Happy 8 Months!

Happy 8 Months Aubrey!

I have been so behind in posting these blogs. Which is too bad because so much as happened in the past TWO months. She isn't quite 8 months yet but she's just a few days away so I decided to update anyway :) She went to the doc last week to check her ears (she's been sick forever and now has a nasty cough) and weighed 18 lb 9 oz.

This past month I went back to work. It was so hard to leave her the first couple of days but she goes to the same place I work so I am able to see her on my lunches. The whole SAHM thing wasn't working for me anymore and I am glad to be out of the house and busy. She has adjusted so great there. I think she is happy to be able to play with other babies and she has already learned SO much. 

Milestones: She started clapping over a month ago... and she does the army crawl all over the place. She is so fast and seems so content that I'm wondering if she will ever start actually crawling or skip straight to walking. She is able to push herself to a sitting position and can pull herself halfway up. Also, she has started babbling. She says, "Da, da, ra, ra, ba, ba" and every once and awhile I hear a "Ma, ma". This past weekend she cut her first tooth. It's one of her bottom ones. With it she got a terrible diaper rash and a fever. I swear its from the teeth, though people say it's never related. 

Food: She has been so hungry we started feeding her snacks along with her 3 meals a day. She usually eats some fruit but we have started introducing the puffs. After some tries, she finally is used to the texture and will put it (and keep it!) in her mouth. Since she is more than likely allergic to milk we probably will start feeding her soy yogurt soon. She gets an allergy test at 12 months, which I am so excited for. It will provide such a relief and end this guessing game we've been playing. (She seems to be sensitive to EVERYTHING!) 

Sleep: Even with sleeping a little less through the day because all of the commotion in child care, she still sleeps through the night, 7:30-6:30. I am so blessed to have such a good sleeper who can put herself to sleep! 

Happy 6 Months!

Happy 6 Months Aubrey!

WOW! Half a year old. I know I've said this probably every single post but TIME FLIES!  Aubrey is still doing great. She is fitting in size 9 shirts/onesies but wears size 12 pants! My little girl has thick thighs! I don't know how much she weights, I'm thinking 17/18 lbs but I find out for sure in 2 weeks. Diaper wise she is still in size 3 (could be size 4) but I found that if I put her in size 4 diapers at night they don't leak. I love Pampers during the day and Huggies for nights. I used to be an all Huggies Mom but as she grows the Pampers just fit better and I think stretch better as she moves.

Sleep wise she is doing so much better. She has dropped her evening nap and now goes down for bed at 6:30 and wakes at 6:30. She no longer wakes for a feeding at night so she sleeps straight through! She will wake up through out the night, but does a good job at putting herself back to sleep. Her naps are starting to fall into a pattern; she usually naps at 8:30, 11:30 and 2. They last 30 minutes to an hour but sometimes she will take a two hour nap at 2. 

This past week she has begun the steps to crawling! She pushes off the floor with her feet and pulls herself with her arms to get around. I'm excited to see if she'll be an army crawler or will eventually learn the traditional crawling method! She now sits very well unsupported.

Aubrey drinks about 24 oz a day since she's consistently been eating solids. She hardly drinks anything in the morning (which is weird since she goes all night without eating) but eats more in the afternoon/evening. She has been consistently eating an entire jar of stage 1 food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I am just starting to give her stage 2 food. She will take anywhere from 3-6 oz at a time. It's pretty all over the place but I'm not worried about it. 

This month we went to the Zoo with some friends and their baby. She is still too young to notice or care about the animals but she loved people watching and observing everything around her. She did notice the giraffe. Here at the Jacksonville Zoo they get really close because they feed them grass so she saw it and got SUPER excited.

Happy 5 Months!

Happy 5 Months Aubrey!

We had our 4 month check up late and know that almost 2 weeks ago she weighed 15 lbs 6 oz. Which was a little off than what I guessed! She is 25 1/4 long. Both are in the 70th something percentile. The doctor told us to go ahead and start introducing solids. So she tried some oatmeal this month and has been introduced to carrots, sweet potatoes, peas and applesauce. Her favorite is the sweet potato. She says "Mmmmm" when she eats it. I just tried peas today... she is not a fan!

