Life with Lauren: 11 months

Hanging out at the beach.

In 26 days I will be writing a one year update. One year! Too crazy to be true, but it is. So I'm savoring the moment of 11 months while a certain 11 month old is sleeping. I don't actually know her stats for height, weight and head circumference, but she continues to be pleasantly plump. She still has a few inches to go and a few pounds to gain before she officially grows out of her car seat, but it is so heavy with her in it that we are about to switch her over to a big girl seat! 

Swings!

On our way to Camp of the Woods, Lauren took her first steps. We were at Dan's sister's house, and Lauren was playing on the floor with Dan while we stood around and chatted. She stood up and then, as she started to walk using Dan's leg for support, he quickly moved back and she took three or four unsteady steps. I was shocked and so thrilled that we were both able to see it! I didn't think she was that close to walking alone, since her balance wasn't that great. Just goes to show you that effort counts for more than skill. Now she practices walking whenever she can and will walk across the room if she has a toy in her hand that she doesn't want to set down. Crawling is still her most reliable form of transportation, but we are seeing more and more walking every day.

Enjoying the lake. 

Lauren is starting to communicate more with us. She waves her arms or claps when she wants more to eat. (She has not yet grasped the sign language for more.) She points to interesting things that she wants to see. She knows who Ross is -- Dan's old cabbage patch kid -- and loves to play with him. It is amazing how much she understands (where her books are, where Ross is, if she wants to dance). Speaking of dancing, Lauren is a bop-per just like her mom. If we put music on, she bends her little legs while holding on to the coffee table and looks all around while she moves to the music.

A new game: grab the sunglasses. It's soooo much fun.

Granddad and Lauren like to stick their tongues out. Lauren does it just about every time she sees him.

Sleeping has become more challenging in this past month. Morning naps are hit or miss, but as long as she is happy, I try to take it in stride. In general, she is still on a similar schedule as before. As long as she can get a longer nap in the afternoon, I'll be okay with dropping to one nap. We'll have more of a window for fun! As for eating, she loves it but will hardly tolerate being fed with a spoon. She likes to do it herself, just like her mom used to. Like mother, like daughter.

This has been a great summer -- our first with baby Lauren. But our baby is soon becoming a toddler. Watch out world!

Life with Lauren, 10 months

Swings almost always get a smile. (Not this time, of course.)

I'm two weeks late for the 10 month post, and it is hard to sort out what was has happened since then. (One major thing: she took her first steps!) But I'd hate to skip a month, so I'll do the best that I can.

Weight: 20 lbs, exactly (63%)
Length: 29" (according to the doctor, 79%)
Head Circumference: 18 7/8", which put her at the 100% (an impossible percentile, but still... big noggin!)

July was a fun month for us. After camping, we went to Fredonia to hang out with my parents, brother and sister-in-law + kiddos, and my sister, when she wasn't in Ithaca or traveling. We celebrated my birthday and Lauren blessed us with sleeping again, after giving us a rough few days while camping. Dan and I escaped to the fireworks while Lauren snoozed peacefully in bed, while Dad kept an ear out for her. We saw the great grandmas and Lauren permitted them to hold her. Lauren went through a phase of separation anxiety that last most of the month, but seemed to wear off by the time we went on vacation in early August. Phew! Tears every time someone else held her was exhausting.

Learning new tricks from her buddy and future husband Micah. 

Following that, we had a couple of normal weeks in Dayton, and then a visit from my college friends and their families! Lauren learned some new things from some of the bigger kids, and tolerated everyone else in her space quite well. She tried out the splash park with the gang, and although the water was cold, she decided it was quite interesting.

Splash park!

Dislikes: the feeling of grass (which is convenient for the times we put her on a blanket outside), being rocked/held/made to sit still, getting her diaper changed (see previous)
Likes: Peekaboo books, pulling hair, her cup, her bottle, FOOD, crawling, pulling up

Stay tuned for another update in a few weeks about what Lauren is getting into at 11 months!

