Amelia Jane - two months old

Eight weeks have gone by, and suddenly our newborn isn't so "new" anymore. I think it's safe to say that she is a full on active baby and no longer a newborn. The change is pretty remarkable.

Just a recap: after her first week, she really started fussing. Well, fussing that turned into full on screaming that lasted pretty much all day every day. By the time we reached six weeks, it was to the point where I was just walking around in a daze, shushing her, rocking her, trying to feed her, bouncing up and down, etc. None of it helped, so we decided to take her to the chiropractor. Within minutes of being adjusted, seconds really, she was a different baby. It was such a relief! Now we can love her and enjoy her. 

It's a little hard to recap the month since the first half and second half were completely different. I've written about how being adjusted helped her already here, so I'll just focus on the last two to three weeks.

Once she was more comfortable, I was able to focus on her sleeping routine/schedule and figure out if she had any obvious signs of being tired. Spoiler alert: she doesn't. It seemed like we'd have one good day and then one bad day over and over again. Finally, I dug into a few old blog posts both on this blog and other blogs I'd read in the past that had example schedules for babies this age. You'd think after having done this a few times before I'd remember, but I really didn't at all.

She was staying awake way longer than she should have, and the result was that she was quite over tired all the time. Once I started putting her down for a nap after only being awake about an hour, she fell into a great routine and we've all been happy and more relaxed because of it.

If I time it right, I am able to wrap her in her snuggie while she is awake and leave the room. She usually looks around and fusses just a little bit for about 10 minutes or so and then falls asleep. She wakes and falls back asleep like 3 to 4 times before falling into her deep sleep. I don't take it for granted that I can lay her down awake already. I was surprised myself when it worked!

Our general routine right now goes mostly like this. She wakes up to eat around 4:30-5:30. She usually wants to eat again around 7:00, and then I try to keep her up for a little while. She'll nap again around 8:15, wake up, eat, play, and nap again until 12:00 or so. At this point, my goal is to keep her awake until the big girls are ready for naps. I've actually been pretty successful at this, which means I have a couple of hours (or at least one) a day where they are all napping. It's been so good for my mental health and I've been able to keep the house a littler neater, get work outs in, read a little, and/or prep for afternoon activities.

After she wakes up, which could be anywhere from 3:00-4:30 (!), she eats, plays for an hour, takes another nap, and then is up until her bedtime which is around 7:30. Bedtime isn't set in stone though, because the older girls stay up later and sometimes she is hungrier and wants to eat before she sleeps, which pushes bedtime back a little. If I dream feed her before I go to bed, she usually sleeps until 5:30 the next morning, which is awesome. Four naps a day may seem a little excessive, but I know the morning two will reduce to one as her wake time gets longer, and eventually, the late afternoon nap will also disappear. I'm not messing with it for now.

Nursing is going really really well! I've heard that one should wait until you've done it for six weeks before throwing in the towel and that is so true. If I would have based my feelings about it on how things were going just two weeks in, I wouldn't have wanted to continue. I was so sore and it was painful pretty much every time. At six weeks in, it's completely different. It doesn't hurt at all. I'm not engorged, even in the mornings, since my body has gotten used to our routine. She's gotten really good at latching quickly and appropriately so I haven't ever felt like she's not getting enough or unhappy. The only little hiccup we have is that she really doesn't like being covered up while we're in public. Maybe she gets hot, but she will latch and unlatch over and over and usually doesn't eat as much, which then means she eats a lot more later. It's not a big deal, but something I should note. If I used the nursing cover instead of just a blanket, it'd probably help a lot. I've just been lazy and haven't taken the time to dig it out of the endless pit of the diaper bag.

I also should note that she just started making eye contact with me and smiling in the middle of nursing, which is pretty heart stopping. She really captures her mama in those moments. I love this stage.

Around six weeks old, she started smiling, just a little bit here and there. Being adjusted and having her more comfortable probably helped, but mostly it was just good timing. She is sneaky with it, smiling for only a second or two before resuming staring. If you aren't careful you'll miss it! Just this week, she's started smiling and cooing for other people consistently. Her interaction time lasts a lot longer and she seeks me out with her eyes more. It should go without saying (but I'm going to say it) that she's getting to be more and more fun.

