4 & 5 month update

with my sisters,BIL, and niece

with Godparents

Wow has it been awhile since I last posted.  It has been really crazy with the holidays and J being away on business a lot.

Amaya is really growing...fast.  It seems that every time I blink, she's bigger!  She is still a really good baby.  She's not really a fussy girl, only gets loud when she's hungry.  Her hair is getting a bit lighter and her eyelashes are so long and gorgeous.  She did excellent at her 4 month well visit...only crying a bit for her shots.  Amaya is now 26 inches long and 15lbs.  Her ped is guessing she will be around 5'7" tall when she's older (this was based on both J and my height).  She loved Christmas.  By the end of the day, she actually tried to open presents.  Oh, to go back a few weeks, we also had her baptized.  She did great and didn't cry.   We have also come to realize that she is camera shy.  She doesn't mind getting her picture taken, but she'll turn away or stop smiling.
She is on the verge of crawling too.  She scouts around a lot when she's on her belly.  It won't be long now.  The ped also gave us the go ahead on solids at her 4 month appointment.  She's doing rather well.  We are starting her on oatmeal for a couple weeks then move to a vegetable.

What she loves:
-sleeping on her belly
-car rides
-attention..no change there
-toys...especially anything with lights and sounds
-sponge bob and Sesame Street
-bath time... She loves to splash around
-music
-our fireplace
-her exersaucer
-standing
-blowing raspberries
-oddly enough her vitamin d drops

What she hates:
-her car seat
-her swing.. Doesn't really hate it, but doesn't want to be in it long
-the aspirator.. Another cold and the sucker is being used again
-bed/nap time when there are people n the house

Success!!!!

I'm pleased to report that weaning Amaya from swaddling has been a success.  She actually loved it.  She loved being able to stretch and not be constricted.  I still swaddle from the waist down just for warm.  Because I stopped swaddling, the very next day she started rolling over unassisted!!  Now she can' get enough of it.  She even does it in her sleep and freaks herself out.  We also discovered that she is a side sleeper.  If she's still semi-awake in her crib, she'll roll to her side and pass right out!!  Next feat... hopefully solids next month.

Unswaddling Trial

I've been swaddling Amaya since the day she was born.  And honestly, the SwaddleMe was one of my favorite items.  She slept soundly, didn't cry when swaddled, and never broke out of it....until recently.  Recently, Amaya has been giving me cues she is ready to be unswaddled.  She has been freaking out when I tighten the swaddle.  So last week, I have been loosening it up.  When I loosened her up, she broke free and it woke her up.  Last night, I decided to wean her since she has been freaking out over anything confining.  I put her to bed a little before 9 pm and tried with one arm out.  That didn't work so well.  She slept soundly until 11:30 pm and then woke me up with this piercing scream.  She tried to get her right arm out and it got stuck.  Her arm was half way out of her pj sleeve and the swaddle.  I fixed her up, rocked her, and left both arms out.  She slept much better.  She slept from 11:45 pm to 3:30 am and then woke up.  I left her cry a bit to see if she'd go back to sleep, but she didn't she was hungry.  I did a quick feed and she was back out.  I actually had to wake her up this morning at 6:15 to get ready.  All in all, the first night wasn't bad.  I hope tonight will be better and we work our way back to STTN!

Pumping at Work

Up until last week, pumping at work has been going fairly well.  There are times when I am only able to pump once during the work day, but so far I haven't noticed a dip in my supply nor have I had to use my freezer stash.  I normally get to use one of our rooms that has a lock on it, other days I use empty patient rooms.  Never have I had a walk in....until Thursday.  One of my doctors walked in on me.  He didn't see much but was really embarrassed.  I knew it was only a matter of time.

Weathering the Storm

That was a crazy storm!!!  Monday wasn't bad with the rain as predicted, but the wind was pretty bad.  J and I didn't think Sandy was going to bring the punch we thought it would.  Well we were wrong...  Monday we both went into work and Amaya went to daycare.  We figured we'd play it by ear as best as we could since they predicted by evening we'd get hit.  Well I got sent home at 11:30 and J wasn't to far behind me.  The winds slowly picked up but nothing we haven't seen before.  We thought nothing of it.  We then lost power at 10:00 pm Monday night and didn't get it back until last night.  Tuesday we definitely roughed it.  We made coffee and speghettios on the grill.  For dinner we went out and got a pizza.  We kept calling our electric company for updates and kept getting pushed back hours until we got power.

