Six Weeks

Lu is 6 weeks old as of yesterday! Time is just flying, and I can’t believe it!

She seems to be focusing her eyes a little better and definitely smiles when she wants to. She’s still a pretty good sleeper but has trouble in the early evening, especially if I have a lot to do or Z has a poopy diaper, then she seems to want only to be held. Ah, the joys of having 2…

She is quite spoiled by all of us. She’s still at home during the day with a nanny and my mom, and her one outing is usually going to pick up big brother.

She is SO different than Z, and such a girl. I just love her to pieces. I’m so thankful for this sweet little girl!

Home for Lunch

I'm so thankful that I get to go home during my lunch break. Especially when I get to come home to this sweet face!

 

Sleep Part 2

Well, I talked ad nauseum about it with Z, I haven't gotten much of it in the past 6 weeks, but here I go again to talk about sleep!

Lu has been a pretty decent sleeper since she was born. We haven't had to use the bouncy, the swing, or really any other "prop" much at all. Z was a bouncy kid until I don't know when, so that was weird for us. She still hadn't given us any long stretches of sleep at all until this past weekend when she slept 5 hours, ate and then sleep another 4. That started her day off a little late and we paid for it the next night so I didn't think that would be happening again for a while... until this morning, 4 a.m. to be exact, when I realized she had been asleep for 6 hours! Hallelujah!

A few things happened that likely led to this:

1. I increased her bottles by 0.5 oz each because I realized she's already consistently taking one less feeding than she was when I started back last week.

2. My mom let her cry it out for a nap! Now, I was skeptical about this one at first, because I'm pretty sure I didn't cry it out with Z until much later, but I trusted her (besides the fact she didn't tell me about it until afterwards).

Side note: as she was telling the story the amount of time she let her cry kept increasing. In the beginning she said, she didn't have to cry much like 15, you know maybe 20, like 23-24 minutes or so. Then later she was like, I mean she fell asleep after only 25 minutes of crying. So, I'm thinking it was probably more like 30. But regardless, it worked and by bedtime, she went down "drowsy but awake" and by the time I got to our room from her nursery, she was asleep!

I've been slacking on the pictures lately but here are a couple from this weekend when we went to Nick's firm's BBQ.

Lu loved being outside!

 

Top 10 Reasons....

Aside from the obvious reasons, I have come across some things in my (brief) maternity leave that have made me realize that I really do need to get back to work. I am really lousy at staying at home, because I tend do next to nothing besides sitting on the couch and watching TV, so here are the Top 10 reasons I need to get back to work:

10. I know more about celebrity's lives than I really should. I have forgotten that these people are NOT my friends, except Giuliana Rancic, we're buds, she just doesn't know it.

9. Too much daytime TV! I came to this realization when I actually started liking The Chew.

8. I have lost interest in NPR. It's not 30 seconds in to an interview with a documentary producer that I'm switching to music. I usually love almost everything on that station, from All Things Considered to Fresh Air. My brain is slowly turning to mush.

7. I'm out of touch with the weather. Besides the fact that I wasn't leaving the house much, I get all my weather info from conversations with patients (e.g. "Is it hot enough out there for ya?" "We gonna get some rain anytime soon?" "When's that sun gonna come back out?"). That is essentially my day in conversations.

6. I can't remember what it was like to not smell spit up or stay in the same shirt all day.

5. I wasn't sure how many more times I could get away with picking Z up from school in gym clothes while all the other parents were coming in and out in work clothes.

4. I felt like all I saw on TV were actors promoting movies I was never going to be able to see.

3. My purse had (literally) been collecting dust.

2. I was running out of saved shows on my DVR (and shamefully, sometimes rewinding a bit, just to make them last longer).

and the number 1 reason I knew it was time to get back to work:

1. I am ready to start my new routine. I am a total creature of habit and routine. I crave it, and I have no idea what that routine is going to look like with 2 children, but I'm ready to find out!

Even with all these reasons there is still one big small reason I am NOT ready to go back

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best dad and husband I know!! Nick does so much for our family. I cannot begin to acknowledge or thank him enough. Babe, this is just the beginning! I love you!

Of course, he's had some great examples to learn from!

I can't even begin to express what my Baba means to me. He is so much more than a father. He is a friend, confidante, advisor, business consultant, in short, everything you could ever want in a dad and so much more! His generosity and selflessness far exceeds that of anyone I've ever known! I know you're reading this and I want you to know that I love you more than words can express, Baba! I am the luckiest girl in the world!

