Cecelia at two months

July 28 | Two months



Likes: mornings, mommy, napping, being outside, lights, picture frames on the wall, nursing, big brother Truman, busting out of a swaddle, Dave Matthews Band, our expensive nursery glider, ceiling fans

Dislikes: bottles, pacifiers, being in the car seat longer than 30 minutes, being tired, evenings, the coffee grinder, coming out of a bath, being in one location for longer than 30 minutes



Biggest achievement of the month: Smiling!! Enough of an achievement to make her mommy and daddy feel like all of the hard work we've put into this child is actually worth it. Maybe she even likes us a little bit!

Biggest challenge of the month: Refusing to take a bottle. Sigh.




Secret tricks of parenting: to calm this fussy baby, here are a few of our current secret tricks that will surely stop working before the next monthly update...

-swaddle + walking around the house
-loud music (preferably DMB) + rocking in the glider in a dark nursery
-walking outside + singing off key/discussing nature
-nursing

(another one versus two month shot. Note the changing hair do and how much taller she is than her bunny.)

Nicknames: C, CeCe, Cease, Cecil (as if she was her masculine counterpart-we find this one particularly hilarious), Sister, Sissy, pretty lady, baby girl

The Mecca (aka Sleep): Cecelia is sleeping pretty well at night but it's actually gotten a little worse as this month has progressed. Growth spurt? I hope so. I'm missing the days she could make it until 3 am without waking. She goes down for the night around 8:30 and will wake around 1:30, then again at 3:00 and 5:00 before the alarm goes off at 6:00. Of course, this varies GREATLY and sometimes she will wake up four or five times a night. I'm starting to get that new mom 'so-freaking-tired' look about me, for sure. Her longest stretch of sleep is still 5.5 hours and she still sleeps in our room all night. I just started putting her directly into her co-sleeper upstairs in our room at 8:30 instead of starting in her swing that is downstairs, which I think is a huge accomplishment. Now I don't have to carry her upstairs with me when I go to bed and if she can stay asleep in the stationary co-sleeper then I suppose she would stay asleep in her crib. She does love that swing, though.

Her naps are anywhere from 10 minutes up to 3.5 hours. She gets one really long nap in each day, usually in the mid-morning/afternoon, and does a lot of cat naps in the late afternoon and evening hours. In the morning she almost always stays awake for one hour at a time before needing an hour recovery nap.



Temperament/Personality: It's really easy to focus on Cecelia's intense crying and her strong opinions for this topic, but overall I have to say she is a very content and happy baby 90% of the time. She is super happy and smiling non-stop in the mornings and then after most of her naps, too. She really doesn't cry that much unless she has a reason and thankfully I can usually figure out what's bugging her and I'll attempt to fix it. I am absolutely LOVING her smiles these days, you guys. Can't wait for her to laugh, because I have a feeling it's going to melt my heart all over again.

Now. That 10% of the time when she is really ticked off? Horrible. I still claim she is a little more fussy than Truman ever was but you have to remember that I have horrible momnesia, so that might not be true. But in true estrogen-laden fashion, she has opinions that are not to be taken lightly. It's just crazy that she will go from happy and smiling and content to freaking the EFF out with over-tiredness in about 2 seconds. I think a lot of babies are like that, but I would label Cecelia's crying as pretty 'intense' at times. Thankfully it's not all that often that she flips the switch to 'freak out mode'.

I also like to use the word 'diva' but sometimes I think that is sort of unfair to her, because there are only a few things in life that will stir the wrath of Her Diva-ness. If she is over-tired and decides to fight sleep, it will usually cause an epic meltdown until I can convince her to rest those little eyes. This almost always happens in the evenings if we are pushing our luck and don't adhere to a calm, soothing environment around her bedtime. And then there are those bottles. Do I need to mention, yet again, that she will lose her mind over an artificial nipple? Besides being tired, hungry, and ticked about a fake boob, the other thing that might really force the water-works is being in her car seat when she has absolutely no desire to be strapped down in there. Poor babe. She really does get carted around so much more than her first-born brother ever did. I guess that is the plight of a second-born!



