The Hartsell Family: 2/17/14 Allison's 1st month!

Allison is one month old. It's hard to believe! She continues to be a good baby fussing when she is tired or hungry and having more and more wake (and quiet!) time. This amazes me because Madelyn was never quiet when she was awake at this age.

She is not as fussy as Madelyn but seems to need to burp more and spit up a little more. Every couple days, she'll spit up all over her outfit but it's only once a day. I think it's after she falls asleep nursing and takes in too much milk without knowing it. She sneezes a lot and hiccups a lot and of course have the loudest bowl movements! I swear it sounds like an explosion. Brian says her poop smells like microwaved butter popcorn so that's nice, I think!

Her umbilical cord fell off at 3.5 weeks old (2/11/14) so she was able to take her first submersion bath on 2/16/14. She took her first bottle when Brian and I left Madelyn and Allison with Aunt Beth while we attending Forty Second Street. She took it like a champ and Juliana was able to help feed her. We gave her a pacifier at 3 weeks old. She took it okay and sometimes seems to like it but other times she doesn't. She has managed to get her thumb in her mouth a few times so we'll see. She doesn't mind waving her hands/arms around as much as Madelyn did so I think she might find her thumb sooner than Madelyn did.

She is a pretty good sleeper waking me up three times a night at first and now down to usually 1-2 times a night. She slept through the night from 8:30 - 6 am for the first time on 2/18/14 but of course I didn't sleep well that night waking up every couple hours wondering when she would wake me up. She sleeps swaddled just like Madelyn did. We moved her out of our room a little before she was two weeks old and we are now sleeping much better. They make so much noise when they sleep. She grunts and squawks like a bird.

She likes to be worn or carried in a carrier especially in the early evenings but she doesn't need it to be soothed like Madelyn did. I love her newborn cry, her stretches and her "milk drunk" face after feeding. She also has looked directly at me and smiled a few times (2/1 & 2/7). It's probably a coincidence but I love it.

Her big sister is so affectionate with her. Always wanting to hold her and running to her when she is crying. She is always saying "want some milk, Allison?" or "it's okay" and she likes to push Allison in the swing (maybe a little to fast)!