5 Weeks Old

Hey everyone, Avery and I had an interesting week this week.  Things were a bit up and down this week as I continue to "learn the ropes" of being a mom. By no means were things bad this, there were just times when Avery really threw me for a loop!  For example, most days she falls asleep for a nap around 11 AM or so, and sleeps for 2-3 hours...this is when I get my workout, shower, and makeup like I mentioned in this post (aka the things that keep me sane!).  But two days last week, when it was time for her nap, she had a hard time falling asleep and when she eventually did she only sleep for about 15 minutes or so.  On top of this it seemed like her sleep at night was changing too, as I was getting up even more with her and she wasn't sleeping peacefully like she did in those first few weeks.  I suppose this is why raising children is hard, among other things, because you think you have it all figured out, (like "I do this and it makes her happy," or "I put her here and she sleeps longer,").  But then you wake up one day and everything is different,  ("That does not make her happy," and, "That will not help her sleep longer.").   Perhaps she was going through a growth spurt last week, or maybe it's just the fact that she's only 5 weeks old! Either way, she's teaching me how to just go with the flow and accept the fact that everyday isn't going to be exactly the same.  What can I say, we're both growing in this journey together. Here's some things I have learned from this week:

I'm teaching mom all kinds of things!

1- Miracle Blankets really are miracles! I mentioned in this post that we'd been swaddling Avery for her naps and when she sleeps at night, but lately she kept breaking out of the swaddle wraps like a little Houdini...which woke her up and then woke me up!  Thankfully, my "green" friend Kelly offered to give me the Miracle Blankets she used with her daughters when they were younger, and after the first time using them, I was hooked (thank you Kelly!).  You can read more about the difference of these blankets here from other swaddle wraps here, but basically they have special flaps that pin the baby's arms down (sounds harsh, but it really is comforting to the baby!).  Anyways since switching to these wraps, Avery's naps are much more consistent (she's not waking herself up as frequently because she's broken out of the swaddle) and she's sleeping longer at night (she slept 7.5 hours last night! Talk about unpredictable...my body and I weren't quite ready for this! I'm sure it was just a fluke, but still it's better than being up 3-4 times a night).  So, in short...if you swaddle, go with the Miracle Blanket!

2- The second thing I learned is that some babies are loud sleepers! Anyone out there have a baby that makes all kinds of sounds when they sleep? Well, I do! Sometimes she grunts, clears her throat, sighs, and even gasps just to name a few! Granted she isn't always noisy in her sleep, but during certain stages I have learned that she makes quite a bit of noise!  At first, I thought there was something wrong, she was hungry, or she was fussing...but when I checked her, her eyes were closed and she was asleep!  After some Googling, I found that it is somewhat of a normal thing and that some babies (as adults) are just loud sleepers! The past few nights I've been trying to ignore her sleep sounds and not bother her (usually I'd pick her up and assume she needed to eat or something) and instead just let her sleep...as a result she's been sleeping longer and happier!  Obviously if I thought something was wrong I would check her, but most of the noises she makes are her "sleepy noises" as she drifts from one stage of sleep to the next.  Guess she just likes to make some noise during her sleep? Can anyone else relate?

So that's what I've been learning about my baby girl this week...here's what else we've been up to:

She really seems to be interacting more with us, which has been a lot of fun.  As you can see we've been getting lots of smiles too!

Happy smiles

I sure do love my Daddy!

We're still working on Tummy Time and this week she's really started lifting her head up even higher and she keeps it there for longer.  She also loves to lift herself up on my chest when I'm holding her, like she's doing little baby push ups!

I'm getting stronger guys!

Life is good when I'm napping 

Diaper changes have been forever changed at our house because Avery has a new friend...this panda from the book, That's Not My Bear.  I was reading this book to her one day during tummy time and her eyes lit up when I got to this page.  So when she was fussing during a diaper change one time, I ran and grabbed this book and opened it up to this page...what was the result? One happy Avery!  As you can imagine, I use this Panda page often during diaper changes and as you can see, Avery loves to stare at him and sometimes she even reaches her hands out to the page.  Diaper changes have also been fun this past week because Avery started making babbling/cooing sounds for the first time and that's got us really pumped! Brandon is able to get lots of great sounds out of her and so does Panda, lately she's even been giving me some!  It's kind of crazy when you're used to hearing certain sounds out of your baby and then out of the blue one day they make a totally new sound and you're like, "What did you just say? I've never heard you say that before!"  Granted there's only a few "gaas", "neighs" and "daas" there, but I'm sure it will continue to grow more and more each week!

Meet my new friend...Panda

Well that's about it for week 5.  This coming week our midwife comes for our 6 week check up and we can't wait to find out how much she weighs because this girl sure loves to eat.