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. 

Life With Lauren, 4 months

Here she is at four months old. About a week ago, Dan and I were eating our dinner while Lauren played in her stim gym on the floor. She managed to grasp two of the toys in her hands and was earnestly pulling them towards her mouth. We laughed to see the look of determination in her eyes, and asked each other if she could get any cuter. Apparently, she will, but oh my. I can hardly imagine.

At her four month doctor's visit, Lauren weighed in at 11 lbs 9.5 oz. We were thrilled. It was nearly a two pound weight gain this month, which puts her back on the chart at the 8th percentile. We've settled into a rhythm for her feeding cycles for now at least. After every time she nurses during the day, she gets 2 oz of formula. The last feeding of the night normally knocks her out and no bottles in the middle of the night. I finally came to peace about using formula during the middle of the month. For a while there I was still obsessing about milk supply, but seeing how she was growing and blossoming, I realized that this is what we needed to do. Fortunately, Lauren didn't have any major reactions to adding formula in to our routine. (From certain books, I picked up the belief that she was going to be fussy, sick, and miserable the second the formula touched her lips.) So to any moms out there who are struggling with their baby's failure to thrive and yet are hesitant to follow the doctor's advice by adding formula, take heart. It'll be okay.

Apparently, Lauren shrank between visits to the doctor, but I think her most accurate length is 24.25", although I think that is even on the short side of her actual length (I might just have to measure her myself). I'm not sure what the percentile is on that, and her head circumference is 15". She's outgrowing her 3 month clothes and is transitioning to her 3-6 and 6 month outfits. A whole new wardrobe, already!

Sleeping continues to have its up and down moments for our girl. After Christmas, she transitioned to her crib (yippee!) and she's been pretty happy there. For almost two weeks, she would sleep for really long chunks of time, sleeping either the entire night through or waking up once in the early morning. She fooled us for a while because halfway through the month, I was so disappointed when she started waking up every two to three hours. Darn growth spurt! Then she slept through the night for a couple of night when my parents were here, probably because she did not sleep a minute during the day, afraid to miss something fun. Now we're settling in on waking up twice per night. She's loved being swaddled up until now, but she's starting to break free from it, so we might be in for another not so fun transition from being swaddled to being free. (She's so jumpy when I lay her down without being swaddled that she will almost immediately wake herself up.) As for day time naps -- as unpredictable as the emotions of a pregnant lady.

Fun moments from this month:

• Lauren will mimic Dan when she is feeling talkative. If he says "hello," she'll do her best to sing the vowels back to him, even with the same intonation. 
• A visit from my parents and my aunt and uncle. Lauren loved the commotion, except for being fussy because she was exhausted. 
• A little giggle! She did this early in the month, but has only repeated it a couple of times following. I was so tickled that I teared up while smiling oh-so-big. 
• Play time is more exciting now that Lauren grabs things to stick in her mouth. At first I thought it was just a coincidence that she managed to grab on to the toys, but it has happened too many times. 
• Lauren looooves the Moby wrap a friend loaned me. Thank goodness for some extra mobility. She likes to snooze in it as opposed to taking a nap in her crib.
• About half way through the month, Lauren also decided that she does NOT like being carried like a baby. She wants to sit UP, thank you very much, and will do these little crunches to attempt to pull herself up to sitting in your arms. She likes facing out in the Moby wrap, too, so she can see the great wide world, both in our house and outside. 
• A dimple! My dad noticed it when they were visiting and has christened it the granddad dimple.

Each new day has something different, from sleep to new discoveries to emerging mannerisms, and we are doing our best to enjoy each day as it comes. I wonder what will show up this month!

Life With Lauren, 3 Months

Lauren Elizabeth has been growing and changing all month! She is blossoming into a smiley, happy baby, which is a wonderful development from the fussiness of the first few months.

First, her stats, as we know them:

Weight: 9 lbs, 10 oz, as of a week before she hit three months
Length: 23.25"
Cuteness: Off the charts

When I last posted, Lauren was scheduled to see a GI specialist because of her slow weight gain. We visited him in December, and after lots of questions, he suggested supplementing with formula. (He also ordered some tests, the results of which we'll hear about next week.) I was really upset about needing to supplement. Everything I've read about breastfeeding has said that your body should respond to the demand, but for some reason, Lauren was not getting enough milk from me. So we started her on a couple ounces of formula after nursing, and she has been thrilled. She gobbles it down and is finally filling out. In fact, her 3 month clothes now (mostly!) fit. Her pants still have a tendency to fall off, but we're working on that. (Also, her acid reflux seems to have vanished. Praise the Lord for that!)

We had a great time visiting family at Christmas, traveling all around, smiling at cousins and enjoying life to the full. She was blessed with tons of cute gifts and was thrilled to be held by her grandmas. She started being very interested in everything going on around her, and held many coo-ing conversations with her family members. She also mastered the transition to the regular old pack-n-play -- no snuggly insert! It was a bit of a trial for all of us, but it worked.

