3 Months

I've decided that each new month of my baby's life is my new "favorite age".  

Now that she is three months old, she is starting to be a real tiny person with her own personality.

She is starting to exceed the basic necessities of hunger and fatigue.

Now, her cry might mean "I'm lonely."  or "Hold me".  

She is sleeping through the night.  She goes to bed at 10:00 pm (because that's when Mom and Dad try to go to bed, too) and wakes up between 7:00-8:00. 

She takes several cat naps throughout the day, but I put her in her crib for a morning nap and an afternoon nap, each lasting anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.

She is still sleeping in her bassinet of the pack and play next to our bed, but her legs are getting too long for it.  I'm thinking about transitioning her to her crib soon, but Daddy is not ready to admit that she is ready for that quite yet.

She is primarily breast fed with an occasional pumped bottle when we are out and about.  

I am back at work one or two days a week now, so she is now going to a babysitter sometimes.

She is cooing and talking up a storm these days, especially when she is doing tummy time on her boppy.

She is wearing size 2 Target diapers and wears 6-9 month clothes. (I'm guessing she weights around 12 pounds now, but her next doctor's visit will not be until December.)

All around, she is a happy, easy going baby.  Last Sunday at church, she slept on my lap for most of the sermon then laid quietly in her car seat for the rest of the service.  She is definitely starting to sleep less when we are out to eat or in public.  She is no longer happy just sleeping by herself in her car seat if we are eating out.  She wants to be held and face everyone so she can see what's happening.

My favorite thing she does right now is make a little grunt/laugh noise sometimes when I talk to her.  It's especially cute when she has her paci in because you can see her smiling with her eyes.

To see more adorable pictures, follow me on Instagram @ amalialynn

2 Months

Time is just  getting away from me.  Here I am to write about Kyla's 2 month update. (2 weeks late!)

Kyla had her 2 month check up with her pediatrician last week.

Everything looks healthy.

First Family Photo

She has a small birth mark on her shoulder that has become darker since birth but the doctor said that is normal.  Her belly button is healing up slowly.  The fun part of the appointment was the three shots and liquid medicine they gave her.  Poor girl...her face got so red and she screamed at the top of her lungs until she got dressed and back in her car seat.  She slept quite a bit for the remainder of the day, but did not seem to have any other side effects from the shots.

Height:  24 in.  (97% for her age!)

Weight:  11 lbs .05 oz 

Wearing:  3-6 month clothes.  Most 6 month pants fit because her legs are so long, but many shirts are short on her.  Tall and skinny!

Reading a Halloween card from Aunt Krista

Milestones:  She has been cooing and smiling!  I love this. Her 6th week of life brought about much joy to this mama because she started sleeping through the night AND smiling on purpose.  It was pretty much the best week ever.

Lots of smiles

My little zebra

Sleep:  Here is a typical day.  Wake up at 8.  Eat.  Play.  Morning nap.  Eat.  Play.  Afternoon nap.  Eat.  Play.  Cat nap from 7-10 pm.  Wide awake at 11.  Nurse one more time before swaddling and giving her the pacifier between 11-12.  Then she typically sleeps in her pack and play til Daddy leaves around 7:45.  (Sometimes she will wake upa little earlier or a little later, just depending on the day.)  This is a schedule dictated by the baby.  I have not yet started a real schedule with a night time routine of bath, story time, etc. but I have a feeling we will start a schedule very soon.  I would also like to transition her to the crib in the next few weeks.  I put her in the crib for naps and she usually does great.

Kyla working on her college applications

 

Eat:  She is a pretty good eater.  I bought a hand held manual breast pump when she was about 6-7 weeks old.  I usually pump once a day, if that, just to have a small freezer stash of milk.  I prefer to bring a bottle of milk when we go out for convenience sake.  She uses a Tommy Tippee 5 oz. bottle.  When she gets a bottle, she usually slurps the whole thing down in 10 minutes and then lets out a huge burp.  When I breastfeed her, she rarely burps after eating and will usually take approximately 30 minutes to fill up.

Play:  She still loves her swing.  I attached a little toy that hangs over her and she is starting to look at it more.  Still doesn't reach out to touch it though.  She also enjoys playing with this butterfly toy that has lots of fun colors and textures.  For a while, she would be content on the play mat that had music and lights, but it was a hand me down toy and is now dead.