Eating: Sister still loves to nurse about every 2 hours during the day. If she takes a killer nap she will sleep past the 2 hour mark but then there are also times when she wants to eat every hour. She mostly takes one side for a feeding, which last about 15 minutes or longer. I can tell she is getting full because she will spit up more when she's had a lot to eat. And she is still drenching herself, and me, and the house with gigantic/scary spit ups about once or twice weekly. They still don't seem to bother her though and appear to be totally random.

The superficial: The Hair is still in place! In fact, it's getting a lot longer by the day and is pretty red. I did notice a few flakes the other day but am choosing to believe it's just a dry scalp and not actually cradle cap. She had baby acne for 10 days this month but now her skin is clear. She is wearing mostly all 0-3 month clothes but we are starting to mix in some 3-6 sizes, because she is getting too long for the 0-3's at this point. No wonder, because at her 2 month well baby appointment we found out her stats and she is a TALL girl! She is already 24 inches long which is 92nd percentile, and 12 pounds 1 ounce which is 76th percentile. And her head is very average at 50th percentile. :)

(the hair)


Motor milestones: CC is attempting to get her hands into her mouth and maybe she could actually become a thumb-sucker, easing her need for constant boob suckage. (Please, God!) She started smiling this month and loves to kick her legs and punch her arms. Still not a huge fan of tummy time but she's doing a good job controlling her head when held upright. She loves looking around the room and focuses on objects, able to track them as they move across her path. She's just so much more alert this month and I know she's doing her best to absorb this huge world around her.

(hands? get into my mouth!)


(tummy time!)


Social butterfly: Cecelia met her great-grandma (two visits!) and great-grandpa this month, her Uncle Jon from Oregon, had numerous play dates with friends (although she mostly had to tag along with her brother's buddies), had another visit from 'Go Go' and numerous visits with her local 'Pa Pa' and 'Ya Ya'. She also met a lot of Nate's coworkers during her spa day at his clinic.



Out and about: a few trips to the local pool, daily trips to the playground, lots of runs with mommy in either the single or double BOB, Target, grocery store (epic fail), the zoo, her dad's office



Favorite baby gear:

-Our borrowed 'My Little Lamb' swing from Andrea


-The Boppy for nursing and hanging out (she has to tolerate the boyish covers, since I never did buy new girlie ones for her)




 -Activity gym


-The double BOB




-Bum Genius diapers, specifically the One Size 4.0's with snaps (the beginning of cloth diapering happened this month and we still love it second time around)








Little sister and big brother:

I mean, are they twins or what? Aside from Cecelia's hair and Truman's fat head I can definitely see the resemblance.


It's so hard not to compare kids, so I'm just going to oblige myself in this category.

I am known to say that every baby has their 'thing' and right now refusing the bottle is Cecelia's. Truman's 'thing' was always sleep (not sleeping through the night until 9 months, then waking up at 5 am for many months). I'm hoping that sleep is not also Cecelia's thing, but instead we might be challenged with stronger opinions than her brother ever had. Truman has always been labeled 'easy' and super laid back but he doesn't have the best sleeping skills. Maybe his sister will be the exact opposite.

Also, Truman was always really big and tall. And well, so is Cecelia, apparently! I know that the boys and girls growth charts are very different because at 2 months Truman was 24.5 inches tall and that was 85th percentile for him but his little sister is 24 inches and that is 92nd percentile for girls. Then Truman was 13 pounds 7 ounces being in the 87th percentile, and Cecelia's 12 pounds 1 ounce puts her in the 76th percentile for girls. So although she doesn't weigh as much she is still on the bigger side for girls. Just a little bit more dainty then big man Tru. And apparently she is almost as tall as her big brother was at this age! I find this stuff fascinating, in case you can't tell.

Currently Truman still adores Cece and she seemingly loves him right back---always looking towards his voice and tolerating the constant train talk like a champion Thomas fan. I am just so proud of my Truman for being the sweetest, kindest big brother to Cecelia. I love imagining them growing up together and I really believe they will be best buddies.

Two months down. And the fun is just beginning!

