One month ago....

Our little girl was born!It's hard to believe she's one month old today. It all seems like a blur - something between just yesterday and fifty billion years ago. But maybe that's the sleeplessness talking.

In all seriousness, we aren't doing that bad, sleep-wise. Of course, we're not doing that great, either. Natalie can go about 3.5 hours without eating, so we usually go to sleep right after one feeding (and by "right after" I mean, after she's been fed, burped, and then held upright for 40 minutes to minimize the spitting up). Then we have one feeding in the middle of the night (after which Mike usually sits with her). And then we get up after the third feeding. So the nights are, um, short. And interrupted.

Natalie is also a "sleep squeaker" - so even when she's "asleep", she often makes little squeaks, squawks, and murmurs. These are actually super-adorable. Unless, you know, you're trying to sleep. Well, even then they are adorable, just a little loud....

Noise-wise, she's also a frequent hiccup-er. We've been assured this is totally normal, but, wow, I've never heard so many hiccups! (It was great last week after Mike's surgery when he had the hiccups as a side effect from the anesthesia, and Natalie had them from being, well, a baby - I felt totally surround by hiccup-ers!)

She's getting bigger - although, so far, we've only outgrown one sleeper suit. We've also outgrown the newborn diapers (those are up to 10lbs) in favor of the size one diapers (8 to 14lbs); we estimate that she's closing in on 9lbs. [Note - we are still planning on switching to cloth diapers - we're going to start trying some different approaches next week with the goal of totally transitioning in the next month or so. Today Mike put a clothesline up in our backyard so that we can air dry/sun bleach the diapers. Any guesses on how long it'll be until the psycho neighbor makes some comment about this???]

Natalie is also getting more alert - she has longer periods of alertness and seems more engaged with the world (meaning her fingers, the mobile on the swing, the shadows from the windowshades, etc.). We've also both had the distinct impression that she's been looking AT us, not just blankly staring in our direction. The other day Mike told her "look, there's mommy" and then held her in my direction. And then she turned toward me and made some sucking gestures with her mouth. So perhaps that's recognition. I'll take it.

We've seen her smile in her sleep, but we're still waiting on that social smile.

We're also doing better on liking the baths. I wouldn't say she loves them, but, well, there's less screaming, and she's quicker to console afterwards.

We wouldn't trade her for the world. We are more in love every day.

Mike just informed me that we have uploaded 553 pictures of Natalie since her birth. Bonus points if you've actually looked at all of them! (I'm thinking the grandparents and great-grandparents *might* be shoe-ins for this award).

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite recent pics:The entire album is below (and can also be found here):