She is still wearing 0-3 month clothes comfortably. I'm really tired of most of her clothes (it's the third time around for a lot of them and my sense of baby style has shifted but I don't want to spend the money on more clothes so I'm just waiting it out) so I won't mind when she switches to the next size. I might even pull them out early, even if she hasn't actually grown out of the the 0-3 clothes. They are already in her dresser, just in the bottom drawers, so it wouldn't be too difficult to do. We shall see. The weather will play a huge factor in this as I only have the summer clothes ready for 3-6 months.

If the girls would have gotten sick of her, this would have been the month since she cried her way through the first half of it. Thankfully, they really didn't seem to mind and still love her dearly. Audrey's taken a little more ownership over her "tistah" and Josie is still showering her with physical adoration (smothering? almost... she's a little overwhelming) all the time. Millie girl seems to be getting used to it and doesn't cringe every time, so that's nice to see. She is juuuust starting to watch them as they play around her, and I'm sure that'll take over as she keeps growing and developing.

They help me come up with new nicknames for her all the time. Currently, we call her Millie, Mil mil, Millie McGee, Amelia Be-deyle (a play off of Amelia Bedelia), and Millie girl. We've just barely scratched the surface, I'm sure. We sure do love nicknames over here!

And now for the comparison:

Still looks so different. We still hear that she looks more like Audrey, which I can now see a little more. Mostly in the mouth, which isn't surprising. We found pictures from the past, showing how much Audrey looks like her grandma Annette, and Amelia looking more like her daddy (and I'm sure that there are similarities between mother and son). Josie continues to look more like me and not like her sisters! Genetics are so fascinating.


And already, this next month is flying by!

Amelia Jane - One month old

It's hard to believe a whole month has gone by since Amelia was born. But then again, a lot has changed and been squeezed in since then. The first two weeks were a little rough. As I mentioned earlier, our biggest adjustment was with our oldest daughter. She really needed our consistency and nonverbal reassurance that we were still a family, mom and dad were still the same, her role in our family was still the same, etc. She tested us in as many ways as she could think of, and we pushed back with the same response and reaction as always. (consistency is so very important). Thankfully, after the first two weeks, we got into a decent routine and now it seems like that was so long ago. It's crazy how four weeks can feel so short and yet also feel so long. (For the record, the routine is with the older girls. Amelia is still all over the place with sleeping and eating.)

The first weekend was interesting. While we (baby and me) waited for my milk to come in, she basically stayed attached to me the whole time. She nursed and nursed and nursed, and when she wasn't nursing, she was sleeping. I couldn't put her down hardly at all and nobody else could hold her. Thankfully, once my milk came in, she completely transformed into a happy, full, content little baby. Suddenly, she was happy to be held by anyone and didn't mind sleeping in the bassinet or boppy pillow. I had a little bit of freedom! It was (and is) great.

Speaking of sleep, she still prefers to sleep on my chest. Mine is best, but she is happy on Daddy's too, at least most of the time. I don't mind having her sleep on me since I am all too aware of how quickly she will grow up. These days are fleeting and I adore having a sweet baby to cuddle as much as possible. Most of the time, if she is sleeping hard enough, I can put her down in the bassinet, on the boppy pillow, in the swing that we borrowed from a friend, or in the pack n play. I'm thankful she's so versatile. She also sleeps decent in the carseat if she falls asleep while we are moving. Otherwise, she hates the carseat. If I put her in there and then don't immediately pick it up and put her in the car or stroller, she lets me know. Girlfriend has quite the cry. She completely skipped over the newborn cry and can scream like the best of them.

Nursing has been going well. She latched on great right away, then got a little lazy and didn't latch on as aggressively. I got a few cracks and blisters which added to the initial pain of the first two weeks. I also had what my midwife called a strained milk duct, which felt like a pulled muscle every time she would nurse on the right side (so much better than mastitis, which I had with Audrey in the beginning). It has mostly gone away now, but that side still hurts a little bit when she first latches on. Thankfully, the pain is only for less than 10 seconds and then it's completely fine and pain free until the next time. She does nurse on both sides most of the time, and falls asleep in between sides which means I'm usually putting her down for ten minutes or so and then coming back to finish up when she realizes she's not full. That's really fun in the middle of the night. (Note the sarcasm.) No matter what I do to keep her awake or wake her up, she refused to be roused. When I was a first time mom, that would have really stressed me out, but now I'm aware how quickly time goes, and I don't mind so much being up a little more in the middle of the night. It could be worse.

