11-30-10

It's been 3 months.

3 months since my (not so wee) baby has come into this world.

I could go on & on about how much I can't believe she has grown & how quickly time has passed, but you all know that! Time speeds up once you have kids. I feel like 3 months of having my baby here is nothing compared to 3

months of pregnancy.

Claire is a completely different baby since the day we brought her home from the hospital. She's so much more than the "lifeless blob" that just slept & ate all day. Now she coos & laughs (even though her version of laughing is coughing, haha!) & smiles & is just the sweetest thing ever. I could have never imagined loving a living thing as much as I love this little girl. It's simply amazing.

At 3 months, Claire:

* Sleeps from 7pm-7am (give or take) in her crib! The transition from swing to crib was a breeze. So much easier than anticipated.

*Wears size 1 diapers.

* Doesn't really enjoy her Bumbo. She prefers to lay on her back flailing those long limbs, rather than being confined.

* Can lift her head like a champ

* Does sit ups if she's sitting on an incline. She hates being still!

* Hates being on her tummy.

*Has rolled from back to tummy & tummy to back, only one day. Last week. And not since then.

* Responds to our voices

*"Talks & tells stories" constantly

* Suddenly enjoys chewing on her hands &blankets

*Only takes a paci when I lay her down for a nap & then spits it out once she's asleep. Fine by me!

*Weighs approx. 10-11lbs. That's just my guestimate. I haven't had her weighed for about 2 weeks & as of then, she weighed 9.8lbs! YAY for baby girl growing!

* Wears 0-3mo clothing, but most of it is baggy on her, but newborn clothing is a bit too snug. Hmph

*Eats 4-5 oz of breast milk every 3hrs through a bottle.

*Takes Baby Prevacid once a day for her reflux. Poor babe.

*Takes 3-4 cat naps throughout the day. She rarely sleeps for more than an

hour at a time. Sometimes she'll be a crank, I'll put her in her swing & she will surprise me with a 2 hr nap. But considering she is sleeping so great during the night, I'll take it!

*Is a creature of habit & routine. Just like Momma.

*Only naps in her swing or car seat (when we are driving/moving of course).

*LOVES her play gym. Seriously, she could lay under that thing & swat at her toys for hours

*LOVES bath time, still. And is very messy while in there at that. Splashes water everywhere!

* LOVES music & t.v. (she's mainly just enthralled with all the different colors & noises of it).

* Her Nana just discovered she loves books. I always thought she was still too young to enjoy them, but my mom read her the 2 books we do have while I was a work yesterday & she said Claire was very content & loved looking at the pictures. Looks like books are on her Christmas list. Anyone know where I can get fun books for cheap?? :)

Hmm.. I think that about covers Little Miss Claire.

How am I, you ask?

Well, at 3 months post partum, I:

*Have lost all 30lbs of baby weight, plus some (yay for pumping:))

*Am exclusively pumping 4oz. every 3 hours. Such a pain, especially at work,but so worth it for me & her!

*Still sleep with my Snoogle. I can't rid myself of that thing. Trust me. I've tried!

*Have a pretty darn good freezer stash of breast milk.

*Can fit back into most of my jeans with the occasional muffin top.

*Still have my stretch marks, but they have faded somewhat.

*Still have zero sex drive. Poor husband.

*& no, AF has not returned. Thank God.

So, ya. Probably more information that you care to know; but I felt like I needed to write that all out mainly for my record.

In a blogging rut

& I don't know how to get out of it! I haven't really had the urge to blog lately, and I hate that because I love reading ya'lls (always wanted to say that considering I'm not from the south) blogs!

It's not that I don't have anything to say. It's quite possible that I have too much to say. I just don't have the patience to sit down & type a sensible post. I swear that having a baby has made me totally A.D.D. I constantly have a trillion and one thoughts running through my head & I can never focus on just one thing. Same goes for blogging & carrying on a conversation. I'm constantly thinking about what I'm going to say/do or write next to put together a logical sentence. It actually concerns me. HA!

So here is my attempt at getting out of this rut. I'm going to try & put together posts that actually make sense & that are interesting.

Because, do people even read my posts anyway anymore? Eh, even if you don't, I want to be able to document my daughter's life & this blog is a perfect way to do that!

I will try my darndest to be back tomorrow with a re-cap of our Thanksgiving & Claire's 3 month post. OHMYGAHH!!

Wanna see somethin' cute??

::dies::

She loves her new monkey hat!

Wow, some people...

If you're going to copy & paste MY work/blog post to your blog & use it as your own, try a little bit harder to be conspicuous & make sure I'm not following your blog as well. I'm going to see it, durrr.

Seriously, if you want 50 free Christmas cards, write your own damn blog post. You're a grown woman. I think you can handle that.

Thanks.

Vent over.

(sorry, I'm fuming right now. I realllly don't like cheaters & don't believe in letting them get away with it.)

Free Christmas cards for BLOGGING?!

Count me in!!

I've read on a couple of blogs that I follow that Shutterfly is doing a promotion that if you blog about their site, you receive 50 FREE Christmas cards! & we all love FREE, right?!

I have to be honest, I have never been into sending out Christmas cards because, well; I'm lazy. I had always been under the impression that it's such a hassle to send out cards. First you have to go get your pictures taken & that costs money. Then you have to go get cards made & sent out & that also costs money & time. Well, then I discovered how Shutterfly works & they are the epitome of hassle-free! I LOVE it! You just pick the card you want & add your picture in there & bam, you're done! Cool, right?

