New Mommy Question

Thanks to those of you who responded here or on Facebook about the eating/sleeping issue. It has evened out in the last week. Thankfully, Avonlea has spaced out her eating more as a result. Yay! Mommy can get more done!  Her sleeping hasn't returned to normal yet. She's only going about 3-4 hours a stretch at night. And today, she didn't nap at all. Hopefully that will get better.

I now have a new question: Were any of your babies swaddlers?  I have been swaddling Avonlea since she was 2 weeks old, which has been a life-saver for bedtime and naps. It's kind of funny--as soon as you "unlock" her arms, she wakes right up.

BUT--how do I transition her out of swaddling?  I read online to swaddle her leaving one arm out, but that hasn't seemed to help.  I also bought a different swaddle than the Swaddle Me, called the Woombie, which allows for a little more motion within the swaddle position, but she seems to wake up more and then gets really frustrated.

*sigh*  How did you swaddle mamas get your kiddos out of a swaddle?

InstaFriday

InstaFriday--a collection of Instagram photos taken during the week.

We bought a pool floatie for Avonlea. She's not quite tall enough for it yet, but she will be soon!

After struggling at the beach to change Avonlea's diaper with a one-piece on, I found this cute bikini at Target for $4!  Only problem: no swimming diapers could fit under this one!

Moved from size one diapers to size two diapers!

Wide-eyed during her bath!

She LOVES bath time!

Waldo checks out "the smelly bald puppy".

Totally cute, but also totally stinky: this was her 4th outfit for the day! I ate something that didn't agree with her tummy, and she had major throw ups all day!

This is what happens when you go up to the pool during nap time: she fell asleep while I was holding her IN THE POOL!  Silly girl.

One of my Old Navy managers (and my friend!) came to visit and play with Avonlea!

Letter to Baby

Dear Avonlea,

You are 3 months old today!  This month has especially seemed to fly by. You'll learn when you get older that when things are going hard, time seems to slow down, and when things are fun, the time will speed up. And this month, has been fun.

You are becoming more and more alert and animated every day. I'm so glad to have the picture above--it captured your sweet, sweet smile.  You giggled at me once last week. I keep trying to get you to do it again!  You smile the most when you first wake up.

Your sleep has been a little mixed up this month, because of our trip to Ohio. You had a good routine, and then changing time zones twice really messed you up. A couple of nights you only slept an hour and a half at a time!  Thankfully, you're starting to get back to normal in your overnight sleeping. You go between 4 and 5 hours at a time.  You had two nights of 8 hours in a row, but you haven't done that since.  Over the last week you've been really sleepy during the day, taking 3 or 4 naps a day!  You must be having a growth spurt.

Speaking of Ohio, you had your first plane ride! I was very nervous going into it, because you were pretty fussy, and didn't like sitting in one place very long. I had a lot of people praying for our trip. You did such a good job on the plane! Our flights to Ohio were overnight, which helped. You only fussed at the very end of one flight, when we had to wait to get off of the plane.  Your flight back was a little rougher, but it was during the day, so you were more awake. We passed out little baggies of candy to our flight neighbors, so that helped everyone stay pleasant to us during the flight!

It was so wonderful seeing you meet PawPaw and Grammy and Poppa, and Papaw, and Great-Grandma, and your Aunt Ashley, and great-aunts and great-uncles. You had a tough time with the time change, so you were cranky when meeting the Campbells and Humes, but they didn't care, because they were so excited to meet you! Your Great-Grandma Hume and Grammy and Poppa were especially excited to meet you.

You have been doing great with your physical therapy. The doctor is noticing that your range of motion is getting better each week.

You are doing so well with eating! You haven't used the nipple shield since we went to Ohio. We are officially done with it--yay! It's amazing to see how you have grown. You started this month eating every hour and a half to two hours, and you're now able to go longer in between feedings. It's also nice because you aren't yelling at me when you're ready to eat!