She's waking up around 2:00 every morning and then is often up again at 4:30 or 5:00. Just the other day, she slept through that 2:00 feeding and woke up starving at 6:00. It was pretty amazing! I'd take every day in a heartbeat, but I have no hopes that it will happen again. At least not yet. She is such a louder sleeper with all of the grunting, though. I have a feeling that she will be in the nursery sooner than Audrey was (around five months old I believe) because I don't sleep very well when she's constantly wiggling and grunting while she sleeps.

Her sisters adore her. In particular, Josie gives her kisses all the time and is constantly at my side when I change her or get her dressed. I try to keep her involved by having her help with little things. She's usually happy to grab a burp cloth, throw away any garbage, grab a blanket, pull the vibrating toy attached to her carseat, sing to her if she's crying, and a bunch of other things. She knows to be gentle and doesn't try to pick her up or hold her. My biggest concern is that she will cover her up, thinking she's cold. We've had to talk a lot about why we can't put pillows on her head or blankets over her face. She's always being so gentle and loving but I don't trust her alone with Amelia. I mean, she's three. She gets a lot, but not everything. I haven't seen any signs of her being annoyed with Amelia. She will let me know when she's crying (as if I can't hear it) and has asked a couple of times to have me put her down so I could help her, but generally she loves her and wants her to be around. She also says "She's so cute!" and "I love Amelia/my baby sister!" at least once a day.

Audrey is happy to coexist with Amelia. She gets concerned if Amelia loses a sock or shoe, and will rush it over to me to put it back on. She will also give her kisses if prompted and once in a while on her own. She also hasn't shown any signs of annoyance or displeasure from having a baby sister. I thought she would be clingy or resentful that I couldn't always pick her up, but she has been totally fine with it. Besides, Daddy's the one she wants to pick her up, and he usually is in charge of the big girls when we are all together. It's been working well.

I think the hardest part so far has been not having a regular routine. She's way too young for that, so we are all kind of stuck working around when she's hungry or eating. I try to feed her before we go places or before we are doing something in particular, but it seems like she always gets hungry (starving!) right at the worst time. Example? Supper time. She can sleep and sleep all afternoon, but the second we sit down to eat, she has to eat too. How do babies know that everyone else is eating?? She will wake up from a deep slumber just angry right when I sit down at the table. So I've been scarfing down supper pretty quickly lately, which does help with portion control I guess. Other than that, it's been a relatively smooth transition.

Except nap time, but that's more the older girls than anything. Amelia is usually asleep during that crazy hour or so (getting them to sleep has become quite tedious and can take at least that long before I'm sure they are both asleep) or she's stuck hanging out with me while I sit with them uncomfortably in their rooms. Once in a while, she'll hang out in the swing with the music blaring.

Music! I may have mentioned this before, but she loves music. It has been a huge help for me when I am trying to get ready in the morning. If I put the music on and get the mobile spinning, I usually have enough time to take a quick shower and maybe even get fully dressed before she starts fussing. She really responds well to it. She also seems to enjoy being sung to much more than the other girls did. I so love how attentive she is to it.

She seems to focus in on us a lot more than the other two, too. When she has her wide awake time, she will really lock in on our faces and not look away for anything. I can't wait to see her smile in the next couple of weeks or so. I swear I can tell when she wants to, but she just hasn't connected that yet.

And a few comparison shots of all three girls. At this point, I think they all look so different. Amelia is the most "attentive" in that she was legitimately looking at the camera for most of the shots. She has way less hair but much clearer skin. I couldn't get it quite to scale, so she looks a little smaller here, but I assure you she is definitely bigger than Audrey was and about the same size as Josie was.

Man I love these girls!

She has her moments when we can't figure out what is wrong and the only thing that works is nursing or wrapping her tight and SHHHHing in her ear as loud as we can. Generally, though, if you change her diaper, wrap her up nice and warm, feed her, and hold her a little bit, she'll calm down and be happy. I'm so thankful for that. She won't take a pacifier, something I don't really want to accept, but we're working on that. (Yes, I was totally dependent on it with both Josie and Audrey. It's just nice to have something to soothe them that isn't a part of my body.) Amelia will suck on my pinky finger for hours if I let her, but the second a pacifier is in her mouth, she is gagging and acting like I tried to choke her. While it's humorous how she reacts, it's frustrating that she won't take it! I still want to try a few other kinds of pacifiers, but I wouldn't be surprised if she just doesn't end up being a pacifier baby. There are worse things.

All in all, she's been a sweet, content little baby girl.

Baby #3 - 23 weeks

How far along: 23 weeks

How big is baby: Just over a pound and about 11 inches long (large mango)

Weight gain/loss: Not sure, but I'm feeling huge. See comparison pictures below...

