We are getting into the routine of the school year, and October 10th was a pretty regular Monday filled with middle schoolers, paint, rain, a subbing hubby neighbor and a cute baby. What made October 10th special, however, was an enormous and unexpected rainstorm, the arrival of our fall decorations and the first stew of the year!
I am so excited that Fall is here. I love this delciously fallish weather, I love getting out the boots, coats and scarves, I love all things pumpkin flavored, colored or related, and I love the beginning of soup season.
I could go on and on, but one of my favorite parts of fall in El Dorado County is the opening of Apple Hill, a local hot spot for family fun and delicious Apple related treats. There is pretty mountain scenery, fun activities for kids, crafts and activities, not to mention: apple cider, apple doughnuts, apple fritters, apple pie, caramel apples, apple beer (you get the idea…)
Last weekend we needed a family play day so we trekked up to High Hill, along with every other family in El Dorado County apparently. We had a great day, walked around, had lunch, enjoyed the beautiful weather and got a very carefully timed picture of Lola in an unattended barrel of apples.
Ah! Somebody please stop this girl from growing!! I can’t keep up!
Lola is now 6 months old! SIX! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?! She’s half a year old! It feels like a blink. I can’t even believe it, and I clearly can’t keep up with my blog updates!
She is amazing, smart and oh-so-cute. She learns and changes every day!
Stats:
At her 6 month appt. she was 26.75 inches tall and weighs 16 lbs, 15 oz. She is in the 77th percentile for weight, 85th percentile for height and 99TH! percentile for head circumference…poor girl, that’s the fault of her 2 large headed parents. It’s because she has all those big brains in there!
Eating:
In month 5, Lola went from being an exclusively breastfed baby to being a solids eating, formula-supplemented, (still!) breastfed baby.
When I went back to work, my already sensitive milk supply tanked. Even with 2 pumpings during the work day (eating up all of my prep time..) I was only making about half of what she was eating while I was at work. I spent about 2 weeks in month 5 stubbornly obsessing about increasing my milk supply. It was literally at the back of my mind at every waking moment. I was doing everything you are supposed to do to increase lactation: drinking enough water to drown, eating tons of raw oats, taking supplements, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, adding extra pumping sessions and nursing constantly, but nothing was working. Meanwhile I was cooking through my freezer stash trying to replace what she needed for the day while I was at work. The conundrum is that stress reduces milk supply, and I was so stressed about not making enough milk that it was probably making my situation worse. After being consumed with this for several weeks and resisting the idea of supplementing with formula, I had a conversation with an experienced mom colleague, Mary, that gave me some piece of mind. She has 4 kids that she breastfed, and understood my resistance to giving Lola formula. She sympathized that it had become a badge of honor thing for me, something that I had worked so hard for and was resistant to admit that my body could no longer be the sole provider of what Lola needed. She helped me see that if I continued breastfeeding, but supplemented what I couldn’t make with formula, that Lola would still be getting all of my immunities and all of the good stuff in breast milk, but would be full and happy without me having to feel so much stress and pressure. I could still continue to have that bond with her, and be a better, less stressed mommy.
It took about another week of me pondering this to finally cave and give her formula, and really I was convinced she wouldn’t even take it…but she did, like it was no different. “Milk is milk, mom! ” I immediately felt relieved, like a huge weight of responsibility was lifted off of my shoulders. Lola now has about 4-6 ounces of formula a day, usually right before bed when she is hungriest. She still gets pumped milk when I am at work during the day, and I still pump twice at work and once when I wake up, she and is breastfed the other 95% of the time. She is full, happy and growing and I am a happier and more relaxed mommy…everyone wins.
6 months of breastfeeding was my goal, and there were many hard moments in the first few months that 6 months felt like a million years away. Before I had Lola, I never understood the breastfeeding badge of honor thing, and I never imagined that I would get as attached to it as I have. I figured I would put in my 6 months per self imposed requirement, and then I would happily quit. Well here we are, at 6 months, and I can’t imagine stopping now. In my 4 month post I reported that I didn’t love it, but we had “reached an understanding”. I am happy to report that I officially love it, and I love how happy it makes Lola. The thought of stopping makes me really sad, and so my new goal has been pushed to 1 year. We’ll see how I feel by then, but for now I am a happy nursing mama.