You love to face out, so I got a Baby Bjorn to carry you around in. You love it! I am trying to keep you upright as much as possible, because your physical therapist mentioned that you have a bit of a flat head. I don't want you to have a flat head!  One of the solutions for it is to do tummy time, but BOY do you hate it!  You do a good job holding your head up, but you don't want to be on your tummy for long.

You're starting to chunk up a bit more, which makes me super happy. I love fat babies!  At the doctor, you weighed 14lbs, 6oz.  We will find out what percentile you are in at next month's appointment.

We are still reading through the "Jesus Storybook Bible". We just read about David and Goliath yesterday. You are looking more at the pictures when I read. You are also noticing Gus and Waldo. Today I saw you smiling at them while we were sitting on the couch and they were playing.

You are grabbing at things now when they touch your hands. You like to play with my Debbie bracelet that I wear on my wrist. You also grab at your clothes and your blankets. Your favorite toy this month has been your hands!  You are almost able to get your whole fist in your mouth!  Sometimes, you put your fist in your mouth, and then you extend your fingers--and gag yourself!  Silly girl.

I love you so much!
Mommy

Mommy Question

The past few days, Avonlea has been sleeping all the time, and eating less.  For example, two nights ago, she went to bed at 8pm. Got up at midnight to eat, 5 to eat, and woke up for good at 8. She went back down for a nap from 9-10:30 (I know she's ready for a nap, because she screams bloody murder and won't eat), was ready for a nap again at noon (but we went to the store instead). When we got home she went back to sleep from 1:30-4, then again from 5:30-7. She went to bed at 8:30.  Overnight feedings have been longer, but during the day she is only eating from one side at a time, maybe for 10 minutes max (usually more around 5 minutes). Sometimes I can come back and get her to eat from the other side after a half hour or so, but it is killing me!  I can chalk it up a little bit to her getting more productive. But it seems like 5 minutes is pretty short.

Last night, I was so full that my stream was choking her it was coming out so fast!  Plus, she was getting a lot more than her tummy could handle, and she had major vomits--once all over me when I was putting her back to bed, the other this morning and soaked through everything she was wearing, and all the sheets.

Usually, if I'm super full I wake up and can pump a little bit to ease my supply for her, but I haven't the past couple of nights, and when Avonlea wakes up, she is ready to eat NOW.

Anyway--is this extra sleep but minimal eating normal?  Or should I be concerned?

Thoughts on Ohio and Family

Our trip to Ohio (and Kentucky) was great. Avonlea did a wonderful job on the flights. She only fussed a small amount at the very end of our flights to Ohio, and fussed a little more on our flight home--but Nick said it wasn't bad and I did a good job with her.

We were able to see all of my family (except one of my cousins and her family), and we were able to see Nick's mom and husband, who drove in from the Chicago area.

Avonlea had a really hard time with the time change for the first few days. She was REALLY cranky. The first few days we only saw family, though, so they didn't mind the crying so much. They were just happy to see her!

We drove around a lot, but not so much that I felt super-rushed or like I didn't get to chat with people enough.  I also didn't go out of my way to meet with people. I just didn't want to have a jam-packed schedule like I've had before. I knew it wouldn't be good for Avonlea.

I was able to get a taste of what raising Avonlea in Ohio would be like. I don't think I would have had so many struggles the first few months, because I would have had family support like I didn't have here. Don't get me wrong: it's not like I would've called them all the time. But it would've been nice to know that they were a phone call away, instead of a phone call and a plane ride away.

Yes, there are disadvantages sometimes to being around so much family. But, when you aren't around them at all, you wish they were nearby.  It makes me sad to think that Avonlea won't immediately recognize her aunts and uncles. They won't be at all of her birthday parties and holidays like I had when I was growing up.  I was surrounded by such love and support my whole life, and I worry that Avonlea won't know that she's part of such an amazing family.

When we left my grandma, she broke down in tears. She commented that she doesn't know if she'll ever see Avonlea again. She also said that Avonlea would never remember her great-grandma.

