Lilian's 1-Month Letter

You could have been a little more "cheery" for your 1-month photo, kid!

My Little Lilian,

My oh my, how time does fly! It seems like I just found out I was pregnant with you, and now here you are a month old already! And maybe more amazing is how much joy you've brought to our family in such a short length of time.

You've been such a perfect little baby. Do you know we haven't had a bad night of sleep around here at all? Not only did you let me sleep the whole night prior to your noon arrival on your birthday, but you have slept well every night since then too! Right now at a month old, you are going to bed about 10:00 and sleeping until 10:00 the next morning, waking briefly only once between 4 and 6:00 am to nurse. Once or twice a week, you still wake twice in the night (around 2:00 am) for a feeding as well. You've never been up more than twice in the night your entire little life though. And now you are stretching your daytime feedings 2-3 hours apart! After about the first week, we introduced you to the bottle and you'll take a bottle of breastmilk without any hesitation at all! (Which is great so that Papai can give you your bedtime feeding and free me up to do something else in the evening!)

You are quite the little cuddler and love to be held. Luckily, you're also laid back enough that you're usually okay with chilling in your swing or on the floor when your sister needs attention and no one is available to hold you. Bath time is your favorite and you've never ever cried while in the tub! (You are so relaxed in water - give you a glass of wine and you'd greatly resemble your mother! hehe)



You are gaining a lot more control over your head, and you can actually keep your head level with your body if we pull you up by your arms. You love to nap while being held belly-down, but you only tolerate tummy time for a few minutes before fussing to be rolled over onto your back.


After being home for a week, you had a little hangnail on your right ring finger that started to look infected. Over the next few days your fingertip turned bright red and swelled up twice the size it should be. We soaked it in epsom salt and put a topical antibiotic on it. It was a little better by your 2-week check-up, but the doctor felt it was a staph infection and really wanted to clear it up before it spread. So, you beat your sister to one milestone: you were the first one to take antibiotics! (Gabriela's made it 18 months so far without any meds!) For 10 days you got a 3-times a day dose of the pink stuff, and then I also gave you some L. acidophilus once a day to prevent thrush.


Gabriela is absolutely in love with you and spends much of her day covering you in hugs and kisses. You've started to grimace a little when you see her coming, but hopefully you'll learn to love all her affection. She acquired a cold and, of course, you were quick to catch it. So at 3 weeks old you had your first cold complete with a very snotty, congested nose.



While you were stuffy with a cold, sleeping flat was pretty much out of the question as you were unable to breath that way. You slept best in your swing, so I was swaddling you up and putting you down to sleep in your swing at night. It was going well for the first few nights, but one morning your Papai peeked in your room to find you fast asleep face down on the carpet...underneath your swing. (One more thing that makes you an awful lot like your older sister!) I'm still not sure how a 3-week old, swaddled tight (although you did free one arm at some point), managed to wiggle herself out of her swing and onto the floor. Or why you didn't cry when you got there. But I am thankful that we bought the small travel swing that only sits a few inches off the ground!!! (And no more sitting in your swing unbuckled anymore!)

The last week you've really been working on that smile of yours. I can almost always get a big open mouthed grin out of you now when I ask, "Onde está seu sorriso?" (Where is your smile?) And apparently tongue-protrusion is a genetic trait around here (from your father, no doubt). Just like Gabriela, you seem to spent a lot of time with your tongue poked out!

You were born 7 pounds 3 ounces, weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces when we left the hospital, gained back to your birth weight after the first week home, and you weigh 8.8 pounds now according to our home scale.


We are so very thankful to have you as part of our family. You bring out a very sweet and affectionate side of your sister and bring so much joy to your Papai and me. We love you so very much!

All my love,
Mamãe