Three week old Baby Tessa

It feels like things have recently settled down to a new normal and we have really been enjoying baby Tessa. Here's a little update on how she is doing at three weeks.

Appearance:

At three weeks she measures approximately 20 inches long and weighs a bit over 7 pounds (up from 17 1/2 inches long and 6 lbs 10 ounces at birth). She wears newborn diapers and clothes. Her eyes which were blue/grey at birth are now grey. David and I both think they are making their way to brown but we'll see. She has lots of light brown hair that almost looks like it has a hint of red in the sun.

New developments:

She is doing well with lifting her head for moments at a time. She'll lift her head off our shoulder when being burped and during tummy time. She doesn't love tummy time but will tolerate it for a few minutes at a time. Her current tummy time record is 30 minutes. 

Likes:

She enjoys being held and rocked to sleep. Sometimes she likes going to sleep to the sound of being read to in a soothing voice. She is likes being taken on walks; it calms her down if she is fussy. She also enjoys just being talked to and looked at. And of course she loves eating. :) 

Dislikes:

She doesn't like being swaddled and fights it until it is done. She also doesn't like getting her clothes or diaper changed. If I had a hates section I would put the baby bjorn there. Just seconds into attempting to put her in it, she starts screaming. 

Personality:

We've been lucky to have such a happy, good baby. She generally only fusses if something is wrong. She seems to me to have a strong little spirit. Breastfeeding was hard from day one at the hospital but she tried so hard. I was so amazed looking down at this little one only hours old and the way she determinedly kept trying. After several visits to her pediatrician and a lactation consultant we have learned a couple of factors that made breastfeeding much harder for her than it is for other mom/baby pairs and have since switched to formula, but I really admired her fighting spirit she showed.  

Most common facial expression:

Her most common expression is surprise. She opens her eyes super wide and raises her eyebrows and just looks about the world in wonder. David calls it her clueless look.

Lessons Learned:

It feels like there are a million ways to mess things up when it comes to raising a child, and depending on who you ask, whatever you do is one of them. So I've learned all you can do is do your best.