Big week...

It's an eventful week for the Hallbergs...

On Tuesday Stella turned one month old! She had her one month checkup the next day, at which we found out her latest vital statistics: 8 lbs 11.4 ounces (still gaining a little over an ounce a day!), 21 inches, and a head circumference of 36.5 cm. Why do they do the head circumference in metric? No idea. All of these are quite normal - she's now at 49th percentile in weight and the 50th in height. Her head circumference is only 47th, so it looks like she may avoid her daddy's pumpkin head...

She also got her first shot since leaving the hospital (see the bandaid in the picture to the left) - the 2nd of two Hepatitis B vaccinations. Her little face was pretty heartbreaking when that needle went in - a sharp intake of breath, the slow transition to purple, and then lots of screaming. She looked quite angry with mom and dad - "Why would you betray me like this" kind of thing... Luckily, she seemed to forget about it pretty quickly. Next time in (for her two month checkup) she's supposed to get four shots, though, which seems completely insane.

Also on Tuesday, dad made his first extended foray into the outside world sans mom and baby. The occasion - first band rehearsal in about six weeks! It all went pretty well - we gave Stella a bath at around 7:30 (part of our new bedtime routine), got her fed, and then I left while Chris put her to bed. They then slept while I rehearsed, and I made it back in time for the first nighttime feeding!

This was good practice, because on Friday I go back to work. These four weeks of parental leave have been really amazing - hard to believe they're over already. Stage 2 of new life with baby is about to begin. (Stage 3 starts in another month, when Chris goes back to work as well...)

Thanks for the comments from our web-savvy readers (Rich, Courtney, and Dave thus far). For those of you not in the know - just click on the n comments links at the ends of the posts to read and post comments. I believe to post you need to have a Google account - if you use Gmail you already have one, if you don't there should be a link where you can create one for free.