Taylor Joy - Two Months

Oh my, Taylor Joy, you have changed so much this month. Gone are the days with my newborn baby. This month brought us an alert, observant baby girl with the very sweetest disposition. 

 Taylor started out her second month saying good-bye to all of her newborn clothing and her baby acne, too.  Hooray! Her footed pajamas would no longer fit as she seemed to grow a bit longer each day. At her 2 month check up she was now 10 pounds 3 ounces and 23 inches long. She has definitely filled out more this month although every where I take her, people comment on how tiny she seems for 2 months. 

 This baby girl is the best sleeper! I am praying that I don't jinx that by writing this. At night I always feed her one last time before I go to bed (sometime between 9 - 11) and she sleeps until 3 or 4 in the morning. I quickly feed her and place her back in her bassinet and then she sleeps again until about 7. She's been on this self-made "schedule" since around 5 weeks and I am so thankful. One wake up a night is very do-able and makes for a happy momma. 

 Around 6 weeks I pumped for the first time. I was worried that I was not making enough milk and I was curious to see how much I could produce. Not much. The first time I pumped, I made a combined 2 ounces of milk. Since then I have been a fenugreek taking, Mother's Milk drinking, water chugging, and oatmeal eating momma and it has paid off. I am now able to make about 4 -5 ounces each time I pump and this seems to be just enough for the time being. I am hoping my body will continue to keep up with her demand. As of now, Taylor only eats off of me during the night and first thing in the morning. The rest of the day I pump and bottle feed. She eats between 3 - 5 ounces every 3 hours. Taylor transitions back and forth between bottles and breast feeding easily. I am so thankful. 

 Between weeks 4 - 6 Taylor definitely developed some lungs. She had a short period of time in the late afternoon/early evening where she'd just cry and cry. It was so heart breaking, especially because we'd practically never heard her cry before. She seems to only be upset when she is gassy. Thankfully this little phase was short lived and for the last few weeks she has been less and less fussy. In fact, this little peanut is such a happy girl!

 I got my first real smile from her on the morning of my birthday. I can't think of a better gift than that. She is starting to smile more and more. She is also doing the sweetest, little coo noises. She is so much more expressive all of the sudden. She opens her eyes really wide with a surprised expression, or gets really excited and pumps her little legs. This has been such a fun month. I fall more and more in love with this girl every single day. 

 Emmerson and Donovan are even more smitten with their baby sister this month. Emmerson loves sitting next to her sister in the car. She talks to Taylor in the cutest high pitched voice and is our expert pacifier holder inner. Donovan can not keep his hands off of Taylor. He is always patting her head, kissing her on the face, or asking to hold her. Emmerson volunteered to help me take the two month pictures of her sister. 

 But it wasn't long before she decided that she wanted to be the star of the photo shoot. All of the sudden it was, "Mom, take a picture of me holding this little pillow!" 

 "How about one with me and my horse?" 

Oh, I love these kiddos of ours. 

Sweet Taylor, I didn't think it was possible to love you more than I did last month but somehow it seems I fall deeper in love with you each and every day. I take a picture of you every single morning when I wake up because you look so adorable as you sleep peacefully in your bassinet. I love the way you make your hands into tight little fists while you drink your bottles and how you always have a great big smile seconds before you spit up all of your milk. I love every second I spend with you. I am soaking it all up, baby girl. You are the easiest, happiest, little girl. Thank you for bringing us so much joy each day. We love you Tay Tay! 

Emmerson Grace

These bloomers, a gift from Auntie Hollie, are probably the cutest thing in the whole wide world! 

I had to put them on Emmerson the other day for an impromptu photo shoot. 

 And a big old headband to top off the girly goodness.

                                       

Isn't she the sweetest? 

Love my baby girl. 

Hi There!

Busy, busy week around these parts. Oh my goodness! We've been running non-stop. 

Before I forget though, Emmerson had her 2 month appointment on Monday. She was 22.8 inches long, 11 pounds and 4 ounces, which put her in the 50th percentile in both height and weight. 

 Our sweet girl has been chatting away lately. She loves to coo and I think it's the most adorable thing in the whole wide world. 

I've been working full time this week at the district office. It's my first time being away from her for an extended amount of time. Thankfully I've gotten great reports from her Daddy and Grammie. She's napping in her crib and sucking down bottles like it's her job. 

