Hadley's First Month

Yesterday Hadley celebrated her one month birthday. She has been very busy eating and sleeping since we came home from the hospital. Grandma Julie and grandpa Dew stayed with us for her first 10 days to help out so we could get some extra rest. Uncle Corey visited from Utah in her first few days as well as Grandpa Joel. At her first doctors visit her weight came up to about 7 lbs and at her 10 day weight check she was over her birth weight at 7lbs 12 oz!  She has her 1 month well visit next week so I am interested to see how much she has grown. We took trips to the Indy Zoo, shopping, Ally's school, children's museum and a few restaurants this month. Hadley has a much more established routine early on, eating every 2.5-3 hours like clock work. Her sleepy times are mornings and her really hungry times are 8-10pm right before I put her in bed. During the day we spend time on the floor and in her swing and trying to take walks with Ella when the weather cooperates.

Ally loves her sister but at the same time she is still very independent and doesn't pay a ton of attention to her. She likes to touch her hands and kiss her head often. When she does want to talk to her she uses the funniest baby talk voice that cracks us up. The whole concept of nursing has been a little confusing for Ally but I think she has given up on trying to understand the science behind it and just accepts it as 'how babies get milk'. Ella is not too enthused with either sister and spends most of he day asleep on the couch. Having us home really gets her off schedule.

Overall, the second child has been a much more relaxed experience for us. It's hard to tell if that's Hadley's personality or our ability to know what to expect this time around. Here are some of the main differences we have noticed this time around with an infant:

• She nurses like a champ, which is the total opposite of my experince with Ally. Since she nurses until she feels full she then sleeps more which makes everyone happy.
• She rarely lets a wet diaper bother her. Either she really doesn't care or diaper technology has really improved over the last 3 years.
• I'm not as afraid to put her down when she is sleeping. I can get good sleep in two 3 hour stretches at night while she is in her crib and during the day I don't have to stress about putting her down to get a shower in. I am not afraid that every little movement or noise will wake her.
• Both Ally and Hadley seem to be able to sleep through anything. Ally has never woken up at night with Hadley's crying- not that she really does much of that.
• Hadley doesn't freak out while riding in the car. Sometimes she falls asleep but if not, she just looks around and hangs out. She has really only screamed one or two times in the car which is totally different from her sister.

Here are more photos from Hadley's birthday and her first month.