This past month we accomplished a major milestone (as I like to call it). She now naps all by herself in her crib!!! Many of you know that this is a HUGE deal to me because up until a couple weeks ago she would only nap when being held. Every single time we put her down, she would wake up and cry and then the whole rocking/patting process of getting her to sleep would have to happen again. This was soooo incredibly annoying, especially in the middle of the night when we spent almost an hour sometimes getting her back to sleep. It became an even bigger issue when she started to roll over at night and would wake herself up. We had to rock her multiple times during the night to put her back to sleep, and hope she wouldn't wake up when we put her down. UGH!

Surprisingly, this was fairly easy to fix. It's almost as though one day it just "clicked" for her. One morning for a nap I decided to put her in her crib awake and see if she would fall asleep by herself. I knew that learning to sooth herself to sleep was the key to all the night time wakenings. She fussed for maybe 10 minutes and then she was out! OMG! I was so shocked. So all day I did that and after a week she pretty much got the hang of it. Sometimes for naps she needs to be patted on the back to fall asleep but she is becoming better every day at soothing herself to sleep. I seriously drove myself nuts with reading all of these books written by "experts" to help teach your baby to sleep better. They stressed me out more than anything else. I realized that all it takes is common sense and knowing YOUR child. The only good advice I got was this:

Rolling over, crawling, walking, etc. does not just happen over night. Babies practice these skills every day until they are mastered. Learning how to sooth oneself to sleep is also a skill that must be learned. How do you expect a baby to learn if they are always being rocked/held to sleep? Give your baby the chance to practice and learn!

Here is a silly little video of her in her jumperoo (you can ignore my over the top mommy voice :) --

 

Happy 4 Months Aubrey!

Happy 4 Month Birthday Aubrey!

Aubrey is now 4 months old! Actually, she was 4 months old 2 weeks ago but I just didn't get around to writing this post. We traveled to Virginia for the holidays and were there for almost 2 weeks. Aubrey got to meet more of her family! :) I was nervous because it would be the first time she would really be taken to a lot of places. For the most part she stays home most of the day, with only short trips every now and then. But to my surprise she did great being out and about almost all day. I am lucky that she is so adaptable. She also did great in the car. The trip was about 12 hours and she did amazing. Coming home we traveled during the day so she was up quite a bit but loved playing in her carseat.

She hasn't had her 4 month check up yet (we go next week) but I'm guessing she's about 16 lbs. She now fits perfectly into her 6 month clothes and we are starting to use size 3 diapers. We wouldn't have to switch to size 3 just yet but her thunder thighs make the size 2 just a tad bit small!

Her sleep schedule has gone haywire since the holidays. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that this past month she has learned to roll over (back to front... for some reason she hasn't figured out front to back yet) and will often roll over in the night and wake herself up. So every 2-3 hours she's up, on her belly, either fussing or playing around. I'm hoping this ends soon! I am also thinking that she went through another growth spurt (even though *they* say it happens at 3 months and then 6 months) since she has been eating like crazy and actually wanting to eat through out the night. Initially I was going to start sleep training her now but I think I am going to hold off for a little longer. I'm probably going to try a modified CIO method and want her to be more mature. 

She has also began to sit all by herself! If sitting unsupported on my bed she can last awhile before toppling over, on the floor she is still very wobbly and will last only a few minutes. 

This past week we introduced rice cereal. She's a natural. She swallows almost everything and takes the spoon very well. For now I am just giving it to her in the evenings since that is when she is the most hungry. I really have my eyes open for any allergies since we have been battling eczema and she is already on Soy. PS- Which by the way, Aveeno Baby lotion for eczema is AMAZING!

I hope everyone had a great Holiday and Happy New Year!

'Till next time!

<3

Happy 3 Months Aubrey!

Happy 3 Months Aubrey!

Aubrey is now 3 months old! She is growing and getting so big! I was just looking back on her newborn photos the other day and she has changed so much!

