MONTH ONE.

1. Finn has grown a TON!  He gained just under three pounds in a single month, now weighing in at 12 lbs., 7 oz.  Incredible!  All of that weight seems to be in cheeks, belly and thighs.  He also gained an inch and a half in height.
2. In the past week or so he has begun to lose his beautiful auburn hair.  On the other hand, he is gaining sweet blonde eyebrows and beautiful eyelashes.
3. He is becoming more and more aware of his hands.  He grasps things intentionally now (sort of — its more like swatting at something until he gets a grip on it) and does less of the jittery newborn arms/hands.  He loves to hold onto my shirt when he nurses and spends a lot of time in the mornings swatting at the string of beads hung above his crib.  He used to spend a lot of time sucking on his little wrists to the point of chapping but that phase has also come to and end.  Pacis are the new wrists.
4. He sleeps with knees bent; one up in the air and the other fallen to the side.  When he calms down after being upset, he puts his left fist against the side of his head and puts his other little fist under his chin.  This is how he spent a lot of time in utero as well.
5. The little callous on his upper lip had come and gone.  It has left behind the most beautiful lips I’ve ever seen.  He uses them a ton for all of the crazy facial expressions he makes.
6. His range of sounds is ever expanding.  He started to make a few “cooing” noises and has also developed a couple of different cries.
7. His vision has drastically improved.  He spend the first week of his life with his eyes  closed — seriously, he refused to open them — to opening them just slightly and now every time he is awake he is wide eyed and looking around the entire room.  He makes eye contact and will stare at me from across the room. He’s also picking up on tracking objects as they move.
8. He can get himself to sleep at night!  More often than not, I can put him in his crib while he’s awake and he’ll just look around until he’s ready to sleep.  Such a sweet little transition to watch from across the room as I type away.  He is eating twice in the night and usually ends up spending the first half of the night in his crib and the second half in bed with me because a) he’s wide awake or b) I miss him.  I have been told I will hate myself for this later.
9. Finny is a breastfeeding champ as evidenced by his astronomical growth.  He will also eat with a bottle without much fuss.  He is usually eating every 3-4 hours, which is a bit ahead of schedule and I’ll take it.
10. He SMILES!  And has precious little dimples!  He smiled a few times in his first few weeks but always in his sleep.  Now, however, he is doing full fledged, open mouth smiles while he's awake.  The best part?  They’re easily brought on by a kiss on the lips.  That boy sure knows the way to his mama’s heart.