The other exciting milestone is that Lola is now eating baby food! The pedi recommended that we start with pureed veggies, (1 new one per week to be able to watch for food allergies), and then move to fruits. She has now tried (and loved..) sweet potatoes, squash, peas, carrots and green beans. She has hopefully inherited her parents lack of finickiness about food, so far she seems to love it all. Sol and I, and her Grandma Cece and Papa Tom all have so much fun spoon feeding her. She gets giggly, messy and is way too cute. I really want to start pureeing our own baby food (it makes sense for the cloth diapered, breastfed baby to get homemade organic baby food, right?) , but we need a proper device first…and enough time for such projects, which so far we have lacked. Coming this month, fruits!!
Sleeping:
The 6th month has brought a huge new milestone. (Drumroll please…) Lola is now sleeping UNSWADDLED, IN HER CRIB, IN HER OWN ROOM! If you have kids, you know what a big deal this is!
The whole 5th month and a couple weeks into the 6th month she slept in her “taco” (the rock-n-play sleeper) next to my bed, with her straight jacket swaddle on, the same way she had sleep since she was a week old. She was still giving us pretty consistently long stretches of sleep, luxuriously long stretches, actually, for a baby of her age…and although we knew she was getting a little old and big for this sleeping arrangement, our theory was “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” I was however, on the internet constantly trying to research ways to wean the swaddle and the rock-n-play, knowing that as her feet stretched farther and farther over the edge of the taco, our nights of this bliss were numbered. When you have an infant that still has unpredictable sleep patterns though, there is never a night when you say to yourself “hmm, this is a great night to not get any sleep, let’s try the crib!” All my time fretting was clearly a waste though because ultimately, we didn’t have a say in when or how she weaned. She decided that she was ready to sleep in her crib, and we were along for the ride.
A visual of "the taco" for this story to make more sense. "The taco" went with us EVERYWHERE to ensure successful sleeping- even on the houseboat!
She had taken a couple (like literally 2) very short naps in her crib, one of which was swaddled and with a very taco-like sleep positioner. The first actual nap she had taken unswaddled, flat, in a crib was at my mom’s house. Sol and I were shocked and excited when we picked Lola up after work and she told us that Lola had just dozed in the crib for a half an hour. It wasn’t very long, but Lola had never slept for ANY amount of time in her entire life on a flat surface! She needed the taco-like enclosing feeling and if the taco wasn’t available, the car seat, the swing or on one of us were the only other acceptable substitutes for napping. We devised a plan to slowly start having her nap in her crib, and then wait for a long weekend or vacation to have her try sleeping in it overnight. Lola had other plans! I woke up at 2am one night, a Tuesday night..in the middle of a work week…when I was still sleep deprived from a crazy weekend in Tahoe…(you get it, less than ideal conditions!) to Lola outgrowing the taco. She outgrew the taco overnight. She was still swaddled, almost completely rolled over in it and madly squirming to finish her roll. She looked like she was either about to launch herself out of it or suffocate herself. We spent the rest of her night trying to get her to sleep in her crib, unsuccessfully, and ultimately she ended up in the swing next to Sol sleeping on the couch. The next day I was sleep deprived and worried, knowing that the transition to sleeping in her own room would have to happen TONIGHT and couldn’t even wait for the weekend like we had planned.
Sol and I formulated a game plan on the phone that day while I pumped on my lunch break. He would take the next day off work and sleep in the guest room with the monitor, so I could sleep in our bedroom and *try* to get some sleep for work the next day. We completed our normal bedtime routine, put her in some adorable footy pajamas (we had to break out the 6-9 month box because only 9 MONTH jammies will fit her now!), and put her down in the crib for the night. We anticipated a sleepless night for Sol (and possibly me..) but to our amazement, Miss Independent had an AWESOME night of sleep! She slept 7 hours, woke up for a couple binky replacements from Sol, then I woke up for work and fed her and she went back to sleep for another 5 hours!! She slept in until 10:30, we couldn’t believe it! I on the other hand got the least sleep out of everyone…I missed having her right next to my bed and was freaked out having her so far away. (Yes, so far away is about 20 feet across the hall). I must have peeked in to check on her 15 times to make sure she was still breathing…even though we have a pad under her crib mattress that verifies that.
