One Month Update!

Stella is already one month old! I can hardly believe how fast time is flying. You would think it would seem longer since we've been awake half the night for the last month but it still seems to go by in a flash. Here is a little update into our first month as parents!

First holiday- Valentines Day!

Our girl is weighing in at 9lbs 9oz and is 23 in long! The doctor seemed to be a little concerned with her slow weight gain, but we are doing well now. Our girl is exclusively breastfed and I have to admit this has been one of our biggest challenges as a new mom. I felt very strongly about breastfeeding and really hoped I would be able to do it successfully. Before I had Stella I read four breastfeeding books. I felt like I had a decent idea how to do it but once she was here I was having a LOT of pain while feeding. I got my latch checked in the hospital and was told it was perfect and it just hurts some people (not very helpful, I know). All the books I had read said a good latch = no pain, this is wrong! I struggled through feeding for the first few weeks. Many tears were shed, I would dread feedings and when my baby girl would cry I would already start getting worked up since I knew what was coming. After seeking out lots of help and receiving lots of wonderful support from my husband, I got through it. It still is sore, but no where nearly as bad! I am so proud of myself for sticking it through.

She is super smiley and I am loving every moment of it.

She wants to be in my arms ALL the time. It can get hard, but I am loving each and every moment since I know this will be short lived and she will soon be running around, too busy to snuggle all day with mommy.

First cloth diaper- 30 hours old and clearly loving it ;)

We are loving our cloth diapers! We started the first diaper at home, at just 24 hours old. We do all the washing our selves and it is not nearly as bad as you think. Every time she pees in a new one before we even have it done up we both are so thankful for cloth! Oh ya- we've had no leaks or blow outs that weren't caused by user error (Paul and I both didn't put one diaper on right resulting in a mini leak and tiny blow out).

We had two photo shoots, the first was a posed newborn shoot and the second was a lifestyle shoot. The first was a disaster since Stella is so awake and refused to sleep or be posed at all. Luckily we had the greatest photographer and we did manage to get a few great shots. The second was much more successful, and we are still waiting to see all our photos from that one.

Paul was home for the first two weeks and that was wonderful. It has been a big adjustment with him being back to work. Last night he worked a 27 hour shift. It has been hard for me to be alone all the time especially with a baby that doesn't like to be put down! I find it hard to get anything other than baby care done. Paul finds it hard to be away from us so much. We cherish our weekends more than we ever have before. Thankfully, we have received great support from our church community here and that has made things so much easier!

I am so thankful to have survived our first month with us all being healthy and learning how to be a family of three!