Since this post is almost 2 weeks late, I'm going to leave it at that info, plus this picture of our Christmas elf.

Life with Lauren: Two Months Old

In order to avoid the unpredictability of a 2 month old, I had written this post on her actual two month birthday, keeping in mind that the next day we were visiting the doctor for her two month appointment. So I wrote all that I could, leaving a few blanks for her weight and length. But after our doctor’s visit, I felt very discouraged about filling in those blanks. Turns out that Lauren isn’t gaining weight well, and we need to visit a stomach specialist in the next few weeks. The medical diagnosis is failure to thrive – talk about heart wrenching for us! As much as I hate to see that she isn’t gaining lots of weight, I know that we are doing everything we can for her: feeding her on demand, snuggling with her, and loving her. Fortunately, she is still on target for developmental milestones (smiling, “talking”, focusing on objects). Now we’re rooting for her to gain weight (and get the acid reflux under control, if that is what is slowing her down). But below is the original post, updated to Friday’s stats.

Weight: Lauren finally passed her birth weight at the midway point of this month, when she clocked in at 8 lbs, 1.5 oz. I was very relieved that she was finally gaining weight at an acceptable pace without needing to supplement.  However, at the next doctor’s appointment, she was 8 lbs, 3 oz, which was only a gain of 1.5 oz in two weeks.

Length:  At birth she was 19”. As of our own observation, she has grown inches! According to the doctor’s visit, she was 23”, which makes approximately 4” of growth in 2 months. Incredible! Right now, she’s our string bean.

Eyes: Dark blue still, but definitely veering towards hazel. She has her daddy’s coloring.

Hair: Brown and fine.

Habits: Lauren is beginning to sleep for longer stretches at night (woo hoo!). The day time napping is a total toss up. Sometimes she will nap independently, sometimes she’ll nap on me, some days in the car seat or Ergo, and other days she eschews it all together. 

Clothes: She’s still rocking her newborn outfits, although the cloth diapers make it a bit harder to snap. The 3 month clothes seems huge, but slowly and surely she’s growing into them. She finally fits into a hat a knit for her which was huge when she was first born! Just in time, too, as things are getting colder. I like to get out of the house every day for a run or a walk, so she needs to be bundled up!

Favorites: Still loves her rattles. Today I bumped it up to include a wrist rattle, which satisfied her need for noise during kick time. She has also started to enjoy a deluxe swing we borrowed from friends. Really, though, Lauren really loves to be snuggled up with one of her parents.

Exciting Events: She didn’t really love her Thanksgiving travels (so many people! so much noise!), but did a great job in the car rides. She got to meet all three of her great-grandmas, plus various aunts, uncles and cousins. They were all smitten with her, even if she wasn’t quite as taken with them. I’m certain that in the visits to come, she will grow to love all of them. Also, at 4 weeks old, little miss rolled over! She occasionally flips from her tummy to her back. Scrawny and strong.

Today, I’m especially thankful to our support system, both close and far. Our friends nearby have provided tangible support and our far away family and friends have been encouraging and provided many a shoulder to cry on. Your love has enabled me to pass that on to Lauren on a daily basis, even when I wasn’t quite sure I’d be able to have the patience to do what needs done.  We love you! 

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!

Our Easy Home Project

A few weeks ago, I got an unexpected email from the contractor who had been in charge of rehabing our house.

"We never installed pulls in your kitchen, so pick some out from Lowe's or Home Depot and we'll buy them and then put them in for you. Also, we found your crown molding that was ordered with your kitchen. Would you like that?"

Say what? We'll glad take the crown molding (there's a family work day in our future!) and I'll happily choose some hardware! Dan and I picked out some pulls, and wallah! Kitchen upgrade.

Here's what our kitchen looked like without the pulls.

And after!

I'll keep you posted for the transformation when we add crown molding. A lot more work on Dan's part -- and his dad's -- but I'm sure it will add even more to our cute kitchen.

(Funny side story about this. Dan was worried that the contractor would mess up installing the cabinet pulls. We really would have no way to make them fix any mistakes, as this was done pretty much out of the goodness of his heart. But Dan decided that he'd trust them to install them correctly, and anyways, had no time to tackle this project himself. After first directing the installer away from the bathrooms (which could also use pulls, but weren't part of this project), Dan caught the guy nearly drilling in the wrong side of the door front! Dan was very chill about it -- "You're not going to drill there, right? It opens on the other side." -- and the installer was very gracious -- "I'm so glad you caught that!" -- but I couldn't help but laughing. Dan's fears were nearly realized.)