She loves to talk! Her new thing is screaming with excitement. She's discovered her feet so she's always playing with them. She has also mastered grabbing toys and loves to put them in her mouth (also her hands!) We are still working on her rolling over, Her personality is really starting to show. We've learned that she is a very adaptable baby that craves a schedule. She enjoys people and new surroundings but can be very sensitive.

Aubrey has been such a trooper with seeing doctors since she's been born. Early on we discovered she has moderate laryngomalacia and has been seeing a specialist for that. Laryngomalacia is a fairly common condition in infants where the cartilage surrounding the larynx is floppy, which results in noisy breathing. We noticed it in the hospital but the nurses attributed it to her still having amniotic fluid in her lungs from the birth. But when we got home it got worse and she started having a hard time eating. She often choked and made loud "seal like" sounds. Turns out she was having a hard time coordinating breathing and swallowing. She should grow out of it by the time she is one, we just need to monitor her closely when she eats. Now we have been seeing the pediatrician 'cause poor baby girl developed pretty bad reflux. Since she's been on the meds though she's eating again and back to her normal, happy self!

She now weighs 13lbs 12oz. We just started using size 2 diapers (I love Huggies!) and she can fit in most of her 6 month clothes.

Naps are still a mess. I can get her to nap occasionally in her bassinet but she will only nap 20 minutes. In my arms she will nap 1-2 hours. At night she is still a good sleeper, her first stretch is usually 8:00-5:00 or 6:00. After the holidays I plan on sleep training her and moving her to her own room and crib. No more sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's room! It is going to be a huge transition for all of us. My goal is to finally get her to sleep in her crib for ALL naps and maybe even fall asleep all by herself!

Hanging out in her bassinet after waking up.

She LOVES reading books. She gets so excited, yelling with excitement and hitting the book!

Happy 2 Months Aubrey!

Happy 2 Months Aubrey!

Aubrey is doing great! At her two month check up she weighed 11.7 lbs and is 22 1/2 inches long. Both are are around the 50-60th percentile. Developmentally she is on target and the Doctor commented that she acts like a 4 month old. (Mostly because she is so alert and active) She smiles, coos, laughs (though her *real* laugh we hear mostly while she sleeps), follows objects at a greater distance, pushes with her legs/feet, and has even begun reaching for objects! This month we should start seeing her roll from her tummy to back. She got her two month shots (three in the leg and one oral) and she was not a happy camper that night! It took her a couple of days to be back to her normal self.

Angry Aubrey! 

Aubrey is now sleeping longer at night. Her first stretch of sleep is usually 9:00-4:00ish and then she'll go back to sleep untill 7:30. Of course we have our nights where she wants to be up at 2ish, but I'm still at the point where I am totally okay with that! She is still wanting to be held for naps during the day, and I'm hoping she starts to grow out of this soon. (suggestions welcome!) A total life saver has been a last minute purchase I made late in my pregnancy: the Baby K'Tan. At first she hated it but after a few attempts she loves it. I put her in it and clean a little bit around the house as she falls asleep. I now have some sanity back as I'm not always stuck on the sofa as she sleeps on my chest. Hooray!

I noticed I have two pictures of her in her Bouncer but she really loves it!

Sleepy Aubrey- she has always hated being swaddled but I HAVE to swaddle her legs otherwise she kicks so much she wakes her self up. She moves a lot during sleep. I always find she has wriggled her way to the bottom the of bassinet. 

She had her first two big outings this past week. Saturday we went to a friends BBQ and Sunday she got to go shopping with Mommy and Daddy. She was amazing!  We were at the furniture store for quite a bit and she loved looking around at all of the people and lights. I was very nervous about having her out for so long (what first time Mom isn't the first time?!) but I'm glad I overcame my fears!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we will be having a lot of Kesar's family come down and meet Aubrey for the first time. We are SO excited! Then the following month we are making the 12 hour trip by car up north for Christmas. I am already very nervous about the drive with a four month old! She falls asleep in the car seat pretty easily but I can't imagine her being in there for 12 hours! :(

<3 Till next time!

Happy 1 Month!

