Motherhood

Our lives were forever changed when our little miss Hailey was born on June 9.  She turns 7 weeks old today!  She has been nothing short of a blessing to me, Rian, and both of our families.  She is such a sweet baby.  As I write this, she just slept for 8 glorious hours through the night!!  And this is the 7th day in a row she has done this, so I think it MIGHT be safe to say she is sleeping through the night!  Which makes mommy very happy :)

I just can't get over how good she is.  From the moment we got her home she has been a great eater and great sleeper.  In the beginning, we had some rough nights trying to get her to go to sleep (and stay asleep!) but eventually we developed a routine that has worked for all 3 of us.  She has a special little swaddling outfit she wears at night over her jammies (its called the Woombie) and once she has that on, she knows its bedtime!  Plus, she is very awake and alert during the day and never sleeps for more than an hour at a time during the daytime, which I also think makes her more tired and ready for nighttime.

As for her development, she makes great eye contact with Rian and I and is able to follow toys that we shake in front of her and from side to side.  She hasn't quite grasped the concept of holding toys and playing with them herself, but that will come with time.  Every day we put her on her playmat where she is just mesmerized by the colors and sounds around her.  She is wide eyed a lot of the time and just taking in her surroundings.  She is great at holding her head up, too.  The next thing we are working on is sounds.  She is starting to coo a little bit and make some sounds other than crying! :)  Stayed tuned on that one...

Physically, she is on the upper end of the spectrum, measuring in the 92nd percentile for length and 87th percentile for weight.  These stats are from her 1 month checkup, so I'm interested to see how they've changed at her 2 month checkup on August 10.  I think the length measurement is incorrect just judging by the way they measured her at the appointment - it just looked off to me - plus it meant that she grew 2 whole inches in her first month of life (from 20.5 inches at birth to 22.5 inches at her 1 month checkup) and I just find that hard to believe!  Neither Rian or I are tall people (nor is anyone in our families!).

Motherhood has gotten better and better each day, and I really feel like I'm bonding with her and getting to know her really well.  She is just so sweet and innocent and it gives me the best feeling in the world to be able to take care of her.  Rian is an amazing father - I definitely could not do this without him.  He is so good with her with his silly voices and loving snuggles!  Hailey has certainly changed our lives for the better and we just can't wait to watch her grow up.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past 7 weeks: