I have been wanting to do this for, well, over 4 months! I had a "goal" to try to write Miya a letter each month to recap the month before, and here we are, Miya is 4 months and 3 weeks today, and not one letter! I have a lot of catching up to do. So, I am going to start now and try to catch up one letter at a time! I am doing this more for me to remember. But also to show Miya what her first 4 months of life looked like! See, the nostalgia never ends...I thought it was a pregnancy thing, but it looks like it's a Mommy thing too :)
My sweet girlie,
How can it be that you are almost 5 months old? The day that I held you as a sweet newborn for the first time seems so far behind us. Life is so full with you and the days go fast. Sometimes I wish I could freeze time for just a moment, I don't want the time to fly as it does and don't want to miss a thing! But I can't freeze time (as much as I try) so your Daddy and I just enjoy every moment with you. I love seeing you explore and be in awe of the world around you. The noises, the colors, the smells, you inspire me to be in awe with you. Sweet girl you make your Father and I feel so rich. So here is my best attempt at a recap of the last 4 months. So much has happened in such a short amount of time, and I can't imagine what the next 4 months will look like.
Month One...
In month one we began the adventure of being your Mommy and Daddy, and it was just that, and adventure! The days in the hospital still seem like a blur. I remember I got about 3 hours of sleep a night because all I wanted to do was stare at you and watch you sleep. Daddy would laugh at me because for the first month I wanted to be everywhere you were. I remember the nurse came to take you to the nursery to give you a bath; after you had been gone for about 2 minutes we tracked you down and insisted on being a part of your bath. I missed you too much to be apart from you, I mean I did wait 9 months to meet you (not to mention the 48 hours of labor!)
When we brought you home I remember thinking, wait it's just us now, what do we do!? I then began to wish I had taken advantage of the opportunity to sleep while in the hospital! The sleep deprevation began to set in, and whew what a funny place to be. I think no sleep just makes you feel like time is standing still. The days seem long and the nights seem even longer! I remember feeling so fearful at night when the sun went down and I knew that I wouldn't be getting a full nights rest, in fact I now know something I was not aware of before I had you: I NEED sleep, I LOVE sleep, sleep has become a dear dear friend that I am very thankful for! Amazingly you never had day/night confusion which I am very thankful for. You meant business when it came to sleep so you went down and slept for 3-4 hours at a time at night occasionally throwing a 5 hour stretch in there. In fact on the first day of week 4 you went 6 whole hours! I almost went crazy wondering if you were ok! Yes that's right I woke up several times wondering why I hadn't heard you screaming to be fed yet :)
You slept a lot in the beginning. People would visit and many would ask "is it normal for a newborn to sleep this much!?" Well it was for you! You ate, slept, and slept some more your first entire month. I would sometimes forget you were there because you would just sleep so peacefully in your little seat in the living room. You never made a peep until it was time to eat, and than you would sound your alarm! I kid you not you have the strongest set of lungs I have EVER heard. When you wanted your voice to be heard you had no problem making that happen. We would kid and say you have 3 volumes: loud, louder, and loudest. We hardly ever needed a monitor to hear you.
It was in your 4th week that you began to make your presence known. This was the point when we began to call you (yes you my dear!) a fussy girl. You began to become very picky about, how you were held, when you were held, where you would sleep, when you would sleep, how you would eat, when you would eat, what noises you would hear, etc.... Daddy and I would just look at each other and say "what now? We fed her, changed her, she's is probably tired but won't sleep! What do we do!!?" We spent many weeks trying to "figure you out." Of course "nurse" Mommy would try to figure out the medical reasons for your crying. "It must be reflux!" "It must be gas." "She must have a dairy sensitivity." "Maybe she's sick!?" So many possibilities to fret over. Dear girl, I hope you will respond differently one day if God gives you a child of your own. Your Momma responded in fear so many times, that first month was so scary and God taught me SO much about what it looks like to really depend on Him.
That first month was so sweet. I loved to just stare at you and try to comprehend that you were our gift from God. We had the joy of getting to care for you and watch you grow! And grow you did :) You gained so much weight that first four weeks! By 4 weeks you were close to 10 pounds. You had gone way up from your 6lb 8oz birth weight. It was probably because Mommy fed you every time you cried. What can I say, I didn't know what else to do.
Month one also meant LOTS of fun visitors! People came far and wide to meet you. Here are some of those people:
Grandma and Granddad Lewis :)
Uncle Enoch
Aunt Hannah
Meema and Pop Pop
Uncle Sam and Uncle Jeremy (Aunt Pri came too but I somehow didn't get a picture!)
Aunt Rachel. She even stayed in the hospital with Mommy overnight so Daddy could go home and get some rest :)
Aunt Rissa and Tommy
The Remmy's and "meeper" their baby girl who you will meet in November! I am hoping you will be good friends growing up.
Auntie Cherai made a special visit from Chicago to see you!
