Time? It's flying. What everyone says is true. You thought time went quickly when you had a kid. When you have a second? You just can't keep up. Elsie is already a month old. I don't even want to think about how fast her first birthday will wind up creeping up on us.
sheesh. I really need to get better with my white balance!
Elsie is quickly growing and packing on the pounds. At her one month well visit she tipped the scales at 8 pounds 7 ounces (35%) and measured 21 inches long (48%). The creepy part? That is EXACTLY what Ryann was at one month old. And they were nearly exactly the same when they were born. How does that happen? I thought Elsie wouldn't gain quite as much since she is being breastfed and Ryann was formula fed, but apparently I make some fatty milk or something :o). The doctor was definitely impressed, since Elsie's weight fell into the 6th percentile at birth. Yep, patting myself on the back a bit.
I honestly can't believe it, but the little miss doesn't really fit into newborn sleepers anymore. And getting newborn onesies on her can be a tad difficult with those itty bitty sleeves. Also the newborn pants are too short. She has got some long limbs right now! Newborn dresses still work just fine, and I can make the other stuff work if I have to, but I think I'll be packing up all the newborn clothes by the end of the week. So sad, I can't believe how fast she is growing. We also opened up a box of size one diapers today. They are definitely big, as are the 0-3 clothes, but they'll do.
Elsie Joann, four weeks / one month old
It is looking like Elsie is going to be similar to Ryann in a couple of other ways that I'm not quite as keen on. Elsie spits up like crazy. Like we go through one to two burp clothes per feeding. And she is falling nicely into that category of 'well, it might be reflux, or it might be gas, or she might just be a spitty baby.' I hate how uncertain it all is. E has definitely been uncomfortable after most of her feedings, and you can hear stuff come up her little throat. But she is gaining weight like a champ. And sometimes when she is super uncomfortable, she'll eventually fill her pants and that seems to help, so maybe it is in her belly and not reflux? I don't know. I don't want to medicate her if she doesn't need it, but I also hate doing nothing if she is in pain. She isn't always crying or inconsolable, but she isn't always comfy either.
The other similarity they share? A difficulty getting to sleep. Seriously, I swore up and down that I would do it differently this time, and that Elsie would be able to put herself to sleep and we wouldn't do anything crazy to help her fall asleep. And yet, this morning I spent over an hour trying to rock, bounce, walk, sway anything I could think of to help her fall asleep. I swear God is testing me. He is giving me a semi clone of Ryann to see if I can do it right this time (not that there is anything wrong with Ryann, but you get my drift). It is even tougher this time with having a toddler to take care of. It is hard to give Ryann the attention she needs when I'm spending so much time trying to get Elsie to sleep. I have to figure something out, I'm just not sure what that something is yet.
Of course the thing everyone always wants to know about when you have a small baby... how does she sleep at night? Well, for the most part she has been waking up every 3 to 3.5 hours around the clock. Over the last week we've had a few 4 to 4.5 hour stretches at night, so I'm hoping we are heading towards longer and longer bouts of night time sleep. I know the rest would do everyone some good. The good news is at night she tends to fall right back to sleep after nursing. For the most part anyway. Of course if we have a good amount of spit up and a poopy diaper that can totally throw a wrench in things, but I have a feeling I'd have a tough time getting back to sleep too if I had to change my clothes and got the hiccups and yadda yadda... I get it.
Sheesh, enough of the debbie downer stuff! I love Elsie to pieces. She is the cutest, even with her continuously goopy eye (clogged tear duct) and her receding hairline (looks like we've got another blondie in the works). We are getting super close to social smiles. The random ones are happening more and more often, and sometimes when I look her right in the eyes and say 'I love you' a huge grin spreads across my face. Makes my day every single time.
We're trying to work on incorporating more and more tummy time into our day. The spit up kind of hinders that a bit, and Elsie doesn't love it, but she is getting stronger. And we have to do it, the doc said she is getting a slightly flat spot on the left side of her head. Don't want any of that! So sorry E, you'll have to suck it up and do some more tummy time. I tried laying her on my chest yesterday to try it that way, and wouldn't you know she just passed out. So apparently it isn't always super tough to get her to sleep, and I loved the snuggles, but...
Besides tummy time, other things that Elsie dislikes are having her diaper changed, getting her clothes changed, taking a bath (although she is warming up to them), being swaddled (I think, but she definitely hasn't shown me she can sleep unswaddled!)... So pretty much what we do all day long. Sorry kid. Things that Elsie does like? Boobs. Girl loves to eat. If she is the slightest bit hungry, watch out. She will be searching for a boob like crazy, and no matter if she doesn't find it. She'll just go ahead and attempt to latch onto whatever is closest. An arm, shirt, my face. No big deal.
Miss Elsie Joann I am so excited to watch you grow, see your personality emerge, watch your relationship with your sister develop, but please, please don't grow too fast. Ok? I love you bunch
8 comments:
Aww her leg wrinkles are almost gone :( She is adorable though.
she is adorable! and while it seems like never ending craziness now, things will settle down, i promise. my girls are 16 months apart and i remember having the same feelings. hope you get some naps in here and there and remember, this too shall pass!
your little lady (& that quilt!) is beautiful! :)
Both of my kids had clogged tear ducts. The nurses at the breastfeeding clinic told me to put a drop or two of breastmilk in their eye a few times a day. I was skeptical but it totally cleared it up! Just thought I'd share :)
Just a thought--my second baby started out as a big spitter-upper, but he didn't act like he was in pain and he was gaining tons of weight. We figured out that it was because my flow/amount was too much for him. Like trying to get a sip of water from a firehose. I would pump just a tiny bit before a feeding and that did the trick! I did that for about the first month, and after that he was able to handle it. Good luck! Your kiddos are so beautiful!
Great post, she is so cute!
oh my goodness she is adorable !!!!
- did someone make you that quilt? Love the fabrics and I am trying to pick lol some for a quilt. I have a 7 year old boy so girl colors are like what !
We found Bio Gaia infant probiotic drops (you can order them online) with our second daughter and it HUGELY improved her reflux/gas/screaming hysterically issues. Yay for unsolicited advice from a stranger but since you said you'd like to avoid medicating I thought i'd share.
Post a Comment