Happy 1 Month Aubrey! 

I cannot believe one month has passed already! Aubrey is doing great and is growing wonderfully. At her doctors appointment this month she weighed 9 lb 6 oz (84th percentile) and 21.5 inches (91st percentile). I do not know where she gets her length from! She is continuing to lift her head and look around and loves to face the world to explore.

She has begun "coo" and will smile when spoken and smiled to. I don't know if I mentioned this in the two month post but she is a major wiggle worm and always moving! She defiantly isn't the typical newborn that falls asleep randomly and is mellow. She never stops and is always on the go (as much as she can be of course!) This month she had her first bath and loved it! She just hung out in the bathtub while she was washed. I am so happy we don't have to rush through bath time!

She sleeps well at night, at least I think so for a newborn! Her first stretch of sleep usually lasts 8:30-1:30 and then she sleeps in two-three hour intervals. My body has gotten used to the new sleep schedule so I feel pretty good! During the day she enjoys 30-45 minute cat naps with one or two "big naps" of 2 hours.  She also enjoys snacking through out the day- enjoying 2-3 oz every 1-2 hours. I'm hoping this month we can get her to enjoy bigger meals less often :)

Till next time! <3

2 weeks old

Aubrey is 2 weeks old (as of 2 days ago)! It's amazing how fast time goes. My parents and brother left so for the first time since her birth Kesar and I are alone as Mommy and Daddy. It was great having the extra help! Tomorrow Kesar goes back to work so I'll officially experience the SAHM thing tomorrow.

Aubrey is such a good baby. She is already very alert and loves to look around. She would rather explore her surroundings then sleep sometimes. :) Her head control is pretty amazing, she is already lifting it up and moving it side to side while on her tummy. She is a wriggle worm! This doesn't surprise me because she was a wiggle worm inside my belly too. Her first doctor appt was great. She was born 8lb 6oz but was down to 7lb 12 oz when we left the hospital. She eats nonstop (I'm nursing) and it only took her 2 days to get back up to her birth weight! She goes again next week and I'm so anxious to see how much she weighs now. Newborn clothes are too snug so she is in 3 month clothes and just about size 1 diapers.

She obviously looks a lot like Kesar, though I think she has my chin, hands, feet and so far... skin. Her eyes were really dark when she was first born but are beginning to become a lighter brown, as well as her hair. I don't think any of it has fallen out so far, as a lot of times it does, so I'm excited to see her hair continue to grow!

Aubrey and Grammy, she loves being on her tummy!

So far she loves the bouncer! She loves the vibration and looking at the hanging bugs. She turns her head side to side as she watches them bounce around. This is also the only way we can get to her sleep during the day. She loves being held so we are working on getting her to STAY asleep when we put her down. Practice and persistence!!

'Till next time! <3

The Birth Story

Aubrey is here! It is so funny because 2 hours after I wrote the last blog I starting feeling the signs that labor was near. Aubrey Elizabeth was born at 8:29am on Saturday August 18, 2012: her estimated due date. Only something like 10% of babies are actually born on their due date. Turns out Miss Aubrey is punctual after all!

Here is my Birth Story:

Friday at around 3:30pm I started feeling lower back pain and constant menstrual cramps. Both were bare able but I thought it was weird because I haven't had these pains through out my entire pregnancy. I also new in the back of my mind that these were some signs that labor was near. Since this was my first pregnancy I really had no idea what contractions or labor would feel like. My entire third trimester I would constantly google "what does a contraction feel like" because I really had no idea and was afraid I wouldn't know. Every thing I read said, "trust me, you will know!" (Turns out they were right!)

So the next couple hours I had constant menstural like cramps and lower back pain. I did things normally like eat dinner and the laundry. In the back of my mind I thought that this might be it. At around 10:00 the contractions started. The menstural cramp feeling that I was feeling intensified immensely and then would just disappear (the back pain was constant). When I realized the pain came and went I immediately started to time them to see if they were true contractions. They were lasting 50 seconds long and were 7 minutes apart. This went on for awhile, untill around 11:30 the contractions were now 5 minutes apart. Now I knew I was in early labor. Kesar helped me time them because at this point they really started to hurt and I could no longer speak through them. By 12:30am we called the doctor and were told to go to the hospital to get checked out.