Jessica from the small group Daddy and Mommy lead
Jeannine also from small group
Mandy also from small group. Did I mention all these fine people brought us food too! :)
Mark and Brandy are very good friends of ours
They are expecting their second baby in January and we are pretty sure it's a girl! Another girl we hope you get to be good friends with.
Mark and Brandy's cutie pie Matthan. We are hoping he will protect you as you grow up, since you don't have a big brother!
Great Grandma Kouneski.
Mommy's good friend Kelly
Dustin from small group. You were the first baby he ever held!
May also from small group :)
Good friends Mari and Dave :) We just found out they are moving across the street from us and we are so excited!
I know more people visited but these are all the pictures I could dig up for now. That is my best summary of your first month. It is hard to believe you are no longer a newborn. But you still are our cuddly girl, who loves to be held and snuggled. And we are so very thankful for that!
Love
Mommy
Coming up next: 2 month letter...
When we brought you home I remember thinking, wait it's just us now, what do we do!? I then began to wish I had taken advantage of the opportunity to sleep while in the hospital! The sleep deprevation began to set in, and whew what a funny place to be. I think no sleep just makes you feel like time is standing still. The days seem long and the nights seem even longer! I remember feeling so fearful at night when the sun went down and I knew that I wouldn't be getting a full nights rest, in fact I now know something I was not aware of before I had you: I NEED sleep, I LOVE sleep, sleep has become a dear dear friend that I am very thankful for! Amazingly you never had day/night confusion which I am very thankful for. You meant business when it came to sleep so you went down and slept for 3-4 hours at a time at night occasionally throwing a 5 hour stretch in there. In fact on the first day of week 4 you went 6 whole hours! I almost went crazy wondering if you were ok! Yes that's right I woke up several times wondering why I hadn't heard you screaming to be fed yet :)
You slept a lot in the beginning. People would visit and many would ask "is it normal for a newborn to sleep this much!?" Well it was for you! You ate, slept, and slept some more your first entire month. I would sometimes forget you were there because you would just sleep so peacefully in your little seat in the living room. You never made a peep until it was time to eat, and than you would sound your alarm! I kid you not you have the strongest set of lungs I have EVER heard. When you wanted your voice to be heard you had no problem making that happen. We would kid and say you have 3 volumes: loud, louder, and loudest. We hardly ever needed a monitor to hear you.
It was in your 4th week that you began to make your presence known. This was the point when we began to call you (yes you my dear!) a fussy girl. You began to become very picky about, how you were held, when you were held, where you would sleep, when you would sleep, how you would eat, when you would eat, what noises you would hear, etc.... Daddy and I would just look at each other and say "what now? We fed her, changed her, she's is probably tired but won't sleep! What do we do!!?" We spent many weeks trying to "figure you out." Of course "nurse" Mommy would try to figure out the medical reasons for your crying. "It must be reflux!" "It must be gas." "She must have a dairy sensitivity." "Maybe she's sick!?" So many possibilities to fret over. Dear girl, I hope you will respond differently one day if God gives you a child of your own. Your Momma responded in fear so many times, that first month was so scary and God taught me SO much about what it looks like to really depend on Him.
That first month was so sweet. I loved to just stare at you and try to comprehend that you were our gift from God. We had the joy of getting to care for you and watch you grow! And grow you did :) You gained so much weight that first four weeks! By 4 weeks you were close to 10 pounds. You had gone way up from your 6lb 8oz birth weight. It was probably because Mommy fed you every time you cried. What can I say, I didn't know what else to do.
Month one also meant LOTS of fun visitors! People came far and wide to meet you. Here are some of those people:
Grandma and Granddad Lewis :)
Uncle Enoch
Aunt Hannah
Meema and Pop Pop
Uncle Sam and Uncle Jeremy (Aunt Pri came too but I somehow didn't get a picture!)
Aunt Rachel. She even stayed in the hospital with Mommy overnight so Daddy could go home and get some rest :)
Aunt Rissa and Tommy
The Remmy's and "meeper" their baby girl who you will meet in November! I am hoping you will be good friends growing up.
Auntie Cherai made a special visit from Chicago to see you!
Jessica from the small group Daddy and Mommy lead
Jeannine also from small group
Mandy also from small group. Did I mention all these fine people brought us food too! :)
Mark and Brandy are very good friends of ours
They are expecting their second baby in January and we are pretty sure it's a girl! Another girl we hope you get to be good friends with.
Mark and Brandy's cutie pie Matthan. We are hoping he will protect you as you grow up, since you don't have a big brother!
Great Grandma Kouneski.
Mommy's good friend Kelly
Dustin from small group. You were the first baby he ever held!
May also from small group :)
Good friends Mari and Dave :) We just found out they are moving across the street from us and we are so excited!
I know more people visited but these are all the pictures I could dig up for now. That is my best summary of your first month. It is hard to believe you are no longer a newborn. But you still are our cuddly girl, who loves to be held and snuggled. And we are so very thankful for that!
Love
Mommy
Coming up next: 2 month letter...
1 comment:
What a great idea! So sweet to think back of those first days, weeks, months. It goes by so quickly. Hope to see you guys soon.
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