CC at 8 weeks

Wow, eight weeks seems pretty old, doesn't it? Baby girl does not look like a newborn anymore and life is feeling a lot more settled. I think I'm already forgetting how hard those early weeks really were for us:)



Sister is just so stinking adorable I can hardly stand it. Observe:

She is just so much more predictable now, although still wildly UNpredictable occasionally:) I don't feel as nervous about taking her out of the house in fear that she will have a complete meltdown in public. I think I'm reading her cries a little bit better, figuring out when she is hungry versus just tired. Evenings are mostly good around here, too. She's still falling asleep around 8:30 or 9 and will last about 4-5 hours, then is up every 2-3 which means I feed her twice in a night most nights (but sometimes it's 3-4 times. Sigh). She still does at least one huge 3 hour nap each day plus a bunch of 20-45 minute ones throughout the day. And she still loves to nurse about every 2-3 hours. We won't even discuss how much she hates the bottle. :)



One big thing for Cecelia this week was her first baby massage! Nate's coworker, who is a PT that works with pediatrics, offered to see Cecelia for an hour long infant massage and we totally took her up on it. I got to see Nate's office for the first time (finally!) and meet a lot of his coworkers. Of course they ooh'd and aahhhh'd over Cecelia appropriately and she put on a show for them, too. The massage itself was amazing---she was obsessed with having her legs, arms, and back worked out with oil and love from both mommy and daddy. She absolutely freaked out when we tried to do her tummy though, I think because she really had to poop. I guess I wouldn't want people pushing on my stomach if I had to do that, either:) But we came home with a bottle of oil and some really nice handouts on the massage routine. I hope to give her a little baby spa appointment from mommy a few days a week right now because it's so much fun to interact with her in that way and her blissed-out state afterwards (complete with some AMAZING sleepy hours) is totally worth it!

As a side note, after her massage and big day meeting all of Nate's office she was SO tired she couldn't deal with being in the car. So we only made it about 20 feet in the parking lot as we left before I decided to pull over and let her nurse in the back seat. SO hot and squished back there that it really makes me want my mini van. I think I'm wearing on Nate for this battle and perhaps someday I will be that soccer mom carting her kids around in a van! Cannot wait.

Another quick thing about me: I thought I was coming down with mastitis this week and was completely freaking out about it. I had the big M three times with Truman and it was pure misery. But each of those times it seemed to come out of nowhere, without any warning, other than a suddenly painful and red boob plus a fever/chills. This time I think I actually had a clogged duct that I must have caught early enough. I noticed that my left bottom part of my boob was super sore to touch and whenever I moved my arm. It felt bruised and when I looked I found a big red stripe across it. So I started massaging the heck out of it and made sure to nurse CC even more often on that side. And hooray! It went away and never turned into the big bad M. Whew.

Cecelia is growing up a storm, you guys. Everyone who sees her is stunned by how long she is getting and how big she seems. I am even using our 3-6 month onesies for nighttime now because the 0-3 ones are getting too short. Of course, most of her 3 month outfits fit fine for now but those darn onesies are always going to be the thing she outgrows first. Cloth diapers don't help matters and surely make her seem even longer/bigger. I will be interested to see how she has grown when we have our 2 month appointment next Monday. NOT looking forward to her first shots, though.

And now it's time for pictures from the week!

My crew, 'booping' Cecelia's nose one day. She loves being the center of attention, of course.


Is this Truman or Cecelia? Can't tell!! But look at the rolls starting to form.
 



Very unflattering high-waisted outfit that makes me laugh. So cute.




The lady in red---which makes her hair seem SO red!





Truman's eight week post made me laugh, yet again, not only because he was seriously SO huge with a giant face, but because these kids are so much alike at this stage. Truman was smiling a lot more easily at this point and so is his sister. I was contemplating a move to the crib with him and I'm still thinking about it with Cecelia. But poor dude did have his first cold this past week and luckily we are in the clear with that for now---probably helps to be a summer baby this time around! Oh, and this is the week when I noticed Truman's already-sparse hair falling out in odd patches. I'm pretty sure Cecelia's is staying put but there are definitely some suspect areas that seem pretty thin now. Like her temples and sides of her head, and maybe a receding hairline?





































But regardless of her slight hair loss, she is still rocking the reddish locks like a champ. She still needs a bath or a semi-head-face bath every day because her hair still gets sweaty and greasy. Love it so much.

iPhone pictures from last week:

'We love maternity leave'-the girls of the house. (also love C's stunned look here)



smooshy baby lips = the best


Failed attempt at a paci, as always. Pretty funny though.


