One down...

You are currently throwing a fit so this may be short lived. Today is your one month birthday! Happy one month baby girl! Before I go over the last month, I have a video of your response to the hair dryer:

It's our new best friend, we need to get a portable battery powered one to take with us. That thing is magic.

So here goes for the one month report. You're growing tons! You are 7lbs 3 oz today, and you look much more baby like than you did a month ago. Here are the pictures of you today as compared to a month ago:

This month has been incredible, it's crazy how not weird this all feels. It seems like you've always been around and this is the way things have always been. You're starting to be more alert, and with that comes an increase in your noise level. You are still pretty mellow, but if you're hungry or cold you seem to be pretty pissed. We've finally got you sleeping in your own bed, I committed to a one month time frame, and I've stuck to it. Be proud, it wasn't easy. You are still an amazing cuddler, and you like to move as much as possible. You like to suck on things, either your pacifier or your fingers, though the finger move isn't the most coordinated I've ever seen. If you're hungry and I'm not around you try to suck on the nearest piece of fabric, it's highly amusing. 

Your brothers are split on you. Noah is very into being a big brother, Caleb could take it or leave it. Noah has held you and loves giving you random smooches, he wanted to carry you up the stairs, but that idea got squashed. 

I don't have much more to update you on, you don't do a whole lot yet, but you're growing/learning so fast I'm sure I'll be struggling to keep up soon. Love you lots!!

You're just too good to be true...

...Can't take my eyes off of you...
That's our song little girl...it fits us perfectly, and even though I'm not much of a singer, you've heard a very mangled version of it often for the past 3 weeks. We're getting a pretty solid routine going, you sleep in 3-4 hour chunks, probably because you spend a solid 40 minutes eating. You can sleep through absolutely anything, there is not a jolt or sound in the world that phases you when you are out.

You've been spending a lot of time with your brothers, there isn't much to do with you since you mostly just eat and sleep, but they like to try to cheer you up when you're upset. You made the mistake of spitting up in front of Noah which prompted his "maybe we should get one that doesn't spit up".

We gave you your first bath...you didn't like it:

But you've found a new method of soothing yourself, much to your Aunt T's dismay (she was a career thumb sucker back in her day):

I'm doing my best to deter you, but you're a little small for the pacifiers we've got, although you have finally figured out how to keep it in your mouth:

The other thing I'm learning about you is that you are either very amused by going to the bathroom either as I change your diaper or immediately afterwards, or the fresh air on your skin is a signal to you that it's time to go. It's made for many a mess...

Your nanna has been in town the past 2 weeks, she loves doing tummy time with you. I told you, you are one strong girl and you are getting lots of training. Your grandma is a big fan of the tummy time training as well. Everyone is amazed out how strong you are and how much you can lift your head. I think it sort of makes you look like a turtle (a very strong, impressive, cute turtle). 

 Right now you're reading Sneetches with Aunt T, she's trying to force you to memorize the entire book. We just did your second bath, you threw a fit while you were wet, but you seemed a bit more content as long as we kept you warm. Grammy introduced the hair dryer method, you were very very happy with that solution.

We're accumulating an album of pictures that don't make the cut for the blog, anyone that wants to obsessively stare at you like I tend to do can find them at: https://plus.google.com/photos/105540854075305581147/albums/5901728672028440577

I adore you baby girl, I'm simultaneously anxious to see what's to come in the next stage and upset that I'm going to lose this one. I can sit and stare at you for hours on end, I find your ugliest pictures to be the cutest, and I can't stand to have you in the same room as me and not have you in my arms. 