Mood:  She is typically the happiest in the morning and late at night.  She coos the most after her bath or when she is on the changing table.  Apparently getting a clean diaper is a reason to rejoice.  The only times she is inconsolable are when she is having some painful gas.  I usually rub her belly and push her knees to her chest to help get her some relief. 

Mama:  I'm feeling great most days.  We are finally out of that zombie phase where I got up in the middle of the night every night for 6 weeks. I'm still tired sometimes, but its tolerable.  (I'm not so good at that "sleep when the baby sleeps" thing because I see the dishes and laundry piling up...someone's gotta do it!)  I was cleared to return to normal activities at 8 weeks post partum.  Since then I have been working out on the elliptical pretty consistently and watching my diet by counting calories so that I can lose the last 15 pounds that I gained during my pregnancy.

At my post partum check up, they did an internal ultrasound to make sure the ovarian cyst had disappeared.  Unfortunately it is still hanging out so my doctor recommended that I have it removed.  I am scheduled for laprascopic surgery in December.  The cyst will not effect anything by being there, but on the off chance that the cyst twists my ovary, it would cause an extreme amount of pain at any given time and I would rather not experience that.

Kyla with her friends, Sadie and Lily

Hmm...what else is there?  She is a pretty easy baby!  When Daddy is home, he changes her diapers and puts her jammies on.  He will also hold her when we are watching tv.  He carries her in the carseat anytime we go somewhere - that thing is heavy!  He is so good with her even though he is not a "baby person".  Yes, there are days when he doesn't think she likes him much, but I'm sure it's just because she is with her Mama all day so that is who she is used to.

Daddy snuggles

Cookie and Kyla napping on the bed

I'm sad to say I don't think to update the blog as much now that I'm not documenting my pregnancy.  I do, however, still take tons of pictures of the little one.  She is just so cute, I can't help myself.  Follow me on Instagram to see more pics!  My username is Amalialynn

And now...here are all of her 2 month photos!

Look how her legs can't even straighten out!

oopsie!

Although I wanted to put her INSIDE a pumpkin, I oped for just doing a photo shoot surrounded by pumpkins.  She barely even tolerated that, but I got a few cute ones.

1 Month Old

My baby is already one month old!

I am finally understanding the concept of "time flies".  While it certainly didn't feel like time was flying by when I was pregnant, the past month went by in a blur.

Kyla is really good at three things.

Eat.  Sleep.  Play.

Favorite things:

Pacifier

Swing

Sitting up on shoulder

Bath time

EAT and SLEEP.

We are trying to develop a pattern with our feeding times, but most of the time I just watch for her cues to let me know what she needs.

Lately what has been happening is she will eat every 3-4 hours all day and night.  Depending on how tired she is, she will sometimes fall asleep while she's eating, then wake up, do a diaper change, and eat again.  Then she will usually either fall asleep or be awake for a while and just look around after feeding time.  At night, I have been feeding her around 11:00, then swaddling her up and putting her to bed when we go to bed.  She will usually fall right asleep until about 3 or 4 am.  Then I get up and feed and change her, then put her back in her swaddle to sleep until Dad gets up around 6:30.  She will usually wake up for another feeding or just to cuddle with me in bed for an hour or so until she gets hungry again.  Then we get up for the day or take a nap on the couch depending on how much sleep we got through the night.

PLAY.

Kyla's favorite "toy" is her swing.  She loves to just look around while she swings away.  She often falls asleep for naps in there, which is fine by me.

She will also tolerate the bouncy chair for a small period of time before she gets bored.

Sounds boring, but that's about all she does all day!  She also gets some tummy time in every day either propped up on her boppy or on the bed/couch/floor.  She will tolerate it for about 5 minutes, but after that she gets tired and fussy.  

Oh and we love our play dates with our other baby friend, Lily!

Kyla's one month old photo shoot

 

 

How long will she fit in the laundry basket?  Probably not too much longer!

The Newborn Days: The First Two Weerks

Today I would like to reminisce about the first two weeks of being a mom.  The good, the bad, and the ugly. 

Week 1: August 19-25

We spent August 19 and part of the 20th at the hospital making sure that I recovered from the delivery and that Kyla was in good health.  We were ready to leave and get home to rest, so we were discharged the afternoon of the 20th.  We went home to relax and my parents stayed with us until Wednesday.  Matt took the whole week off to help take care of his ladies.  He was bored and ready to go back by the end of the week, but he was thankful to spend the time with us.  After all, newborns spend most of their time sleeping and eating!

