Sydney's 1 month check up

Yesterday I took Sydney for her one month check up. She's doing great & is right on track w/where he wants her to be. She weighed in at 9lbs 11 oz (75th%), 21 1/2" long (60th%), and has a head circumference of 15 3/8" (90th%). Jeff and I are sure that her large melon means she'll be a genius and we're hoping to retire early off her! She has an umbilical hernia, which is probably no big deal. An umbilical hernia is leftover from the opening created for the umbilical cord. Doc said it is quite common, as many as 1 in 6 have it, and it usually closes itself spontaneously. If it hasn't closed by the time she's 4 or 5, then we may need to look into correcting it. It causes no pain to her. You can't see it except for when she does a sit-up motion, which she only does when the doc is testing her to see if she has the hernia. So, for now, Syd has a cute little outie on her round little tummy and her belly button will sink in once the opening closes. Here's a link if you want to learn more about it, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000987.htm or http://www.babyworld.co.uk/experts/az_childhealth/umbilical_hernia.asp. She still has some baby acne and has started to get a little bit of cradle cap. Doc says the same thing everyone else has told us, that there's nothing we can do about it & it just has to run its course, and don't put anything on it but water. The baby acne usually appears around 2 weeks and goes away the 4th or 5th week, so hopefully its time is almost up! I think this is a curse brought on by all the dozens of people who said "Oh, she has such beautiful skin. No baby acne or cradle cap" for the first 12 days of her life!! Syd was very hungry by the time we left the office since our appointment ran 30 minutes past her feeding time, and she let everyone know about it!

Jeff gave Sydney her first bottle Wednesday night. We were a little unsure how successful this would be since she's exclusively nursed so far, and rarely takes a pacifier. I'm happy to report that after a few moments where she looked quite confused (How in the heck is my mommy's milk coming from this strange plastic thing in my mouth????) but she took right to it and sucked the whole thing down. I think Jeff really liked the bonding experience w/ her, since I've been such a baby hog for the past 4 weeks. Her clothes are off in this picture because she was so sleepy when it was time to eat that we had to strip her down & tickle her to get her interested in eating.
Jeff was burping her in this picture, not choking her like it kind of looks like! She just had such a funny look on her face (maybe still pondering how she got milk from the bottle) that I was cracking up & had to take a picture!
I thought this was rather exciting, and you can tell from the picture just how thrilled Velvet was about the whole event! She is still allowed on the couch in the basement so she doesn't feel totally neglected by us.
Syd is having a moment of Zen in her swing. I'd love to have a rocking machine that made me look this relaxed! The little outfit in this picture doesn't fit her anymore. Wednesday was its last wear since she can't completely straighten her lets when its on. Maybe Micah & Beth will have a baby girl in the next few days & then we can pass on all our size NB clothes so they get more use (they're so tiny & cute!!).
Again, doesn't Velvet just look so thrilled! She's been really good w/ Syd and just ignores her most of the time. She is interested in smelling her when we first come home, or if I put her on the playtime mat, and sometimes will give her a kiss or two. She's been pretty starved for attention, and has had only 2 walks since Syd was born. Part of the reason for that is that its been so cold outside!

This is one of her Valentine's outfits from Grandma Hunt with cute little shoes to match. The one she wore to the party Saturday is still in the laundry, so I put this one on her instead.