The next day we were beaming with pride! We couldn’t believe our big girl went cold turkey without swaddle, in her crib, in her own room so easily. I guess she was just ready. She was clearly more ready than we were! The next night the wind was quickly knocked from our sails…she was up most of the night. The next night we went to bed anxious for the same unfavorable result and she slept 10 hours straight! The moral of the crib story is…she’s inconsistent, but we are getting there. The sleep stretches are getting longer and she’s getting better at falling asleep and staying asleep on her own. I am finally starting to feel a little more comfortable having her in her own room, although I am still experiencing major mom paranoia. She is a preferred tummy sleeper (which we wouldn’t have guessed since she always acted like tummy time was a fate worse than death) and everything they tell you from the second your baby is born is that tummy sleeping= SIDS. Now that she is rolling over on her own and so strong that she can do a push-up it is considered safe now, but it still freaks me out. (Even with the pad and alarm that makes sure she is breathing!) I’m getting more comfortable with it though and eventually I might be able to sleep soundly again? Maybe someday!
Sol and I are pretty excited about having our room back for the first time in 6 months, but it does take some getting used to. We are now allowed to talk, cough and walk around the room normally without having to “ninja” around and avoid waking the baby. The other night after we had put Lola to sleep in the crib we were in our bedroom whispering to each other when Sol laughs and says, still whispering, “why are we whispering, she’s not in here!”
Playing:
Ohmigosh, where do I start? She is so smart and playful!
The biggest milestone that Lola hit in month 5 was being able to sit up unassisted! She can’t pull herself up to sitting on her own yet, but she can stay sitting up indefinitely to play with her toys if you put her in a seated position. One of her favorite things now is to sit up on a quilt on our family room floor (there is a similar situation at Grandma Cece and Papa Tom’s house too!) and play with her toys. She is so into toys! She is getting much more deliberate about how she plays too…it’s not just a chance arm movement that pushes a button, stacks, or rolls something, it’s now intentional. She especially loves her O-Ball, baby bongo drums and this little turtle we have with blocks inside. She needs to touch everything…and then stick it in her mouth!
We downloaded a xylophone app that she happily plunks away at when there isn’t a toy available!
Even though she has a wide selection of toys, some of her favorite things to play with are crumpled paper, mommy’s necklaces, daddy’s glasses, kitties’ tails and large plastic kitchen spoons.
She also loves to stand and jump, jump, jump! She loves her jumperoo and (even though it doesn’t jump-she jumps in it) her exersaucer at Cece’s house.
Her “talking” has gotten a lot more deliberate too. She now strings together long sentences of silly baby sounds, like she has something really important to say. I feel like “mama” and “dada” are just around the corner. I told her (jokingly…kind of) that she came out of my vagina therefore she owes it to me to say “mama” first, but I really feel like her sounds are leaning more towards “dada” now. That’s okay too I guess, she IS quite the daddy’s girl.
Crawling is also right around the corner! She is rolling alllll over the place and can get up onto all 4s and rock back and forth, and scoot backwards. If she REALLY wants something in front of her, she can move forward towards it in a combo roll/scoot/push…but it takes her awhile. I was playing with her on the floor recently and encouraging her to crawl towards her stuffed monkey…then I thought to myself, “wait, what am I doing…do I really want her to be mobile?” I am excited for her to start crawling, but I think I am content with her staying in the general vicinity of where I put her, for now!
Adventures:
In her 5th month:
Lola was in her first bridal party! She served as a flower baby in Bianca and Justin’s wedding along with their niece Evelyn, who is 4 days younger than her.
Lola had her first sleepover at Cece and Papa’s house! The night of the Cox wedding, Lola’s awesome grandparents took the sleepy flower baby home with them so mommy and daddy could have a night out in Davis. We were only away from her for 12 hours but it felt like too long!
She went to her first Kibble-n-Bids event with mommy and daddy for Papa’s 60th birthday celebration!
Mommy went back to work and she started having fun adventures with Daddy or Cece and Papa during the day.
In her 6th month:
Lola had her first weekend where she got daddy all to herself when I went to Tahoe for the weekend for my annual Ladiespalooza trip. Both she and daddy did great and I was very proud. (I was also very proud of myself for being able to stay away for a whole weekend!)