The world's most mellow cry

I couldn't get this added on the last post, so it's getting its very own...Your Grandma wanted me to get a good video of you crying so you could hear what you sounded like from the start. You only half participated in this experience, when you know you're expected to do a certain thing, you tend to not do it. With that said, here's your crying video:

My Baby Friend

Baby girl,

You're a little over 2 weeks now, and I'm starting to learn some things about you. You are an excellent cuddler, you eat more than any person (big or small) that I've ever met, you hate being naked, you are a pretty solid sleeper, and you have a strong desire to get moving as soon as possible. You've started to abandon the shark method of eating, now you're more guppy like and you sort of just suck on whatever you're near until you get what you want. You like to marathon eat, you'll eat for 10 minutes, take a 10 minute break, and then go back at it...feedings tend to be a bit tedious with you. Aunt T and I think you're a bit of a milk connoisseur (you like to sample, we believe you prefer "milk forward" milk, as opposed to the more dry or robust varieties). When you are finally finished you fall into a food coma:

Classic Kaia food coma

You're still very squeaky and make all sorts of bizarre noises. You like to make lots of faces, your new favorite is very Zoolander-esque. 

The many faces of Kaia:

You're a great sleeper for a newborn, we usually get solid 3-4 hour chunks of sleep, I'm still working at getting your long day time naps converted to long nighttime naps, but really I can't complain. We've gotten lots of sleep.

You celebrated your first 4th of July, we actually did fireworks on both the 3rd and the 4th, you slept through both (I'm still slightly concerned about your hearing, but I'll wait a few more weeks before I let that develop into a doctor worthy fear - you did pass your hearing test after all).

The family at Wash Park pre-fireworks show. 

We had your two week appointment on Tuesday, and you're doing great! You're now 6lbs 6.5 oz, and you've grown an inch in length. Since they wanted you to be at your birth weight by now (6lbs 2oz), you're already exceeding expectations. The doctor was impressed that you could lift your head up already (credit Taryn and her obsession for getting you into a tummy time training routine), and even though you screamed the entire appointment, they seemed to be pretty happy with you. You're still a tiny one, you're only in the 9th percentile for weight, but you're gaining quickly so we expect that to continue to increase. Height wise you're not too bad, you're in the 34th percentile, and since your parents aren't that tall that's probably going to be pretty standard for you.

You've been a very active newborn. We've done a couple of hikes and you've been out to dinner and the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. You love hikes, it seems to be one of your favorite ways to fall asleep. You still have some family to meet (you have a VERY big family), but you've met a big chunk of them now.

You're getting more alert everyday, I'm having way too much fun just staring at you, I can't imagine how much fun this will be once you start doing something besides the eat, poop, sleep routine. Love you lots little bug!

Living the dream

We've been home for a week and things are starting to fall into more of a rhythm. As seems to be your trend, you've been a pretty easy baby. We left the hospital with a mission to get you to gain some weight (you were down to 5lbs 8oz when we left), so that's what we've been doing. And baby girl, you've been doing your best to gain what you can. If you're awake, you're typically eating. You even have a signature move, we call it the shark bite. You open your mouth and violently shake it from side to side, when you get latched on you clench your fists, furrow your brow, and suck like your life depends on it. It's provided endless amounts of amusement for Taryn and I. The doctor came today, and it appears you are gaining like a champion, you're back up to 6lbs so we should be in good shape going forward.

Otherwise, we've taken a zillion picture of you (seriously, I spend 90% of my day just staring at you, might as well capture some of that). We went hiking with your brothers yesterday, they were a little bummed you weren't purple, but they seem mostly pretty pleased with you. Noah even offered you his Dugga yesterday when you were upset.

Smooches from Noah. 

We took a few staged pictures of you today, one for Kiwanis, one for work, and one with your Raggedy Anne Doll (Ba-ba made it for you) that we'll try to take monthly to show how much you grow. 

Kaia with her Kiwanis bell from my Popo

The little accountant

Kaia and her 0 month picture, taken at 1 week.

I know this is supposed to be a rough stage, but I'm absolutely loving it. You sleep pretty well, we're up pretty routinely at 1 and 4, but otherwise you sleep well. I think it's because you routinely eat yourself into a food coma. I'm trying to stay in the moment, the thought of you not being in this stage makes me sad, though I guess every stage is fun for different reasons. Your Dad and Aunt T have been around a lot, you've made T a diaper changing pro...your future cousins owe you. You have about a thousand nicknames...squeaks (because that's what you do all the time), tadpole (because you sit like a frog), Kaia bear (because Taryn says so), little bug, peanut, and a variety of others that seem to just be used once and then forgotten. I adore you little one, so glad you finally got here.

Little bug.