The biggest change in the past few weeks is that Cecelia's evening hours are much more pleasant. She may have a few moments of being fussy just because she is super tired or wants to nurse, but nothing like that horrid fourth week. Maybe we can just read her a little better now and figure out what she wants, but I also think she isn't just crying to cry anymore. In fact she is having a lot of evenings when she just chills out and looks around the house all contentedly. Especially because she has had a few days when she barely manages to stay awake for longer than 30 minutes at a time---it's like she is all rested up and ready to rip in the evenings before bed. Totally fine by us as long as she isn't freaking out anymore!
Another positive changes is that she isn't spitting up as much anymore. I was going to be REALLY excited about this realization but then she barfed everywhere again this morning--bringing the grand total of HUGE puke sessions up to 8 total. But really, she did it once last week and once today, and every feeding in between those has been pretty darn dry. Maybe there is something about Tuesdays now? I still think she is just randomly gagging since the big ralphs usually happen 5-10 minutes after a feed and usually when she is laying down. She's not crying after and it definitely freaks me out a lot more than anyone else. It's not fun to change her clothes, my clothes, and clean up all around the vomiting scene but I feel more confident that this is just a random baby thing that Truman never did. I guess being baptized by my daughter's spit up is like a rite of passage that most moms endure---nothing like being soaked in your own breast milk!
What, this hat doesn't fit yet?
One sort of 'sad trombone' change is that her normally great night time sleeping has regressed a bit. She was consistently waking each night at 2-3 and again at 4-5 making it just two times that she needed to feed, and she'd usually fall back to sleep pretty easily after. And although she DID give me her first 5 hour stretch of sleep last week, she followed up that accomplishment with some pretty horrid nights. She will sometimes wake 4 times now and occasionally won't fall back to sleep for 45 minutes up to 1.5 hours. Gah! She will be grunting and squirmy and need diaper changes all of a sudden. Waking up at 12:30, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30 is so not cool, my dear. Now, granted, last night she did great again and only woke up twice but still. Maybe it was another growth spurt? Gotta love blaming everything on a spurt, right? I'm considering moving her from the co-sleeper in our room into her crib for at least the first part of the night but we'll see. Such a big step. But such a cute nursery that needs to be used:)
Another bummer? Baby acne did, in fact, attack my perfect angel's face. Right at the 5 week mark I started seeing little red dots which is exactly when Truman got it. It's fading a bit now but still there---not awful or anything, but it's still kind of funny/heartbreaking for my newborn to have the pimply skin of a teenager. She still rocks it, though, and I'm still snapping pictures. But I am using every ounce of my being to refrain from picking at her acne. You all know I'm a big time picker, right?
Acne on a ballerina. Still cute, yes.
Fluffy hair and good head control!
On the awesome side of things? Baby girl is smiling a lot more now! She actually gave us the first smile around 3 weeks but now I can work hard to get a gummy grin in return, so it's not quite as random. And oh my goodness, her smile is killer! I love this stage of newborn-hood because it's like you are finally getting some positive reinforcement for all of the hard work you are putting in as a parent. Like, 'Hi---I'm slaving away for you, sleep deprived, covered in my own boob juices, fat, hungry, changing a million poopy diapers a day. Can I just get a freaking smile to show that you actually appreciate my services? Thanks.'
And of course, when I say she is smiling a lot more I didn't even capture it on camera this week. Mommy fail.
And speaking of anxiety and stress, baby girl still hates a bottle. As in, the past 24 hours have resulted in 3 failed attempts by Nate and myself. I'm starting to freak a little bit--I know we still have 6 weeks until I go back to work but man. She is one picky lady who loves the boob but hates a rubber nipple. My mom got Cecelia to take 1 ounce last week and I thought we were in the clear! But then the next day she refused twice and ever since then it's been a hellish battle to get pumped milk into the girl. We are trying lots of ideas: warmer bottle, different bottles, different rooms of the house, sitting, standing, rocking, music, etc. I think our best bet is to focus on the early morning hours when she is content and sleepy but not starving. We did a bottle at 6 am this morning and although it was another epic fail, I feel like we have to keep trying! Any stories of breastfed babies who HATED the bottle at first, but then pulled through and took it just fine for daycare welcome. Already stressed about the potential for her to refuse bottles up until my first day of work (August 20---mark it on your calendar). Come on, CC---I'm glad you love my boobs but let's work together here!