She got a visit from her Aunt Smelley and Uncle Roger, who are enamored with her.
She went to a real mall for the first time, being mommy’s little shopping buddy.
She continued to be a champion boat baby in Papa Tom’s boat on many lake outings!
She had her first trip to Apple Hill, including a photoshoot on pumpkins and in a barrel of apples!
Check back next month for a 7 month update…teeth?!? Crawling?! Talking?!? Who knows what I’ll have to report, this girl is growing like a weed!
Sol and I wear glasses mostly at night and in the mornings, and Lola’s new favorite thing to do with her grabby hands is steal them. We decided maybe she wanted to try them on?
Or maybe she is like Clark Kent, she takes them off and becomes SUPER BABY!!
Lola’s new friend Marlie Olsen is delicious. Lola couldn’t resist taking a little taste of her new baby friend’s head. They were meant to be BFFs!
We had the name Lola Dov picked out for our little girl before we even knew she was a girl, before she was even a seed in my belly, actually. We loved it then and we love it more now. Especially since she is so clearly a Lola.
As a teacher, picking out a baby name was a challenge. I have a rotation of students every trimester which totals over 400 a year. That’s a lot of names, and a lot of potentially ruined names based on negative associations. There are some names that I absolutely can’t say without picturing a certain rugrat’s face. There are also many repeated names that drive me crazy. I have had classes with 3 Madisons, 3 Alexandras and 3 Erikas…etc. etc. I still am haunted by my 3rd grade class that contained 3 Saras, all with “S” last initials. My poor teacher had to call them Sara SS., Sara SK, and Sara ST. Taking the huge responsibility of attaching a moniker to a human very seriously, I wanted a name that was unique enough to not be common and overused, yet not so weird that my poor child would be a victim of senseless childhood teasing.
I like a lot of girl names, but I picked out the name Lola and Sol was immediately sold. I got it from the Kinks song “Lola”. Yes, I know it’s about a transvestite, but that doesn’t make me love the name any less. Or the song…it’s a great song. I would find myself humming “la-la-la-la-Looooolllaaaa” in my head all day, picturing what my beautiful little baby girl would be like. Since she’s been here, it’s my favorite thing to sing to her softly while rocking her to sleep.
Dov (pronounced dove, like the bird) is part of Sol’s middle name. His middle name is Hebrew, “Dov Ber”. Dov actually means Bear (like the animal) in Hebrew. I love how “Lola Dov” flows together, and that she has a part of her daddy’s name in hers.
I’ve also since discovered another song about her name that we sing to her often, “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets..” which is very appropriate since that is the motto around here!
As much as we love her name, there are innumerable pet names we have taken to calling her in place of it:
The most common one is “Bean”, and any and all variations of “Bean”:
Sweet Bean, Lima Bean, Green Bean, Garbanzo Bean, String Bean-
plus Bean with any adjective: Silly Bean, Sleepy Bean, Jumpy Bean, Squirmy Bean, Smiley Bean, Hungry Bean, sometimes just Bean-Bean or Beans
Bug (repeat variations of “Bug” with adjective): Sleepy Bug, Grumpy Bug, etc.
Monkey (Also repeat similar variations of Monkey+ adjective)
Lo
Lo-Lo
Sweet Lo (also Sweet-n-Low)
Lolita
Little Dove
Lola D
Monkey Moo
Chunky munch
Shortcake (my mom’s favorite thing to call her)
Bright Eyes (my dad’s favorite thing to call her)
and……
Boobie Monster.
Poor thing is going to be in Kindergarten before she figures out what her actual name is.
Lola is now 4 months old! I have been loving my summer vacation, getting to watch her grow, learn and change daily. The last month has definitely brought the most changes, it makes me sad that I am back at work now and have to miss watching her learn and grow all day, especially now that she is getting so fun to hang out with! She is SO interactive now, and so interested in the world around her. I’m excited for her new-found curiosity and independence, but also a little sad that my little snuggly infant is growing up so fast!
Stats: At her 4 month appt, Lola was 13 lbs, 11 ounces and 25.5 inches long! She is gaining weight appropriately, but her height is off the charts! We are going to have a little supermodel on our hands.