Amaya did really well.  I thought she'd have a fit.  She loved it!!  We have a fireplace and that was all she can keep her eyes on.  She also found her shadow and tried to play with it.  The only time she really cried was Tuesday morning because she was cold.  So i got her and brought her into bed with us to keep her warm.

Thankfully the power came on because there are a few sections in our place that won't get power back until this weekend or next week.  My parents also lost the shingles off their roof causing a mess in their home.  Hopefully they get that fixed soon.  We're suppose to get a nor'easter next week.

Here is a picture of Amaya during our power outage.

3 Months Old

Each and every day I look at my little bug and she keeps changing and even getting bigger.  Everything is going way too fast and needs to slow down!

This past Monday, October 22, was my first day back at work.  It was rough for me, but the week got better since I got busier.  I have Amaya in a home daycare by my house and she loves it.  It did start out a bit rough with her naps and eating.  It wasn't until Friday that she finally ate 3- 3 ounce bottles and it all came down to the bottle.  At home we have been using Playtex Ventaire bottles since that is what seemed to work best for her.  But now, she likes the breastflow bottles which she didn't like before.  Today I continued with giving her the bottle, since I didn't want her to regress with her progress, and she fought me with the breastflow bottle.  So now I had to order new bottles for her while she is at daycare.  I have been having trouble finding them around so I had to go with Amazon.  So hopefully they will be here soon.  She's a strange little thing....Her naps got a lot better.  At the beginning, she would take small cat naps.  Her "report card" said 20 minutes here and 40 minutes there.  On Friday, she actually got a good solid 2.5 hours in with some small fussing.  And the best part of all is that she is taking to the pack n play which she hates at home.  On another plus side...she is back to sleeping through the night!!  Which I totally didn't think would happen with her poor eating habits the first half of the week.  She's down for the count at about 8:00/8:35 and then I get her up at 6:15 am for changing and her 6:30 am feeding.

What She Likes:
-Bath Time:  She absolutely loves it now.  She sits in her tub and kicks her feet around.
-Swing/Bouncy Chair:  Still loves them.  Passes out in her swing and just loves sitting in her chair bouncing and looking around.
-Playmat:  She loves looking at the animals above her.  She bats them around and even "talks" to them.
-Sitting/Standing:  She loves sitting up and looking around.  It also gives her a chance to try and grab her feet.  She also love to stand so she can be at eye level.  We get the biggest smiles out of her when she stands.
-Eating:  still loves to eat.  She's becoming a faster eater now which is starting to become a problem.  Sometimes she eats fast and doesn't realize she is full.  She then spits up all over.  We had at least 2 days of 2-3 outfit changes.
-Tummy Time:  She is actually starting to like this now.  She'll get frustrated after 10 minutes, but she's really getting the hang of keeping her head up and looking around.
-Attention:  Still loves her attention.  I don't think this is going to go away.
-Kids:  She loves watching the other kids in daycare play.

What She Hates:
-Bottles:  Only when mom gives them.
-Aspirator:  She really hates that nose sucker.

Milestones:
-We're getting a bit of a laugh from her.  It's not constant and sometimes it could be a half a laugh or a squeak.
-She has rolled over from front to back 2 times.  I'm not counting it as rolling over yet, because she is not  consistently doing it.  She is on her way though...
-She made it through her first week of daycare with minimal problems.  She absolutely loves being there.

We Survived!!

Today was my first day back at work.  It went well, I was very busy getting caught up on charts and changes.  My drive to work was horrible.  Once I dropped Amaya off at day care, I cried the whole way to work.  I also really don't like pumping at work...I feel like a cow.  AND to make matters worse, one of the bottles spilled after I filled it for day care tomorrow.  ughh...  The week will get better for me...in a way.  I will get very busy the rest of the week which will make the day go by fast.

Amaya did well herself.  She adjusted fairly well for her first full day, a bit fussy, but did well.  My only concern is that she didn't eat much.  Total she took just over 2 ounces.  I hope that will change as she gets more accustomed to day care.  But all throughout the day, she took to the other kids and played on the floor.

I did miss my bug terribly, but it made my reunion with her that much better at the end of the day