Baby girl, you make the funniest faces.
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| Just a swingin'! |
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| No, I don't want to wake up from my nap |
I think we both sleep better if we get out of the house and enjoy the sunshine a little bit everyday. Even if it is just the 7 minute walk to the mailbox and back. You tend to fall asleep in the baby carrier and stay asleep for 1-2 hours, versus when you fall asleep after nursing and only sleep for 20 minutes (or until I decide to put you down in your crib and then you wake up screaming bloody murder).
This week you have shown a little more interest in your playmat/gym. I don't think you are intentionally playing yet, but sometimes when you flail your arms you hit the rattle or some of the other toys and are interested. There is also a mirror, and you look at yourself sometimes.
Monday I picked the rest of the peppers and tomatoes. The nights have been cool lately, in the 40s, and the tomatoes have lost their flavor. They taste like sad store-bought tomatoes. We also went to the farm yesterday and walked Freddy up to Grandma's house again. And then you got to entertain Grandma for an hour. I'm trying to make a point to walk Freddy and visit Grandma at least once a week. She doesn't get around much/very well anymore, and she really enjoys the visits. I know you won't remember them, but I try to take photographs too.
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| What do you mean I have to lay still in this cake pan while you read the digital display?? |
I'm sure this is a fear that every breastfeeding mother has at some point, but I get scared sometimes that you aren't gaining weight like you're supposed to. Your Daddy brings home a digital scale from his work once a week and we weigh you. According to the scale, as of Monday you had gained 8 ounces above your birthweight.. So in the last three weeks, you gained the 5 ounces you lost in the hospital plus another 8 ounces. I would say the breastmilk is working just fine! We weighed you twice this week - before and after a feeding - and you ate about 2 ounces.
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| "No one told me it was naptime; I missed that memo" |
We are seeming to get into a sleep routine during the day. You eat breakfast at the same time as me and your dad, and then usually have a second breakfast about an hour and a half later (along with your daily vitamin D dosage). Then sometime between 9 and 10 you go down for a 2 to 2-1/2 hour nap. You wake up and eat again, play on your gym/mat, I read a book to you, you get some tummy-time to practice lifting your neck, and then you eat and go down for another 2 to 2-1/2 hour nap sometime between 4 and 7. I know, a wide range there, but if you start getting cranky and you're fed, burped, and freshly diapered, I know you're ready for a nap.
At night, we were waking you up 4 hours after your bedtime to feed. That stopped last night. It was a huge ordeal. You weren't waking up on your own, so at 1:30am, it would take 30-45 minutes to wake you to eat. You'd fall asleep eating on one side, no matter how much I talked to you, or rubbed your face or feet. So then I'd burp you and spend another 15-20 minutes waking you to feed on the other side. By 3:30 or 4am, I'd be back in bed, but you weren't sleeping well and neither was I. The pediatrician was who told us to wake you every 4 hours. But the Hubs talked to several people at work that said they always let their baby sleep until s/he woke up hungry and then fed. So we tried that last night. Your last feeding ended at about 9pm and you woke up at 330am to eat. You, me and your dad are a lot better rested today. You woke up for the day around 7am, your typical wake-up time.
Over the weekend, we also moved you out of our bedroom at night. You were in a rock and play next to my side of the bed until this weekend. It was nice because I could roll over and see/feel that you were breathing, even if you weren't making a peep. But it was also annoying because you grunt and make all kinds of noises in your sleep that wake me and your dad up. We were not getting very restful sleep with all your night-time noises. So you are now sleeping in your crib and I have the baby monitor turned on low so I can hear when you wake up.
Since you aren't eating during the night, I'm trying to figure out when/if to pump instead of feeding you at night. I don't want my milk supply to decrease since I'm not feeding you then, and I need to start storing milk for when I go back to work so you can eat at the sitter's house. This morning I pumped on the side you didn't eat on first, and put that milk in the freezer. But I waited until your first feeding to do that. I might try to do that if I wake up before you. (Or I might spend that time eating breakfast with your dad like I did this morning.)
Breastfeeding has been an adventure. Hardly any of the nursing bras I bought during my pregnancy actually fit. And when they do fit it is only for the first hour or so after feeding, and then my boobs swell up with milk and I end up with boob muffin-top poking over the top of my bra cup. I bought a couple nursing bras to wear at night, but they don't fit... I swell up like a balloon and the bra leaves indentations on my chest and I feel tender. So those are staying in the drawer... I've found that I really like nursing tanks that have built-in shelf bras. Super comfy and I don't get poked by underwire :)
I stepped on the scale again on Monday and I lost another pound since last week... And I went into work today to get my flu shot at the health fair (and to show you off) and I wore a pair of pre-pregnancy capris. I can't believe how lucky I am to shed the weight that quickly.
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