1 month!

Linley is already one month old!  And she's doing really well.  I'm guessing she is close to 10 lbs by now and she is really filling out.  Her face is quite round and she's got a good double chin.  The longer hair on the top of her head is about 2 inches long and still light brown and straight.  She's got lots of little red bumps on her face (baby acne) and kind of splotchy skin sometimes, but for the most part it's a nice olive color similar to Cora's at her age.  Linley's arms and thighs are getting chunky and her belly is quite round.  She still is wearing some newborn size clothes, mostly pants, but shirts are into the 3 month size.  Neil and I were talking about how Cora was always behind on the clothes sizes, so when she was 6 months old she was still wearing 3 month clothes and when she was 9 months old she was still wearing 6 month clothes.  Which means that Linley is already way ahead of where Cora was with the clothes.  Looking back at pictures I'm seeing that Cora was wearing the same things Linley is now at least a month later.  In any case, we can say she is doing well gaining weight and growing!

Her schedule is somewhat irregular still, but the other night she went 7.5 hours between feedings at night!  That 5.5 hour chunk of sleep was heaven for me and the longest I've had in the last month.  But normally she is eating every 2-3 hours during the day and then doing 2 longer chunks of 4-5 hours at night.  However, she also had one night where she ate pretty much constantly from about 4:30pm until 1am without sleeping more than 30 minutes at a time.  So that wasn't fun.  Mostly it's pretty good with one feeding at night, which I can definitely handle.

On days Cora goes to school, which has been Monday through Thursday mostly, our typical day looks something like this.  Linley has been eating typically 1-2 times in the night, usually around 2-4am and then she wakes up 7-8am.  Neil has gotten up with Cora around 7am and then leaves for work around 7:30-8 once I'm awake.  After feeding Linley I finish getting Cora ready for school and we pack up and leave the house sometime between 8:30-9am and drop Cora at school.  Linley usually falls asleep in the car and stays asleep until 10:30-11.  I either take a quick nap when we get back home or pump milk to store or do some things around the house before she wakes up.  Sometimes Linley will fall back asleep after eating or be awake for a little while.  She'll eat every 2-3 hours or so during the day and be awake for up to 1 to 1.5 hours.  She likes to look around and focus on faces and look at windows and lights.  She likes lying on her play mat and batting at the rings and animals.  She has just in the last few days started to give little smiles when she sees us and we talk to her up close.  She will typically take another good long nap in the afternoon for a couple hours before eating around 4:30-5pm again.  Neil and Cora get home and we make dinner and talk about our day.  Cora is super talkative these days and barely lets us get a word in.  Linley often takes another little nap in the evening while we start with Cora's bedtime routine.  I try to have Linley eat one last time around 7:30-8pm and then get her to sleep for a longer night time sleep.  Cora falls asleep between 8-8:30pm and I try to be asleep by 9-9:30.  And then we do it all over again! 

When Cora was this age she was sleeping all the time and was not difficult to get to fall asleep.  However, Linley is a bit different and sometimes wants to stay awake and has a harder time falling asleep, even if she is really tired.  She loves lying against my chest and having her back patted and often wakes up when I lay her down. I don't mind holding her if it's during the day, but when it's 10 at night and I'm exhausted it's a bit different.  I've got to lay her down in order to sleep myself!  But I was telling Neil the other day that I know I'm going to blink and wake up one day and the girls will be in their 20s and I will be sleeping as much as I want.  I'm just trying to enjoy every day as it is and I know it won't last forever.

Cora loves her little sister and has adjusted quite well to having her around.  It's hilarious because Cora can't quite say her L's and so when she says her sister's name it comes out sounding like Yin-yi Kin instead of Linley Quinn.  But she sure does lover her baby sister!

Here are some photos of one month: