5 weeks!

Our baby is five weeks old! At her doctor's appointment this week, she weighed in at 11 pounds, 4 ounces and measured 23 inches long. That's 97th percentile in both areas. What a big girl!

She is a great eater and a great sleeper and is just a sweet, sweet baby. She has started smiling at us and at herself in the mirror. We get so excited and cheer and clap every time she does it.
We celebrated her one-month birthday with (what else?) a cake!

Fun!

Now that Samantha isn't sleeping 20 hours a day, she has time for some fun! Enjoying her monkey mat! We tried this a few weeks ago, but she would just wail. Now, she'll look at all the toys hanging around her. She's not quite reaching out for the toys yet, but she touches them by accident, and then stares at them until they stop moving.Tummy time! It only lasted for a few minutes, but that's pretty good for only three weeks old!

Reading one of daddy's favorite authors, Mo Willems. We read with her everyday. Hopefully, she'll grow up loving to read.

3 weeks old! And some firsts

I can't believe my little baby girl is three weeks old! She seems to change from day to day. Everyone tells me to enjoy every beautiful moment, because they grow up so fast. That is so true.

Here are some of Samantha's firsts:

First Bath at home:

Okay, this is actually her second bath at home. But it was the first bath where I actually got a picture because she wasn't screaming through the whole ordeal. When do babies start enjoying their baths?

First trip to the farmer's market:

Before Samantha was born, we went to the farmer's market twice a week. We've managed to go once since she's been born. She slept through the whole thing in her red Moby Wrap.

First trip to the zoo:

We went to the zoo to celebrate her friend Ana's first birthday. She got to meet some of mommy and daddy's friends for the first time. She stayed awake long enough to poop in her diaper and have a feeding. Otherwise, she slept through the whole thing, this time in her brown Moby Wrap. She loves her Moby!

Growing!

Samantha had her two-week appointment with Dr. B yesterday. We were worried about her weight gain because she lost so much during the first 3 days of life. Well, Dr. B said she was kicking butt because she gained 13 ounces in 6 days! She's up to 8 pounds, 15 ounces. Not quite back up to her birth weight yet, but she's doing great! She also grew an inch.

She still mostly eats and sleeps all day, although she won't sleep very long unless someone's holding her. We're not into letting her cry herself to sleep. I know there's a whole method out there about letting babies cry it out and it probably works for some, but I just can't. I'd rather hold her. She'll usually nurse herself to sleep, then I'll hold her for about an hour, after that I put her down in the bassinet and she slowly wakes herself up. Then we'll play a little, change her diaper, and start all over again.