Doing her morning stretches


Big brother holding a fussy baby's hand on a BOB ride---which worked to soothe miss fussy pants. And now he wants to hold her hand all the time in the BOB. Swoon.



So miss Cecelia is 8 weeks old! I love watching her grow, watching her little personality emerge, and cuddling with her while she will let me.

Love you so much, baby girl!

My nightmares are made of bottles and tears

Dramatic title, no? Also, aren't you shocked that I have a new post on this blog that isn't just a weekly update on my daughter? I mean, it's not like this is a 'real' post because it's still 100% about my daughter and holds true to my theme around here of only posting semi-boring stuff about my kids. But whatevs---pretty sure my blog has been of this theme for a few years now anyway.

So let's discuss how much I HATE bottle feeding, shall we? I am literally so frustrated, and so stressed out about this that I have no other option but to blog about it in hopes that it will make me feel better and less on the verge of a major mental breakdown.

Observe these losers, the failures in my life that are seriously staring at me in my nightmares these days. They say, 'Your child will never drink from us and you are destined for many-a-sob-fests in your future.' :



I've been whining about how Cecelia won't take a bottle for 4 weeks now and now this topic deserves it's own blog post because bottle refusals are literally taking over my mind, my life, and my freaking maternity leave. Which is SO not okay in my book.

I've already gotten a ton of amazing suggestions from my blog readers and I'm not discounting them in the slightest. It's just that I've tried them all (I think) and nothing is working. Basically I just want someone to offer me the magic fix that works right away and we can move on from this phase. Better yet, I want someone to come over here and give my girl a big fat bottle that involves no crying ever again, and then she just takes a bottle from that point on without a hitch. Anyone? Magic fix??

Let me explain what has been going on lately. Cecelia has been refusing every last DROP from a bottle up in here since we started offering them at 3 weeks. She did actually take one ounce from my mom over the July 4th week, but nothing since. Then Lori, our daycare provider, offered to try her turn at the madness since she is going to be the one giving CC all of the bottles at daycare when I return to work. Which, in case you were wondering, is only a month away now. Lori has 31 years of experience with babies, running her in-home daycare for as long as I've been alive. I figured it was worth a shot and then proceeded to become a ball of nerves as last Friday approached.

Truman and I took Cecelia to Lori's that morning around 8:30. I came armed with all five of the small bottles we own, one filled with 3 ounces of my breast milk, and about 6 types of pacifiers on the side just for fun, in case CC actually decided to suck on one of those babies, too. Tru and I ran errands near Lori's house and then got the call from her around 10:00. As I picked up her call I was holding my breath and straining my ears for tiny baby wails in the background---but, alas, it was silent except for Lori saying, 'Well, I got some of it down her but she gave me one heck of a fight.'

I was elated and could breathe again, thinking that this must be a great sign! She took 1.5 ounces out of the 3 in the bottle which is a total success in my book. But Lori really stressed that it was a *struggle* to get that down and she was worried that unless Cecelia starts to take bottles at home, she might become a baby that downright refuses them all together. Gulp.

So today, on Sunday, Nate and I knew we had to try again even though we've been trying almost daily for weeks now. We had taken the kids for a run in the double BOB and then went to the playground where Truman was having a blast, and where Cecelia woke up from her BOB nap a little hungry. Nate suggested that he run home with her and I could stay with Truman while he tried a bottle with our girl. I immediately started to sweat but knew he had to try again. Would you like to guess how it turned out?

After one full hour of Nate offering the bottle while I was completely out of our house, Cecelia only took 0.5 ounces. Which is basically the amount that probably dripped out of her mouth in the process of screaming her freaking head off for a full hour. She never even latched on, as per Nate, and would just push the nipple out with her tongue. He tried giving it to her sitting, standing, in the swing, on the floor, talking to her, being quiet, etc etc etc. And it didn't work. By the time Truman and I got home, she wasn't actually crying but apparently that was a fluke and she started back up within a few minutes. Epic failure, yet again. And the worst part? When I went to her, she was so stressed out from this horrendous bottle episode that her little eyes were red and puffy and I immediately started to cry upon seeing her raised eyebrows lifted as if to say, 'Why are you doing this to me?' And then CC wanted to nurse literally all afternoon and didn't want me to put her down. And I admit, I sort of didn't want to, either. We were both a little stressed.

