PICTURES TOMORROW!!!!

My eyes and brain are too tired to pick the good ones from the past week, so bear with me!

In the meanwhile, some fun updates:

--Susannah had her one-month check-up today with Dr. Pate at Blue Ridge Pediatrics, and she is thriving! She weighed in at 9 pounds, 3 ounces, which is perfect weight gain. She is in the 50th percentile on all fronts: weight, length, and head circumference. Average in these areas, but WAY above average in beauty!

--Our Strawberry has FINALLY latched onto the bare breast and is nursing like a champ. Nipple shield, be gone with you! We are proud of the hard work she has done to get to this place (and I must say I am proud of myself for having the discipline in my exhaustion to keep working on this frustrating transition process).

--Susannah is accepting a pacifier as a soothing tool now, which is a great relief for Mama, who has been her "human pacifier" during some fussy evening hours. Overall, though, our girl is still just as mellow as they come...simply gets annoyed when one of us has the audacity to put her down during the evening hours!

--Which leads me to our next victory: she is learning, as of tonight, to sleep in between evening feedings. Her little body is slowly but surely (we hope...) making its transition into "night" versus "day." Phew...this has been a challenging part of having a newborn! She is so cute in the wee hours, though, when she has her head on my shoulder and looks up at me with her big, super-alert eyes and uses her exceptional neck control and overall body strength to keep staring and staring right into my adoring eyes. Oh, she makes my heart melt and it takes EVERY OUNCE of self-control for me NOT to be responsive to her in my attempt to lull her to Dreamland.

--To close, an example of just how laid-back our doll baby is:

Tonight, during her beloved bath in the "sling" of her blue baby tub, she pooped. I summoned Harry, who helped empty her tub as I held her still-soapy, slimy body against my chest. Efforts to swiftly clean her tub and replace her in it were in vain, so I asked Harry just to turn on the faucet so I could run her under it. Expecting the mild fussing to escalate into nightmarish howls, I slowly eased her little hiney and then the rest of her under the warm, gushing water. Much to our surprise and delight, she immediately stopped whimpering and quieted, relaxing more and more with each moment the water touched her skin. How amazing is this?! We finished our "tubby time" routine with lotion, a fresh sleep sack, and some kick time on our bed. She is now relaxed in Daddy's loving arms snoozing away...

What a precious angel Susannah Joy is!