Maternity clothes: Pretty much all the time

Stretch marks: No new ones, thankfully.

Sleep: Terrible, terrible dreams. Vivid dreams of hubby leaving me (different circumstances every time), something being wrong with one of the girls, being in serious danger and having to put myself in terrible situations to solve the problem... Thankfully the last few days have been better which  means my sleep is a lot deeper and I'm not exhausted all the time. I so hope we are past the dreams stage because I can't handle being so tired from lack of sleep. It's just been intense. 

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: Sweets have been my friend too much lately. Still loving ice water and coffee is amazing.

Exercise:  I've been doing stretching and flexibility pilates to help with lower back pain that has been pretty bad. It's almost to the exact same week as my pregnancy with Audrey. My hips are stretching and are constantly getting out of alignment and then my back freaks out in response. Thankfully, my dear physical therapist friend (who explained to me why my back gets so sore - makes way more sense now!) has adjusted me a few times and it has helped. The stretching and elbow-to-the-back back rubs help a lot too. Mostly, I just have to take it easy as the day goes on. I can really tell when I've over done it.

Also, for exercise, I have been working in the garden getting it cleaned up. Not alone, thankfully as that would be completely overwhelming! Harvesting that beast (the garden) is almost done and I am quite happy about that. I keep telling myself that while I will have a little baby next year, I won't be pregnant and will have more energy when it is time to harvest it.

Gender: Girl!

Movement: Very often, almost every hour or two. Hubby got to feel movement this week! I'm certain that is the earliest he has felt it. Just this week, she has moved and kicked enough to make me feel like I'm going to pee my pants. We're getting to THAT stage. :)

The belly: Very round, feeling large

What I'm loving: The girls love all things baby and cannot get enough of their new baby cousin, Clara. It's fun watching them love on her knowing that soon it'll be their very own sister they are loving.

What I miss: Life without back pain. Good, deep sleep.

Symptoms: Lower back pain, vivid dreams, always thirsty

The nursery: Ideas are swirling in my head but none have come into fruition yet. Hopefully soon.

What's different/the same this time: With the dreams, I've been more tired. That's about it.

Best moment of the week: Hubby feeling little girl kick. It was fun to see him connect with her so soon.

Last appointment details: Nothing new, no appointment for 5 more weeks.

Baby #3, pregnant with Audrey, pregnant with Josie

Isn't it amazing how much rounder my belly is this time? Looking more like Josie's pregnancy than Audrey's but thankfully I'm feeling a lot less swollen and miserable than I did that first time around.

Audrey Joy, 11 months old

Audrey Joy turned eleven months old on October 18th. 

This month went way too fast. Audrey grew more than she ever has this month. The proof is in the pictures. Seriously, she looks so much older. Hey, she even acts so much older. There's no getting around it, she's losing her babyness faster than my head can spin.

This month was big for milestones. She started talking here and there with her first word being "mama" and "dada" was close behind. Her first real word (because mama and dada seem to be a given) was actually her own name! How is that for narcissistic? Or we just say it to her over and over all the time. She also fake sneezes, which sounds quite similar to her name. :) I have a video at the end of of her saying these words and it just makes me grin like a fool. She's the sweetest.

She also took her first steps about two weeks ago! Although she isn't walking, she will take a few steps from point A to point B if there is a friendly face on the other side. She walks around all the time hanging on to furniture or ledges but doesn't do much more than plunge forward (to her knees or stomach) when we try to encourage her to walk on her own. She thinks it's hilarious though, so she'll egg you on like she might just do it and then bear hug you instead. It's not so bad to be bear hugged by a busy eleven month old!

She and Josie are playing more and more every single day. They will sit next to each other and read books, exchange blocks, throw towels on each other (their favorite game in the whole wide world), or tackle each other. Rarely does it end in tears and Audrey is slowly starting to hold her own. 

Sleep hasn't changed. Still waking up once or twice at night for that wonderful pacifier and/or a change of diaper. Bedtime is 7:00, wake time is usually around 7:30, although we've had some good late wake ups around 8 or 8:30 a couple of times this month. Those are strange. I've been looking for signs of switching to one nap but that doesn't even seem like it's on the horizon at this point. She desperately needs that morning nap and sleeps great in the afternoon too. 

She still eats almost everything in sight and has only refused a few things. Off the top of my head, I remember she didn't like sliced turkey (?), canned carrots, and frozen carrots. So carrots are not her friend. Other than that, she loves everything. She needs to, too! She needs a lot of food to keep up her crazy reputation.