Here are a few of my fave's:

i LOVE this one. So precious & since we didn't do birth announcements, I thought this would be perfect to do a "2-in-1" type deal.

This one is just fun.

I love this one, too. It's classic & would also be perfect to put a picture of Claire on.

Those are just a couple that I love. But I spent at least 2 hours on their site trying to narrow it down to just a few!

Shutterfly not only specializes in cards, but calendars, mugs, books, home decor; you name it. I don't know why I hadn't discovered this site earlier!

If you have a blog, hope on over to their site & register your blog to get 50 Christmas cards for free! How can you pass this deal up?!

Somebody tell me it will all be O.K.

Today is my last day of maternity leave. I go back to work on Monday at 9a.m. I seriously don't even want to think about it, but I know if I don't; Monday will be even more hellish than what I am anticipating. I need to mentally prepare myself for it. I'm not ready. I can't do this. No, really, I don't think I can....someone tell me it will be o.k!!

The past 2 months have been the most rewarding, exhausting, exhilarating, fun, emotional months of my life. I think back to the very first day we brought Claire home & all that we've been through in 8 short weeks. There were days where I wanted to just get up & go back to work because I wanted to escape motherhood for a few hours. And now? Now I want nothing more than to be a SAHM. I never thought I would say that or want that. I always thought I would want my adult interaction time a few days a week, but I don't. I just want to spend all day, everyday with my baby girl.

I'm crying right now as I type this. I don't want this time with my baby to end. I feel so close with her & am so afraid she will forget who I am when I return back to work. Granted I'm only going back part time & the grandma's will be watching her (which I am SOOOO grateful for), but still; I'm going to miss her so much. I know I'm definitely not the only one that goes through this. But it totally feels like it.

I don't think I am going to get any sleep come Sunday night & will probably have swollen, red eyes come Monday morning.

Ok. I have to stop thinking about this. I'm going to go watch my baby sleep. & then cry & feel sorry for myself.

2 MONTHS!!

Well, besides the fact that I have a very high maintenance little lady to attend to 24/7, I really have no excuse as to why I have have been M.I.A.

But let's get to the real reason for this post... MY BABY GIRL IS 2 MONTHS OLD (as of Saturday)!!

How in the world did this happen?? I swear the first month of her life was the longest month of my life. Everyday felt like an eternity, simply because we were getting used to each other. I had no clue what I was doing & was still in the process of feeling like myself again.

But this month? It has flown. I cannot believe it's November & my little babe has been on this earth for 2 months. I fall in love with this little human being more & more each day & still can't believe that my husband & I created her. Cheesy, but true.

We just got back from her 2 month appointment & here are her stats:

Weight- 8lbs 14oz: 10th percentile (a.k.a. teeny girl)

Height- 22": 50th percentile

*Still in all newborn clothes & diapers. The only clothes that fit her well are Carters. All other newborn clothes fit her weird. She's such a petite little thing.

*Absolutely loves bath time, her play gym, t.v. (uh oh) and her daddy.

*Coos & smiles when you talk to her

*Loathes nap-time. Unless she is in our arms. This needs to change

*Doesn't mind tummy time but has no interest in trying to roll over

*Sleeps from 9pm (ish)- 6am (ish) every night. In her swing. Yes, I got lectured by her pediatrician today & will be transitioning to her crib tonight. Should be fun.

She did absolutely spectacular with her shots. I was preparing myself for hours of blood curdling screams but she cried for literally 5 seconds & was perfectly fine afterwards. What a tough little girl! I was more of a boob than she was!

Now let me explain that we have had some serious issues with her weight since she was born. Because she has a cleft in her soft pallet, it makes it very difficult for her to suck while she eats which also makes her more tired faster because she has to work so hard to suck. This is why I had to stop breast feeding.

In her first few weeks of life, she was always fussy & cried allll the time. We had no clue why. We were doing everything right. Changed? check. Fed? check. Burped? check. Napped? check. Little did we know that she was not getting enough milk because of her condition. At her 1 month heck-up, she had barely gained a pound from her birth weight. Obviously this was a concern. The doctor suggested we start supplementing with formula as well as breast milk to help baby girl pack on the pounds.

We've been doing this for the past 3 weeks & has been working great! I am now exclusively pumping (which is a pain the the butt, but so worth it) & supplementing with formula when I don't produce enough for her, which is usually at her nighttime feeding. She takes 4-5oz each feeding & has gained a little over a pound since we began the new system. YAY! We met with a specialist & Claire will get surgery to fix her cleft when she is 6 months old. Seems like forever away, but I know it will come quickly. I just want my baby to eat without having to put so much effort into it & for her not to spit milk out her nose when she spits up!

In a way, I feel like a failure for not being able to breastfeed her for very long, but I know it's ultimately not something I could have controlled. Her little condition simply prevented her from getting the nutrients she needs & the bottle is just so much better for her.

It has been like night & day since we started the new feeding system. Claire is such a happier, smiley baby now! She has so much more "content time" rather than crying all waking hours of the day. Poor baby was miserable her first few weeks because she was always hungry! We just didn't know it :(

Sorry this post is so long! I just wanted to get all of the updates in one big post!

I will leave you with lots of pictures from this past month! Enjoy!

In the Bumbo for the first time.

Not quite sure what to think!

Happy girl with momma!

2 month photo shoot

Sleepy babe

She loves her bath time

Silly girl & her tongue.