Life With Lauren: 8 months

At church two weeks ago, we sang "I Need Thee Every Hour," and while introducing it, our worship leader noted that a stay at home mom wrote the hymn. His implication was that even a stay-at-home mom needed Jesus every hour. Of course! I thought. Nothing has pointed out my own need for God's grace than staying at home with my daughter each day. It was much easier for me to ignore my need for Jesus when I was busy at work, dealing with other people's children. Raising up my own child highlights my own sin and need to become more like Him. 

That's the musings for life with Lauren at 8 months. Despite my own struggles at times, I can say that I am truly happy to be at home with Lauren. I am so thankful that I am able to! Every day there seems to be something a little more delightful about her than the previous day. I hear from friends with older kiddos that this trajectory stops around five, so I am soaking up the sweetness while it lasts.  

Weight: 18.2 lbs (between 25 & 50%)

Height: 28.5 inches (between 75 & 90%)

Skills: Sitting up by herself! Occasionally she gets really into a toy and forgets that she has to hold herself up. In those cases, she thumps back and hits her head. Fortunately, this has only happened on the carpet and a quick snuggle stops the tears. Also, she started inch worming her way around early this month and capped it off by doing a real crawl! Watch out world, here she comes.

Eating: Three meals a day. Breakfast is oatmeal + fruit, lunch is a veggie, fruit + yogurt, and dinner is a veggie  and fruit. There are copious amounts of puffs and cheerios eaten/scattered at all of these meals, as well as a bottle after each of them. Lander has taken care of the vacuuming for us. She goes bonkers when we eat apples, and occasionally I'll let her chew on one while suppervised. 

Teeth: Still none!

Sleeping: Two steps forward, one step back, and sometimes five steps back. Overall, she is getting better at sleeping, although she had quite the set back when we visited Dan's parents last weekend. Ugh!

She has slept  through the night a handful of times in this past month, so I hope the trend continues. I also hope that she is able to sleep when we go on vacation this summer, since we have at least 2 weeks where she'll need to sleep in her pack-n-play. 

Routine: Up around 7, breakfast and play, nap around 9, usually a walk, then lunch, play, nap around 1 or 2, and bed around 7:00 or 7:30. It feels pretty amazing to be able to write a routine with times attached to the different parts. She isn't very regimented, but this is the general framework of our day when we are at home. 

Fun Times: We had a great time seeing Dan's family last weekend. Lauren had lots of snuggles from everyone. One of the sweetest moments was when Tyler, Kristy, Dan and I were in the hot tub at his parents' house. Lauren had gone to bed an hour or so before, so I thought I had time to sneak in the hot tub without an issue. But, to be safe, I asked Kylie (Dan's niece) to keep an ear out for the baby monitor. After a while, she came out to tell me that Lauren was crying. By the time I got inside, little Caleb (6 years old) had gone down to the pack-n-play and was twirling his glow bracelets for her and saying, "It's okay Lauren. You don't have to cry." So stinkin' sweet. She is loved, by cousins, aunts and uncles, and her grandparents, not to mention her father and me. 

Life With Lauren: Seven Months

After Lauren's seven month appointment, the stats are in.

Length: 28" (50-75%)
Weight: 16 lbs, 5 oz (5-10%)
Head: 16" 

Skills: Rolling like crazy, front to back, back to front and across the room! She's starting to get up on her hands and knees for crawling. Her fingers are often in her mouth, especially when she is quietly observing the world. She looks around to find where our voices are coming from and usually breaks into a big grin when she spots one of us.
Sleeping: There are good days and bad days! Daytime sleeping has generally normalized into two and sometimes three naps per day, of a duration varying from 20 mins to 1 hour and 45 minutes. Night sleeping consists generally of going down between 7:30 and 8 and up 2-3+ times before her morning Daddy time at 6:45/7:00. She did well last night so I'm feeling optimistic, but there have been many days this past month when I have been extremely grumpy about her sleep. (I've had to call my sister-in-law from some pep talks about how she will eventually sleep.) We did have to resort back to swaddling one arm to help her sleep a bit more soundly.
Eating: This is one area where Lauren excels. In addition to nursing plus 12 oz of formula a day, Lauren is eating at least two meals a day. She eats fruit at lunch (2 tbsp) and veggies at dinner (1/4 cup). Everything has seemed equally pleasing to her, from spinach to sweet potatoes, prunes to pears.
Other: No teeth! I keep expecting them but not yet. She'll get really drooling and start biting on everything for a few days, and then it stops. She had a little red blood blister on her gum a couple of weeks ago, but then it went away and no tooth followed. As I know that nursing will be a little more dangerous after she gets a few, I have to admit that I am not that sad that she hasn't had any pop through.
Lauren Loves: Her stroller. She's now comfortable enough to fall asleep during walks.
Her dog, Lander. He makes her laugh oh-so-hard.
People. She smiles at everyone!
Bathtime. Splashing water on her face? She thinks it is the best thing ever. (That's must be a trait from Dan, not me!)
Being tickled. Her chuckle makes the world a better place.

