Being a Mom

Wow, our baby girl is almost three months old. I truly cannot believe so much time has gone by so quickly. I almost get teary eyed writing this as it seems like its going so fast and I am trying to savor every second. I am truly in love with our little girl and I am in love being a mother. Its truly the most special thing to be able to care and love something so dearly. She keeps rewarding me by giving me the cutest smile and small giggle every time I look at her. I can play games with her such as "bouncy baby" where she bounces and bounces off my legs with me helping her but I say over and over bouncy baby and she gets more and more excited. Its so sweet. We also still play Super baby where she is like a little superman. Yes corny but I love it b/c she loves it. We are still working on our schedule although she has done quite well at night. We have gotten 7 hours straight but its on average 5-6 at night so there is a usual 4am feeding although it only lasts truly 10 minutes and she goes right back to sleep for 3-4 hours and then we feed again around 7 and go back to sleep until 9. Usually at the 6 or 7am feeding I put her in bed with me. :) I am reading all sorts of sleeping books to see what I should be doing and for the most part we are doing what they say to do. Although I am a sucker for that pacifer, Allison truly loves her paci.Once I put it in her mouth when she is sleepy its like her eyes start rolling in the back of her head. Allison is not a napper, she is like clock work on a 40 minute nap schedule. She eats, we play, diaper change etc and after an hour with all of that she is ready for a nap. But then she sleeps for only 40 minutes and the rest of the time its me trying to get her back to sleep or we just hangout until the next feeding. Sometimes she wants to eat though 2 1/2 hours and she is truly hungry. SO who knows. ALLISON DID ROLL OVER last week. Only once and has not done it again. But we were doing tummy time (which we need to do more) and she had this burst of energy right when I put her on the mat and just rolled over. She is also smilling so much and cooing all the time. She half way giggles which most would count that as laughing but I am waiting for a full outlandish laugh. She halfway giggles at me and smiles at me so much that I am convinced I am hilarious. Who cares that she is only 2months old. My maternity leave is up this week :( I am truly in denial I still think and I start back to work on wednesday and then I work on Friday. Will is also been traveling the last three weeks and will travel the next two at least so that has been kindof hard. But I have been on maternity leave so we traveled to Wimberley/Austin last weekend and then I went to Houston and Crockett. It kindof broke up the week and mama mel helped me with Allison when she got off work. Allison is going to go to a lady on Wednesday and I pray that it works as good as I think it will. I am so nervous and sad although I think part time will be great and it truly is a great schedule. I just am not used to being away from her at all. I will truly miss her so much. Allisons reflux is still pretty bad, poor girl. you can tell when she is in pain. I got the medicine compounded (makes it in a liquid form) but she hates the taste that she keeps spitting it out. Jenny and Andrea both had their babies this month. They are adorable. I cant wait until we get them altogether. Life is truly so good and special right now. What a wonderful time in Will and I's life. I am truly cherising every moment.

Things to remember:

Maternity leave-traveling a lot with Will and being in Houston

Snuggling with Allison in my arms

Dream feeds (tried it three times, one time it got us to 6am but the other two she still woke up at 3)

Allison rolling over

Allison smiling, cooing, almost laughing completely

reflux still bad

2 1/2-3 hour schedule feed, play, nap, try to nap some more or hangout, play, feed again

dressing Allison in all of her clothes now that they fit

pumping, pumping, and more pumping... Allison not interested in breastfeeding except for in the middle of the night. She def prefers bottles so I have my hands free bra and pump away. I am still making about 3 1/2oz per breast for 10 minutes.

Allison is now drinking 4-5 oz per feeding- she did drink 6oz last week at one feed

Allison is now weighing 12 lbs or so. She has moved to size 2 diapers and is wearing in between 0-3 and 3-6. Her thighs have gotten so chubby as well as her cheeks. SOO CUTE.

