Monday, June 17, 2013

Happy One Month Birthday, Sydney!

My dearest daughter,

You are officially one month old today, and I can hardly believe time has gone by so quickly. If there was any way possible, I would stop the minutes from progressing anymore and I would keep you just the way you are for a few years at least. I truly love this newborn stage, and it's surreal to think that you will be rolling over, crawling, and walking before I know it.



This past month has been the best and most blessed time of my entire life. I have enjoyed spending every single minute with you, and I have lost countless hours of sleep because I simply can't take my eyes off of you. You are far more precious and far more loved than I could have imagined, and it seems that my love only grows for you each day.

We took you to your well baby exam today, and you are really growing fast. You weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces today and you were 19 1/2 inches long. Without adjusting for your gestational age, you are in the 5th percentile for both height and weight which is amazing! This extreme growth may just be due to how much you eat in each feeding. You drink between two and four ounces of milk every three to five hours! Because of your great eating habits and your impressive growth, the doctor has now said we can start feeding you on demand. This means we can let you sleep as long as you want at night without waking you up for feedings anymore. This made us really excited because you are not a fan of night time feedings when we have to wake you!

Unfortunately today you were also diagnosed with torticollis which means that we have to start physical therapy with you on Friday to help correct your neck. It's not a rare diagnosis, but it's going to be hard to see you in pain in order to solve the problem. The doctor is very confident you will respond well to physical therapy though, and we are hoping it will resolve quickly for you.

Despite having a sore neck that only turns to your left side, you are certainly the happiest baby in the world. You are content to just sit and stare at the world when you are awake, and you only cry when you are hungry, frustrated, or wanting to be held. I've started learning the differences in the cries, and it's so precious when you just want to be held as it's a quieter cry.

There are so many memories of this first month that I wish I could bottle up and keep fresh forever. I'm going to write some of them down now so that I can always come back to this letter and remember them all over again.

I love the way you stare at me during feedings. You used to sleep through your feedings, but now you look at me as if I'm the most interesting thing in the entire world. I feel so loved when you do that.

When I go to burp you over my shoulder, you almost always turn your head and kiss my cheek (you put your open lips on my cheek and just sit there). It's so precious, and I absolutely love it. I always give you a kiss right back.

You love being on my chest, and you will be calmed down most of the time when you are there. You are starting to want to move your head more though, and when you can't turn your head to the right you get very frustrated and start to scream so I often have to move you to a position on your back instead.

You have the most ADORABLE sounds in the entire world. You are starting to coo to us when we feed you or talk to you, and when we put you down for bed each night you make a chuckling sound. It's so cute, and we desperately need to capture it on tape so you can hear it when you are older.

You make the best faces ever. I could easily stare at you for 24 hours a day just to watch the faces you make when awake and in your sleep. You stretch so often and with each stretch comes a different face.

You hate bath time. You seriously do. You scream and scream as if we were torturing you each time we have to give you a bath. It makes me feel terrible, but I have to make sure you are clean!!

And last on this list, you are the best snuggler ever. I love just holding you and watching you drift off into sleep. You tend to fight falling asleep so holding you helps to calm you down. Once you fall asleep, you go limp and I pull you into my chest tightly and just hold you for hours. You often make little sighs that melt my heart, and while you sleep I usually give you dozens of kisses on your forehead and cheeks.

Little girl, you are the miracle I never thought I would be blessed enough to receive. Every day with you is a blessing, and I try to enjoy each second as fully as possible because I know it will be gone too quickly. I love you more than life itself, and I can't wait to see what this next month brings.

Love, Mom