So lucky to have this baby girl in our lives. 

Guess Who's Two Months Old

This pretty gal is two months old today. I can hardly believe it! 

She's definitely not my little newborn baby anymore but she's still at that perfect stage of wanting to cuddle and sleep in your arms all day long. I am so in awe of her sweetness. We all love our Emmerson Grace to pieces! 

She's beginning to smile more and more. She is especially "chatty" and babbles when I'm changing her diaper. She makes the world's cutest cooing noises like she's trying her best to engage in a very serious conversation. 

 Emmerson is wearing 0-3 months and 3 months clothing but I can't believe how quickly she's growing! Some of her cutest outfits she was only able to wear once! Note to self: If we are ever blessed with more littles, do not spend $$$ on newborn outfits! That phase just goes way too fast!

 I weighed Emme on our scale today and it said she was 10.8 but we'll find out for sure at her 2 month appointment next week. She's settling into some eating routines now. She eats frequently in the morning, usually every 2 hours until around noon and then she goes a little longer between feedings after that. Her longest stretch of the day comes after her last feeding around 8 or 8:30 and she's gone as long as 7 hours! (Only once... usually more like 5 hours) which means that I only have to wake up twice during the night to feed her. Yay for me! 

 She's still sleeping in the co-sleeper next to my side of the bed, but I think we will be transferring her to her crib pretty soon. Fingers crossed that it will be an easy transition. 

 We continue to be blown away by her easy going personality. She is seriously the BEST baby! She's so content to be in her swing or out running errands. She rarely fusses and when she does it's usually because she's either gassy or just needs to be rocked to sleep. 

 I love that I know her cries so well at this point and can easily determine what she needs just by hearing her tone. 

 And I'm pretty sure that she's starting to lose her hair. Darn it! Donovan lost his around 3 months and was entirely bald by 4 months. I was really hoping Emmerson would hang on to those dark locks of hers but I'm starting to see little hairs here and there that have fallen out. Boo! At least she can still sport the headbands with or without hair. :) 

Sweet Emmerson Grace,

Not a minute goes by that I don't look at you and give thanks that you're ours. There is something so uniquely special about you. You truly are the most precious little girl in the whole world. Your little coos and bright, sparkly eyes melt my heart. Your brother continues to love on you all day long, too. The first thing he wants to do when he wakes up in the morning is to "give Emmerson a kiss!" You are so, so loved baby girl. 

Happy Two Month Birthday!

xo, 

Mommy

Let's talk sleep

So Donovan has had some pattern to his sleeping now for about 3 weeks. We bathe him around 8:30 put him down by 9:30 and he sleeps until 4:26 on the dot. Isn't that funny? Not sure why it's 4:26, maybe he hears someone's alarm or sprinklers or something. I feed him until about 4:45 and then he's back down until around 7. Sounds heavenly right?

Well 2 nights ago, the heavenly schedule went awry. We decided to try and put him down a little earlier... bathe at 7:30 sleep by 8:30. All was well. 4:26 wake up time once again put down at 4:45... awake at 4:50, down at 5:00, crying at 5:10, down at 5:30 awake at 5:31... you get the point. I finally took him out of the crib and pulled him in bed with me when Dustin got up to shower for work. He snuck this picture on the way out the door that morning. What is it that changes babies sleep patterns I wonder. (Shame on me right for cuddling him in our bed so that he'd sleep longer? But are babies manipulative already at 3 months?)

The next night I was hoping for more consistency and backtracking to the routine. Unfortunately his last feeding at 8:00 was a disaster. He was soooo gassy and fussy that he wouldn't eat a thing and finally cried himself (more like screamed himself) to sleep at 9:00. Then he was up all night long. 2:20 for feeding down at 2:50 up at 3:30 down at 3:50, then 4:15, 5:30, and we were all up by 6 for the day. I was flashing back to the newborn days and let me tell you, it wasn't pretty.

Dustin liked to remind me this morning that my disability leave is officially over today and that technically I should be returning to work tomorrow. Thankfully we're taking a few unpaid weeks off to extend my leave until after state testing is through... but seriously? I can't imagine going to work after these sleepless nights. I suppose it's all the business of being a mom. But it's not easy.

