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It has been four weeks.  In the quiet times, when there is a chance for reflection, time seems to have passed by rapidly.  At other times, especially during the crying spells, time seems to move glacially.  Either way, it still amounts to four weeks. Mia is now four weeks old.

Things Learned

There are only so many books you can read and so many stories you can hear from others who’ve been through it, to prepare you for a child. I’m sure what we’ve learned is contained in a book, a web site, or a friend’s story, but nonetheless here are a few things we’ve learned:

• Crying doesn’t always mean she is hungry.  Sometimes she just wants to be held, especially at 3am.
• Baby acne just happens. Seriously, it wasn’t the gangly beard I grew that caused her face or arm rash.
• Changing one diaper can rapidly digress into changing three diapers.
• During a diaper change, if her butt is angled correctly, she can project a poo stream a good foot away. Yeah, it happened.  Luckily I was to her right when it did.
• She’s not cross-eyed.  She’s just trying to focus at something far away. Whew!
• Hiccups happen.  It seems to not bother Mia as much as us.
• It’s probably wise to do a load of laundry a day, both for yourself and the baby.
• Amazon.com is a great site.  It is especially great for subscription services. You can subscribe to diapers, wipes, etc. It’s convenient and saves some money as well.
• Another good site is Diapers.com. I had to call their customer service because of a missed shipment.  They were very quick in correcting the issue. They also ship as quick as Amazon does.
• The Baby Geek app for the iPhone / iPad has been very helpful.

The Cuteness

There are many cute things Mia does. I’ve tried to capture the moments on video, but sometimes it’s not possible.  Here are a few that I don’t want to forget about:

• After she sneezes, Mia lets out this exhaustive sigh, as if the sneeze took every ounce of energy she had.
• When Mia wakes up, she stretches multiple times, contorting her body in an “S” shape, getting the most out of each consecutive stretch.
• She can lift her own head when doing the over-the-shoulder burp. This makes it difficult to hold her at times.
• From time to time she makes an “O” shape with her mouth as if she’s about to say something. As long as it’s not crying, it’s good.
• She sleeps with her arms raised as if she’s crossing a finish line.

I’m sure the future holds more to come, both in learning and cuteness.