one month

Little Everett, you are now one month old.  All in all, we'd call you an easier baby than Lena was at this age.  You cry a lot less than she did.  You also sleep a whole lot more.  Yes, you spend the majority of your 24 hours per day sleeping.  You generally sleep when you're supposed to at night, though some nights are tough when you have trouble sleeping without our repeated assistance.  But aside from the first few days of your life, you recognize that it is time to sleep during the night.  After you wake up in the morning, you're up for a little while before taking a short nap mid-morning, then waking up for a little while longer, and then in the early afternoon you take your major nap which seems strange to even call a nap when it can last up to five or six hours!  You get up again, take another short nap, get up for one last time, and then it's time to go to bed like the rest of us.  And even when you're up, you do not like too much stimulation - you'd rather just be held or walked around or held up looking at our faces.  We try putting you on the activity mat or showing you pictures in books but you do not like them so much.

Around the one month mark, you started to pay a little more attention to the world around you, looking around, looking toward faces and voices, etc.  It is as if you are a little bear who has finally coming out of hibernation.

You sleep in our bedroom in the bassinet and I always want to call you Grunty because you're so often grunting, when you're sleeping, eating, etc.

As far as experiences, you had your first Christmas and your first New Year's - you slept through the majority of the festivities.  You went on your first trolley ride when we went to Winterfest at the Connecticut Trolley Museum.  You've been to the mall a couple times as well as the grocery store a few times.  Not surprisingly, you generally sleep during all outings.

Lena has been adjusting well to your presence.  She has been very patient when we give you our attention.  She is also genuinely interested in you and talks to you and tries to play with you.  She also likes to help us with you by bringing things we ask for, throwing out diapers, rocking you, etc.  There are times when she gets annoyed with you of course and instances where she pats you not so gently, but these occurrences are far less than we had expected with the change you have brought and we feel very fortunate.

You do not seem to like being in the carseat or being in the car.  As I mentioned, you do not like too much in the way of stimulation.  As for likes, there's certainly sleeping.  You also like baths and being held and when I sing to you.

All in all, we are happy to have survived the first month as a family of four and found it far easier than Lena's first month of life.  We look forward to month two as we are starting to see the beginnings of a personality emerge.

by comparison - Lena's first month