I just can't help it. I'm a softy. I mean, I'm a mom and I know we ALL have maternal instincts that make the sound of our babies' crying equal to a million fingernails down chalkboards. When Cecelia cries for even just one minute, my heart starts thumping and my upper lip sweats and all I can think is, 'What can I do to fix this?' Obviously, as her mom, hearing her cry gives me a physiological response that I can't ignore. I makes me feel ill to see her upset and I have often wondered how mother's with colicky babies survive. I know I would require heavy medication and an exorbitant amount of wine.

Nate can handle her crying a whole lot better than me, since he is a dad and doesn't have that same mom gene that makes me totally lose my stuff if I can't soothe my children within 5 minutes max. But you know what? It really freaking sucks that he has to be the one to offer the bottles at home. It's already harder for him to bond with CC in this tough newborn stage, when there just isn't a ton that he can do for her when all she wants to do is nurse. I really do worry that he won't love her that much until she becomes a little more fun, and I worry that Nate thinks CC hates him at this point, too. Of course, he tells me I'm ridiculous and he loves our daughter dearly but I know it has to be hard for him, too.

So what have we tried so far?

Well, I bought a nipple shield after a friend suggested trying to nurse while wearing one, in hopes that it would get Cecelia to suck from a silicone nipple that is directly over the top of my own real one. Nope. She won't nurse from it at all, so that was $10 wasted.

I bought the Nuk brand bottle with an orthodontic nipple, which is actually the one Lori used on Friday. But today's hour long scream-fest was because she wouldn't take the Nuk brand anymore.

(boo. hiss)


I bought the Playtex drop-in bottle with a latex nipple after commenters suggested it. No luck with that baby, either.

We also have Dr. Browns, Tommee Tippee, and Avent bottles. All failed.

(sort of pretty but SO annoying to look at right now!)


And honestly, you guys? I don't even think it's a bottle issue. Although I really WANT to believe that if we just find the right bottle everything will be okay, in my heart I know it's not about a specific brand being our savior. Lady has to actually latch onto a bottle first, you know?

People have suggested the Breastflow bottles, Born Free bottles, the Medela bottles, Similac bottles, Mimijumi bottles, and I'm sure about 10 more brands that I just don't have the heart to buy right now. I promised Nate I wouldn't spend a fortune on this because we both think she just doesn't want a bottle period. But of course, if any of my lovely readers want to send me their gently used 'life saver' bottles to try with my little diva, I'd totally try them out with gusto! :)

We've tried feeding her when she should be really hungry, but I will admit we haven't pushed it past the 3 hour mark just because if she IS that hungry, she totally loses her mind and won't even play with the bottle before refusing it. We've tried in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night. I've been home and I've been away. Multiple people have tried, both simulating the actual breastfeeding experience and also trying to be really different from nursing for positioning and location. What are we missing, people?

So many of you have given your support and encouragement, stating that your children also refused a bottle until RIGHT before your maternity leave ended. Or a lot of you have said that your babies refused bottles all together at home but once daycare started they just 'figured it out'. I really hope that is what happens for Cecelia, but of course right now it feels like she will be the first baby to ever starve herself in defiance.

(wasting so much pumped milk with failed attempts---have to keep track of when it will go bad in the fridge. Sort of sad to think I need to constantly dump out spoiled breast milk)


One person in my life (who shall remain unnamed because I think this might be an idea that most people hate) suggested something that I just cannot do. She wants me to pump and ONLY offer bottles without any nursing at all so that Cecelia 'learns' to take a bottle. Um, seriously? I would rather gouge my eyes out with spoons. Sister screamed for Nate for one hour today and I honestly believe she would cry for me even longer than that. And for what? A half of an ounce of milk? I'm just not tough enough to do this technique and I refuse to make my maternity leave a miserable concoction of my tears and her tears and the stress hormone. I can't do it, sorry.

Also? My baby is only 8 weeks old. Why would I voluntarily make her cry when she is still so little and helpless? I realize that parenting has a lot of hard parts that require you to do things you just don't want to do. For instance, I really hate disciplining Truman. It sucks to be the bad guy and to make him cry at times. But discipline is just too important and it's one of those things you HAVE to do for the better of your child. If I didn't put my foot down with him he'd become a spoiled brat who has no friends as a big fat misbehaved bully.  (Although if you know my son, that idea is pretty much laughable because he's actually REALLY well-behaved. And I can't even take credit for that because it's just his personality). But breaking the will of my 8 week old daughter, 'teaching' her who is boss around her by forcing a bottle? No thanks. Life is too short and my maternity leave is too precious. And we have a great nursing relationship that I don't care to toss aside because I have many months ahead of me to pump.

