Trying to explain Esther's age to the kids has been a bit interesting. A lady at church asked Trey how old his baby sister was and he responded, "zero years old." While that is technically true, it was quite humorous for the adults in the conversation. Esther turned one month old last Thursday.
She has made a very smooth transition into our family. It helps that she sleeps 16-20 hours a day! The big kids have rolled with the punches as they got used to a new family member, many visitors/ overnight guests and learning a new routine. We are almost 5 weeks into being a family of five and I am really pleased with how settled life is and that it is not just "survival mode" anymore.
Esther's favorite place to be is the swing. She loves movement and will happily swing and look at the mobile while I fix dinner or move a load of laundry. Esther loves to look at faces and she loves to be held so she can clearly see your face. She wasn't a fan of the paci at first, but now she happily accepts the soothie pacifiers anytime she starts to fuss. She has had some fussy evenings if she gets overly tired, but for the most part she is a very easy baby.
The easiest part of this newborn phase has been sleep. I have never had a baby that was a "good" sleeper. Trey and Charlotte woke up like clockwork every 3 hours to eat and then would be up and want to be held for hours in the middle of the night. Esther has slept in her bassinet or rock n play without any issues every night. The first two weeks I would feed her at 8 or 9 and go to sleep while Jay stayed with her until about 11 and then he would bring her up to bed. This helped me to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. The past 2 weeks she has been going to sleep between 9:30 and 10:30 at night and will sleep a good 5-6 hours straight (one time 6 1/2 hours!) and then eat and go back to sleep until 7 am. If you have ever had a newborn in your home, you know how precious sleep can be!
Esther is starting to stay awake longer during the day. I took some photos of her on the day before her one month birthday while her big sister was napping and her big brother was at school.
She has made a very smooth transition into our family. It helps that she sleeps 16-20 hours a day! The big kids have rolled with the punches as they got used to a new family member, many visitors/ overnight guests and learning a new routine. We are almost 5 weeks into being a family of five and I am really pleased with how settled life is and that it is not just "survival mode" anymore.
Esther's favorite place to be is the swing. She loves movement and will happily swing and look at the mobile while I fix dinner or move a load of laundry. Esther loves to look at faces and she loves to be held so she can clearly see your face. She wasn't a fan of the paci at first, but now she happily accepts the soothie pacifiers anytime she starts to fuss. She has had some fussy evenings if she gets overly tired, but for the most part she is a very easy baby.
The easiest part of this newborn phase has been sleep. I have never had a baby that was a "good" sleeper. Trey and Charlotte woke up like clockwork every 3 hours to eat and then would be up and want to be held for hours in the middle of the night. Esther has slept in her bassinet or rock n play without any issues every night. The first two weeks I would feed her at 8 or 9 and go to sleep while Jay stayed with her until about 11 and then he would bring her up to bed. This helped me to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. The past 2 weeks she has been going to sleep between 9:30 and 10:30 at night and will sleep a good 5-6 hours straight (one time 6 1/2 hours!) and then eat and go back to sleep until 7 am. If you have ever had a newborn in your home, you know how precious sleep can be!
Esther is starting to stay awake longer during the day. I took some photos of her on the day before her one month birthday while her big sister was napping and her big brother was at school.
I can't believe how good she sleeps for you!!!! Shiloh ate every three hours like clockwork for MONTHS! Every so often she would give me a longer stretch but by then I wasn't sleeping cause I would awake in a panic that something was wrong! She finally slept through the night around 9 months and only because I forced the issue. I'm sure you feel amazing with her sleeping so well!
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