5 & 6 Weeks and SLEEP!

The past two weeks have been pretty exciting around here!  Little Miss Ellie is now 6 weeks old, and still growing every day!  My father-in-law always says (in reference to Andy) that bad weeds grow fast, haha!  So anyway, major accomplishments from these past two weeks include, primarily, some major advances in sleeping!  I'm so excited!

Once upon a time, I read on the internet (via pinterest, of course) about a way to get your baby to sleep through the night by 8 weeks.  Now, this was intended for moms who were going back to work and needed to be able to sleep at night for that purpose.  I don't fit that criteria and so some might say that it's not a big deal for her to be up at night because I can catch up on it during the day, but I have plenty of things to get done and who DOESN'T want to sleep through the night as soon as possible?!  So we (read: I) decided to give it a try.  Couldn't hurt, right?

So once she turned 4 weeks old, we began putting her on a schedule.  The website I was reading recommended feeding every three hours during the day, starting at 7 am.  We decided to start at 6 am instead, so that the intervals would fit more nicely around my evening teaching schedule.  So the trick is (apparently) to wake them up and feed them every three hours and then keep them awake (or try to, at least) for an hour and a half.  For example, I set my alarm for 5:55 am and get her up at 6.  I change her diaper to make sure she's REALLY awake and alert so that she will eat more efficiently.  Then I let her eat for as long as she wants and then we do some playing or read a story or just sit her in her not-a-boppy pillow or do some tummy time for exercise until 7:30.  Now this doesn't always work out according to schedule.  If she's falling asleep on me, I obviously let her go to sleep.  But if she's being any kind of awake or alert, then I don't try to PUT her to sleep.  Make sense?  Anyway, she almost always goes to sleep at some point.  Sometimes I just let her sleep on me or in her bouncy chair or even in our pouch-style carrier if that's where she dozes off, but other times I will go lay her in her crib - gotta change it up so she doesn't get too attached to one thing!  Then I will wake her up at 9:00 and start the process all over again.

Once we get to 9:00 pm, the atmosphere changes.  The website recommended feeding the baby in complete silence and with low lights, but I can't personally stay awake through that.  So we park on the couch and watch Netflix (currently enjoying Dr. Who!) with the volume turned way down and the lights down low.  I don't talk to her or do any extra cuddles or stimulation.  Close to the end, I will wrap her up in her swaddle blanket (which we ONLY use at night) so she gets all cozy and then I let her finish eating.  She usually eats herself to sleep.  As soon as she's done, she goes straight to bed in her crib.  Sometimes she's still a little awake, so I just lay her down and rub her head for a few seconds to relax her and then leave her to put herself to sleep.  I don't want her to get used to having to be rocked to sleep.  She's almost never WIDE awake, so it's only a few minutes of scrootching around before she gives up and goes to sleep on her own.  Then I promptly go to bed, with the monitor by my side, and sleep as long as she will let me.  I don't get up and get her until she's REALLY crying so that I know she's actually hungry and awake.  Then it's the same routine of diaper change, feed in the dim and quiet, and straight back to bed.  No matter what time she last ate, I still set my alarm and get her up to start the day at 6.

This is supposed to help them sleep through the night in a few different ways.  First, they're not sleeping as much or as deeply during the day, so they are actually tired at night.  That's also the reason for making the nighttime routine the same, but also different, than the day.  Based on the atmosphere, my attitude, and how she gets put to bed, she knows without a doubt that this is nighttime so there's just sleep, no fooling around.  If she gets hungry, she knows that I will be there and take care of that need, but that's it.  The other aspect is that she knows exactly when she's going to get to eat again.  6 am, every day, without fail.  If she wakes up at 5 and is a little hungry, she can feel safe to fall back asleep because food is coming soon.  Sounds a little weird because she can't read a clock (there isn't even one in her room!), but babies actually have a very good internal body clock, which is why it is SO HARD to get them straightened out if they get their days and nights confused!  And think about it - how many times have you gotten a little hungry and thought about getting a snack, but then decided not to because it was almost lunch time anyway?  Some of us should make that decision a little more often (ME!), but I'm pretty sure we can all relate to that concept.

The schedule made a lot of sense for us because she was already putting herself on a schedule of eating every three hours anyway.  We just took a few days to adjust the times to this particular time table and she has stuck to it pretty well.  And I have to say, as far as sleeping at night, it is helping!  She's not slept through the night yet, but she is getting a lot closer!  The first night we noticed a difference, she slept from 10 to 1:00.  After that she made it to 2:00.  Then one day she got past 3:00.  Finally, on Tuesday night (into Wednesday morning) this past week, she slept until 5:00!  Now, some people would consider that sleeping through the night, but I don't think it's quite long enough for that.  Once she gets to 6:00, which is her breakfast feeding time, then I will consider that through the night.  The beautiful thing about that night is that she actually woke up at 3:50 and started fussing, but then fell back to sleep until 5!  The schedule worked!  I was so excited.  Unfortunately, the night after that, she was back to getting up at 3.  But she's only 6 weeks.  We've still got two more weeks to perfect the process :-) 

Here is a picture of her 'snuggly' wrap that we use when we put her down for daytime naps.  It isn't as tight as her night time swaddle wrap, so she doesn't sleep as deeply - just like a nap should be!  This is what it looks like when we lay her down . . .