While the first sentence might be true (we think we will go back for Christmas, but you never know what will happen), I will make sure the 2nd sentence isn't true. Just like I will make sure that she knows who her Nana (my mom) was.

But it is true that for now, Avonlea will grow up away from family. We are among a community of orphans out here, and it forms some great friendships. Those friendships will become like our families, since we are all craving those connections.  It will certainly not replace our true family, but it will put a balm on the hurt we experience when we miss them.

Growing Up and Moving On

Four weeks ago, I couldn't breastfeed away from the house without it being a major production.

Avonlea was stuck using the nipple shield. I couldn't feed without using my Brest Friend, or a pillow. The thought of getting on a plane was terrifying. TERRIFYING, I tell you!

Thank God for His help. I mean, seriously.

We went to Ohio, and I was determined not to use the shield while we were there. Do you know how immensely frustrating that dumb thing is??  

First, it took a specific technique to get it on. Then, Avonlea has her hands in front of her face all the time, so she would hit it off. If I was lucky, it would land on my lap, but most of the time it went on the floor, so I would have to wash it (or, just blow on it to get the dog hair off--let's be real here, if the baby is screaming to eat, I'm just going to do whatever gets the job done the fastest).  She took forever to eat with it, because the milk doesn't come out fast enough. It was MESSY. The thing would leak down underneath and soak my bra (which would then soak the shirt I was wearing), and I'm thinking, "my precious liquid gold is soaking my cheap shirt!"  After she was done eating, I would have to clean her up and myself, and then wash the dumb shield.  More recently, I would also have to wash it again before using it, because it would cloud up and have some weird filmy substance on it. GRR. ARGH.

So, I determined not to use it. And the entire time I was in Ohio, we didn't use it once. I had them packed with me, just in case, and once I actually had it in my hand once during a feeding, but I never had to put it on, and I haven't used it since.  *cue Hallelujah Chorus*

It's amazing the things that Avonlea is learning and growing out of.  She only "feral cat cries" when she's crazy tired or crazy hungry now.  I don't need the Brest Friend to feed her (in fact, since coming back from Ohio, I have only used it twice).  I packed up all her newborn and 0-3month clothes. Today we moved from size 1 diapers to size 2.  And she is growing out of the swaddle, too. The first couple of days back from Ohio, she fought her way out of it repeatedly (but didn't sleep well).

Then today, she kept fussing during her nap, and I went in and undid the swaddle. I had a crazy need to go to the bathroom right then, so I left her in the pack-n-play, and she fell asleep with her arms out.

To be completely honest, I am so glad. Yes, I know I should be sad that she will never be super little again, and I should be sad I won't have my little newborn anymore.  And there's a small part of me that is sad (a very small part).  But that phase of her life was SO. HARD.  I didn't really enjoy much of it, and I'm glad we're moving on from it.  I love that she's reactive to me. I love that I understand all of her cues (or, at least most of them). I love that she's needing less and less "stuff" when she's sleeping. I love that I feel more on top of things, at least for the moment.  I'm not constantly worrying and questioning and fearing. I am feeling more confident, and that I am able to give Avonlea the best of me instead of what is left over.

What Therapy Looks Like

Avonlea goes to therapy every week for her neck. We are trying to strengthen the muscles on one side of her neck so that she will start to turn her head to the left. It's basically like the muscles on her right side are tight, and the ones on the left side are stretched out too much (and not strong).

These are a few of the exercises that the doctor does with her each week. She was MUCH less fussy this week during the appointment! I think they're hurting her less and less. The doctor said that her range of motion is much better--yay!

Strengthening the muscles along the back of her neck:

Leaning from side-to-side, helping her hold her head up straight:

Stretching into left side bend:

Her ear can touch her shoulder--definite improvement! She could only bend about 30 degrees a few weeks ago!

One of the exercises--have her lean like she's forgotten her V8, and do bounces!

Videos are fun, too: