Our Addie Grace is one month old now. Once again, we can hardly believe how the time is flying! She grows and changes so fast sometimes I can hardly recognize her as the same tiny baby we brought home from the hospital. It seems like just yesterday, and yet I can barely imagine, much less remember, what we did with ourselves before her arrival.
We're settling into a somewhat predicable routine. She gives us two good blocks of uninterrupted sleep most nights, 3-4 hours at a stretch. She rarely cries and when she does it stops as soon as we fix whatever is bothering her (empty belly, full diaper, and not enough attention fixed on her are the usual suspects). She already seems to take a certain delight in life and is happy and content most of the time, adapting quickly and easily to new things, people, and experiences. She shows signs that she will be passionate and enthusiastic about things she enjoys, traits demonstrated especially by her love and gusto for eating and of course her pacifier.
She's had several outings- to the salon in Norfolk (an hour away), to Target (also an hour away), a few doctor appointments, the grocery store, the Rotary Club's annual pancake dinner, the home of a dear couple from our church who invited us for a meal, and of course several trips to the coffee shop. With each of these she's been equally content in her carseat or her stroller. She especially loved the long walk we took yesterday (the first pretty day we've had where the temperature warmed and the sun came out), keeping her eyes open and alertly surveying the world around her for the better part of an hour before settling into sleep.
She's collected a few nicknames in her short time. We often refer to her as Wonderbaby, because she's just so good and sweet and happy and easy. Her Papa Cherry started calling her his Little Bumblebee thanks to a sleeper with a bee on the bum, and that one seems to be sticking as well. Her daddy calls her Ton Ton (Star Wars, anyone?) because of the grunty, whiny sounds she makes while eating. It's pretty fitting. She also gets called Baby Burrito when she's swaddled up for the night. And I often find myself nibbling her cheeks and cooing that she's my little Sugar Bean or Sugar Bear. The bear makes more sense than the bean, obviously, but my mind is weird. And slightly sleep-deprived.
Of course, it's not always perfect either. She has some explosive poopoos from time to time and takes full advantage the second her diaper is removed so she can show them off! There's also the
aforementioned constant worry, which I'm sorry to say I have not yet conquered. But I wouldn't change a single thing about her or this first month of being a mommy. Not for anything in the world.
