A Girl and her Elephant--1 Month

I got this idea from a friend who did it with her daughter and her duck.  I thought it was so cute to see the change baby makes from month to month in comparison with a big stuffed animal, so I thought I would do it myself!

I cannot believe that Samantha is one month old today.  It has been the quickest, most rewarding month of my life.  She is such a joy!  Here are some things about Samantha you might want to know:

1. After a somewhat rough start, she is solely breastfeeding.  She'll still take a bottle if we need to go somewhere, which is nice, but she's gotten the hang of breastfeeding which I am grateful for.
2. Samantha hates being put down.  Even as I write this, she is grunting and moving around, even though I waited about 30 minutes of her being asleep before putting her down!
3. She cries when she's hungry and grunts the rest of the time.
4. She has only had one scream session which I'm grateful for.  If she gets what she wants, she'll settle down really quickly.  Such a good baby!
5. She typically likes taking baths, but it does stress her out somewhat.  We have yet to give her a bath without her spitting up all over her newly cleaned body, or peeing everywhere.
6.  She is such a strong baby.  From day one she tried and tried to keep her head up.  It was a little difficult then, but ever since, she's just kept on trying.  During "tummy time,"she can keep it up for a few seconds and then it gets pretty heavy so she puts it down again.
7. She loves her soother, but will spit it out even when she wants it.  I'm convinced it's because she just wants some attention!
8. She's been a great sleeper ever since she was born.  Right now, she'll usually give us a 4 hour stretch at the beginning of the night, then a 2-3 hour stretch after that.  During the day, she usually only sleeps for an hour or two at a time, so we are grateful that she's learned when night time is!
9. She loves having her hands by her face, and they are always in fists.  Sometimes it looks like she's getting ready to box someone!
10.  All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better baby.  She cries when she wants something but it is incredibly easy to calm her down. There are so many times when I just look down at her and wonder how in the world we got to be so lucky to not only have a baby, but to have such a good-natured one.  Derek and I truly are blessed to be her parents!

(This is her holding her head up!  Such a strong baby!)

Oh, and she wants to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day.  This onesie was given to her by a friend of mine in our new ward.  So cute!