. . . and this is what it looks like when she wakes up!

Haha, she's totally my kid!

A few other accomplishments this week include our first trip to Grandma and Pappy's house, which included our first time at church!  She did really well on the 1.5 hour car ride each way and slept peacefully the whole way through church and Sunday school.  We missed half the service because it just so happened to start at the same time that she needed to eat, but it turned out ok.  

Snuggling with Daddy after church on Sunday.

I also had my follow-up appointment with the OB on Wednesday this week.  That was fun, ha!  It went fine, and the doctor was satisfied with everything.  Speaking of the doctor, remember how great I said she was?  Yeah, she's still great!  She had stopped by the day after Ellie was born and took pictures with her phone because she was that enamored with how tiny she was.  She really enjoyed seeing Ellie at my appointment this week and couldn't believe how big she had gotten!  Turns out, she still had the pictures on her phone and was able to send them to me!  I was so excited!  When she was there taking them, I never thought to take some myself or have her send them to me then, so it really made my day to finally get them!

Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to get them off my phone, so you're just going to have to wait for them.

Grandma came along with us to my appointment, which was great because Little Miss just wanted to be held the entire time.  She wasn't going to be satisfied sitting in the car seat, but I certainly wasn't going to be able to hold her, so it was really nice to have the extra set of hands there!  Afterwards, we took Ellie for her first shopping trip with Mommy and Grandma!  She did really great.  It wasn't like we shopped all day or anything, but it was a few hours and she stayed pleasant the entire time.  Except when I had to take her into the restroom at JC Penney's to change her diaper.  Then she screamed, as usual.  But being in a restroom like that it really echoed.  Apparently it was quite loud out in the store, too.  Oops!  Oh well, what are ya gonna do.  Nobody approached me about it, so it mustn't have been too big of a deal!  She got a little fussy in Kohl's, but then we realized that we forgot to take the thick blanket off of her and she settled down once we did.  Must have been too warm.  Another oops!  Again, problem easily solved.  And I finally figured out the trick to getting the stroller in and out of the trunk without pinching my fingers!  Now if I can just figure out how to drive it through the stores without running into shelves or over my toes I will be in good shape.  I guess I'll just have to do some more shopping to practice :-)

Not sure about how I feel about this shopping trip, Grandma!

And most importantly, Ellie celebrated her first Valentine's day this past week!  

She was super snuggly and clingy all day long.  I could barely put her down without her screaming.  I'm still not sure what the problem was.  Aside from getting nothing done, I didn't really mind because the night before I had a TERRIBLE dream about her, so the snuggles were nice for me too.  

She's been enjoying sitting up in her not-a-boppy pillow more and more . . .

. . . and she loves tummy time, especially when it's on Daddy's tummy!

Look at those neck muscles!!

And that's all I have for you right now.  Stay tuned for more!  The nursery is going to be done any minute now, I can feel it :-) 

1 Month Checkup!

Ellie turned one month old yesterday!  We've survived a whole month!  Yay us!  Not gonna lie, I was so proud of us that I went to the grocery store and bought some ice cream to celebrate :-) 

So yesterday was also our big one month checkup at the doctor.  Andy had to work, so it was just Ellie and me.  It was the first time I had her out by myself, so it was a bit of a challenge, but not too bad.  Everything just takes three times as long.  Anyway . . . 

She got a GREAT review from the doctor!  She now weighs a whopping 7 pounds 2 ounces!  That's up almost 2 pounds in 2 weeks.  I'm pretty sure I read something somewhere that said little girls should gain an average of an ounce a day, which would be roughly ONE pound every 2 weeks.  I guess she didn't get the memo.  She's also 19.5 inches long now, which is up a full inch since our last visit.  No wonder her clothes are fitting better!  So the doctor was very impressed with her growth.  I didn't realize until later that she has just now, after a month, reached the average size of a newborn girl.  So yeah, we're all very pleased with that!  Heart and lungs sound great and her head is nice and round - basically she looks just perfect.

She has had a diaper rash that cleared up well with cream, but there were some small spots that were still really irritated and didn't seem to be getting better with the cream.  It wasn't a normal looking rash in those spots, so I made sure to have the doctor look at it.  Turns out that it probably has a little bit of a bacterial infection in there and that's why it's not healing up.  So along with the doctor's office and the grocery store, we had to make a trip to the pharmacy as well!  Busy day for little girl!  So hopefully this topical antibiotic that we got will clear it up.  I think that's why she screams at every diaper change - it just looks so sore!

