Rose Family: Emmeline at 1 Month

The first month with Emmeline was a mix of wonderful, miserable, amazing, sleeplessness, and sweetness. It was such a hard month. There were so many new things: being a mom, breastfeeding, labor recovery, hormones, and more. But by the close of the month things started to come together, I was feeling so much better myself and I was able to enjoy Emmeline more. I do hope that with the next baby, I will be able to cherish those first few weeks more than I did this time, because like everyone says, they do grow so quickly. I already miss holding and snuggling with a newborn baby.

It was hard to put in so much time and energy into caring for a little human being without affirmation of their love in return. Which is why I think I started enjoying Emmeline so much more when she started to smile. Each and every little smile made it all worth it, it was like she was saying, "Thanks mom," or "I love you too."

Emmeline's Accomplishments and quirks:

Emmeline is starting to smile. You have to work for them, but they're there.
Tolerates tummy time, though only if in her boppy
Will sleep through the night (about 6 hours) if in bed with mom and dad. We just wish she would do it in her own bed, lol.
Wants to be held all. the. time. The most she will tolerate is about 10-15 minutes in her swing or bouncer chair.
Loves looking at her swing's mobile.
Loves to look around, light fixtures are the most fascinating thing.
Hates, hates, hates her arms to be swaddled. If we do swaddle them, she will fight it until she's gotten them free.
She is a screamer.
Likes bath time, as long as the water is warm enough. I finally figured out that the reason she hated baths so much at first was because she was cold. I don't know where they got the idea that newborns only like lukewarm water...
Doesn't like the crib or bassinet, and won't sleep in them. In fact if we need to wake her up we put her down in one of them.
Unfortunately around 3 weeks old she started to get baby acne pretty bad.
While Eric was still home from work, we would take turns sleeping with her on the couch.
Has the cutest yawns that take up her whole face. We find them terribly cute and hilarious. Unfortunately, it is impossible to capture the yawns on camera.
Has no problem switching back and forth between breastfeeding and bottle feeding--which I love!
When we burp her, she slumps over into a little ball.
Holds up her own head. Even from birth Emmeline has had a lot of muscle control.
Stretches for about 5 minutes after she wakes up from a nap, but stretches for about 10 minutes when we she sleeps in her carseat.