Cooing
We have yet to capture this on video, but as of this afternoon Hazel is cooing. She does it while smiling so it’s doubly cute. She is getting so big and changing so much every day. We recently bought a tummy time mat that has all sorts of little toys to get her to try and lift her head more. She really seems to like looking in the little mirror on the mat and she is getting better and better at lifting her head and pushing up with her arms. We are afraid that once she gets the hang of pushing herself up with her arms she will be crawling- her little legs push her forward even without her arms!!
We haven’t been very good about uploading pictures lately, mostly because life with a new baby is fairly hectic and finding the time to upload the photos has been hard. Tomorrow Hazel and I are going to be hanging out at home and we have nothing planned, so barring extreme fussiness we should be doing a substantial photo and video upload. I’ve got my fingers crossed that we will catch the cooing on video!
Filed under Pregnancy by esther | Comment (0)Sleep
This week has been one of incredible change in the Benoit household. Hazel suddenly went from sleeping 3-4 hours in a stretch at night to sleeping 4-7 hours in a stretch at night. This all started around Tuesday of last week- Hazel started sleeping slightly longer during her first stretch of the night, from around 10 until 2:30 in the morning. This was a huge change compared to where she was a few weeks ago when she was consistently sleeping in three hour spurts throughout the night, and in 1-2 hour stretches during the day. I thought this was enough of an improvement, but Friday night we were in for a real treat. Seven hours of sleep. No joke. We put Hazel to bed after much rocking and feeding and soothing- at 10:45 pm Friday night. The next morning I woke to find the sun was coming up, and it was the first time I’d been up all night- 5:45 am. I cannot describe how absolutely decadent it was to sleep for longer than 4 hours at a time.
We thought it was just a fluke, but last night, despite having our evening routine slightly upended by a date night that lasted longer than we had planned, Hazel did a repeat performance of her great sleep feat- it wasn’t 7 hours, but she slept a solid 5 hours, from 10:15-3:15 and then another stretch from 3:30 until nearly 8. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high about getting this kind of sleep consistently, but I can’t deny that I’m excited that this kind of sleep is at least a possibility now. We learned from our pediatrician that sleeping for long periods of time is related to the baby’s weight- once a baby reaches 11-12 pounds they are able to sleep for 6-8 hours at a time. Before reaching that magic weight they wake up more frequently, most likely an evolutionary mechanism that ensures that babies get nice and big and chubby before they start sleeping the night away! I whole-heartedly believe that size has something to do with Hazel’s latest sleeping habits. We plan to take some pictures today that we hope to post this week to show just how big she’s gotten. I’m sure she’s already 10 pounds, if not close to 11. Here is a video shot recently that shows how much she has changed in just a few short weeks.
Growing from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Becoming a Parent
It has been an incredible month and a half with our little girl, and it’s hard to believe she has been here nearly 6 weeks. In the past 6 weeks we’ve learned quite a bit about becoming parents, but even more about ourselves. I was surprised just how difficult those first weeks were. I expected them to be trying, but I was astounded at just what an adjustment it was to get to know our daughter. Six weeks later I feel like we are just starting to really get the hang of things. It seems that the first few weeks you just fake it ’til you make it- you can read all the books in the world and get all the well-meaning advice friends and family have to offer, but until you are “in it” with your own baby, you don’t realize what a challenge it is. I think a good bit of it is learning what your baby needs, and not in the general sense of - all babies need to be fed, changed and loved- but in the sense that each baby is an individual and responds to different things. All of the things we’ve read about in books and all of the tips we’ve gotten from other parents have been a trial and error process- we’ve tried them out, some successfully, others not. Now, 6 weeks in, we’re starting to see that a great deal of this parenting business is trial and error!
Hazel is changing so much day by day. Just last week she started to smile in response to silly facial expressions. This week she smiles at us when we go to get her from her crib in the morning. She is cooing, oohing, and ahhing nearly all the time and she absolutely loves her swing now. She sits in her swing and watches the mobile and just smiles and smiles away. We’ve also recently learned that Hazel loves to look around at the world- she doesn’t like to be held cradled in your arms like a baby, but instead much prefers being held over your shoulder with her arms and head free to move around. When she gets fussy- 90% of the time all we have to do is throw her over our shoulder and walk around so that she can take in all that is going on around her.
