1 Month Young: Your First Month

Dear Huck,

You are one month old today!!! It has gone by so fast.  Mommy's a bit sensitive to you growing so fast, which explains the title of this post.

Today you had your one month check-up and as usual you're doing great.  You have continued to grow at lightning speed despite our wishes for you to slow down.  The nurse took all your measurments and you are now 10 pounds and 12 ounces (up 1 pound ll ounces from birth), 23.5 inches long (up 2.5 inches from birth), and your head circumference is 15.5 inches (up .5 inches).  Your measurements are in the 75th percentile for weight and in the 98th percentile for height and head circumference. So basically, you're a big baby.

So now that we've reported your physical measurements, let's talk about the best part, your personality.  You little buddy, are a great baby.  You've had a few crying fits that were for no apparent reason and you've been a bit cranky at times but for the most part you are a very good and happy baby.  You sleep well (you like sleeping on your side most) and save your longest sleep times for night time which we greatly appreciate.  When you are awake you're pretty happy and fairly easy to keep content.  You enjoy being on your belly and you've even rolled from front to back a few times now which is pretty amazing.  You also enjoy your play gym that has lights and sounds, going for walks in the stroller, riding in the car (most of the time), getting baths, and sitting in your swing (sometimes).  You also talk alot and make tons of funny faces.  You've recently started cooing back when someone talks to you.  Daddy just figured out that you love having your hair stroked and you'll usually smile when someone does this for you.  This video is the proof.

You've also hit a few milestones this month.

• You started moving and lifting your head pretty much the moment you were born.  I don't know exactly when the first time you did this was, but I do know it was well before we even left the hospital.
• You grab on to things you get your hands on and often hold on so tight it's actually hard to get whatever it is out of your hand. 
• You explore everything around you with your eyes and you'll follow moving objects. You'll also look in the direction of new voices or sounds.
• You make tons of gurgling and cooing sounds when you're happy and we love it.  It's so cute!  The first time you did this was after a bath when you were 9 days old.  You started cooing back in response to people talking to you when you were 19 days old. 
• You smile pretty often now.  We couldn't tell if they were true smiles until recently when we figured out having your hair stroked gets you to smile. 
• You laughed! Just once and it was a short one but you did laugh when you were 25 days old.
• You finally found your thumb.  You have enjoyed putting your hands in your mouth since you were born and we always thought you were looking for your thumb.  When you were 17 days old you finally found it and sucked on it for a few seconds.  That was the only time you've done that. 
• Last but not least, you rolled over.  When you were 23 days old you actually rolled over from your belly to your back.  Not just once either, but 3 times. Since then you've done it a couple more times and despite all of our attempts, we still haven't gotten this on video. 

Over the past month you have been called many things.  I promise they were all meant as terms of endearment.  Some of your nicknames are Huck (obviously), Huckleberry, buddy, little buddy, bud, punkin, sweetie peetie, stud muffin, mud stuffin (this started after daddy messed up trying to say stud muffin), honey, baby, booger, booger butt, tubby tuna, chunky monkey, dude, and moose (because you're so big).

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the last few weeks...

Your announcement we sent out

That's pretty much all there is to report right now.  Needless to say, we are very proud and impressed by you everyday.  There is no telling how many hours we have spent just sitting and watching you.  You are so fascinating.  We know you can't help it, but please slow down!!!

Love you always and forever,

Mommy and Daddy