Update on Lily's development

We're keeping the blog as it is for now, but there may be more updates coming soon. Like lots more pictures and videos. For now, here's what has been going on with her first few weeks of life.

Your 1-week-old

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's eyesight is still pretty fuzzy. Babies are born nearsighted and can see things best when they're about 8 to 10 inches away, so she can see your face clearly only when you're holding her close.

Don't worry if your baby doesn't look you right in the eye from the start: Newborns tend to look at your eyebrows, your hairline, or your moving mouth. As she gets to know you in the first month, she'll be more interested in having eye-to-eye exchanges. Studies show that newborns prefer human faces to all other patterns or colors. (High-contrast items, like a checkerboard, are next in line.)

Lily:
On May 14th, Lily weighed in at 9 lbs 3 oz. She was over her birth weight by 9 days. Typically pediatricians like to see babies back to their birth weight by 2-weeks.

Your 2-week-old

How your baby's growing:

Your womb was a warm and cozy environment, and it'll take time for your baby to adjust to the various sights, sounds, and sensations of life outside your body. You may not be able to detect much of a personality just yet, as your baby spends his time moving in and out of several different states of sleepiness, quiet alertness, and active alertness.

The only way your baby knows to communicate is by crying, but you can communicate with him through your voice and your touch. (Your baby can now recognize your voice and pick it out among others.)

Your baby probably loves to be held, caressed, kissed, stroked, massaged, and carried. He may even make an "ah" sound when he hears your voice or sees your face, and he'll be eager to find you in a crowd.

Lily:
She usually likes to be swaddled. Sometimes she fights it but it helps keep her sleeping at night. She loves to be held all of the time. She prefers sleeping in her swing, between mom and dad, on mommy for nap time, and lastly in her crib if she's swaddles and sound asleep when she's laid down.

Your 3-week-old

How your baby's growing:

Babies love and need to suck, so don't discourage it. In fact, you may have discovered that a pacifier works wonders in helping your baby calm down.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends using pacifiers at nap time and bedtime, based on evidence that using a pacifier may reduce the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). When the binky or your finger isn't around, your baby may even be able to find her thumb or fingers to soothe herself.

Lily:
A pacifier sometimes helps when she's trying to go to sleep. She only uses it at night. She still spits it out more than she keeps it in her mouth. We can tell that it does soothe her sometimes but if she's hungry it just makes her angry. She only sucks on her hands when she's hungry. This is one of the sure-fire cues that she wants to eat.

She spent her first night away from home at Grandpa Jim and Bauby Debi's house on Saturday night. She did well and only woke up twice during the night to eat. She didn't seem to notice the unfamiliar surroundings.

Lily is great at holding her head up. She can hold it up for long periods of time and likes to look around. Her favorite book right now is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?" She likes to look at the pictures. I think it's because the illustrations are so simple and there's only two colors on the page (the white background and the colored animal). She will look at the pictures if she's alert. She loves looking at the sky, lights, and out windows.

She had her first bottle of pumped breast milk today (May 29th) a few days shy of 4 weeks. She still prefers getting her milk directly from the tap but she tolerated 2 oz of milk from Daddy while Mommy went to the dentist.