Anyway, about mid July her long stretches went from about 7-8 hours to 4-5 hours. Although it is still considered great for a baby of her age, it felt like hell to us because she had spoiled us for so long with those longer stretches. I started reading everything I could online and apparently there is a commonly known phenomenon called the “4 month sleep regression”. There are many theories as to why babies this age go from spoiling to torturing there parents. One theory is that they are more distracted while they eat during the day, so they aren’t getting as much and hungrier at night. (check, she is now popping off the boob constantly to check out what’s going on while she eats…) Another is that when they learn big new skills (rolling over, crawling, walking) they sleep less because their brains are busier mentally “practicing” their new skills. (check, she just started rolling allll over the place) And another theory is that their sleep cycles actually start changing to a more “adult” pattern, and they don’t sleep as deeply. Any or all of these things could be the case, but we spent a couple of weeks sleepily experimenting with different strategies until we found one that *we think* solved our 4 month sleep regression problem (at least for now!)
She always has a “big feed” right before bed, and this particular night she had spent about 90 minutes on the boob over the course of 2 hours. (This is longer than normal but she does like to cluster feed at night..) She fell asleep on me, and I put her down. About an hour later, while Sol and I were going to bed, she woke up SCREAMING like she was starving. We gave each other a WTF look, and I (exasperated) handed her to him and said “I have nothing left! Take her downstairs and give her a bottle of pumped milk.” He came back upstairs a little while later and reported that she had just had 7 OUNCES! On a normal feeding she never drinks more than 3 or 4, this was an unheard of amount, especially so soon after eating! That night she slept 9 hours! I was elated that it looked like we had solved our problem, but also sad that it seemed like she wasn’t getting enough milk from me anymore. I was only pumping about 5 extra ounces a day over what she eats for my freezer stash, and there was no way I would be able to keep up if she needed to be topped off with a bottle of 7 extra ounces before bed every night! Luckily that very morning we were on our way to her 4 month appt. where I could ask the pedi about this phenomenon. When I asked her “am I just not making enough for her anymore?,” she said “well, yes and no.” She said that sometimes babies just start needing more milk, and it takes my body a few days to catch up with what she needs (milk works on a supply and demand kind of situation). Over the next few days, I would nurse her before bed, then we would top her off with a bottle of expressed milk and she went back to sleeping great again. Slowly she needed less and less out of the bottle as my milk caught up. We are still giving her an extra ounce or two before bed, but it is worth it because our good little sleeper is back! Hallelujah.
Other fun milestones this month, she is getting super good with her hands! She can play with and manipulate toys, and reach out and grab things that she wants. We have had a giraffe, Gary, (Sol likes to name her toys with funny average man names) hanging on her car seat since day one and she has hardly glanced at him. Now she can hold him, pull on and play with all his moving parts. We got her jumperoo set up this month (little jumping chair surrounded with toys) and she LOVES it! It is so cute to watch her jump and reach out and grab all of the little toys. She is even starting to do really intricate tasks in it like moving a ring back and forth on a wire.
She has become fascinated with the cats! She will screech happily when they come around, and when they sit next to her, she reaches out to grab them. She grabs big chunks of their fur and skin, and their ears…but they seem to understand that they just kind of have to take it (good kitties!)
She can suck her thumb! Since she is still teething she can also (and does!) stick many other things in her mouth, but a baby learning how to suck her thumb is pretty much the cutest thing ever.
Her little voice is getting more active too. She is “talking” up a storm, laughing all the time, and her little sounds connect together now in little baby speak sentences. She especially likes to have long conversations with Gary in the car.
In her 4th month of life, Lola has…
-Gone on her first (and second) plane rides! We went down to Orange County to visit her godparents Amanda and Jon. She was a great little traveler.
-Gone on a houseboat trip with the houseboat crew to Lake McClure
-Gone on many boat rides on Lake Folsom with Cece and Papa Tom
-Gone to her first beer festival in Davis with mommy, Bianca and Annie
-Stuck her toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time!
-Babysat the doggies at Cece and Papa’s
-Swam in the pool for the first time
-Mastered her jumperoo chair
This is SUCH a fun age! She is getting smarter, cuter and funnier by the day and I love watching her little personality emerge. Can’t wait to see what month 5 brings.
