Leah's One Month Checkup

I took Leah in for her one month checkup today. The pediatrician said that she had no concerns and that Leah looks to be a very healthy baby. Leah has had a blocked tear duct since birth, and as a result has crusty goop in her eye all the time. That could take several months to clear up, but is nothing to be concerned about. She has also already had two colds (one from hospital visitors, one from the boys) but her lungs and ears are fine.

Her stats are as follows:
Height: 21 1/4 inches
Weight: 9 lbs
She is in the 50th percentile for each.

Christmas Holidays 2007

Christmas was its usual superlative self. We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas Eve dinner, which was quite an elegant affair. After dinner we went to Hagerstown to celebrate and exchange gifts with the Spichers. The kids got some awesome gifts from their great-grandparents. They really know their toys!

Christmas morning we opened stockings and presents. The kids were nearly schizophrenic with glee; they would open a gift, play with it for a minute, and then immediately start looking around for a new gift. Avery was quite the little helper: he was able to find gifts with his, Zach's, and Leah's names on them and hand them out to the correct person.

Gifts were followed by a brunch that was unfortunately rushed; we were scheduled to be at my Uncle Scott's by 2pm. There is never enough time on Christmas day; I wish it were 48 hours long instead of 24. When we arrived at Scott's, dinner was almost over. Everyone wanted to meet Leah, so it was probably for the best. We got to see all the usual immediate family members, along with my Aunt Leslie, Uncle Pete, cousin Lee, and Grandee.

Things Not to Do at Night

We hit a small snag with Leah last night.

When Leah was first learning to nurse in the hospital, she was rather aggressive and did some damage to Sara's nipples. Since nursing is her only source of food, and occurs 5-8 times a day, there hasn't been much opportunity for Sara to heal. One breast has become increasingly painful every day.

Things finally came to a head last night, just after midnight, when Sara decided she needed to pump on one side for a few days. Here's the rub: we knew where the breast pump was, but had "hidden" all of our baby bottles and nipples. So, there was a rather frantic 1 to 2 AM ransacking of the house on my part to locate the missing pieces.

One silver lining: Leah nursed on the bottle like a champ on her very first try, and again this morning. It took only about half as long as nursing, and didn't to make her gassy or spit up.

Leah's First Week

I know it's trite, but isn't she just perfect?

Leah is shaping up to be more like baby Avery than baby Zachary, at least when it comes to sleeping. He hated being in the crib, and so does she. We are able to get her to sleep in the swing, the bouncy seat, the car seat, and anywhere else that is inclined (like Eli's shoulder).

As you can see in the pictures, we have been keeping Leah pretty tightly swaddled. Eli picked up some pointers from the nurses this time around on how to really get the swaddling tight. She sleeps better, and longer, when wrapped up tight.