She's trying to grow up too fast!

Little girl is trying to grow up too fast. She's liking her bumbo chair (though admittedly, the first time she sat in it, she was a bit startled!). 

Chad and I are trying to get in the habit of reading to her everyday. Most of the time she watches our face or stares at the center "console" of the Bumbo (or just looks at her hand, which is the most interesting thing in the world apparently) but occasionally she glances down at the pages of the books. Especially if the books have faces in them. Here we are reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

 

Alaina has also gotten the hang of grabbing things. She's even trying to hold her bottle! She can't do it quite yet but that doesn't stop her from trying. Stop growing too fast little girl! 

 

Here are just a few other photos from the last week or so:

Videos

I keep meaning to post these videos Chad and I have taken but I have to be on a computer to upload them. Enjoy!
Also, today Alaina is 2 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days old. That's just fun to say. :) Technically she is 11 weeks today.

Alaina chatting at 7 weeks old:

More talking, at 8 weeks old:

Excited by her mobile:

First time in the bumbo chair (6/18/2012). She wasn't sure what to think but now she loves having her own little chair!

And finally, just some peaceful sleep (10 weeks). You'll see sleepy grins, pouts, and suckles.  She's the best!

Hmm, it really does get easier

It's funny how the number one thing I've heard and advice we've gotten is that "it gets easier." No one could tell us when or how but they assured us it did happen. I remember for awhile waking up every day, wondering if it would be that day (and then it totally wasn't! Ha!). But, sometime around 6-8 weeks, things just felt better. Interestingly, nothing had changed. We are still following the same nursing/bottle/pumping routine. I'm still not eating dairy. We still are on high alert for blood in diapers. Alaina is still the same pleasant, sunny little girl who gets cranky when it's time to eat or she's overly tired (though granted, she is certainly more fun these days). And most of the time I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing and I have no time to get anything done. But amidst all that, it's easier. I'm sure part of it is starting a routine. Part of it is also recovering from the c-section and hormones leveling out. And part of it is probably sleep (more about that later) and, in my case, getting back to work. I've also lowered my expectations drastically for everything from housework to nursing/pumping to research. No matter the cause, we are glad for it.

Last week was my second week back to work part-time. I actually really love it. I missed my job (and feeling like I know what I'm doing...most of the time). It is also nice to see my friends and students again (and talk to other adults). Alaina stays with a sitter on Thursdays and Fridays (her only availability this month) and then I go in part of the day with Alaina on Tuesdays. It isn't enough to get everything done but I'm easing my way back. We like the sitter, too which helps. I didn't cry the first time I left (or since) but at the end of the day, I'm ready to go home and hang out with my little buddy. I actually am looking forward to being able to go to work daily in the fall. There is a little drama surrounding that--we wanted Alaina to begin the first week of August but they just called to say she can't start until September 17. So we will have to work something out for a few weeks. It's annoying but just part of the system. We knew going into it there were no guarantees.

So I mentioned our feeding routine is the same. We plan to reevaluate things in a few weeks. The frequency of blood has dropped precipitously. But she still has symptoms of food sensitivity (more detail than most would want I'm certain). I am still holding out hope that it's just the dairy working it's way out of her system, not that she is also allergic to soy or something else. It's been 3 weeks since I gave up hidden dairy. And yes, I do dream about ice cream and chocolate and cheese. :) Rather than set an end goal for nursing, I'm setting mini-goals. Current one: to make it to 12 weeks. I'm still not sure it's the right decision but that's a whole other blog post.

For all the struggles we've had with feeding, Alaina makes up for it by sleeping great at night! She typically falls asleep around 9-10 pm and wakes up between 3-5 am to eat. Lately I've been sleeping from about 10:30 until she wakes up which has been awesome. Such a perfect little girl. She gets up for the day around 7. I could stand for that to be a little later but oh well. We are still working on naps during the day (which is difficult with her eating schedule). She had one bad night last week where she was up from 3:30-6:30am so Chad and I got a better understanding of why people keep telling us how lucky we are that she is such a good sleeper. However, she was back to normal the next night. Whew.