Fingers crossed for a better night's sleep tonight. (If not I suppose there'll be some entertaining television to keep us company.)

12 Weeks

This boy just keeps getting cuter and cuter. I am SO smitten with him. This week I'm reluctantly beginning a countdown because I will go back to work in 3 1/2 more weeks which seems way too soon. (Even though my leave has been much longer than originally expected) I am trying to soak up every minute with my little one. I just love being home with him all day long. He is becoming so much more interactive lately.

This morning he noticed himself in the mirror for the first time. I laughed out loud. I had just finished changing him and then picked him up to go downstairs and as we walked by the hallway mirrors I noticed he was looking right at them. So we stopped and I got really close to the mirror. First he looked at me in the mirror and then stared at himself seriously. Then he let out a huge squeal, like he was so excited to see himself. He kept turning his head and putting it in my chest and then turning back to the mirror smiling soooo big... like a game of peek-a-boo. I loved it!

These are the moments that just fill my heart with joy and make every single day so special lately.

11 Weeks

Grampy snapped some pictures of our little peanut the other day. I love that they captured so many of his different expressions. I'm hoping that Grampy will keep up his promise to do a little photo session like this each week with Donovan. It is truly incredible how much he grows and changes from week to week right now. At 11 weeks our little cutie is (much to my disappointment) losing his hair. We started noticing it the other night while giving him a bath. We jokingly slicked it back with a little comb and noticed a lot of hairs came out while Dustin combed it back. Now I find his baby hairs everywhere. Boo! I hope it comes back full, dark, and curly like his Dad.

He is on an official sleep schedule. I hope I don't jinx it. But the last week he has gone down around 9:30 and sleeps until 4-4:30. Hallelujah! He eats quickly and goes right back to sleep and then wakes up again around 6:30 for the day.

Donovan has found his voice and has begun "talking" to us a lot of the time. His little coos are so sweet. He has laughed a couple of times now too. He laughs in his sleep all the time which cracks me up... what could he be thinking/dreaming about that makes him laugh so hard?

Enjoy these pictures of our growing baby boy.

This little cutie is 10 weeks old!!!

I can not believe it. I think I am going to say that at every age interval. It just goes way too fast. We had his 2 month appointment on Monday. He weighs 12 pounds 9 ounces now and is 23 1/2 inches long. That puts him at about the 50th percentile in both weight and height... although if you ask me, my boy is way beyond average. ;) He's sweeter and sweeter with each passing day. I love listening to him coo now. He has such a raspy little boy voice. It's so cute! He's sleeping much better all of the sudden now too. I hope that this sleep pattern in here to stay. He is in his crib officially. The bassinet's been put away. We have started bathing him every night now because he loves it and I'm convinced it calms him down and prepares him for bed better. He sleeps for about 4-5 hours for his first stretch (massive improvement) and then about 3 hours between the next feeding. Throughout the day he just eats whenever he wants but I've got to get him a little more structured before I return to work which is coming way too quickly. I have LOVED every minute of "mommyhood" the last few weeks. My exhausted melt downs are now few and far between and I am having so much fun with Donovan all day long. It is such a joy watching this little one grow!

2 months old

Our precious boy is two months old already! I can't believe it!

This month I am giving thanks in a big way that he is such a happy and now very healthy little guy. He is changing daily now and every single day gets better! He smiles all the time and it melts our hearts. Changing time is the best. All you have to do is strip off his diaper and he'll stretch his legs, crack up at himself, and "dance" moving his arms and legs as fast as he can. In the middle of the night when he needs a change I try not to engage him too much because I want him to go right back to sleep, but it's so hard not to laugh and talk to him when he puts on such a show. He loves to be naked that's for sure.

He recognizes people really well now. He LOVED having his Grammie visit. He'd stare at her as she walked around the room and laugh and calm down the minute she started singing to him. He's so alert now and likes to watch everyone around him.

(Even Molly)

Bath time has become more of a challenge cleaning in between each little roll. He's such a chunky monkey. I think he has 5 chins already! I absolutely love his chunky little thighs. I can't wait to find out his percentiles at his 2 month check up.

I am loving each and every moment of this stage. It's so fun to see him engage with people and start to notice all of the new things around him. He rubs his eyes when he's sleepy and coos and acts like he's trying to talk.

It's hard to believe how quickly he has changed in just one month's time.