And she got her second Hepatitis B shot at the very end.  It was a little scary since I wasn't there for the first one (they did it in the nursery at the hospital), but we both got through it.  She cried while the shot was actually happening, but as soon as the bandaid was on, she was perfectly fine.  What a trooper :-) 

We also got the all-clear to go back to church (yay!) and other public places and even have visitors.  We still have to use good sense with making sure everyone who touches her washes their hands first because, let's face it, it's still cold and flu season.  But she's growing big and strong and doing great, so we don't have to be hermits and stay shut up in the house anymore!  Super excited about that!

The nursery is still not quite done.  But it's getting closer every day.  I promise you'll get to see the final product soon.

And last, but CERTAINLY not least, Ellie has a very special message she'd like to send out to her Grandpa today . . . 

4 Weeks and a Growth Spurt

Ellie is 4 weeks old today.  Wow, where has the time gone?!  She seems to be growing a lot - but is still fitting into her newborn sized diapers and clothes.

This past week was rough.  It started out fine and dandy with a visit from Grandma and Auntie on Sunday.  Auntie had baby practice - she observed the changing of a diaper AND fed Ellie her dinner!  She did a great job - soon she will be all ready to babysit :-)

The first few days of the week were blissfully boring.  I accomplished things around the house and felt like we were falling into a solid routine.  It was great.  Then on Wednesday, something strange happened.  I've really been craving sweets recently.  Actually, my cravings are SO much worse now that I'm done being pregnant.  Anyway, I had a box mix for a coffee cake sitting in the cupboard that I decided to make during Ellie's afternoon nap.  She had been in a really great groove of sleeping for at least an hour and a half at a time during the day, so I figured I had plenty of time to throw the ingredients together and let it bake for 30 minutes.  Then, she woke up 45 minutes early - 15 minutes before the cake needed to come out of the oven.  I was able to put her off until the cake was done (I figured it was better than letting the cake burn!) and thought nothing of it.  She woke up early for her next feeding too.  And the one after that.  Before the next morning, she was only sleeping for 45 minutes in between feedings.  Hello, growth spurt. 

This went on all day Thursday.  She would eat for an hour (yes, an hour straight) and then sleep for an hour.  It seemed like by the time I would get her put down, I would have just enough time to go to the bathroom and get a drink, and she would be up and crying again.  I know everyone says that when she sleeps, I should sleep, but when the intervals are that small, it just really isn't worth it.  Plus, I swear she's some kind of psychic.  Every time I go to lay down (or pick up the phone or eat a meal), she decides she's hungry.  Every. Single.  Time.  But then as soon as I throw off the covers and heave myself out of bed, she settles back down.  So I lay back down, and guess what.  Fussing and crying.  

So anyway, I think she's working her way out of this growth spurt craziness now.  Thursday night I actually got two stretches of two hours of sleep, which actually made me feel more tired.  Then during the day Friday, she was still eating for an hour, but she was sleeping for an hour and a half or two hours.  Still not quite enough to get a good nap in (although I tried!), but still enough to allow me to do things like eat and wash a load of laundry.  I'm still trying to recover from the lack of restful sleep, but I think we're settling back into our nice little routine.

Catching up on some zzz's on Saturday morning

On the sunny side, we tried another tub bath on Thursday night (we did sponge baths for several days after the last tub bath catastrophe) and it went GREAT!  It's hard to say whether she liked it because she hasn't really started smiling and things yet, but she certainly didn't HATE it like the last time!  There was no fussing and no crying at all.  She didn't even poop in the bath water!  I was so proud :-)

So because of how difficult this week was, I didn't take many pictures.  I know, I should take pictures every day because she grows so quickly and some day I will look back and say 'what happened to week number four?' but I just couldn't do it.  This was just one of those weeks that I wanted to throw in the towel.  I think it was just the sheer exhaustion (and probably the crying wearing me down, too), but it still got pretty bad.  Time for some honesty here: I might have raised my voice a little bit when I was begging her to stop crying.  That's not something I'm proud of, but it happens to everyone, I think, so there's no use trying to hide or deny it.  We both got through it and, luckily, she won't remember any of this!  I'll do better next time, I promise :-)

The good news is that my mom came to visit on Saturday and we went out shopping for a little bit and left Ellie at home with Andy and my dad for a bit.  It was so nice to just be out and not have to worry so much about every little thing.  I am so glad that Andy is so good with her that I can feel confident leaving them at home alone.  

Wearing the first dress that Grandma bought after she found out 'it's a girl!'

The best news is that I was able to wear non-maternity jeans for the first time in months!  Granted, they were a size bigger than what I wore before I got pregnant, but I bought them (at a thrift store) for the specific purpose of delaying the onset of maternity clothes, so I'm still happy with it!  I think starting this week, I will try to get back into a routine of doing yoga (along with a dvd that I have) every day.  I know, I should still be resting when Ellie is resting, but I feel like I need to start doing SOMETHING, so 15 minutes of yoga instead of napping won't kill me.  It might actually help me feel a little better!  That's what I'm hoping for, at least.

And I also got a fun new hair cut this week.  MUCH shorter, which equals much easier to take care of!  I didn't want to fall into that cliche of getting all my hair hacked off after having a baby, but oh well.  I just couldn't take it any more.  So far I'm enjoying it, and that's really all that matters :-)