McDaniel Family: 01.11

Look at me, I'm 1 Month Old!!!

Melody is now 1 month old! I feel like I'm going to be saying this a lot, but I can't believe how big she is getting already! She's still a small baby, but Melody is really starting to fill out. I take her in for her one month checkup in a few days and am excited to see how much weight she has gained. I'm guessing she'll be passing up her little friend Laney...who is two months older than Melody but was born premature. It's amazing how different the two of them look. Laney's mom, Heather, and I love to hang out and take their pictures since they are going to be best friends (they just don't know it yet!).

Laney & Mely

Melody has had such a great time this month being held by so many good friends! I took her by the Melting Pot yesterday to see my old co-workers, and she slept through being held and handed off to about 5 different people. She is a great sleeper so far and I hope that will continue to be the case as we start to establish more of a routine. Melody is already starting to have longer stretches of sleep at night, even though I'm still getting up at least twice to feed her. Usually she nurses around 9:30pm and then sleeps from about 10:30pm till 2:30 or 3am. I'm up around 6am to feed her again, and if I'm lucky will get another hour of two of sleep before we start the day. I have been strictly breastfeeding all month and have been pumping here and there to be able to introduce her to eating from a bottle. She takes to a bottle really well so we will try to incorporate this more often as the time gets closer for me to go back to work. I still have to figure out my job situation, but as of right now the plan is to do some part-time counseling work starting the first part of March. That gives me another 6 weeks or so with my baby. I don't even want to think about having to be away from her but know it will be necessary sooner or later. In the meantime I plan on enjoying our hang-out time during the day while Ryan is at work and the playdates we are getting to have with friends and their babies.

We took our first roadtrip to Houston this past weekend where Melody received so much love and attention from "Grammy and PawPaw". She met some of Ryan's extended family and a few of our friends who live in the area. I took her to see our good friends David and Jennifer, who have sons ages 2 1/2 years and 5 months old. We joked that little Sam could be Melody's boyfriend...they just looked too cute together!

Melody and Samuel

Looking back, Melody has accomplished quite a bit this first month of life. Especially over the past week we have really started to see some neat changes. Her grip has become much stronger and she is now able to hold her head up on her own for a few minutes at a time! She is a really good eater and seems to be very content after each feeding. Ryan and I joke that she loves being "milk drunk" since she's so relaxed and content on her boppy when she's done eating.

"milk drunk"!

Melody is also more aware and alert now during the day, staring up at the ceiling or light fixtures with an intense look. I think she's started to recognize me and Ryan because every now and then we can catch her gaze and she will give us a little smile. She's started to make cooing noises more frequently...I mean she'll be practically talking before we know it! I think this is the last week that we will be in newborn diapers and then it's time to move up to size 1. I tried putting her in 1's this past week but they were still a little too big which gave me a little relief that she could stay tiny just a little longer :) I'm not ready for her to get big, but am exicted to see what this next month holds...and am especially looking forward to more smiles and giggles!

all cozy in her favorite blankie

so happy on my playmat!

big yawn :)

Bringing in the New Year!!

Our baby girl is almost one month old and I can't believe how fast these first weeks have gone by! Time really does fly when the majority of her days are spent sleeping, eating, and diaper changing. Melody has begun to be more alert during the day and will spend an hour or two sometimes just looking around at things. She hasn't really been able to focus on Ryan or I yet, but I know she will soon start to recognize and turn towards the sound of our voices. Every once and awhile we'll catch a slight smile and I can't wait for her to do this more often!

So far she is healthy and doing really great overall. She is fussy at times, but for the most part she seems to be a pretty content little baby and loves to be held when she can :) She is a really good eater and has been gaining weight steadily these past three weeks. At her 2 week appt she was just above her birthweight at 8lbs 13 oz. When I had her in at three weeks, she already weighed 9lbs 6 oz...so she gained 9 oz in one week! At this rate she's gonna be out of her newborn diapers and clothes very soon! I'm so blessed that breastfeeding has gone well and she's getting enough to eat...even though it does feel like that's all I do day and night. The other night we gave her a bottle for the first time to see how she'd take to it, and she downed 3 oz in about 5 min! I'm still not a huge fan of pumping though, so we are going to gradually work our way into that routine when the time comes.

People keep asking me "how everything is going"...which has been somewhat hard to answer the first few weeks because I really hadn't been feeling like myself. I'd say something like "well Melody is doing great but I'm still trying to recover". Which is understandable, but I've had a more difficult time coping with my own recovery than embracing my new role as a mommy. Thankfully Ryan had been truly amazing and wonderful at being there for me as we are learning how to become parents together. The past few days I've actually felt a little more like myself and know that this adjustment period is only temporary. We have already learned so much about our little girl in just three weeks so we'll be "experts" in no time ;) She really is such a beautiful miracle and I find myself falling more in love with her each day that goes by.

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to so far:

my first bath