1 month

(This is a week late! oops! But here is Lily's 1 month update :) )

My sweetest Lily,

You are a whole month old! Mummy and Daddy can't believe how fast the time has gone, and how big you are getting!

In these past 4 weeks, you have grown from 6lb 12oz to 9lb 4oz! You are such a greedy little piglet and you are getting big fast, you want 7oz of milk every 4 hours, which is a crazy amount for such a teeny girl, but apparently you get it from your Daddy's side. Your aunties, uncles and cousins did the same when they were babies!

Everybody has fallen head over heels in love with you. You have had lots of people desperate for cuddles and spoiling you with lots of presents. And you are such a beautiful little girl, and mummy and daddy are told constantly just how perfect you are! And we completely agree. We are besotted with you Lily Belle. We can't get enough of your little pout, red fluffy hair (that is on your back and shoulders as well as your head!), your fast growing round tummy, your lovely smell of baby shampoo and parma violets, teeny toes that get lots of kisses, and your little frown that is the double of Daddy's! You use your frown a lot when you are staring at and discovering new things, and taking it all in, concentrating really hard!

You have lots of pet names too. You are the ginger fluffy cookie monster (which sometimes is just 'cookie' now!), mummys little strawberry, little lady, ginge, beautiful, orangutan (because of your orange fluffy hair!), gorgeous, Lily Pops, Lily Chops, little grump (on your not so happy days!), and grandad pat calls you angel face! We all love you so much my sweetheart.

As well as your bright red hair (which mummy and daddy are still shocked about!) your eyes are the most beautiful dark blue with a light blue ring around the middle. We wonder whether they will stay blue like daddy's, or whether they will turn to a brown/ hazel colour like mummy's. you have daddy's frown, ears and chin, and mummy's lips, cheeks, and hands. We are stunned at how combining our features has made such a beautiful little girlie. Grandad Pat is right when  he calls you angel face!

Your sleeping isn't too bad. You wake up every 4 hours for a feed and  a nappy change, and go back to sleep quite quickly. You don't like not being held very much, you want constant cuddles, and if I am honest, I haven't tried too hard to get you out of that habit, because I want constant cuddles with you too! For the first 3 weeks, you have barely slept in your crib, you have been in bed with us. Oops! But we have started to try and get you to sleep on your own now, and you have got used to your crib quite quickly, with the help of the noise of the hair dryer to send you to sleep. You LOVE  the hair dryer!

You have just started to smile too!! We spend so long each day trying to get you to do that beautiful smile of yours. And very occasionally, after lots of talking and playing and getting you all excited, we see that big gummy grin of yours that makes us melt! The first time we saw it, mummy was changing you, and picked you up when you were in just your nappy and told you how gorgeous you are, and you did the biggest smile! It was lovely.

You are spending more and more time awake each day, and love kicking around on your mat, while mummy or daddy or grandma talk to you. You get very excited and kick your legs, wave your arms, raise your eyebrows, your eyes go really wide and you try so so hard to talk back! and you have started to make cute little noises and gurgles at us! You are amazing Lily Belle.

Mummy and Daddy can't imagine life without you. We love that you have made us a little family and it feels as though you have been around forever. You are our beautiful little strawberry and we love you so much.

Love, mummy  x x x

♥