The Sling

This afternoon when Mia was a bit fussy after a long nap and we had run out of ideas what to do with her. But then we both thought that it would be a good idea to try the sling we had bought back in November. Since it is pretty cold and wet outside we haven't used it as planned for short shopping runs etc. in the neighborhood but it worked like a charm for calming her down: About one minute after putting her in she was peacefully at sleep:


Something else we noticed the other day when trying to burp Mia was that she can hold up her head for a few seconds:

First Manicure

We could tell that Mia's fingernails had gotten pretty sharp. So it was definitely time to clip her fingernails:


So after a busy afternoon with Mia's first visit to a coffee shop - 20 minutes at Murky's Coffee - and her first visit to a burger joint - 20 minutes at Five Guy's at Courthouse - it was time for her first manicure appoinntment. Ji did a really good job and we don't have to worry about scratches for a few days now

Fashion Update

With a relaxed hospital inspired style of a white shirt, diapers, socks, a hat and a blanket it was easy to pick Mia's outfits in the last few weeks. Only for the occasional outing we had to make a harder fashion choice for a nice suit or jacket.

Now, while she is fast approaching the 10 pound mark her size N (Newborn) outfits become pretty tight as can been seen in last night's picture:

Since we bought Mia's first set of cloths in size "N" and don't have much in a larger size it looks like a little shopping trip for more shirts and some nice suits is just around the corner.

The first bath

After the doctor gave her o.k. for bathing on Thursday we gave it a try today. Mia seemed to have enjoyed it after she was a bit irritated at the beginning. We also have to improve our technique a bit - to make sure that we not get wet ourself for example - before the next bath. But when all was done she looked pretty content:

Good night of sleep

After sleeping about 5 hours at night for a couple of nights now Mia made us scratch our heads this morning at 4:30 am when she was still peacfully at sleep after six hours. She woke up a few minutes later though and was ready for her milk. For one of our friends - who just had a TV appeareance that showed him curling on the icy canals of castle Nymphenburg in Munich: http://heutenacht.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/3/0,1872,1021123_idDispatch:8281009,00.html - that would probably have been enough sleep. We were happy to catch another two hours later

The doctor's visit

On a cold and windy day we had to bundle Mia uo before heading to the doctor's office for a check-upThere we saw the main pediatrician for the first time. She was a nice elderly Indian lady who only comes to the office on two afternoons in a week because she likes to continue her work. She noticed Mia's calm nature and was happy with her - she even cried only for 10 seconds after she got a shot.
Mias was weighted in at 4100 g ( 9 lb 3 oz ) a pretty impressive gain of 800 g in 16 days. So now she reached her ideal weight for her age - she is only still a bit short.

The Big bottle

You might have noticed that Mia has gotten a bit "rounder" in the last couple of weeks
- as is evident in this shot from her "evening swing time" that I just took:



The reason is that she is a pretty good drinker. Just about four weeks ago when she came from the hospital the small bottle on the left was enough and she would drink about 50 ml . Then she slowly made her way to a bigger bottle with a maximum capacity of 125 ml and the last feedings it was almost not enough. So we upgraded her to a even bigger size and she was happy to drink 150 ml this evening.

We find out about her weight at the doctor's tomorrow - two weeks ago it was 3300 g.

The first month

Hard to believe it has already been five weeks since Mia arrived.

Mia is doing great and eats and sleeps well - which are the two top things on a baby's to do list. She also has her active time when she gazes at things and gives us a smile here and there. But then maybe she is just trying another one of her funny faces, who knows

She already changed quite a bit from the first picture we sent out when she was a day old:

But most of the time she is still as peaceful and quite as on this first picture and she doesn't really cry a lot. We are especially happy she has been sleeping 5+ hours for a couple of nights now. Hopefully she will stick to this pattern.

Here a few pictures that were taken in the hospital were she spent her first week

The following picture shows Mia at home - bundled up for a trip to the doctor's office when she was two weeks old

On this picture she is about three weeks old

This is one month old Mia in her swing

and on the changing table