Visits! We were blessed with two sets of visitors this month. Joanna, Shelley and the boys came for a few days in early April, and my parents just left yesterday after spending a few days here. Lauren loved the extra people to watch and play with, and we loved having them. 

Life with Lauren: 5 Months

This is Dan's favorite sleeper for Lauren. 

Five months outside of the womb have passed so much ore quickly than the first five months of pregnancy. Lauren seems more like a little person each day, and I can only imagine that this impression will grow stronger as she asserts more of her own opinions about things. She has always been alert -- baby big eyes! -- but even more so now. She captivated the ladies sitting behind us at church, and calmly accepted their praise and clutched proffered fingers. Immediately after she stuck her index finger in her mouth to chew on, so I sincerely hope all of those people were part of the clean hands club. (Oh yes, she has mastered the sucking of the index finger.)

Big moments from the month include the first unenthusiastic spoonful of food, and I use the word food loosely here. When our doctor said we could start her on rice cereal any time after four months, I was surprised, then sad (my baby is growing up!), then excited (real food!), then started to plan (baby food cookbooks? an immersion blender? storage containers?), all of which was tempered by at least three parents confessing that their babies despised rice cereal. We waited until she was pretty steady sitting up and very observant of our mealtime actions. (Sitting on our lap, she cranes her neck to follow the path of our glasses from the table to our mouths.) And, so at about 4 months, 3 weeks, we gave her a spoonful, which was pushed around and pushed back out. Dan tried a couple more spoonfuls and gave it a break for the night. We've only tried twice since then, every couple of days, with similar results. So, maybe as we get closer to six months we'll try a little bit more. I'm not in a hurry. Our combination of nursing and supplementing with formula continues to work for us.

Funniest look on her face. 

Lauren currently weighs 12 lbs, 14 oz, so she's continuing to gain weight at a slow and steady pace. Her length is __________*. She's our string bean and I love her to pieces! She's in her 3-6 month and 6 month clothes. It's so funny how different brands fit -- in her Gerber onesies she's in the 6-9 months because of her length, yet the Gap 3-6 month sleepers are still too long. Things still have a habit of sliding off her narrow frame, especially pants and socks. But her cheeks are getting chubbier and chubbier, as you can see from the pictures!

Another beautiful milestone of this month has been increasingly regular morning naps. After two hours of being up in the morning, she wants to go back to sleep, and I am happy to oblige by swaddling her up and being able to do whatever I want around the house for 45 minutes or so. The actual time of these naps vary quite a bit, anywhere from about 7:45 in the morning to 10:15. More often than not, Lauren's internal alarm clock goes off at 5:40, and sometimes that's it! She's up for the day! (Although my internal alarm clock doesn't love it, at least Dan occasionally gets baked oatmeal out of the deal, fresh from the oven.) Night time sleeping is getting better, with the occasional agonizing setback of multiple times up in the night. I'm realizing that when she goes to bed, usually between 8:30 and 9:00, I need to go to bed.

Playtime is more and more fun. She loves grabbing on tight and putting things in her mouth, especially blankets. Weird? Maybe. We read a few books every day and sometimes her hand happens to turn a page. I know it's a coincidence, but I like to pretend she knows what's going on.