Nesting

Dan and I just started our birthing class this week. I'm 36 weeks pregnant and there are a total of 4 class sessions, so we are cutting it pretty close, but it's when we could fit it in -- and when they could fit us in! We learned about the signs that labor was approaching. Nesting, occuring 1-2 days before the onset of labor, was listed. Dan has attributed my flurry of activity around the house to nesting, but I'm pretty sure that this is just general preparedness, my way of getting my head around the fact that we'll have a baby in our arms, soon! But yet, since there are some bird elements in this nursery, I can still call it nesting.

The nursery has been the most planned room in our house, by far. It is one of two rooms that are painted, the guest room being the other. Choosing the color alone took many paint swatches. I wanted to do the room in a light blue-green with pink and coral accents, but I was had difficulty finding the correct shade in the blue family. I finally tore a picture of a tiffany blue journal from a magazine, brought it to the store, and matched it up at Lowe's, and lo and behold, I was in the very palest of the greens! (I still think it is blue, but I'm no expert.) Dan's parents helped us paint when they came out in July and brought the crib for us to use as well.

Next up, I snagged cute curtains at Gabriel Brothers for less than $20. Then, inspired by their cheery colors, I repainting a cabinet formerly used for kitchen storage a nice bright green. I giggled along to Tina Fey's Bossy Pants while sanding, priming, and painting it. Then, I regretted my decision. Oh, not about Bossy Pants, although it is decidedly difficult to chuckle while painting with a full bladder. The regret was about the very bright green. After moaning to my sister about it for several days on the phone, I decided to wait and see if the other things in the room toned it down.

Here's how the nursery looks now, to the best of my photography abilities. On the left, we have the dresser (purchased from Ikea) with a changing pad on top. There's enough space for wipes up there as well, as well as whatever else we want handy. The green cabinet has more diapering supplies, both cloth and disposable, extra crib sheets, and swaddling sacks. Above the dresser is her special shelf, which I had when I was a girl. Her crib is on the right, with clothing for the months and years ahead stored underneath. (I might want to come up with a way of concealing it better, but plastic tubs are so convenient!)

Items on the special shelf include knick knacks from when I was a girl, Dan's embroidered birth announcement, a cross stitch one of his aunts made him, and various bird houses. We'll switch things out as other items become special. Also, notice the little horse on the changing pad. Of course it won't end up there, but we love it. Dan's mom, sister, sister-in-law, and nieces bought it for the newest addition to the family while at the beach! Dan has declared that THIS will be her stuffed animal. 

Across from the changing area, we have the crib and the mobile my sister and I made! Also, we have the quilt my grandma created, which goes perfectly with our color scheme. And yes, the boppy is in the crib. It won't stay there, don't worry. 

For a few more details, we've got polka dot sheets (and pink and flowered!) and a sweet dust ruffle with a little purple ribbon running around the edge. The dust ruffle came from my friend Mary, when I was helping them pack up to move (weep, weep!). She had several in her basement, still in their original Pottery Barn packaging, and I fell in love. She told me I could take one, and I've been hiding it my closet ever since, hoping to have a little girl. Look who got her wish! 

The bird mobile was a blast to make. Joanna and I found the pattern for birds on Pinterest, and we sewed and stuffed them while hanging out in New York a few weeks ago. The actual construction of the mobile was done by Dan the Man, who used fishing line to suspend it above the crib. The bunting was a shower decoration crafted by Joanna, and the wall art were Goodwill frames that found new life in our nursery. (First I decided to spray paint them all pink, then decided it was too much pop!, and consequently painted three of them gray.) They are filled with fabric left over from the bird mobile, some of the deconstructed bunting, and a quote from the internet. The sweet giraffe stool (currently the home of a plant) is from Dan's sister, too. I love it!

A nursery would not be complete without a chair of some sort. Dan's sister spotted this one on a mother's group garage sale, sat in it for us, and declared it super comfy. We both agree. We both like to sit there and pray for our little one in these weeks leading up to her arrival. We've a library to the left, thanks to the shower attendees, and a basket filled with blankets, burp cloths, and a baby carrier plopped on top. Other baby stuff is stashed behind the chair. I know her arrival is imminent, but I don't care to clutter our downstairs in these last few weeks of pre-baby-ness. (Who am I kidding? We have her stroller and car seat parked in our dining room.) In any case, that's where some extra stuff is stashed right now. 

So the nursery is pretty much set! I need to wash all her clothes and cut off tags, and perhaps organize her dressers a bit better. The only other thing is something I have a question about is... lighting! There is an overhead light/fan combo that I was thinking about putting on a dimmer switch. Let me rephrase: There is an overhead light/fan combo that I was thinking about asking Dan to convert to a dimmer switch. But for night time diaper changing and feedings, does anyone have advice for a lighting source? Will a bright night light do, that I can switch off and on? A small lamp? Or just put the overhead lights on dim? Advice, please!