1 month

Lu's one month today. I tried to get a few pics this afternoon before we headed out to the mall. She wasn't really in the mood, so I did the best I could.

Z was just up from nap, so we got him to hold her for a little bit (don't worry, nick spotted). It was basically the first time he's gotten to do it, and he was so sweet with her! He was looking down at her,

rubbing her head, and saying things like "Hi baby, you okay?" Almost every time he hears her cry, he says "baby sister crying" or "I need the paci," which he then tries to shove into her mouth!

In Lu news, she's wearing size 1 diapers now and has almost outgrown her newborn onesies. She weighs about 9 pounds, and her thighs are getting pretty chunky!

Even though she's more awake and alert now, She is still a pretty decent napper, especially in the morning and then it gets progressively harder as we approach the evening hours. By about 8, she gets

in a mood and really doesn't settle until 10 or 11. She's usually up at (sometimes 12), 3 then 6 or 7. It's actually pretty exhausting. But no worse than what we went through with Z that's for sure!

She's eating great and she's pretty efficient with most feedings lasting less than 20 minutes (I'm still getting used to that). She's still only had the one bottle, but hopefully she won't mind bottles too much seeing as starting Monday that will be her only feeding method during the day, yikes!

I have just been minimally pumping as I know I will be literally attached to the thing for the better part of a year!

We ventured out to the mall again tonight, and it was interesting. Lu obviously wanted to be sleeping at home because she was pretty fussy, but we survived then we had dinner at Cafe Lazio in Hoover and stopped for ice cream at Bruster's. She was struggling during the outing, but Z had the best time ever. He got to play with Nick at the Bumper Nets arcade and ate lots of "red pasta" and "white ice cream." So, it was totally worth it! We seemed to run into tweens and teens everywhere we went which made us feel old and like the best public service announcement for safe sex (especially when I was frantically searching for the bathroom in Belk with a screaming baby)! Fun times...

Proofs!

Our proofs are ready! We are in love with these wonderful pictures from the very talented Heather Swanner! We can't wait to fill the walls with pictures of our little girl (currently, they are covered by pictures of Z)!


As we speak, we are doing a potty weekend with Z. Pray that he doesn't flood the house and we all come out of this weekend alive!

Life Update

I'm happy to report that two nights in, the move into her own room has been rather successful. She still hasn't slept for more than 4 hours, but we are sleeping much better, and contrary to what I had originally thought, it is actually easier for me to get up and go into her room to nurse her and put her to sleep than it was to roll over and get her from the bassinet and do it there in the bed. Weird, but I think it is because the quality of sleep we are getting in between feedings is so much better. It's just us and the monitor, instead of us and her, listening to her every breath, burp, and moan!

She is eating every 2.5 to 3.5 hours during the day and sleeping a good bit. I have also tried to start putting her down for naps in her bed as opposed to letting her sleep on me on the couch. It's strange for me to actually be able to read her "sleepy cues" like yawning, and get her to sleep on time like all the books suggest. With Z, there was only one cue and it was screaming, which made it hard to tell if he was sleepy, hungry, or just mad as you know what!

So far, things she likes are swaddling (especially with the velcro swaddle blankets), being held (obviously), white noise (somewhat, not as much as Z), and being rocked in the glider. So far, it hasn't been that difficult to get her to sleep, particularly when I time it right. Last night, I think we let her get too tired or she was having digestive issues, but either way, she screamed for about 15 or 20 minutes (which for her is unusual), but then she totally crashed for 4 hours!

I can't believe she is 4 weeks old today! I feel like she changes every day!

Z is doing really well with her. When I go pick him up from school, he runs to us and says "Mommy! Baby Sister!" He didn't even run to me before we had baby sister! Lately, he has been really good when we get home too. He just entertains himself or helps himself to snacks if I am feeding Lu and can't get to him. Yesterday, because she fell asleep in the car, I actually was able to kick the soccer ball with him for about 20 or 30 minutes outside! It was great (for both of us) and something I didn't think I would be able to do for a while!

He is talking so much and saying the most hilarious things like, "I need to tell you something" and "What are you talking 'bout?" When we were playing outside, I fell over my flip flop and busted it. He ran over and said "You Okay, Mama?" Then he was trying to help me "fisk it." My favorite thing he says is "Hey Mama!" and "Hey Baba!" when one of us walks into the room. He also says it when we call Nick from the car. Speaking of the car, we can't go for a ride without him asking for the "Know Song," which is Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know," which he sings along with especially on the chorus. I just love to hear his little voice singing from the back of the car!