9 weeks old- Smiles Smiles and more Smiles

Miss Allison is 9 weeks old. We have yet again been traveling. I came home from Houston on Thursday morning and Will was already home from his audit. It was great being with mom and fred and Allison enjoyed her grandparents. We had Allison's 2 month checkup and her following statistics were:

Heights: 23.5 inches long-92%

Weight: 10 lbs 5 oz- 45%

Head: 15 inches-39%

Statistics from previous appointments:

7/19/2010

Height: 20.75-66%

Weight: 7 lbs 5 oz-24%

Head: 14-38%

7/08/2010

Height: 20-64%

Weight: 6 lbs 12 oz-21%

Head: 13.25-18%

The doctor was soooooooo impressed by Allison and her strength. She said she was almost rolling over and she couldnt believe she was already showing signs of that. She said her head strength was really amazing as well. We ended up switching Allison to Prevacid twice a day (stronger than Zantac) and it has really helped. Feedings are so much better and she is doing great. She mainly only cries when she is hungry or overtired. She is such a good baby although she doesnt like to be alone. She constantly wants someone holding her or she wants to sleep by her mommy and daddy although she just wants to be by someone :) Doctor said we shouldnt let her cry it out until she is 4 months old. She got all her shots- they give her sugar water while giving her two shots at once. She cried for a solid 5 minutes loud but then calmed down and slept for about 2 hours. We thought she would have slept more but it didnt happen. I am happy that she didnt get any fever and didnt seem sore. She did great.

This past week we went to back to houston because Will had another audit in houston. BUT we got to celebrate our 2 year anniversary while Mama Mel babysat Allison all night long. We went to Brennans on the Bayou - nice steakhouse and stayed downtown at the Hilton. We had a lot of fun and it was a perfect 2 year anniversary. The rest of the week we stayed at the Candelwood suites- it was good at first b/c we had a living room, bedroom, kitchen, etc.. but after 3 days we were all ready to leave. WE all shared a double bed one night-will, me, allison, and bailey. Allison has done so well. She has literally traveled most of her life already -haha, she has been to Crockett twice, Houston twice, Longview twice, and Wimberly twice. This past weekend we were back in Wimberly. Allison got in the river for the first time. She had her leopard bikini on and actually did great. She ended up falling asleep in my lap.

IT has been so much fun these past couple of weeks. They say babies "wake up" after the 6th or 7th week and she really has. Its so fun in that she can interact with you more and smile. She has done a half giggle if there is such but its defiitely some type of laugh. She loves it when you make noises with her when you do the bicycle with her legs. She is pretty happy in the morning. She still loves baths and I have just begun reading to her at night. We started with Goodnight Moon. She still loves the car and it puts her to sleep. She has a mirror where she sits that plays songs and she has really started to interact with it. I love being a mother and I am so comfortable with her. It is truly a blessing and I just cant wait to see how she is going to look and act in these next couple of months.. I looked back at just two months ago and she has changed so much. Our routine at night is usually a last feed around 1030-1130 and then she will wake up to eat either at 3 or sleep until 530 or so. Then we will go back to sleep and she will wake me up around 730 to eat and then we try to go back to sleep until about 930. She has slept about 3-4 nights per week where she will sleep for 5-6 hours straight. During the day we are trying to incorporate more tummy time. Although she doesnt really like it, so we do it more on my stomach. She has great head control and loves to kick and jump off my belly. I usually lift her up high when she starts jumping. She smiles a lot when we play like this on the bed.

Things to remember:

Smiling (started around 7 weeks)-- it truly melts your heart when you see your child smile at you and interact with you

Eating- she still eats every 2 1/2-3 hours about 3oz although this past weekend she has been eating around 4oz

Pumping in the car :)

Bicycle- Allison loves this especially when Sherry does it

Lamb-sleeps with the sounds it makes every night. She also sleeps on the inclined sleep positioner in her bassinett, pack n play, and in our bed.

We dont swaddle her at all- she kicks all blankets off -- she is pretty hot natured

Still goes through about 10-12 diapers per day

This week we will be here at home-thank goodness but then next we are traveling back to Houston for Will's audit. Will post more soon.