Sleep has gotten a bit better in the past week. Our longest stretch has still only been 5 hours at a time, but those 5 hours seem to be happening much more consistently. The past two nights she’s slept for a 4-5 hour stretch followed by another 2-3 hour stretch. This is a huge improvement over where we were just two weeks ago (up every 2-3 hours 24 hours a day!).
All in all I feel like we are settling into parenthood. Every day we seem to learn more about Hazel, each other and about ourselves. I never knew just how amazing this experience could be!
Daddy’s Little Girl
Today marks the ninth day of work for Jered. I had to work all weekend due to a botched upgrade, which means I have missed my weekend Hazel fix. Since I have gone back to work, I get to see Hazel when she is her alter ego Gremlina. (A derivative gremlin). She is always loved, but not always lovable. That is generally true when she is fussy after a long day.
Recently, however, she has been a dream, actually a joy to come home to. She smiles, she sleeps through the night. We are reading cues much better, and we are having better success in keeping her a happy baby.
The fact that she smiles at my goofy faces and funny voices, that means she. Is definately her Daddy’s little girl.
Picture Post
Tonight we are going to try a picture post of a different variety- a little slide show of some of the photos taken during the first 5 weeks of Hazel’s life. We hope you enjoy them!
Hazel is smiling and cooing up a storm- I hope I’ll get the chance to write a substantive post to update you all on how much she is changing soon.
Isn’t She Lovely from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Hazel in her swing
I’m hoping this will be one of two posts today- I uploaded this to youtube yesterday but it wasn’t ready before I went to bed- so I’m posting it early this morning. This is a video of Hazel enjoying her swing- lately she is really really loving it. I think every new parent should have a swing or a bouncy seat- without it our arms would fall off and I would literally never get anything done, nor would I ever be able to eat lunch during the day!
Filed under Pregnancy by esther | Comment (1)Hazel’s First Bath
As promised, here is another video- this one of Hazel’s first bath a few weeks ago. I didn’t post a video yesterday so I’m going to try and post another one tonight if I have time.
Hazel has started smiling the past few days and we just love it- we have caught her smile on camera a few times and hope to post those videos soon- when you see those first smiles it makes all the late nights totally worth it!
Filed under Pregnancy by esther | Comment (1)New videos of Hazel
Today begins what I hope will be one week of new video posts. I plan to post a new video or two of Hazel every day for the next 7 days. Check back often!
Hazel and Grammy from esther benoit on Vimeo.
One Month Eve
Tonight is the Eve of Hazel’s one month birthday. Four weeks ago we were in the hospital trying to get Hazel to come out- now she’s here and we’re all getting to know each other better every day.
We had a nice visit with Grammy and Grampy Benoit, followed by one more weekend before Jered had to go back to work. Monday was Jered’s first day back at work since Hazel’s birth. Our time at home has been challenging, but fun all at once. Hazel seems to be going through yet another growth spurt- she eats almost constantly and has been sleeping very little the past few days. We are hoping that it is almost over and that she will start sleeping well again soon!
It’s amazing how much babies change from week to week. This week Hazel is turning her head from side to side when she lays on her stomach. She is also staying awake for longer periods of time during the day- in fact, we are lucky when she takes a two hour nap during the day, whereas she used to take at least a couple every day!
We’ve settled into a bit of a routine at home now that Jered is back at work. We wake up- sometimes around 7 am, other times around 9, it all depends on when Hazel decides she is done sleeping for the morning. I usually feed her and then take advantage of her quiet and alert time and put her in the vibrating bouncy seat so that I can take a shower and get ready for the day. Once we go downstairs we usually do a little tummy time and then a bit of time in the swing while I make breakfast. Usually by then she’s ready to eat (again!). She eats while I have my breakfast, and then usually gets pretty sleepy (but not lately!). This general pattern of eat- play- eat- nap, repeats itself until Jered gets home. We are both looking forward to Hazel sleeping through the night, we’re both worn out! Keep us in your thoughts as we hope for our first night of 6+ hours of sleep!
And finally (because I like all my posts to have pictures)- here is a picture of Hazel taken one week ago. Tomorrow we will take pictures of her at one month- and maybe even take a little video!
Picture Updates!
We’ve just uploaded over 20 new pictures to our flickr account. You can check them out- at our flickr site. Here’s a preview for everyone- Hazel in the bow that Grammy bought her. Enjoy!