Trying to sleep in her bassinet

Cuddling up with Cookie

The first nights at home were rough.  I was very sore and had a hard time juggling my needs and the baby's needs.  I was sore everywhere - breasts, back, arms, and down there.  It was hard to sit, stand, walk, basically everything took a lot of effort.  Matt was still figuring out how he could help.  He changed diapers and rocked Kyla to sleep many times the first weeks.  He would also help me by getting me a glass of water, the boppy pillow, or handing me the baby when it was feeding time.  I remember the first few days and nights, I was physically and emotionally exhausted.  I spent a lot of time crying the first few days, partly from sleep deprivation and partly from postpartum hormones.  I had a hard time relaxing when I went to bed because I just knew the baby would wake up and start stirring, surely needing something from me.  I had to practice some deep breaths and that, along with prayer, really helped me get through the first week.  The first couple nights, Kyla slept in her bassinet but she did not seem to like it.  She would cry every time we put her down.  So we decided to set up the Pack and Play that Aunt Krista and Uncle Dan sent us and she liked that much better. 

Kyla's bed

Flowers from Lynn and Gpa/Nana

Kyla had her first pediatrician appointment on August 21 with Dr. Mergler at Ohio Pediatrics.  She was a very sweet, young doctor.  She went over lots of information with us and checked to make sure Kyla was in good health.  We also discussed immunizations.  Kyla had her heel pricked to test jaundice levels, which came back normal.

First photo shoot at 4 days old

So to wrap up week one, we made it through!  It was hard and we were paranoid parents at times, but we made it. And by the end of the week, we were feeling more confident in our parenting skills.

We had many visitors the first week.

Zac, Brittany, and Cael

Steven and Maria

Alexa

Lynn

Tarah came over and took some mermaid pictures!

 

Cousins- Kaylyn and Chloee

 

Chloee

Uncle Ben and Aunt Mindy

Ryan and Amanda

Week 2:  August 26-September 2

We made our first trip out (other than going to the doctor) to visit with our friends who had a baby the same day Kyla was born.

 Me holding Lily and Brittany holding Kyla

Matt returned to work this week.  I was nervous to be home by myself the first day, but once again, we made it through the day without any issues.  We continued to have lots of visitors so that helped me stay sane and gave me some adult interaction.  I spent most of my days holding Kyla, nursing, and relaxing in the recliner, allowing my body to recover.  I tried to take it easy, but I couldn't help but try to keep the house clean during the baby's naps.

Gpa and Nana Price came back over for Labor Day weekend. We ventured out to eat, going to the mall, and Kyla's first visit to church.  

 Baby wearing at the mall

Matt and Dad worked on house projects, including building a wall and hanging a door to create a walk through closet in the master bedroom.  They did a great job and didn't even kill each other by the end!  My parents also filled a hole in the entry way wall and repainted the area.  I am so grateful to have such generous, helpful parents.

 

 

By the end of week 2, we were getting longer stretches of sleep at night.  Kyla would now feed right before bed, then sleep for 3-4 hours at a time, then repeat.  She sleeps in the bassinet part of the Pack and Play next to our bed for most of the night.  After her feeding around 3:00 am, if she will not settle back down, I let her lay in bed next to me until she falls asleep.  Sometimes she goes back to her bed, and sometimes, well, you know.

As far as my recovery, most of the heavy bleeding and soreness has gone away by two weeks postpartum.  I started feeling a little more normal and no longer needed to use the witch hazel pads, squirt bottle, or large pads.  I was still taking one motrin a day for breast tenderness and general body soreness.

Breastfeeding became much easier by the end of week two.  I no longer needed to use nipple shields to let them recover.  Latching was going well and it only hurt for a second when she would latch.  She still falls asleep while feeding, but is getting much better at staying alert for longer periods of time.

I also managed to squeeze in a newborn photoshoot when she was ten days old.  I tried to snap as many pictures as I could while she was out cold.  I had fun!

And that wraps up the last two weeks!  It has been a crazy ride but worth all the pain and tears.  I do not miss being pregnant.  I love having my baby here in my arms!  She is such a sweetie and gets cuter every day.  Her Daddy (the one who has always said he's "not a baby person") has often been caught gazing into her eyes and cooing over her.  We are just smitten.  I feel like my life is complete now that I am a Mommy.

Loving his baby

Daddy snuggle time

Two weeks old

Little peely hands

One of the "daily pics" I send to Mom, Dad, and Krista