Zoe - 1 Month Old

Zoe's first month was one of learning and growing together!  The first lesson I learned was that every sweet baby is so different.  At first you think of comparisons with the first experience, then you embrace and love the fact that this is a totally different baby and needs to be discovered in a whole new way.

I love my baby girl Zoe so very much.  In my very mommy opinion, she is so amazingly BEAUTIFUL!  She has the squishiest, most wonderful cheeks, and the sweetest little, perfectly round head.  And she loves any sort of physical soothing, especially having her head rubbed, which I think is the sweetest.  I've always felt like she doesn't totally love being a baby, which is maybe why she seems to resist the baby-ness. ;)  She moves all the time, just like in my belly, kicking those feet just exactly how I remember at the end of my pregnancy.  She also has the most beautiful little hands, and she's always seemed to either hold them together or reach out and grab onto something with them.

(First double snuggle session)

(First time holding baby sister...it was always instant love with these two!)

From the very beginning Zoe has wanted to be held close.  She much prefers snuggling to anything else.  And she has never, ever fallen asleep right after eating.  That completely took me by surprise, because we never had one of those eat then nap in Mommy's lap times, which is what I expected.  But from the very beginning she has needed a lot of comfort through crying, but gets to a place where she can be set down and she'll fall right to sleep on her own, with the little sound machine that came with the pack n play.  The first couple weeks she was pretty sweet and sleepy, just getting upset after feeding possibly because of it coming too fast for her.  She also gained her weight pretty fast instead of staying tiny for very long.  We also only went to the lactation consultant once, when she was about a week and a half old.  Those first two weeks were super hard in the way of day and night confusion.  I was sooo tired.  For some reason whenever I've had a newborn I feel so old. ;)  I keep thinking surely I wouldn't be so tired if I was in my twenties, but maybe it's just exhausting for everyone?  On the other hand I also have the best hormone shifting adrenaline the first 3 weeks or so, excited about new baby days, and left over nesting energy.  Then that ended drastically.

Zoe cried a lot, alot, almost all the time except when she took short naps that first 6 weeks.  That was super tough and we survived by baby wearing.  She loves, loves baby wearing.  Almost every night my nerves were way past shot, and I was too exhausted to think or do anything.  I remember just rocking her like crazy in the rock n play, silently begging her to sleep.  During the days and until she went to sleep at night I would have to walk, bounce, and pat her to calm her down, and any time I tried to sit for a break or even to try and rock her she would immediately wake up and start screaming again.  It was wild.  She has always preferred to be held upright too, and started laying her sweet head on my shoulder from early on.  I did have some fun those first days trying to get some sweet photos of her and her sister, not an easy task with a toddler, which is why I seem to have so many more photos of Zoe right now, both with my camera and my phone!

(First doctor's appointment...super duper tired mommy ;)

We also totally survived by sweet friends and family bringing us meals...what a blessing and life saver!  I remember every time someone would show up with food I would feel this huge rush of relief, both for Kevin, Selah, and myself. 

The day Zoe turned one month old she had her first sweet "play" time on the floor with Selah and I, which was so much fun to be together and happy with my girls.  I have been amazed from day one, once again, that God created this absolutely precious little human being in my womb and now we get to love, adore, and get to know her sweet spirit.  We are thrilled and thankful to be a family of four!