Anyway, last week was super fun with my mom and Memaw here. I cannot get over how easy it is to care for a newborn when my toddler is fully entertained by GoGo. And we had a fabulous Fourth of July, took Truman to his first fireworks, I got a mani/pedi for a little mommy alone time, and we survived the worst heat wave in Wisconsin's history (that is my stat, maybe not a correct statement, but whatever). I had my six week OB appointment yesterday and got cleared to exercise again, so Cecelia and I had our first mommy/daughter run and OMG. I missed running so much in the past 10 months!! Cannot wait to get back into kick-butt shape with my newest sidekick bumping along in front of me. She is wearing her first cloth diaper today and filling it out nicely, looking extra cute in the fluff. I'm pretty sure this means her newborn clothes are officially retired and the 3 month sizes are really pretty snug in certain brands. LOVE this new wardrobe of hers!
Two extremely random things that I have no idea where to put in this post:
1. I had an epiphany the other night. As CC's hair grows out (and stays put!!), she is starting to resemble Kate Gosselin. I'm both loving and hating this realization. Observe.
2. Cecelia's nursery was featured on Buy Modern Baby! Check it out if you care to see more of the same pictures I featured over here. :)
So yes, overall life is pretty good at the moment. I'm falling more in love with Cecelia every day, especially now that those hard early 'I don't quite know you yet' days are fading into better, more comfortable ones. My favorite thing to do is just kiss her little forehead and smell her sweet baby head. She is just such a blessing and I'm soaking it all in, trying hard not to get to excited about what is to come.
Picture time!
This picture took my breath away because she looks SO much like Truman with her hair slicked back. So stinking cute.
American Baby:
Four generations of girls in the family. Adore.
We never get pictures with Nate's family since we always see them, but here we are!
Pulled out the activity gym and she loves it! And I love babies in skirts.
My running partner, snoozing on her job as a cheerleader
Cloth!
I'm a pumping fool! Up to 134 ounces frozen already, which I'm really proud of while I can't help but organize my numerous bags over and over again. What? You don't organize your frozen milk by date, with coordinating numbers, into different freezer bags based on the month?
That's the sixth week of Cecelia's life! Off to attempt a smiling photo shoot!
We made the mistake of not offering a bottle till about month three and by then she was just not interested! So when I had to go back to work at 4 months we just had to go cold turkey on them. She either drank from the bottle or didn't eat. It was brutal but she learned after about one feeding. I was just so glad I wasn't home for that. So I don't recommend this method but if it comes down to it she'll figure it out...
ReplyDeleteAubrey wouldn't take a bottle from us (partially because she took one and we sort of forgot about it until 3 weeks before daycare started) but she just refused. We had to bring her to daycare and let her figure out that the only way she would be able to eat is to use a bottle. Daycare said she cried and was really fussy for the first few hours but eventually she took the bottle from them and we never had anymore issues. Hopefully you guys can figure it out in the next six weeks though! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHow cool that your nursery was featured on that blog!! :) It is such a lovely nursery.
ReplyDeleteHappy six weeks!!!!
I love the ballerina outfit and the second American baby photo with the quizzical look!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the awesome mommy work :)
Freakin hilarious about Kate Gosselin! I definitely see the resemblance :)
ReplyDeleteG kind of hated the bottle too right away but we never encountered a total fail. The biggest advice I hear about this is to completely leave the house. Go shopping for a couple of hours and have Nate give her a bottle when she's hungry. Since babies can sense their mama, I'm sure Cece knows you're around when you give a bottle. If you're gone, she doesn't have another choice. It will all work out :) 6 weeks is still very far off.
Freakin hilarious about Kate Gosselin! I definitely see the resemblance :)
ReplyDeleteG kind of hated the bottle too right away but we never encountered a total fail. The biggest advice I hear about this is to completely leave the house. Go shopping for a couple of hours and have Nate give her a bottle when she's hungry. Since babies can sense their mama, I'm sure Cece knows you're around when you give a bottle. If you're gone, she doesn't have another choice. It will all work out :) 6 weeks is still very far off.
LOVE all these outfits!! I miss having a tiny baby girl, but I guess I'll keep my baby boy ;)
ReplyDeleteThe 6 week point is so magical. Yeah, it's not like everything becomes puppies and rainbows after that, but wow - SO much better! Sorry about the sleep sucking though, that's rough :( Hope she goes back to the way she was soon!
Baby refusing the bottle only to finally be cool with it ONE WEEK before mom going back to work???? Commiseration coming at ya.
ReplyDeleteOh the bottle struggles were brutal for us with Louie. He took one fine at 4 weeks, then we didn't really offer anything seriously until about 2 weeks later and then he was all, "HELL NO!"
I spent about $60 buying multiple bottles, I stressed, I cried, husband worked on it pretty much every evening for about a week straight to the point of screaming and sobbing from both mom and baby. Without fail, if I was home, these attempts would result in me tearing my baby away from my husband and going to the bedroom for a long nursing session to calm us both down.
Horrible.
So I get you lady.
