Let's see if I can recall all the many things you have accomplished in the most recent month of your life! You are now holding your head up quite well, steady for several seconds before head-butting me in the shoulder. You look around, make eye contact with us, and follow with your eyes when we walk away. You usually turn your head when you hear our voices, but it sometimes takes a few seconds if you are looking at something really interesting (like our ceiling fan!). When we put you down on your belly, you often immediately push yourself up with your arms. We like to say that you can probably do more pushups than both your parents put together! Also, when we put you in your crib on your belly, you quickly and easily rotate until you are completely sideways. But only to the left; dadda says you are not an ambi-turner yet.
You eat like a champ, as evidenced by your consistent, chart-topping weight gain. I just moved you up to the small diaper covers today, as the x-small were getting tight - so no surprise when they weighed you at the doctor's office and said you are 12 lb 9 oz! That's the 90th percentile. Your length is 24 1/2 inches, which doesn't even get a percentile but is referred to as "high". Your head remains dainty at about 15 3/4 inches, the 80th percentile. The doctor says your height could still slow down, and we will know at 15-18 months whether you are really cut out to be tall like a Pearce or average like....well, me.
In other cuteness, you have found your fist and love to suck on it when your Nuk falls out. This is a great relief to your dadda and I, who have made endless, countless, numerous trips back and forth to your room to replace your Nuk when you're trying to fall asleep. Praise the Lord for this development! You are sleeping well through the night for a good 6-7 hours, waking around 6 or 7 to eat, depending on when you went to bed. We recently started a bedtime routine of nursing, praying, and singing with you. When I pray with you, I often get tears in my eyes because the moment is so precious. We prayed together for the people of Japan after the massive earthquake, and I cried then, too. I think we will add some reading soon to the bedtime routine, since you have so many wonderful books to get started on! The doctor said it is important for us to read to you even now. I wonder which book will be your favorite?
You have grown more accustomed to diaper changes and are often quite content while I change you. We have a silly little song that I sometimes sing while I am snapping up your clothes. I hope you find it amusing when you can understand it! Bathtime is hit or miss; you have had content baths, and others where you screamed the whole time. However. I recently discovered that you hide spit-up behind your ears (gross!!) and today at the doctor's office, I found more in your arm pits (embarrassing!). If you're going to be so yucky, than I am going to have to step up the bathing game.
It is so fun to watch you discover the world. Your eyes are so busy, and I can just see the wheels turning in your head as you soak up all the visual information you can. You are also getting more snuggly. My favorite time is getting you up in the morning, when you are not quite awake. You snuggle into my shoulder as you start to wiggle. Then, when we sit down to nurse, you stretch your whole body, arms up, and scrunch your face as you wake up. Then you are ready to chow down! Sometimes you eat for a few minutes with your eyes closed before you stretch and wake up. And when you are full, you stop nursing with a huge smile on your face, looking up at me with (I'm sure) great gratitude.
One last thing I'll blog about: you got some of your first vaccines today! We did cave in on the Hep B vaccine at your one-month visit, but today I went armed with information and a request to spread your vaccines out a little bit. I talked with the doctor about our concerns with the aluminum content of infant vaccines, and she was surprised - apparently I was the first momma to raise this concern to her. But we have read that the FDA has guidelines for how much aluminum adults should not exceed in vaccines and IV's (an amount per blood volume), and the amount that infants often get in their rounds of vaccines is many times that limit (for their tiny blood volume). There is no FDA stance on aluminum in infant vaccines. So we requested to get DTaP and Rotovirus vaccines today, and the doctor talked me into the HIB as well to protect against meningitis, since that one has no aluminum. She promised to research the topic of aluminum in infants to see if anything has come out since wht we read.
I am curious to know if any readers out there are familiar with this issue? Basically, infants easily get enough aluminum to reach toxic levels, but nobody has researched whether that's actually harmful or not. It might be fine. But we just don't know. And unfortunately, research on prenatal and infant medical interventions often comes long after the treatments have been used for many years. The book we read blames Big Pharma, since policy often follows the money. Either way, we are interested to know if any research has been done on this issue to determine whether the aluminum is safe or of concern. We're lucky to have a pediatrician who is open to spacing the vaccines and wants to learn more about the issue herself.
Well, if I can sum up a month of your life in one blog post, I think I've just done so. It seems there is a new milestone every time we turn around, from smiles to eye contact to developing muscle strength. We can't wait for the next thing, and to get to know you as your personality continues to emerge! We love you so much, little girl. Thank God that you continue to be healthy and happy - may it always be so.
SDG!