We got there at 1:00am and I was only 1 cm dilated!! Fustrated that I was in this much pain and still so early, we walked the halls of the hospital for an hour. They defiantly intensified so I knew I had made progress. After an hour I was now 3 cm dilated and was admitted.

By this point my back hurt so bad and the contractions were intense. I was nauseous and afraid that since this was my first birth I would be in labor and feel this pain for hours and hours. (It's not uncommon for many women to labor for over 24 hours with their first baby). I decided to get an epidural. The epidural was no problem, didn't hurt at all.

Since being admitted and laying down my contractions slowed so my doctor broke my water and started me on Pitocin. This is when we realized the epidural was not doing its job. The right side of my body was almost 100% numb but I could still feel the left side. I was still feeling the contractions with intensity and started getting nauseous again. They started being worried about why the epidural wasn't working and realized it was probably the location.  They asked me if I wanted them to redo it and I said no. Even though I was in pain and the actual epidural didn't hurt, I didn't want to be stuck again in my spine. So I said no and went on to deal with the pains.

5:30am rolled around and I was 5 cm dilated. Aubrey's heartrate started to drop after contractions so the nurses were really monitoring me.  The had me switch positions a lot to see if that would help but finally put me on oxygen. The oxygen definatly helped and Aubrey's heart rate began to remain more stable. At almost 8:00am I began to feel incredibly hot and started to sweat A LOT. I didn't know it at the time but I was going through the "transition phase"... FAST. I told the nurse how I was feeling and she checked my cervix and saw I was 10cm dilated. It was time to push.

The pushing stage happened really fast. So fast in fact that I was instructed not to push for awhile in order to wait for the doctor to arrive. Even not pushing Aubrey was making her way out on her own. It only took 10-15 minutes of pushing and Aubrey was out. This is the part of the labor I was most terrified about, but really it was not that bad. However, a lot of first time labors can take forever and women can spend hours pushing. I was extremely lucky that Aubrey was anxious to get out.

Aubrey was born a healthy 8 lb 6 oz girl and 20 1/4 inches long. She swallowed a lot of fluid coming out of the birth canal so she was pretty swollen the first day and had a lot of fluid in her stomach.

I am so blessed and so happy she is finally here!

Here are some pictures of her during her first three days:

40 Weeks

We are now 40 weeks pregnant and I wish I had news! Well, I have a little.

She is head down and fully engaged but other than that my 9 month pregnant body is showing no signs that she wants to come any time soon. She defiantly takes after her Daddy on liking to be fashionably late. :) We scheduled an induction date of August 27th. I wanted it a little bit sooner but the doctor is refusing. He wants to wait until I'm 41 weeks because if you do it too soon when your body isn't ready it makes labor a lot longer, painful and increases the risk of a C-Section.

Since I am going past my due date, they wanted me to get an ultrasound today to make sure the baby is healthy and can withstand a longer stay in her cozy "home". If my fluid were low, or if she was too little or too big, they would induce me sooner. However, I am HAPPY to say she appears to be a completely healthy and CHUBBY baby girl (she's still a girl- I made sure they confirmed it again!) The ultrasound technician even made a comment on how big her belly is, and I made a comment to Kesar, "It must be all of those cookies I eat!" (I have really had a sweet tooth this third trimester) But really, her belly looked HUGE! It was even bigger than her head! She is weighing in at 8 lb 9 oz. With another week at most to go, she will gain another pound before she makes her entrance into this world: almost reaching the 10 lb mark. Sooo, let's just say I am ready to get her out ASAP.

Some more great news: My Mom flies in tomorrow for 2 weeks. This relieves a load of stress for when I go in labor. My crazy self has been more worried about who is going to take care of the dogs and less about the actual labor! So, this calms me :) The following week my Dad and Brother will be here so everything will be pretty much perfect as Aubrey makes her debut into this world!

My next post will be the Birth Story. Till next time! <3