It's the holiday season! Finally, we made it to December after a long year I feel like every needs a little pick me up... "best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!" -- name that movie! I had to sneak in an Elf reference as all the holiday movies have been on repeat over here. And I'm a sucker for a good Hallmark movie. We spent this past weekend baking and decorating sugar cookies. This was much harder with a newborn! It literally took us all day LOL but we had so much fun! We used this recipe from Rachel Parcell, it was so yummy and easy to make!
Merloe is officially One Month! I can't believe we've made it this far, at first it seemed like a distant milestone but now we finally have some experience and are slowly getting a routine. When we went for her first Pediatrician's appointment she had lost a little bit of her birth weight, which is completely normal! I had every intention of breastfeeding but was open to supplementing with formula if we needed to. We quickly realized she wasn't the best at feeding that way when we took her in for her 2 Week appointment and she hadn't reached her birth weight still. So we decided to start supplementing with formula and at her One Month appointment she was 8 lb. 12 oz. -- woohoo! As first time parents this was a success. We had gone through countless nights of testing different formulas, spit up, trying different bottles, projectile spit up, gas, trying another bottle type, switching formula one last time to get to this point.
Seth is also back to work now, luckily still working from home. We love having him close by but wow life with a newborn is much harder when I'm alone. I'm so grateful for the help we do have living with my parents, they are always willing to step in and hold or feed her so we can take a quick break. This time is just so weird because when I grew up imagining having a baby, I never thought I'd be stuck at home most days due to a worldwide pandemic! I thought I'd be out and about, meeting up with friends for lunch, taking her to the park for playdates with other babies, doing stroller group exercising and teaching her the ways of Target. But we've played it pretty safe and only gone for Target Drive Up -- thank goodness for drive up!
Merloe is really starting to show her personality and is becoming more aware of her surroundings. Her eyes are blue, I know all babies are born with blue eyes but I'm hoping they stay blue. Seth has blue eyes and so does my mom, mine are hazel. Her hair has started to lighten, especially at the roots. You can really tell in the sunshine. She's also growing lengthwise, she's now 20.5" long and officially outgrown her Newborn clothes. They fit her body well, but her feet and legs are getting a little cramped so we packed those away. Cue the mom tears! We've also upped her diaper game and switched from Newborn to Size 1 diapers. We almost had enough diapers but had to buy one more pack to get us through, not too shabby!
Some of her favorite things include bath time, she loves taking baths. Until we pull her out then she's not too happy. Her skin is pretty dry so our Pediatrician gave us the go ahead to use non-scented white lotion. We've been using Pipette brand and loving their products for bath time. Surprisingly she also loves tummy time! I can tell when she gets frustrated though when she can't fully lift her head. But she's turning her head from side to side. She also loves looking at the Christmas tree and anything that lights up. She'll be a Christmas gal just like her momma! She's constantly smiling and starting to make lots of noises. (Especially at night, she loves grunting in her sleep! It's cute and funny during the day but at night it's a little exhausting!) She's starting to sleep longer stretches too, we're up to 4-5 hours at night. We're lightly following Taking Cara Babies doing the Eat/Play/Sleep method every 3 hours, except at nighttime. Our Pediatrician gave us the green light to let her wake us.
During her first few weeks we decided to get newborn photos taken by Peyton Michelle Photography, who did our maternity photos. She came over to the house and captured the most beautiful photos of Merloe, I could cry! And of course during the majority of our session Merloe was wide awake LOL but they all came out so perfect.
Wishing you and your family a Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas!
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