This girl moves. She moves and wiggles and race-crawls and squirms all over the place. She doesn't get into things (all things, safe or dangerous) like Josie did but she just keeps going. Rarely will she sit and play with one thing for very long and she is constantly climbing up my leg, my lap, my arms, and then back down. She loves to practice walking with one hand held and like I mentioned earlier, she thinks its hilarious to "walk" to me by plunging full force in my direction. She's lucky I'm usually paying attention because if I wasn't she'd face plant for sure. She must trust me or something.

She's just finally starting to sit still for stories when I try to read (as fast as possible) a book to her. If I time it right (fastfastfast) and point all over the page, she'll sit still until the end (as long as it's under 5 pages). We're working on it. We hang out at the library every once in a while and I usually let her crawl around in the children's corner but I cannot leave her side for a second. Hello, tornado! One kid grows out of that stage and the other right into it. :) Thank you God for the Moby Wrap (and that she still fits in and tolerates it). 

Her health has been awesome and we definitely don't take that for granted. No ear infections, no rashes (other than a bad bacterial infection in the diaper area that we got antibiotics for. That was no fun.), and no colds/flu symptoms. I'm praying that we make it through the winter without breaking this streak.

She's waving and clapping too. She loves doing both and grins and grins at whoever the recipient is. That smile never ends. Until it does. Then it is an all out screamfest. She has some theatrics in her. We love her ooooh so much!

11 months old, looking pretty different these days. Audrey obviously didn't get the rash that Josie sported for almost a month, and the hair just doesn't compare.

And the video! It's not too long, definitely worth a watch (or two).

Audrey Joy, ten months old

Audrey Joy turned 10 months old on September 18th. This mama actually got the pictures taken with days of the 18th. A true September miracle. 

Full disclosure: I took all of these pictures in about two minutes, some of which was spent running with the babe under one arm to get the comforter (fabric for the month) off of our bed, pulling the shades up for more natural sunlight, getting the babe in place and camera ready, and quickly earning these smiles before the buzzer went off on our oven indicating supper was ready. It was hectic but perfect).

Oh this girl. She continues to crawl around like crazy, pull herself up on all things big and small, and walk with assistance (just one hand though) as often as she has the chance. She's a mover now, completely, for sure!

She is still a big eater, eating any and everything with no dislikes. With big sister throwing mini tantrums every other meal, it's great to have at least one kid who will eat whatever I give her. While she eats all things food, she does get frustrated if it isn't easy to pick up. That's understandable, of course, so we don't hold it against her. She's also very loud if we don't give her enough food. What can I say, girl likes to eat.

Still drinking formula, we're down to only two to three bottles a day (four to six ounces a time) and she has finally figured out how to drink out of a straw, making life easier for all of us. She has her own little water bottle floating around and knows how to pick it up, rehydrate, and go on with her day. It's wonderful.

Sleeping great, goes down happily when she's not starving for her bottle (milk, of course), but is up and ready to go when she wakes up. No more lounging in bed. She stands up, screams out (happily) and ,as always, gives her biggest smile when you come to retrieve her.

She points now, and also says "I'm almost one!" Okay that last part is a guess.

Right around her 10 month birthday, she learned to clap and wave. Cutest.thing.I've.ever.seen. We encourage it often.

 Now that she's moving around more, she's pretty content with life. We've had a few incidents where she found the toilet bowl (lid open, contents questionable) but generally she stays out of trouble much more than her dear big sister did at this age. She loves to find me, climb up my pant legs, get picked up, and then want to be immediately put back down. It's a fun game (for her anyways). She follows her sister around constantly, takes a lot of hits to the head (most of them unintentional), gets tackled constantly, and still manages to smile at me when we make eye contact.

This girl is just so sweet. I kiss her and hug her more than I'd like to admit and am so thankful she's here with us each and every day! I love watching her and Josie interact more and more and her joy is completely contagious.

I'm a little in denial that she's almost one, but not so much that I'm pretending a party won't happen. Invites are partially created (by myself, yo!) and the theme is set. I can hardly handle it, it's going to be fun. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, she's still just a sweet baby (for a little while longer at least).

Those eyes, that smile, that hair (is it brown? red? blonde? nobody knows). She's just gorgeous, right?

Lest you've forgotten, Josie was all over the place at this point so my standards of a "good picture" were a little different. The picture above doesn't represent her perfectly, but it's the best we've got. Her 10 month post can be found here.)

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