Chloe Monthly: 1 Month

A few of my favorite photos.  I forgot how much I love newborn photography!! 

A few notable things about Chloe at 1 month:

• Chloe weighs 10lb 7 oz, a pound heavier than at birth!
• Pretty much out of her 0-3 month clothes, and wearing 3 months now
• The day she turned 1 month, she was notably more alert and had a wake period of 2+ hours, which had never happened before!
• Clear skin until now, but the hormones must be kicking in because she's been having breakouts over the last few days.  Good thing I've been taking newborn photos all month ;)
• We've had a few smiles out of her, and one of the first caught on camera at Tatum's birthday party!

Photo Credit: Dianne Shumway

• She has a good latch and my milk is finally regulating.  I am proud to say that breastfeeding is easier/more convenient than bottle feeding, which is a point I never ever reached with Tatum.  
• She gets fussy somewhere between 7-9pm every night.  So I feed her as much as possible, and then wrap her up, put her in her pack n play (in our room, which is working great) and turn on the noise machine.  I'm not sure who loves that thing the most, me, Scott or Chloe!  She wakes to eat around 10pm, sometimes 2-3am, and then at 5am.  She generally sleeps most of the morning while I'm wearing her through the city for T's am activities.
• I've let her cry it out twice now, which really wasn't too painful since the first night was 10 minutes and the second night only 6 minutes!  I am a firm believer that babies can learn to self soothe, and I'm re-reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child which I loved and worked (and still works!) great for Tatum.
• I tried the Moby wrap and although I do like it, my Ergo is just so tried and true!  I have no back pain and its easy to get on and off alone.  I can see why people love the moby, but at this point I'd just as soon wear the Ergo!
• Her big sister always asks if Chloe can come with us on our outings and is quick to tell me when Chloe needs my help!  Yesterday she said "Wow mom, Baby Chloe Paige is going to eat you ALL up!

We all just think Chloe is the best thing ever!  I did not expect to love having a baby around as much as I do! 

A Few Thoughts

Chloe is a MONTH old!  Where on earth has the time gone?!?  I feel like the next few weeks and months will fly by too, and she'll be 6 months before I know it!!  She is really good at eating, and being cute, which are the two main duties of an infant.  Still working on the sleeping bit (I was so spoiled with Tatum!) but I am committed to helping her learn to self soothe.

We are leaving NYC in just over two weeks!  It has really crept up on us. We have loads of packing to do.  I'm still hoping that the next renter in our unit will want to buy a few furniture pieces off of us!

We commuted well over an hour to get to the Bronx zoo. Not because we love the Bronx Zoo, but because we wanted our free Wildlife Conservation passes that let us into the Central Park Zoo, and the Aquarium in Coney Island.  We can use our new IDNYC identification cards to give us access to all these places, free for a year.  But you can only redeem your pass on a printed card given only at the Bronx Zoo.  Scott called the day before to ensure that this was the process and that all was well to redeem our passes.  So after walking, training and bussing, we arrive, approach the gate, and are then notified that the person who does that is at lunch, "Sorry."  Ha!  Yeah right.  We are not waiting with two kids in the hot sun for an hour+ because someone is at lunch.  Scott was fierce from the beginning, "Well luckily there are 8 employees standing around over there, let's call one of them over to print our passes."  Meanwhile I'm murmuring that you catch bees with honey... "Be nice Scott!" One thing led to another and the manager came, saying that the entire zoo, not just this entrance is out of the plastic cards, and there is absolutely nothing they can do to help us.  There are many others in our same situation, travelled far with young kids, but until the order of plastic cards arrives (in a few weeks) they just can't help us.  We specifically asked if any of the other entrances had cards and the manager herself assured us that the entire park was out.  They ran out yesterday.  So they let us into the zoo free for the day, but our whole purpose in going to the zoo was foiled.  At the first exhibit we went to, there was a customer service desk. Scott approached the girl and said "Customer service... maybe you can serve me!  I am trying to get a Wildlife Conservation pass, could you call the other entrances and see if there are any cards available?"  A 30 second phone call later, she had found 3 remaining cards and put them on hold for us.  We ran like crazy people to the opposite entrance and got the passes!  What a thrill! Scott just never lets up and he makes things happen!  Love that man of mine!

I can't believe Scott is a Master!  Really proud of him for all his hard work this past 2 years.  He really comes alive when he is in his field, specifically training and team development-- I am so grateful that he has really found his niche and hope he always loves his profession as much as he does now!  It feels like such a perfect fit for him and for our family.

That's it for now, but I just drafted posts about my thoughts on leaving NYC and a 1 month update on our little Chloe Baby!