I just hope my decision to ignore this suggestion doesn't come back to bite me in the butt when I return to work. I know Cecelia is going to cry because of the bottle then but I'm just not sold on the idea that if I make her cry now it will save tears later.

In the back of my head I know that my job is flexible enough, that I could potentially schedule my patients with gaps in the day to allow for trips back to Lori's to nurse. But I really don't want to open up that can of worms, either. Truman would probably be really confused to see me coming and going a few times during the day, and it would make my work day a whole lot more stressful, too.

If I had to predict what will happen, it would be one of two things: 1. With four more weeks of maturity and practice, she magically 'gets it' right before I return to work. I mean, babies change all the time and maybe she just needs to grow up a bit. Or 2. She puts up a huge fight and gives Lori a run for her money at first, but she does take just a few ounces from her each day. Which will of course lead to me nursing Cecelia all evening, all night, and most likely non-stop on my days off to compensate for those daycare days. I'm really lucky to work just three days per week, since I'll still have four days at home with my girl. But man, I don't really want to spend every minute we are together as a human pacifier, either.

Okay, and here's the paragraph when I say that I know things could be FAR worse. This is a total first-world problem and I realize I'm blessed to have such a great nursing relationship with Cecelia. It's so great, in fact, that chica only wants the tats and no fakeys will do. :) I know this will all work out at some point and she won't actually die of starvation. But it still sucks right now.

Bottom line is this: my daughter is turning out to be incredibly different than her laid back big brother. I should have known we'd be in for it with this little spitfire when she immediately caused drama during the beginning weeks of my pregnancy. Sigh. I love her so much but why won't she listen to me?!?! I'm sure I will repeat this question about a million more times in my life, huh?

Any magical fixes out there? Reassurance? Does anyone know of a baby that starved herself to death at daycare?

So ends this post full of bottle ramblings and I really do feel a whole lot better now. Must remember to blog about things in the future. :)

CC at seven weeks

Another week down! I feel like I don't have a lot to say about this past week but that is probably a good sign, since there isn't much new to report. I had to read back over Truman's seven week post and compare my two kids to remember that yes, Truman did hate his car seat and he was grunty and starting to smile but still a little helpless baby. That momnesia is no joke for me--thank goodness for my blog or I wouldn't remember any details of the newborn days!

Guess whose acne is gone!? It lasted exactly 10 days starting at 5 weeks and then magically vanished. This is when it was starting to clear up and her Kate G. hairdo was out of control!


Well, let's see--Cecelia is still sleeping about the same at night. Usually she will go down for good around 8:45 and will last about 4-5 hours until her next feeding. After that, she usually goes about 2-3 hours before waking and she is still in our room in the co-sleeper. I'm starting to get the courage to start her off in the nursery and then I'd bring her in with us after her first wake up, but I'm not *quite* there yet. Some days I feel really exhausted but most of the time I'm fine, because waking up just twice a night is pretty manageable. I'm still hoping she extends out her longest stretch to 6 hours sometime soon but even those random 5-ers are pretty nice.

I've noticed that she cat naps for about 30-45 minutes at a time throughout the day but then she almost always takes at least one solid 2-3 hour nap, too. It's almost always in the swing or my arms, but whatever---it still counts! She likes the car seat a lot more lately and will usually snooze in the car while we are out and about, and I've started taking her on runs in the BOB which always cause a nap, too. But of course as soon as we stop she is wide-eyed and alert.

Speaking of being alert, she is REALLY starting to notice her surroundings now. Her favorite buddies are the little elephants hanging above her pack and play. She will stare and smile at those buggers every time I lay her down to change her diaper.



She loves to find windows in the house, obsessed with the light, and also seems to like my picture frames on the wall---maybe something about the contrasting shapes? The biggest change I've seen this week is that she will smile socially a lot more consistently than she ever did before. If she has taken a nice nap and had a good meal, watch out because sister knows how to put on a grinning show. And of course, it makes me melt and snap 839 pictures at a time. She still won't smile a ton for other people besides me but that is probably because I'm with her 90% of the time. I'm trying to share the smiling wealth but the mood has to strike her just right.