But then someone, in particular my mother in law, and then my parenting class teacher had this to say: screw it. Keep trying, but if he gets upset, stop. No more of these hour long sob-sessions. No more sweating bullets and frustration for dad. Try often, don't force him to eat, let him play with the nipple, let him get comfortable with it, and if he gets super upset, quit. Don't lose sleep over it, and try again later, or the next day, or in a few days. Babies have a survival instinct, they will eat, eventually, if they get hungry enough.
And seriously, we did that, and I even left the house a few times without him for a few hours, and he would get hungry, but not hungry enough to really do anything like drink more than half an ounce.
Then on a Sunday evening, just a week and a half until I had to go back to work, I had a meeting thing that would keep me away for 5 hours. I could have brought baby with me, but we said no, let's do this.
And it was an exhausting night for my husband, (grandparents took the 2 year old off his hands) but when he got hungry enough, after about pretty much the 5 hour mark, the little guy ate. Sucked down a whole 5 ounces, 4 1/2 more ounces than he had ever drank at once before. ;)
And after that, like magic, he just took a bottle. That next week before I went back to work, he took a bottle from my mom, from my MIL, and from my husband.
He still doesn't love it, but he drinks from it, and doesn't put up a fuss. He realizes it's that or nothing when I'm not around.
And he doesn't seem scarred for life.
A few notes/points/tidbits:
- Try it NOT at home. I think that my husband was running into that problem sometimes. Maybe grandma/grandpa could take her and try at their house? Changing environments seemed to help.
- Try giving her a bottle while she's sitting in a little bouncy seat, or propped up across someone's nap looking at them. This worked for Louie, he hated being given a bottle whilst snuggling all cradled like he was nursing.
- While grandma/pa or dad is offering the bottle, facing baby, have him or her talk and smile and coo and tell baby CC how sweet and great she is and how this is just no pressure and bottles are fun, in a really high voice. ;) I know, I'm sounding crazy, but I witnessed this first hand, worked like a charm with my mom. He was smiling at her and just entranced and then just started gulping away.
- Tommy Tippy bottles ended up working for us, but I'm not sure it was really the nipple that was even the problem. Probably not, just the one that ended up working when it finally worked.
- Try to have perspective about this phase, cause I promise you it is a phase and in a few months you will be onto another one. Don't waste your maternity leave worrying too much about this. I know, easier said that done, but this is YOUR TIME with your baby. Love her up. Nurse her every chance you get.
Phew. Novel comment. Sorry. GOOD LUCK!
We have the same random puke all over and seems to never be ending episodes... still. At 12 wks.
ReplyDeleteJust like you they seem random and don't seem to bother her in the slighest, but yes, so scary!... and gross. Poor baby girls.
She is just beautiful! I've been so MIA from blogging for months - between craziness at work gearing up for maternity leave and then maternity leave and a newborn haze - I didn't even realize that our babies are so close in age. I love reading your recap. I didn't realize it at all, but Henry totally rounded a corner at week 5 and 6 to become better and less fussy at night. Hallelujah. Thanks for pointing that out because I dont' think I'd have realized it.
ReplyDeleteI've been pretty much pumping and giving bottles exclusively, with a tiny bit of nursing thrown in the mix. So, I'm pretty obsessed with the amount of frozen milk in our deep freeze. I've been using the Medela bags, but I'm wondering about the bags you use. Do you like them? They look much larger.
I also hadn't seen your nursery and it is AWESOME. I'm also incredibly impressed because I have yet to post about our nursery in complete status. Okay. It's not yet to complete status. I blame this child who decided to make an appearance 4 weeks early. ;)
Sorry for the novel. Happy 6 weeks.
I love her fish outfit!! And I'm glad to hear things are smoothing out. :)
ReplyDeleteShe looks so much like Truman! Her eyebrows are so blond, I wonder if she will lose her hair and grow it back very blond. You probably already know this trick, but breastmilk seems to work well on baby acne. Just squeeze some out and rub on her face. Gross? Maybe. But it worked for us!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on surviving those harrowing first six weeks!
Thank you guys for the awesome ideas with the bottle. We won't give up and now I feel like we have more tricks to try!
ReplyDeleteRandom comment: Have you tired both a silicone and latex nipple? My daughter would only take latex...I found this out the hard way. It was totally a texture thing for her.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweetie! Love the generation pic :)
ReplyDeleteMeagan -- I didnt know there was a different material for nipples. What brand sells latex ones, assuming my dr browns, avent, and tommy Tippee are all silicone?
ReplyDeleteWe tried latex as well... the playtex nurser bottles were the only ones I could find with latex nipples.
ReplyDeleteWorth a shot! I wish I lived in WI and could quick drop by with my massive stash of different bottles. ;)
It seems like just yesterday that I was reading the birth announcement. Time does fly. She has the most adorable clothes. And the Gosselin hair...haha. Business in the front, party in the back. :)
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