(Photo App: Camera Bag, Helga)
Traditional first day of school picture by the front door! (See more here) The first day of my 5th year of teaching.
My classroom, all spiffed up and ready for teenagers!
Home away from home…
Welcome kiddos!
I had a great day with my students, but the best part of the day by far was coming home to my Lola bug.
I got my free sling in the mail today! It is from Sevenslings.com and they were giving away free slings last week for World Breastfeeding Week. Yes please! I think Lola likes it!
We had a big afternoon playing together but first we experimented with some rice cereal. She’s really getting the hang of the spoon and watching her eat is SO adorable, what a big girl!
She loves to jump, jump, jump too!
A few mommy chores during her cat nap…these are her cloth bummies hanging up to dry.
My dinner while Sol was in class, leftover “stew” from last night’s dinner and a new bottle of pinot. Hey, I deserve it, it was my first day of school!
I meant to get this up after month one, and then after month 2, and here were are at the 3 month milestone.. but such is life with a newborn! So instead of 1 month in review, here is a 3 for 1!
These last 3 months have been the most enjoyable and most challenging 3 months of my life, simultaneously. I can’t believe how fast it has gone and how much she has changed already. Most of all, I can’t believe that I can love someone so much. My world has been turned upside-down, and she is now the center of it, in the best way possible.
Sol and I are really lucky that Lola chose us. I don’t know how much credit we can take for what a good baby she is, but I feel like our extensive preparation for our new arrival paired with our mental and emotional readiness to become parents has made our transition into a family of three pretty smooth. Lola is happy, healthy, mellow, flexible and it has been a joy to have her in our lives. Don’t get me wrong, we have our not-so-sunshiney moments like all new parents do, figuring out how to make a family of 3 work is a big change from a (childless) family of 2, but we are thankful every day for how lucky we are to have such a beautiful and easy baby.
Month 1 photoshoot: 5/3/2011
Stats:
At Lola’s 2 week appt. she had gone from 6 lbs. 14 oz, 19.75 inches (the weight and height she left the hospital at) to 8 lbs. 6 oz., 21.5 inches! She is a growing machine!
At her 8 week appt. she was 11 lbs. and 23.25 inches!
Sleeping:
Even though the nurses told us that all newborns do is sleep for the first couple weeks of life, Lola came out ready to party. In the hospital, we became expert baby soothers because Lola did not want to go to sleep! We hadn’t gotten more than an hour or 2 of sleep here and there for the first couple of days. One night, after I had sent Sol to sleep in the chair next to my hospital bed and taken over 3 am baby duty, I unintentionally fell asleep while Lola was eating. I woke up with her sleeping peacefully on my boob and realized that she and I had been fast asleep for 4 HOURS! I was at first elated, and then worried- I had read too much about the dangers of co-sleeping and felt immediately guilty for already developing bad habits before we had even left the hospital. I didn’t want to have one of those babies that could only sleep ON one of us. I expressed these concerns to the nurse who told me not to worry, that it was impossible to spoil a newborn and that the skin to skin contact was good to support breastfeeding, so we spent the next few days in the hospital in a full-time snuggle session with lots of peaceful sleep.
Our first day home, Lola slept in the MamaRoo, in the car seat, in the monkey chair, and on our chests. When it was time for Sol and I to go to bed, we put Lola, who was sound asleep, down in the pack-n-play bassinet right next to our bed. And she promptly woke up. We got her back to sleep, put her down, and she slept there…for 20 minutes. Repeat this an innumerable amount of times and guess where Lola ended up….in our bed. She slept great, but I was restless. Sol is a wild sleeper, and trying to keep her out of the way of his elbows, pillows, and blankets was a challenge, and I have read way too much about SIDS to not be totally paranoid about this unintentional co-sleeping situation. I was sleeping with one eye open to make sure she was breathing the entire night. I remembered that my friend Liz had the same problem, where her daughter could only sleep ON her for the first couple of months, until she got this magical contraption that she called “the taco”. I looked it up online and found out that it is called a “Rock-n-Play” sleeper. We trekked out to Babies-R-Us where we acquired said “taco”. The taco changed our lives. Lola immediately started sleeping way better and for way longer, and we started sleeping better too knowing that she was safer. I would highly recommend this for any new parents- it is by far the best baby item we have. By 2 weeks Lola was up to 6 hour stretches at night! We still often pull her into bed in the morning for family snuggle time, after a good night of sleep! Sol came down on the second day A.T. (after taco), and said “I need the number of the inventor of the taco so I can call and personally thank him!” By the end of month one we were in a regular sleeping pattern, one big 4-6.5 hour stretch at the beginning of the night, a short feeding, and then a couple more 2-3 hour stretches after that with feedings in between.
