In the past month, our most darling girl has answered to many terms of endearment. Mostly, though, we are so tickled with ourselves for giving her such a beautiful name that we simply call her Scarlett Jane in every instance. Though Texan calls her Sweet Baby Jane quite a lot, and I call her My Baby.
Her smiles have grown more frequent, and she has never shown any sign of being anything but completely healthy. She has met her Maternal and Paternal grandparents--all six of them! And she has also met two out of the three of her great grandmothers, and her only great grandfather. Sadly, my grandpa passed barely a month before she was born. He was so looking forward to meeting her the last time we spoke. She has a Mimi, two Papas, a Nana, Grandpa, Grammy, Grampy, and a Nanny. What a lucky girl.
Two days ago we used our last newborn size diaper, and have a closet full of size 1 courtesy of our friendly Sunday school group. So, we will not be going back to newborn size. It was a bittersweet parting for me. She will never wear that size again. But I can find solace in the fact that the size 1 nappies are so big on her, they go up way past her belly button.
In the past month she has gone to Walmart twice, to Target, to her pediatrician's office twice, and back to the big hospital once for her blood screening. She also attended a superbowl party and a birthday dinner. And last night we had dinner at our friends' house. This sounds like quite a lot. But considering the fact that those are the only time we have left the house in 30 days, I must remember that I have cabin fever. And most days I don't so much as open the front door to breathe in fresh air. She drinks happily from a bottle, and sometimes likes to have her pacifier, which I call a binky. I have no idea why. Although I was scared to give her these, my sister and mother encouraged me. And it has turned out nicely. I even pumped just for the heck of it yesterday, because I know what joy Texan gets from feeding her. The first time he fed her he marveled at the way her eyes remained locked on his for the entirety of the meal. And every time since then, he marvels.
She has been away from me for one prolonged period. I went to get my hair trimmed on Saturday and was gone for about an hour, at most. Texan fed her a couple ounces from a bottle and she was happy in his arms when I returned. He said he felt very confident without me, knowing how good she is with a bottle.
My one anxiety right now is her growth spurt she seems to be going through. Her sleep is all mixed up all of a sudden. And she seems to be starving after just a small amount of sleep. One night she woke every hour, then the next night she woke every two. The past two nights have been better. Except for the fact that last night she stayed awake eating until 1:30! She is usually fast asleep by 11:30. But when I set her down to sleep at her normal hour, her eyes popped open and she cluster-fed for the next two exhausting hours. Now nothing will wake her up. I gave her a bath, which she loved, but since then she has slept. I got her down to nothing but a diaper, and she still slept. It doesn't matter if I'm holding her or not. Diaper change? Forget about it. She wakes up for it, then is out. She is completely oblivious to the world until she is hungry. So I prayed that God would tell me what's best for her. If I need to keep her awake, may he help me to do that. If I need to let her sleep, may He give me peace. Because, He knows that she is loving her sleep right now. If she doesn't perk up soon, I'll just go to bed with her. I did sleep for about half an hour with her around 6 o'clock tonight. She's an evening napper, so lets hope she doesn't go too far into the night then keep me up late again. Yes, so it seems I am blessed that the only stress I have is whether or not she is sleeping the correct amount. How nice for me.
The weather is supposed to warm up this weekend, so I am planning a walking trip. It will be Scarlett's first outing in a stroller. I want to go to the nearby trails with friends and walk off some calories. Five weeks seems long enough to wait for that, and I'll wait another week before getting back to running and doing whatever new workout craze dvd my friend has discovered. Lately it's something called T25 by the guy who brought us the insanity workout. I have 11 pounds to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I am excited to lift weights again and most of all, zip up my jeans without being uncomfortable. Well, at least they are zipped. I am so looking forward to Spring. Last Spring I remember sitting in the yard in our lush, green grass throwing a ball for the dogs and studying for my teacher certification test. This Spring I plan on getting lots of fresh air with Scarlett and shaking off this dust I feel I have accumulated from being indoors for what seems like the entire winter. And what a damp and dreary one it has been lately. I will part with a picture of my one-month old. Here she is in her crib after her bath. She was shivering and fussing, the poor tiny girl. So I wrapped her up tight and found my happy girl again. Texan's boss got her the blanket with matching elephant-blankie thing in the picture. I don't know what it's called. It's body is a blanket. And I pretend that she loves it or even knows what it is at all.
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