Plumping up!

So Violet discovered her lungs this week.  The first three weeks of her life, she pretty much slept and looked cute.  We marveled at what a good baby we had.  And then the fourth week hit.  She still sleeps and looks cute, but when she's awake, her first impulse is to cry.  And what a cry she has!  It's been a crash course in trying to make that cry go away--a lot of rocking, feeding, singing.  So far the best we've found is to load her in the car seat and take her for a drive.  She's usually out in 30 seconds.  One night after a full hour of extended crying, I started crying too.  It wasn't pretty.  Eric and I call her a demon baby.

Violet's ultrasound for hip dysplasia came back as normal.  She had her one month exam with her doctor today.  She now weighs 8 pounds 12 ounces and is 22 inches.  Wow!  The newborn diapers are getting a little tight in the legs.  She's developed super pudgy thighs and cheeks.

On today's physical exam, the doctor heard a heart murmur.  She thinks it's likely benign, but we have an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist at the end of the month to have her heart ultrasounded.  In terms of specialists, she will have seen a dermatologist, radiologist, and cardiologist.  Luckily so far everything has turned out well.

In terms of developmental changes, in the last week or so Violet's had improvement/development of her vision.  She now makes eye contact and will follow people her eyes.  She also seems to have figured out her hands a little bit.  She likes to use the to whack things she doesn't like.  It used to be that when she was done eating, she'd spit out the bottle.  Now she often whacks it with her hand to let us know when she's done.

The doctor said she should start smiling in the next couple of weeks and she should be able to track people from across the room within the next month.  With all the screaming, I could use a some smiles around here.