By the end of 2 months, right around the time I went back to work (thankfully!) The “big sleep” stretch at the beginning of the night went from 4-6 hours to 7-8 hours! In one week we hit the 7 hour and 8 hour (straight consecutive) sleep milestones. After a quick feeding she would go right back down for another 2-4 hour stretch. Ohhh this was heaven. She was still going to bed pretty late, around 11 or so, which was fine when I was on maternity leave, but hard once I had to start going back to work. I would have to get up at 5:45, and she would still be blissfully sleeping. Note to self: before summer break is over- retrain her bedtime to be 7 or 8 pm!
Now at the end of month 3, she is consistently giving us the “big sleep” for 7-10 hours STRAIGHT! followed by a feeding and another 2-4 hour stretch. Funny enough, she hit the 9 hour and 10 hour milestones while camping. We should just sleep in a tent every night! (No seriously..) I am happy she is such a good sleeper, but even the best 3 month old sleeper is not without her hiccups. We had some newborn sleep pattern reversions after the 2 month shots and at the 12 week growth spurt, which I expected but that didn’t make it any easier to go back to several middle of the night feedings, even temporarily. Our new challenge is keeping her cool enough at night in the 100+ degree Sacramento summer temps. She still needs to be swaddled to sleep, which even with just a diaper in the thinnest cotton swaddle blanket we have is still toasty. We have to sleep with the AC on most nights, so cool that Sol and I are freezing under a huge comforter, but it is worth it to make sure she is comfy enough to sleep.
Now napping is a different story…she is still not a consistent or very long daytime napper. I guess I need to pick my battles and be thankful that she is sleeping so well at night, but if we could get at least 2 daytime naps over 45 minutes long I would be a much happier and more productive mommy!
Month 2 photoshoot: 6/3/2011
Eating:
Breastfeeding has been going really well from the beginning, which seems miraculous to me considering I was in surgery for the first few hours of her life, delaying skin-to-skin contact and eating, and was extremely anemic for the first few weeks after her birth. I was told that milk usually comes in the first few days after birth, but because of my blood loss it might take more than a week. I was assured that the colostrum would be plenty to feed her, and not to worry, but she was eating allll the time and I was starting to get worried that it would not be enough. 2 days later my milk came in full force- another miracle.
Lola is a great latcher and has been a ravenous eater. The first few weeks were challenging, she was cluster feeding A LOT, and I had more than a few small breakdowns about how much of my life was now consumed by sitting on the couch with a baby on my boob. Yes, breastfeeding is natural, but breastfeeding is HARD! I am lucky to have not had any serious issues (lack of supply, mastitis, thrush, forceful letdown, the list goes on and on..) but it was one of the most challenging things I have ever conquered. Today, after successfully breastfeeding for 3 months, I still can’t say I love breastfeeding, but I can say that we have reached an understanding. I DO love the snuggle time with Lola, I do love the cute faces she makes and smiles she gives me while eating, and I do love that no matter how upset she gets, the boob is always the magic cure. I don’t love how my body, after 10 months of pregnancy, is still not “my own”, that I am constantly aware of what I am putting in it, can’t have more than 1 beer without some serious planning and timing, constantly worried about my supply (Did I drink enough water today? Can I have that Claritin?), planning when and how to pump and that I can’t leave Lola for even an hour without making sure her caretaker has a supply of hard-earned liquid gold. But putting all of that aside, it is worth it to know that Lola is getting the best possible nutrition available and thriving. And you know what? I am PROUD. Rightfully proud. Proud that my body alone has sustained a human being, not only through pregnancy but beyond- 3 months now. Proud that Lola has not had one drop of formula, and she is a chunky, happy, healthy, smiley infant. My original goal was to make it to 6 months, but now I think I want to, and CAN, make it to a year, and I’m already well on my way there.
