I’m so distraught. I stayed up late one night writing a thoughtful and thorough post to cover these three topics. I thought I published it, but something must have happened.  A week later I noticed that it never published, and all the written content had been deleted. 🙁 So here’s a quick retry.

My wonderful mother-in-law came to visit earlier this month and was SUCH a huge help. She offered continual patient and loving attention to the boys. She held Chiara tons so I could attend to the boys, the house, and myself. She cooked, kept our house immaculate and kept the laundry going. And super excitedly she helped lead and inspired three huge organizing projects: Scotland’s room, the toy “closet” and the garage. She even bought us a label maker, something that feels like a heritage piece coming from her!
Mother’s Day:


Chiara: One Month





Chiara is a pro sleeper, often only waking once between 10:00 and 7:00! She is growing increasingly awake and alert during her wakeful periods, which we are all enjoying. This week she’s started smiling a bunch!
She’s a major Momma’s girl. It’s so satisfying when she quickly calms after I pick her up, even though she was hysterical before. She’ll then do this darling pathetic little whimper- as if to tell me all the reasons she was crying. She loves the ergo, and I typically end up holding her/carrying her most of the day, which is starting to take a toll on my back. Time to get back to yoga!
She struggles with a good amount of reflux. Some days she can be super spitty. (A few days ago she spit up so much that she soaked through her swaddling blanket, her fleece pajamas and her onesie- I too was soaked to the skin! If I burp her and keep her upright for a while after eating, she does much better. But if I lay her flat right after feeding her (like to change her diaper) she’ll usually spill a good deal of her meal.
She hardly opened her right eye the first week of her life, but it has gradually opened up bigger and bigger. It still tends to be less than her left. (As you can see in the above picture.)
She loves to be held tight to your chest, and will often snuggle her head into my neck. She has a strong neck and will often push off from my shoulder and look around, or can push up from her bassinet and flip her head from side to side. (She sleeps on her stomach.)
The boys adore her, and make time each day to come over and coo at her. Scotland likes to put his hands on each of her cheeks, cradling her face. (She doesn’t much like it.) And Anders will often bring her toys. Too often they get competitive with each other, and end up getting pushy around her, which makes me nervous, and makes her cry. I’ve been so grateful that she’s started to sit happily in the bouncy seat for longer periods, because it’s given them an opportunity to sit next to her and interact happily. A few days ago, she started crying. Anders immediately jumped up and said “Passy!” and then ran and found one, then came back and patiently tried over and over again to get her to take it. Finally she started sucking on it, and his face lit up in joy. They both so desperately want to be helpful, and I’m always trying to come up with ways for them to help with her.
Chiara has such a feminine cry, I love it!
Like her brothers she’s started loosing her baby hair on the top of her head. Its an unfortunately genetic tendency because it gives them such an odd look for a month or two while their new hair grows in. Lucky for her, she can wear bows. I spent the evening a few nights ago making her a few more. (And totally caught the headband making bug! I can’t stop thinking about making more!)
After she sneezes she makes this sweet little coo, that I just love.
She’s quite a serious child, and often looks rather worried or concerned. When she gets sad she has the most heartbreaking frown- with a protruding lower lip.
Her eyes are taking on more and more of a blue cast.
She loves to sleep on my chest. And while it keeps me from sleeping deeply, I love it too. I love feeling her breath, and feeling her little squirms and stretches!
She sleeps in a bassinet in our room, and we’re working on getting her to take at least one nap in there during the day.
She’s a great nurser, and is quite timely with her two hour intervals. She follows the wake up, eat, play, sleep pattern consistently, making her pretty easy to read.
Overall, she’s a easy baby (for me, Tom might tell a different story). Especially since she’s started to spend some of her wakeful periods in the bouncy seat, and her naps in the bassinet this past week.
We all just love her!