My little love bugs. Can't handle it.


Twins? Seriously.

And speaking of moods and preferences, it's starting to break my heart to see that she cries when other people hold her. I guess it's not every single time, but it sure feels like when Nate or my in-laws or friends hold Cece she lets them know within a minute or two that mommy is her fave. I am really not flattered and mostly feel embarrassed when I have to take her back from whoever wanted to hold her in the first place. I guess this is a normal thing for babies but again, I don't really remember Truman being a fuss-butt about others holding him. I especially hate that Nate can't bond with Cecelia like I'm doing because he basically only sees her in the evenings (which are not her finest time) or when he's trying to give her a bottle (which is the same as starting World War 3 in our house). Sigh. It's definitely harder for husbands to bond with newborn babies, right? I actually do remember that feeling last time.

Big brother might have given her a gift or two here. She's thrilled.

Bottles are still causing me major stress as little lady still won't take a drop. I'm so sick of analyzing and trying new things and worrying about it that I don't even feel like going into it on the blog anymore. But I think I'm going to take Cecelia to Lori's for a bit one of these days and let Lori try her turn at this before I return to work. Praying it somehow works because although I know we still have 5 weeks before d-day, I can just picture that first day being an emotional disaster for everyone involved. Even more than what would be normal for a first day back to work. Sigh. Thank you for all of your suggestions last week though! I've tried almost every single one at this point and now I am resigned to the fact that Cece is going to have to take a bottle outside of this house first, because it is NOT working inside her domain.

Back to some more positive points on my baby girl, because there are so many more happy things than stressful ones.

Cloth diapering is going well! The extra laundry from a second child in cloth is pretty substantial but not horrible. I'm back to doing cloth dipe laundry every-other-day again, which isn't too bad since I'm doing regular laundry at LEAST that often, too. And man, her cloth diapered butt plus her brother's? Adorable.


cloth diaper stash in the pack and play:


Discovering anatomy...


A Bum Genius ad:)


Smile!




We've been to the pool quite a bit this summer and although the water is way too cold for her to actually like it (and she is in the shade 99% of the time anyway), I just had to break out the one swimming suit I have for her. And OMG. I die.





And this post isn't about Truman but how cute is he with his two buddies, Henry and Charlotte? Summer time is officially the best time in the entire universe. I love it so much.


Miss thing is still eating like a champ (as long as it's from my real nipple and not a fake one, heaven forbid!!) and is just so content when she is awake now, it's amazing. She will still have an occasional fussy evening here and there but I've found tricks that usually work most of the time (swaddle, walk, music, nursery setting, or outside). She will usually eat every 1.5-2.5 hours during the day based on when she naps and I'm definitely not trying to force any type of schedule for eating or napping. I want to start the eat-play-sleep routine soon----along with doing a few naps in her crib, and starting her off there at night. But man, it's just so easy to hold baby girl while she snoozes and I know these itty bitty days are so fleeting that I just want to soak it up while I can. Schedules and routines will come soon enough and she won't want to cuddle with mama anymore. Just look at this face and tell me you wouldn't want to hold her all day long:)






She still has about 1-2 major spit ups per week but I find they aren't terrifying me as much as they did before. It still sucks to change her clothes, my clothes, and anything else around her but she really does seem content and is growing so I guess that's just a normal baby thing. Between her giant barfs, refusal of the bottle, and refusal of the paci I find myself shocked at how different my two kids seem to be. I think it's true when people generalize girls to be more picky and dramatic than boys--at least in our case!

That's my girl at 7 weeks: mostly happy, very smiley, loves her mommy most of all, hates bottles and pacis with a passion, sleeping about 4-5 hours at the longest stretch, and has to be on the move.

And now for my 'I told you she smiles!' photo shoot:)







But don't worry, that smile can vanish in a second and little diva comes back to play.

Love this little girl more than anything. Even on the hard days, she is such an incredible blessing. Now if she would just take a bottle and prove to others that she is a social butterfly I'd be even happier. Until that next 'thing' comes along that we have to conquer. Everything is a phase, right?