Playing:
It’s amazing how much a baby learns and changes in the first 3 months of life. When we first brought her home from the hospital, she could eat, sleep, cry and well, that’s about it. Even a regular diaper or outfit change would be meltdown worthy. In the hospital while Sol changed her diaper and she wailed away he asked, “Does this get easier? Will she always be this upset?” I told him, “Of course! She is just getting used to the world, and it’s hard!” Imagine being all warm and cozy in this little watery home and all of a sudden (after the traumatic squeezing out of the birth canal) having to deal with things like itchy tags, someone wiping your butt with a cold wipe, scrubbing your skin and hair, basically everything would be an ordeal! Quickly things got easier for her though, and she started to get used to the regular baby routine..now she can handle even the messiest diaper change or outfit transition without so much as a whimper, (actually sometimes she doesn’t wake up!)
Within the first couple of weeks she was rolling from side to side (she still hasn’t rolled over yet, but she’s close!), staying awake for longer periods of time, and being fascinated by your face and voice. She started to be able to see clearly at farther distances, and around 6 weeks she could “track” you, follow you around the room with her eyes. Around 6 weeks she started to socially smile, and around 8 weeks we got our first giggle. THIS is when the rewards really come in, no matter how little sleep you’ve had or how frustrated you are, there is NOTHING that compares to those little smiles and giggles. They are the sweetest gift, the most addictive drug. Now, Lola is smiling allll the time, and laughing more and more every day. She especially likes kissy noises and high pitched squeals, sometimes though we catch her beaming at us for no reason at all.
Her most recent discoveries in month 3 have been her hands and her voice. She has figured out that she can use her voice for something else besides crying and she is “talking” up a storm! She is cooing, gurgling and making all kinds of other silly sounds. She can also mimic the tones we make in a call and response type of way. It is adorable, and it really is the first semblance of talking. Now she is even starting to string the sounds together in a way that sounds like sentences, and she says it with such purpose that you feel like she really has something important to tell you. She might not be the quickest to roll over, crawl or walk, but I think she’s going to be one of those toddlers that can hold an advanced level conversation with you and use ridiculous vocabulary words at an early age!
Her hand-eye coordination has gotten a lot better and she can now grab the toys while playing in her play gym, and her new favorite thing is grabbing fabric (a nearby burp cloth or her shirt or dress) with both hands and shoving it in her mouth. She also likes to suck on her fist, sometimes trying to stick both fists in her mouth at the same time (we call this her “hand” sandwich). Her head and neck is also getting stronger, she can now hold her head up for several minutes at a time (in her Bumbo or being held under her arms) and lean against one of us sitting up for extended periods of time. Most of the time when she is sitting up she is looking allll around, trying to take in everything! Her favorite thing to watch is a nearby fan, her favorite thing is watching ceiling fans. The ones in Grandma Cece and Papa Tom’s house are especially fun because they are dark wood and super contrasty. When I lay her on the middle of our bed, she looks up at the ceiling fan and laughs hilariously like the fan is telling her a funny joke.
Adventures:
In the first 3 months of life, Lola has:
Gone to Truckee for the Radford’s baby shower (First out of town trip- week 2)
Dined at countless restaurants
Celebrated her first holiday with family (Easter- week 3)
Partied at her first girls weekend (for Bianca’s bachelorette retreat- week 6)
Watched her daddy graduate with his Masters Degree (San Francisco- week 7)
Partied at the McClures house at her first kids birthday party (week 8 )
Cruised Lake Folsom on Papa Tom’s jet boat, and relaxed on the shore (week 9)
First tent camping trip in Coloma (week 11)
I know that all parents tell you “Oh they grow up SO FAST!” and I always brushed it off as a overused turn-of-phrase, but these 3 months have literally flown by. I can’t believe how fast she is growing, seemingly on a daily basis before our very eyes! At the same time I am sad that she will never be this small again, I am excited to keep watching her grow and change.
3 month photoshoot: 7-1-2011
Lola is growing like a weed! Today I took a picture of her in her carseat, (which she has nearly grown too big for already!) and I can’t believe that she was once swimming in it. Check out the comparison:
3 days old
3 months old!
all you need is love. 