Anabella Sofia's first month

Our first family photo, after Anabella's first big girl bath!

It's been a month since our beautiful little girl entered the world. On May 7, 2010 at 7:15, after 17 hours of labor, 7 pound 10 ounce Anabella Sofia Massaro was born.

We were both healthy and happy, though she may have been more alert than I was! Mark has been a hero, helping me through labor and picking up a lot of slack on the homefront these past few weeks as I got used to feeding a newborn and sleeping a bit less.

Anabella loves to be in motion, so I'm always either holding her, or "wearing" her, or letting her enjoy the swing (thanks to Auntie Kasha). She loves to go for walks and falls asleep almost immediately. When she starts to get fussy at night, we sit on the exercise ball and bounce, and she usually lulls to sleep. Speaking of sleep, around week four Anabella started sleeping less during the day and more at night. She has a three and a half to four hour stretch in the beginning of the night, and a few more one or two hours stretches after that. I wouldn't say I'm a well-rested mom, but most days I feel energetic for a good portion of the day. 

Here are some highlights of our first month:

• sleep smiles, and eventually real smiles (especially in the mornings!)

• rolling from back to stomach before two weeks

• holding up her head for extended periods of time after just a week
• her "waking up" routine, which includes multiple facial expressions and grunts
• recent "cooing"
• wearing Anabella in the sling, MOBY, or Ergo carriers and going for walks
• a great recovery from a belly button infection, because her cord fell off after three days!
• all the wonderful family and friends who have visited
• a sleepover at Nana Evie's
• making peace with Buddy, the cat
• homemade meals three times a week from our friends at church
• bath time, which seems to be a favorite

Mark and I are very much in love with Miss Anabella. When Mark comes home from work, he always says that seeing her is his favorite part of the day! I couldn't be happier staying home with the baby and am so grateful that we can make it work. I don't get as much done as I did pre-baby (the bathroom hasn't been cleaned in two months...), but it's so worth it.

I'd love to do a monthly update, so check back again. If you're interested in seeing more pictures, there is a link on the sidebar to the right. You can print or download right from snapfish. Let me know if you have any questions!