Dear Silvia: 1 Month

A high school friend (and fellow blogger) has made a tradition of writing monthly blog "letters" to her 2 boys to help document their many milestones. I love reading these posts and think its such a neat idea, so I'm going to copy her! :)

Dear Silvia,

You've officially been in our lives for over a month! Your Dad and I cannot even imagine or remember what our lives were like without you. 

You are such a good little lady! You started smiling at around 2.5 weeks and I know that people say that it must just be gas, but we strongly disagree! One of the first times you smiled was when your Dad and I sang "Silvie Lou" (to the tune of  "Peggy Sue") to you. You LOVED it and gifted us with many big,  gummy smiles which is why we continue to sing that song around the house all the time!

You are extremely active and alert. Again, all parents say it about their babies but little girl, you are advanced! When you are awake, you are WIDE awake (and have been since we brought you home). You love to be held facing out and will scan the room and follow the action. Your neck is pretty darn strong and you lift your head proudly when doing "tummy time". When held, you "stand up" by pushing off with your skinny little legs. As Nana always tells you, "Go ahead and be a baby, Silvie. You don't have to stand like a big girl just yet." It's true. Although we're so proud of your new tricks, we really don't want you to grow up too fast!

You're a good eater (no surprise) and have been since day one. The first couple weeks you gained weight slowly and it scared your Mama, but since then you've been an overachiever in that department. The last two weeks you've gained 9 ounces and 10 ounces, respectively. At 4.5 weeks, you weighed in at 8 pounds 13 ounces (just under the 50th percentile). Not bad!

You're pretty good to your Mama and Dad when it comes to bed time. Your nights start at odd times, but you give us anywhere from 3-5 hours of sleep at a time (and we thank you for that!). You definitely get all your sleep in stretches, as you're awake for much of the day with only cat naps throughout.

During our days together, we like to go out and about. You're pretty adaptable to new people and settings, but really don't like car rides...which makes it hard to go out and about! We've learned to pack you up while you're napping and "trick" you into sleeping the whole car ride. We're figuring this whole parenthood thing out slowly each day!

Bathtime is hit or miss...sometimes you love soaking in your little "hot tub" and sometimes you act like its the worst thing ever. Regardless, we continue to bathe you ever couple/few days of course!

On Father's Day, you had your first bottle and your Dad was thrilled to be the one to give it to you. You took it like a champ!

You and I definitely have a bond. I never stop kissing you and you love to be in my arms. I can't complain and you're a smart girl (you know who feeds you 99% of the time)! Your Dad sings to you and tells you all kinds of stories and you sit so nicely on his lap to listen when he gets home from work. We send Dad a million texts and picture messages each day to help his work days go faster, so he can rush home to us. He simply adores you and I love watching it. You're pretty lucky to have such a great Dad, Silvie!

Nearly everyone says you look like your Dad and I'm ok with that. I think he's cute...that's why I married him! I absolutely love that you have his reddish hair and long eyelashes. I do hear that you have my eyes, but we'll see what color they end up being before we know for sure. Because you're so long, many people comment on how lean you look, but we can see your cheeks filling out and know that soon enough you'll have a round belly to match!

Ok, I sure rambled on, but a lot of exciting things have happened in the last month. We look forward to seeing what next month holds!

We love you more than we ever knew possible,

Mama & Dad