Lydia's 1 Month Old!

Yesterday Lydia turned 1 month old. I can't believe how fast the time is already flying. When I say that she's 4 weeks old (she turned 4 weeks on Friday), it feels like I still have this tiny little newborn. Now when I say that she is 1 month old, it feels like MY BABY IS GROWING UP TOO FAST.

Aside from losing her umbilical cord stump, growing a slight double chin, and being awake a little more often, the last month hasn't resulted in any extreme changes for her. She is doing the usual eating, sleeping, and pooping. She has some bad gassiness (both farting and burping) which can make her absolutely miserable some of the time. But most of the time, unless she is hungry (she often "goes to eleven" quite fast when she wakes up and realizes she is hungry) or getting a diaper change, she doesn't cry all that much. (I suppose I've just listed all the reasons for young babies to cry -- diaper changes, hunger, gassiness . . . so maybe she cries pretty frequently . . .)

But overall, she's a very sweet baby -- especially from my vantage point when she is lying on my lap after she has just nursed.

Is that not the sweetest post-nursing face? 

She reminds me so much of Greta as a baby. I had really expected to have a completely different experience. I feel like most parents talk about how different their two babies were and so I thought I would always be contrasting the two of them as babies. So far, though, it has felt like a total déjà vu of newborn Greta. The circumstances are different, of course -- different birth, different postpartum experience (I still need to update on that), and of course, different family circumstances, since Lydia has a big sister at home and Greta didn't. And I know that they will become more different from each other as they get older -- or will they become more similar, since Lydia will be raised, in part, by Greta? So I am excited to see how Lydia's personality unfolds and how her babyhood will be different from Greta's. 

Poorly-lit selfie with Lydia.

Poorly-lit selfie with Greta. 

One thing she does besides eating, sleeping and pooping is that she has just become a little more alert during the day. I am borrowing a bouncer and she has begun taking a more active interest in looking at the toys and reacting when she accidentally makes one of them move. 

OMG, Hedgehog! Did you see the raccoon move? Did you do that? 

The bouncer also provides her with a safe place from which to interact with her big sister.

It's hard to see here, but Lydia was watching Greta make faces at her. 

Overall, Lydia is "waking up" a little from her newborn stage. Thankfully, though, she still sleeps quite a bit. Last night, she only had one middle-of-the-night feeding. I can't remember whether that is "okay" now at this stage, or if it's an indicator that she's not eating often enough. We'll be heading in to her one-month check-up on Wednesday, so we can find out then. Overall, I'm much less worried about what is "okay" this time -- I guess that's the advantage of being a second-timer.