1 Month

Our sweet Helen is now one month old!

Here are her 1 Month Stats:

Weight: 10 lbs 6 oz., 90th percentile
Height: 21", 50 percentile

She's still an eager eater, and she's packing on some of the most adorable rolls. When she is really hungry she makes a clicking sound with her tongue on the roof of her mouth. It's really funny to hear that over the baby monitor! She rarely cries -- the usual culprit for her tears is a dirty diaper. She is also very gassy, but some time on her tummy always produces results and makes her much happier.

Her brothers love to give her a binkie and they enjoy stopping in for visits when she is sleeping in her room. They like to do "tummy time" with her, and Joseph loves to poke her skin and watch it go white and then fill with color again. He also loves rubbing her head and patting her back. When Helen fusses Ian will say in the sweetest, most soothing of voices, "Shhhhhh, Helen. Be quiet. Shhhhhhh." (I guess he thinks that is the only thing the "shhhhing" sound is for.)

The boys don't seem to feel much jealousy so far. Although while I was nursing Helen a few days ago Joseph came in and grabbed her binkie and left. He returned to the room a few minutes later without it and when asked, he calmly told me he had thrown it down the stairs. I asked him if he was feeling upset with Helen, and he said "Yeah, you are feeding Helen, but I want you to be feeding me breakfast instead." It was strangely sweet, especially since that was the very worst he's acted out in regards to his new little sister.

Right now a person could set their clock by Helen's eating schedule: she wants to eat every three hours exactly, always at 5 am, 8 am, 11 am and so on. It's nice that I know what to expect, but I wouldn't mind being surprised by a 4+ hour stretch between night feedings. (Although last night I woke her for an extra feeding before I went to bed, and she did actually go another 4+ hours! Here's hoping for a repeat of that tonight...) She currently sleeps most soundly during the day, when her brothers are making the most ruckus outside her bedroom. She is usually fussy and awake each night between 5 pm and about 9 pm, with little catnaps sprinkled in. For the most part, when she is tired, both day and night, we swaddle her, convince her to take a binkie, lay her in her crib awake, and shut the door. Most of the time she puts herself right to sleep. The rest of the time, she loves to be rocked to sleep.

We love having her in our family!

Here are the Big Brothers with their "instruments", playing along to some Disney songs on Pandora.

We ought to let Medela know about a second usage for those plastic parts. 

We had so much fun with Grandma and she took great care of us. She flew home on Thursday and we really miss her! The boys haven't stopped talking about her and all the fun things they did together. Thanks for everything, Mom!

And I am sure Helen really misses this.