He is ridiculously into Dora these days. I downloaded an episode on his iPad a while back and he rediscovered it and was playing it over and over again until we got him a couple more. Then he watched those over and over again, so we downloaded a whole season. The crazy thing is that he still watches those same ones!

He totally answers her questions, sings the songs and has even learned some spanish words like "La Luna, Estrella, Mochila, Verde, and Rojo!" He's not bilingual yet, but hey it's a start. 

Moving Day

At 3 and 1/2 weeks, we have decided to move Lu out of our room (she's been in a bassinet next to our bed since about day 5) into her own crib. We've been talking about it for several days and we think tonight's the night. She has had some decent nights (like 3.5-4 hour stretches of sleep) and some rough nights (like 2-3 hours of wakefulness), but even when she's sleeping, she's not the quietest, and our sleep has been struggling big time! This move may be a total bust, and our sleep could diminish drastically, but one thing I've learned is you've gotta try new things, change it up (especially if the current system isn't working).

So, wish us luck for a decent night. I can't believe we ever survived the sleeplessness the first time around.

Just as a thank you for reading my boring post about sleep, here are some pictures from my iPhone.

Seeing Double

This adorable outfit given to me by my friend Kat is one of the few unisex items that I saved for Lu.

Can you tell who's who??

My Athlete

Warning: This post contains ridiculous claims from a totally biased parent.

Z loves sports, especially soccer. There is nothing he'd rather do than play, and he is really good at following the ball and even kicking it into the goal. I can't wait to get him signed up for a team so I can become a crazy soccer mom.

Look at them go!

 Floating hair

I am so thankful, and I think Z is so lucky that all of his grandparents love being active and playing with him endlessly, from soccer to baseball to ping pong and foosball, even climbing in the play place at McDonald's (which my mom may or may not have done last weekend)! It has been especially handy in keeping Z happy these days, and I do not take it for granted. It is such a wonderful blessing!

Lu's First Photo Shoot

Yesterday we had our photo shoot with the amazing Heather Swanner. I was slightly nervous about getting the whole family (photo) ready and out the door in time to get to Highland Avenue (where her studio is) by 9. Like, I worried for 2 days about it (I really need to get back to work). Amazingly, we made it, baths, outfits, hair brushed and all, and we were even early!

Between getting her calm and keeping Z from destroying Heather's studio, it was a long, exhausting, but very productive morning. Heather worked so hard as usual, and I think she really worked her magic too!

What do you think?

I had anticipated taking Z back to school after we were done, but it was after 12, so I decided to take him for some "chicken fries" and go home. Well, a good hour or so later, we finally made it home. I had to nurse miss priss in the Chick Fil-A parking lot, then wait in the endless drive thru line (I am not even ready to take them both in to a restaurant by myself, are you kidding?). So it was a process.

I told Z we would play outside after his nap, which I have been trying to do in the evenings, but that is also a process when you have a baby in tow. Thank God for the Moby wrap. That's been the only way I can have both of them out there and keep Z out of the street and off the stupid ledge we have on one side of our yard (both of which may or may not have almost happened yesterday).

First Bottle!

Last night Lu had her first bottle of pumped milk. When I asked Nick how he thought it went he replied "It was a little stressful for both of us." Enough said...

Check out that hand movement

In all seriousness, I was relieved that she took it, then was able to nurse (what felt like every hour) that night.

2 Week Appointment

On Thursday, we had our 2 week check up. Thankfully, it was pretty uneventful, except that I nursed her while I was waiting on the doctor to come in and then when she did her organ check (aka pressed on her belly), Lu projectile vomitted all over the place. Nice.

She weighed a solid 7 pounds and was 20 and 1/4 inches, more than a pound and an inch over her discharge stats!

We also made our first Walmart run together, and once I covered her carrier with a blanket, she did quite well there too.

I am so thankful for this sweet baby, and I am enjoying my time with her so much. I'm a little sad that I only have a couple more weeks of maternity leave, but I'm also ready to see what our new routine as a family of four is going to be like. 

What's big brother up to? He is spending a lot of time with his baba outside, playing soccer, basketball, and among other things, driving his "big red car."