E - 4 Weeks

I had a knitting related post planned, I wanted to break it up a bit from all the baby related posts, but then I completely failed to take a picture of the little hat I made for my friend Ashley's baby, so that post went down the drain.  Perhaps Ashley would be kind enough to take a picture of little Miss Avery in the hat sometime.  But enough of my failings, on to the 4 week birthday of little Evelyn!

Photo by Madison Vining Photography

Somewhat knitting related, who remembers the silvery grey blanket I knit that won first in its category at the fair this year?  Yep, that one that Evelyn is on in the picture above.  Doesn't she look adorable?  Madison Vining took newborn pictures of Evelyn when she was 6 days old.  We had a fantastic time and I love, love, love all the photos.  Madison was a joy to work with and I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a fantastic and patient newborn photographer.

Its already hard to believe she was that tiny.  I loved and treasured the super tiny stage.  I know she is still small, but I can already see the changes in her.  She slept so very well that first week.  Most nights we got at least one 4 - 5 hour stretch of solid sleep.  Great for mommy and daddy!  

 It took a while before she fit into her newborn clothes without them sagging all around her, but once she did I loved buttoning her up in adorable footed sleepers.  She hates getting dressed though and really hates if you want to pull her arms out to put them through sleeves.  But the end result of keeping warm plus being cute is worth the little bit of fussing.  We have her baby einstein play ocean all set up in the living room, but the only thing on it she is sure she loves so far is the mirror.  She finds mirrors fascinating.  I know that pretty soon she will be loving the rest of it and grabbing for all the hanging toys.  For now its mirror time and tummy time on the play ocean.

 On monday the 23rd Evelyn had her first play date with Little Rex.  Rex lives down the street and was born a mere few days before Evelyn on 12/30/11!  Rex is already trying to hit on her, the little snuggler.
Evelyn is excited for more play dates with all of her neighborhood friends.  Today she got to see Rex again as well as Emily, who is a bit older and wiser at 5 months and was pontificating on the ways of the crinkle toy for some time this afternoon.

We love, love, love the nap nanny!  Couldn't live without it.  When she was tiny and slept practically all day every day we just put her in the nap nanny in whatever room we were in.  That way she was always close to us.  At night she sleeps in the pack and play in our room, but during the day it was nice to have her close by.  And the incline seemed to help a lot when she was really stuffy in the beginning.  Riley and Ripley like to hang out near Evelyn and when she is not in the nap nanny they feel the need to keep it warm for her (something we are actually trying to discourage, but they are persistent).  We also love our Sleep Sheep.  We couldn't live without it.  Seriously.  It has helped out so many times when she was only borderline asleep or super fussy and walking alone wasn't doing it.  I highly recommend everyone with a baby own a Sleep Sheep!!

 Evelyn still loves to be swaddled.  I try and keep her unswaddled for a few hours a day so she will stretch and kick and have tummy time and such, but she is really happiest when she is all snug as a bug in a rug.  In fact, for a while I had take to calling her bug because I would tell her when I was getting ready to swaddle her that I was going to make her all snug like a bug.  Now that she is a bit bigger the Swaddle Me blankets that velcro are the absolute best thing.  Its so easy and she doesn't kick out of it like she sometimes does with a regular blanket.  She does still work her hands out of the top sometimes, she just really loves to have both her hands right under her chin.  Especially when she nurses!  She holds her two little hands together and its the sweetest thing.  It melts my heart every time.

This past sunday was baby dedication day at church so Evelyn wore a dress that was mine when I was a baby and an adorable little white bonnet.  She looked so darling.  And once again she was fascinated by her own reflection.

I am still getting up with her for every feeding.  I know eventually I might pump more and surrender a feeding or two to the bottle, but for now I love spending that quiet time with my little girl, even if it is really hard for me to pull myself out of bed sometimes.  Some days I wish I could just lay around all day and cuddle her.  I know that this time will pass so quickly and I want to savor it.  I took her to the doctor's office today just to weigh and she's 8 pounds even today.  She started out at 6 pounds 6 ounces at birth and I can tell the difference!  You won't think that just over a pound and a half would be that significant, but it definitely is.

I love my baby girl and I am enjoying seeing her little personality develop.  Its going to be a wonderful journey.  Now I better get some rest while I can because I know that tonight's portion of the journey will require at least 2 middle of the night feedings!