! That's a first!!! When I got her this time the poor gal was in a very messy diaper which had spilled onto her clothing, swaddling blanket, etc. She was again up for an hour and then slept THREE more hours! I only slept 2 of those as I got up at 7:45 thinking I could quickly eat my breakfast before she woke up as most days she seems to wake up around 8am. Well if I had known she was going to sleep another hour I would have stayed in bed also! Live and learn. :-)

I looked up Nadia's height & weight on a chart, and for a one month old she is in the less than 5th %ile for both. For a newborn (since she should only be 1 week old) she'd be in the 50th for length and 25th for weight. Will she hit the milestones (i.e. first social smile) based on her age or EDD?

Here are seven of the lessons I've learned in the last month (in no particular order). I am sure I have many, many more to learn over the next 18+ years with Nadia!

1. Stain remover should be put on clothing that has been in contact with poo - ASAP! The first time she had a poopy diaper that got onto her clothing (I think it was 7-3), I thought as long as I threw the items (onesie and outfit) into the wash in the near future that it would be fine. WRONG! Since then I have put color safe bleach on the spot as soon as it's discovered (after taking the item off Nadia of course) and so no more clothing has been permanently stained since then. This color safe bleach has a copyright date on it of 1993 so as you can see, prior to Nadia's arrival, I didn't use it much, LOL! I think it will be much sooner than 15 years before I buy another bottle. :-)

2. Nadia likes to be swaddled except she wants her hands to be free. Thankfully we now own two swaddling blankets so we have one to use even if one gets soiled. The BRU one is much cuter (butterflies) but actually the one from Walmart (yellow polka dots) is actually designed in a way that she doesn't work her legs out of it unlike the BRU one.

3. I should have gone "cold turkey" with the shield a lot sooner than I did. Tomorrow morning we can say it has been one week since we've used it. Moving them out of my reach was definitely the way to learn to go without them. Yesterday I nursed her easily in my office and also the doctor's office - without a shield or a boppy. I still use the boppy at home, but the fact I nursed her easily without any pillow or anything shows we've come a LONG way!!!

4. Nadia definitely knows I'm her Mommy. Although we could tell this even in the hospital, it's very obvious here at home. Unfortunately the main way we can tell is that she is very different with Daddy. She doesn't cry or squirm when Mommy changes her diaper but does with Daddy, etc. Daddy just hasn't had much time with her so hopefully once he does then she'll start to realize what a special man he is in her life!! Daddy hasn't been able to get a burp out of her yet either, but Mommy has figured that out.

5. Naps are VERY important for Mommy to take! Most of my life I took VERY few naps (maybe 3 a year?). Paul has always accused me of being "anti-naps," LOL. Well this was a lesson I learned in pgcy (how to take naps and enjoy them) and have continued to learn since she's been born. Even though I got 7 1/2 hours of sleep last night, I still feel tired and will take at least one nap today. Naps are good although I doubt they'll become permanent, but until I am regularly back to 8-9 hours of sleep a night, I will take a nap every day if at all possible.

6. I don't have to change the crib sheets as often as it seems most moms do (unless maybe this is normal for her age and will change in time?). It was suggested that I get sheet savers and more than one sheet and more than one mattress cover which I did. Well last night was the first night I wished I had placed her on the sheet saver as then that's all I would have needed to wash, but really considering we've been home for 3+ weeks, it was about time for me to wash her sheet and mattress cover! She doesn't spit up much (maybe twice total and neither time in bed) and if I keep a onesie on her then her diaper stays in place and rarely do we have leakage. That was my mistake last night - I went without the onesie under her long sleeve, footed sleeper. I won't make that mistake again any time soon as her diaper tends to migrate without a onesie.

7. I have learned to type blog posts & emails with one hand (R or L) while nursing. :-)

This photo was taken yesterday in an outfit from Great Aunt Debbie. Paul thinks Nadia is going to be like her Mommy & use her hands a lot when she talks. :-)