Developmentally we think she's doing awesome! She is so vocal! And hilarious. She is starting to work some consonant sounds (/m/ and /n/ primarily) into her cooing and gurgling. In terms of motor skills, she is starting to bat at toys and while she isn't really reaching, she does grab things that are close by. This has included Chad's arm hair, my pajama sleeve, and various toys. It's fun to watch her eyes connect something she wants and excitement when she grasps it. Very cute. I think her head control is on track but I would like to see her have a bit more strength in her upper body. She hates being on her tummy and really isn't interested in lifting her head and shoulders. So no rolling over in the near future. But that's okay.

We think she just gets cuter and cuter. We realize that there are things we may not remember later so I'm trying to make an effort to cherish the moments. My favorite things: the sounds and faces she makes when she is falling asleep, the little suckling motions she makes in her sleep, how pleasant and happy she is first thing in the morning (always laughing and cooing), and the way she just lights up. Yup, we are completely enamored with her. Who wouldn't be?

Happy father's day!

Alaina sure does love her daddy!

Poor baby (poor mommy & daddy)

Nobody likes shots. Now vaccines are likely harder on mom and dad than on baby and as such, Chad and I were dreading today's appointment.

First things first, Alaina is doing great. The pediatrician said Alaina appeared to be thriving. She weighed in at a healthy 11 pounds, 11.9 ounces and was 22.5 inches. She said her skin, weight!!, color, and temperament all looked great. We discussed the fact that she still had some blood in her diapers and our plan to continue on the soy formula until the end of June to give the dairy a chance to get completely out of her system. The doctor was okay with this plan and said we could switch to Nutramigen or Alimentum if it hadn't cleared up by then. She also agreed to put a note in the baby's chart that they would write a letter saying it was medically necessary so that we could see if insurance would cover all or part of the expense (our doctor is expecting a baby at the end of the month so she will be gone the rest of the summer).
I also asked the doctor to take a look to see if there were anatomical reasons (tongue tie, palate problems) contributing to Alaina's poor milk transfer. As I suspected, there was no anatomical reason. Oh well.

We again met with the developmental program to hear how baby girl is doing nonmedically. It was validating to hear the specialist say that Alaina looked and acted like a four month old! She was very happy to see her eye contact, alertness, social skills, vocalizations, etc. She said she has pretty good head control and loved how she was so attentive to faces. She seemed impressed when I showed her how Alaina will try to mimic my mouth movements (sticking out my tongue, opening wide, making clicking noises). It all could have been an act but it felt good. :)

The nurse came back in and Alaina got 4 vaccines--2 injections and 1 oral. Chad and I were both nervous how *we* would handle it. I'm happy to report all three of us handled it like champions! I had done quite a bit of research (shocking) on soothing and analgesic techniques that would not reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines (apparently preadministering Tylenol can reduce their effectiveness as well as mask important symptoms of reactions). So, we put a little milk on a pacifier and right after the oral medication was administered, I gave her the pacifier. I held her hands, touched her belly, and tried to keep eye contact and talked to her as the nurse gave her the two injections. She cried and after the nurse left, we calmed her down by feeding her. She was immediately calm. We will try this strategy for all shots and procedures!

Alaina and I are having a laid back afternoon where I am keeping my eye out for any negative reactions (high fever, excessive irritability, etc.). So far she has just eaten and slept. Tomorrow is her first day with the sitter (which was horrible planning on my part!) so I am hopeful that she is one of the many kids that feels okay by tonight. I'll leave you with pictures of her passed out. She has two hot pink bandaids, in case you wondered.

Nothing new

Nothing really new to report so I thought I'd just post a few recent pictures. We are still trying soy formula, I'm still dairy-free, and Alaina is still a cutie. She's our little penguin baby--her belly is so much bigger than everything else! We are starting size 2 diapers and she can wear some 3 month onesies, but her legs are so short that she can still wear some newborn pants! It's hard to put her in matching 2-piece outfits! Her 2-month check up and shots :*( are on Wednesday. She Is probably approaching 12 pounds.

Poor timing but my first day back to work is Thursday. Hopefully she's not too cranky and sad from the shots. Keep your fingers crossed.