Mama and Baby - Month 2

Two months down! Whoop!

The last month has been filled with a lot of ups and some minor downs. The not-so-great parts of the last month were P-Nut's colic and my breastfeeding woes. All of which are currently under control. They still exist, but are much more manageable and getting better every day!

The ups are the obvious... a smiley, happy girl that melts our hearts. A big brother that adores his, "Baby Sis," and she seems to advance and change every single day. It is amazing how much growth occurs in 8 weeks.

P-Nut had her two month check-up yesterday and she is super healthy and developing as she should.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 10 lb. 8 oz. (50%)
Height:  22 inches (25-50%)
Head Circumference: 14 3/4 inches (25%)

I am most proud of her weight. As her main food source it is very empowering to know I am responsible for her being at a healthy weight. That alone makes all the struggles worth it.

Eating:
P-Nut is breastfed roughly three times during the day, bottle fed once in the early evening and again before bed because she is super fussy and won't take my breast. Then she will nurse once in the middle of the night any time between 2-4am, then the cycle starts up again.

It is hard to know how many ounces she is getting while breastfeeding but when she takes a bottle she is averaging around 4oz per bottle (sometimes more, sometimes less).

P-Nut's Gut:
Last month I talked about how gassy our sweet, angelic baby girl was. This has gotten so much better since we were able to pin-point the cause and treat her symptoms. Gripe water and Mylicon have made a big difference but the main shift occurred when I gave up dairy and when we switched her from using the Medela bottles to the Dr. Brown's bottles.

Our Pediatrician told us to keep on doing what we are doing but also suggested we give her a Probiotic. Little C has to have probiotics daily because of his tummy issues and we are able to use the same drops for P-Nut as well. So far the Pediatrician doesn't feel that she will have the same tummy issues that C has or that she is even lactose intolerant. Everything we are experiencing is very "normal" for some babies. I am seriously crossing my fingers that she doesn't have the same issues as C but at least if she does we will know so much more about how to handle it.

Lastly, the Doc also said I could start slowly adding dairy back into my diet in a few weeks as P-Nut's gut will be more developed and she may no longer have an issue with the cow's milk proteins. The best thing to start with is yogurt, then cheese, then milk. It has to be done slowly and methodically to allow time for reaction.

Sleeping:
P-Nut is officially sleeping in her crib at night. Can I get a, Hallelujah!!! I was eager to end our co-sleeping because it really wasn't allowing me to get the quality sleep I needed. The first few nights making the transition were rough but before long she was comfortable in her room and started going longer and longer without needing to make sure I'd be there if she needed me.

We now have a pretty solid routine with sleep. Of course there are nights where  things vary but that is to be expected. Here's what it looks like if everything goes according to plan:

7:30pm - Little C is put to bed
7:30-8:00pm - We feed P-Nut her final bottle of the day. Most of the time she won't finish it all and we set the remaining ounces aside for later.
8:00pm - 8:30pm - Play time! P-Nut plays on her mat and coos and smiles and bats at the toys. Hubs and I use this time to bond with her.
8:30pm - 9:00pm - Wind down time. She starts showing that she is getting sleepy and if she didn't finish all of her bottle we use this time to give her the rest. She is burbed and then we take her down to her room where it is only lit by her nightlight and she is rocked to sleep.
4:00am - She wakes up and is hungry but doesn't feed to aggressively or for very long. I'm hoping this will start to stretch out to 5am or 6am.
7:00am - She is awake and ready to EAT!

I am very pleased with this and I am hoping in the next 4 weeks we start to get closer to a full night of sleep just in time for my return back to work.

Mommy Update:

 



Every day and week that passes I am feeling so much better. Sleep has become existent again so that has a TON to do with it. Little C is behaving so very well and I can't wait to share with you how we have curbed his tantrums. I'm getting more comfortable with managing two kids but I will say I can go from calm and in control to completely overwhelmed in no time flat!

I am experiencing some anxiety about returning to work in a few short weeks. I can't believe how fast this time has gone. The bummer is how I am just now starting to feel up to getting back out into the "real" world instead of staying at home so much. I just wish I had felt this way a while ago so I could have enjoyed my time off more instead of trying to cram everything in that I wanted to do in these last few weeks. Oh well! I intend to make the most of it!

I had my postpartum check up yesterday and my body seems to be back to normal. My lady parts have all healed up and returned to their designated positions. What more could a girl ask for?!? I also discussed birth control and what is safe to use while breastfeeding. I took home information on an IUD. Does anyone have any pros and cons they'd like to share with me? This is the route I am leaning toward.

So that's it. This last month has been a doozy. From a colicky baby, breastfeeding blunders, a trantruming toddler, you name it. And oh yeah... I also have a husband that I fell in love with years ago and we are trying to find time for the two of us to connect outside of our parenting duties to keep the flame alive. If you know what I mean. :: wink, wink ::

I definitely have a lot of balls juggling in the air. But I'm feeling more and more confident in myself and juggling is getting more manageable. Besides, I don't mind all of the balls. I love my balls and I wouldn't trade my balls for any other balls in the world. No matter how tempting or big and beautiful those balls seem!  :: a'hem ::

Okay, so maybe I need more sleep than I thought!!!!!!!!!! Sorry about that. For now, I'll have to settle for coffee. ;)