As I said before, Lauren is very observant. One of the cutest moments of this month was when she was sitting on Dan's lap during dinner. He was telling me about his day, and Lauren was leaning back, head turned up at him, staring at him adoringly. I broke the spell by grabbing the camera, but it was the sweetest expression of total fascination with her dad. My favorite moments from the month have been the belly-laughs when I kiss her round cheeks and soft neck. I can't get enough of it! The other special memory for this month, for me, is during some of the early morning nursing times. Lauren has fallen asleep in my arms, and before I've put her back in her crib, I've spent a few minutes just looking at my baby girl. She's had the most beautiful, peaceful look on her face.

Just so you know, it's a fact she's cute. So cute, in fact, that at the doctor's office yesterday, a little boy said, "Your baby's cute! Is it a boy or a girl?" I told him that she was a girl and he said, again, "She's so cute." Then he reached into the car seat, patted her foot and then patted her head. (His mother told his to stop, but he was only touching her clothes.) I followed him and his mother out to the elevator, and he turns to her and says, "That baby is really cute, right mom?" Melt my heart, funny little boy who can't say your "r" sounds.

This week, Lauren and I are off to visit family while Dan is stuck here with work, so we are hoping for an uneventful car ride there and a wonderful week of memories!

*Baby is currently sleeping. I will update with this information at a convenient time... aka never. 

Living with Lauren: One Month

Lauren, 7 days old. Photo by Bethany Miller.

Our peanut was born a little over a month ago, on September 29, 2012. These past four weeks have passed in a blur, between sleepless nights, nearly constant feedings, and lots of wonderful visitors. I’ve been amazed at the feeling of completeness Lauren has brought to our lives. It just feels right, the three of us.

Weight: 7 lbs, 8 oz.

Lauren started out life at 7 lbs, 11 oz, and dropped a pound in the first week. She’s been working on gaining it all back, although she’s not quite there even yet. At first the slow weight gain was thought to be because her tongue was tied. At two and a half weeks, Lauren visited the ENT who zapped the frenulum with a laser to loosen her tongue. Feedings got a little quicker and Dan and I were certain she was gaining weight, but after a visit to the doctor yesterday, she is still 3 ounces away from her birth weight. After some questions and observations, the doc prescribed some Zantac for Lauren, as she seems to be suffering from excess acid coming up into her esophagus (baby acid reflux). We just started this yesterday, and hopefully this helps Lauren gain weight and reduces her afternoon and evening fussiness. I also have a whole list of techniques to (hopefully) keep her happier by keeping her upright more.

Routine:

Mornings with Lauren are beautiful. She is happy to let me do a few chores, participate in tummy time, and read her a few books. We spend most of the morning in her room, just hanging out, although if I want to get anything done, it needs to happen in those few hours of happy time. I think I’m going to be using my slow cooker a lot in these next few months! That way dinner is made while Lauren happily watches from her bouncy seat.

Afternoons and evenings are a bit more challenging. She seems to only be happy while nursing and doesn’t really like to sleep. Again, hopefully these things abate as I figure out how to keep her upright longer (baby carrier) and as the medicine kicks in. Even so, I love watching her throughout the day. She makes some of the funniest faces after nursing or as she wakes up.

Bath time is not a hit yet, and we haven’t really settled into a night time routine.

Sleeping:

Lauren has given us some good nights (4 hour stretches of blissful sleep!) and rough nights (I never want to see the clock every hour of the night). We are kind of on a college student schedule. Sleep by 11/midnight/1 a.m., up by 9 or 10. The only way she can sleep in her bassinet is if she is firmly swaddled, so we are very glad that she has some swaddle sacks.

Milestones:

Lauren managed to flip herself from her tummy to her back last week. I think it was a fluke of how her arms were positioned under her. She didn’t seem bothered by rolling over, but she has yet to repeat this trick. Also, we’ve gotten a few smiles. Whether they are from gas or emotion is hotly debated, but they are smiles, nevertheless.

Favorites:

Lauren loves sleeping in her Ergo baby carrier as she is toted around and has tolerated several walks in her stroller. Playing with toys is not happening at this stage, but she is learning to follow the rattle with her eyes. So I guess her favorite toy right now is a black and white rattle. My favorite items are the ones that help her sleep: swaddle sack, baby carrier, and whatever else is working at the moment.

4 weeks old.

We love our beautiful daughter and we are so glad she's here!