Juliet 4 weeks!

I cannot believe Juliet is 4 weeks old! It has flown by and dragged on all at the same time. I've said it once and I'll say it a thousand more times- the newborn phase is not my favorite. For the first week, I got it, why people say they just looooove the newborn stage. She was a sleepy little love bug. But around day 10 she *woke up* and was no longer the 'bring her everywhere- she'll just sleep the whole time' sort of babe. She's still pretty awesome, but I think a bit more 'normal/textbook' than a unicorn angel baby. At least she gave us a little grace period! 

One thing is for sure- she's way easier than her spirited big brother was (read his 4 week post here- actually a lot of similarities)  so at least we can keep it in perspective when she's boycotting naps but keeping a fairly good attitude. It's just hard finding a balance. Since she's resisting naps on the go, I'm trying to go ahead and get her into a routine at home and that leads to me feeling pretty isolated in the nursery as I nurse her and try to put her down for naps for HOURS everyday. I miss Forest and time with Jonathan after 'bedtime'. 

Feast or famine with this girl. Wide awake or dead to the world. 

On Saturday, Juliet went down at 7:30 pm (NEVER happens) and slept straight through a dream feed at 9:30 and THEN slept until 5:15 AM and THEN slept until 8:30 AM. And THEN napped from 9:15-11:30. I know she has it in her! And if that 7:30 bedtime thing could happen, I feel like my marriage would be soooo much better. It was awesome to have her asleep in her bassinet while I got to drink tea and watch a show with Jonathan and my dad. That's generally her fussiest period so I was spending 7-10 every evening in a dark room trying to keep her calm and maybe nod off in my arms for 10 minutes at a time. 

I was worried she'd be hard to put down after the 9:30 feed but she basically slept through the entire thing and didn't make a peep when I put her back down. It was glorious! And I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think that's what makes baby #2 so much easier- you know it gets easier. You know it's a phase. This week has been her wonkiest week of nighttime sleep, but she still 'slept through' (7-9 hours) 3 nights. So I'll try to keep the nap complaints to a minimum especially since she does seem to throw me one solid nap a day and will usually nap in the stroller if I get desperate. 

(she's such a pretty baby!)

We are working on putting her down in her bassinet 'drowsy but awake' and she'll do it after 30 minutes or so but then only sleep for 20 minutes. Gotta start somewhere. I'm nursing her to sleep for at least one nap a day and doing one nap a day in the stroller. 

She's weighing 6 lbs 15 oz and has outgrown her premie clothes. Newborn clothes are fitting ok, but 0-3 months are still a little baggy. I can't wait until she actually fits into them! We basically only have sleepers and onsies in newborn sizes, but all of her cute outfits start at 0-3 month. I couldn't help myself today! 

Juliet's first bow:)

Juliet's first romper:)

No real new milestones this week, except she's really tracking well with her eyes. You can tell she's starting to see a lot more. She reminds me of Forest in that she is just taking in everything around her all the time. Today she even stopped nursing while Jonathan and I had a conversation. I had such problems nursing Forest because he was so distractible! 

She's also smiling much more. It's still hard to catch on camera because she mostly smiles at me- so when I get the phone out to get a snapshot she stops. 

Edited to Add: By the time I published this post, Juliet's nighttime sleep went to crap- waking every 2-3.5 hours. I have no idea what happened but I think I broke my baby! I'm praying it's just a growth spurt and by the time I write her 5 week post we will be back to big chunky uninterrupted nighttime sleep. Please, sweet Jesus! For now I may try to revert back to a 9:30-10 pm bedtime and try to get that long stretch back until she's a little older.