2 month stats

Christina had her 2 month well baby visit the other day. She is now 9 pounds and 4 ounces, which is still on the lower side, but she is showing a lot of growth from the last month, so that is good. As for her height, she is 22.5 inches, which is definitely good.

It is very weird that at two months old, my daughter is still not anywhere close to the size Nik's baby brother was when he was born. Alex was almost 11 pounds and 26 inches!! Can you even believe it? My daughter will likely be six months old before she is that size. lol

Happy Halloween

Today is Christina's first Halloween. We aren't going trick or treating since she is so little, but that doesn't stop her from getting dressed up. We had three halloween related outfits to get her into and of course we took pictures.

Grandma got her this costume:


My friend Lina got her this costume:


And, I got this Halloween sleeper from someone, I think a hand-me-down, but I can't remember:


I hope everyone is having a good one, Happy Halloween!

How is she sleeping?

Apparently, "How is she sleeping?" is the question to ask a new mom. I have been asked this dozens of times. So, for all to see, here is the answer to the infamous question . . . not good.

Christina has completely forgotten what we learned weeks ago. The baby that use to go to bed fairly easily, as long as we followed the same routine, is nowhere to be found. I shouldn't complain though, so much has changed for her. I use to nurse her and then give her a bottle in her crib. It was easy for her to doze off since she was already in her crib. Now, there is no bottle. And since we are back to 100% breastfeeding, she seems to hate being separated from me and will not fall asleep without me. Actually, I think it's just my breasts she doesn't want to be separated from, but hey, we are a package deal.

Plus, I am not the only requirement that Christina has for falling asleep. She also will not sleep without nursing. Literally, she must have the breast in the mouth, in order to doze off. See, I told you it is just my breast that she wants!

Even though she will nurse and fall asleep, the problem is that I can never get her from arms to crib without those beautiful eyes popping back open. And if she sees that I am (god forbid) putting her down in a bed that doesn't have me in it, she will not sleep . . no matter how tired she is.

When I take her to my bed, I can nurse her while we both lay down and she will drift off to sleep. Since she is already in a bed (and she knows I am not going anywhere), she will stay asleep. But, she should not be sleeping in our bed with us. I'm sure you can come up with at least one reason why.

Co-sleeping (as they call it), is a SIDS risk and on top of that, I don't want it to become a habit. Also, it takes a huge effort on my part to get out of bed without her waking up. I'm talking extreme skillfulness on my part, even if I just want to get up to go to the bathroom. Then, if she happens to wake up and see that I am not in bed with her, we all have hell to pay!

I obviously don't know what I'm doing with this whole sleeping thing. I can't go on letting her sleep in my bed. I don't know what is going to happen when the alarm clock goes off and I have to get up to get ready for work (starting Monday!!!)

I am going out tomorrow to get an infant sleep book, so hopefully the experts can help me. Because, I really need help.

In the meantime, anyone out there have any advice for me? (Click on "comments" at the bottom of this entry - in case you weren't sure.)

Christina would kill me if she knew

Naked baby time, lol.

Here is a video from her birth day -





Here is a bath time video when she was about three weeks old -

Is it over yet?

The day after my last post, I started to wonder if Christina really was healed from the tongue-tie procedure. She was still having episodes of crying where nothing could console her. It wasn't constant crying like the day of the procedure, but it definitely was not normal for her.

Then, it happened again the next day. I started thinking that it couldn't be her tongue because the crying seemed to have no pattern. I thought she might be constipated because she hadn't had a poopy diaper in a day and a half. I know formula can do that sometimes. But then, she had a poopy diaper and although she was fine that day, the next day she had another episode of crying.

Every time I thought we were in the clear, she would end up crying inconsolable again. I began to think that maybe I had a colicky baby on my hands. She fit the description of a baby with colic and had every single symptom. Still, I wasn't completed convinced.

Finally, something told me that it might be the formula upsetting her stomach. So, I decided to quit the formula cold turkey. I was planning on getting Christina back on breast milk exclusively anyway, but in order for me to find out if formula was the problem, I knew I needed to just eliminate it asap. So, I did.

Today, is day four of 100% breast milk for Christina. I even eliminated the bottle, just in case that was the problem. I know babies can get painful gas from the air in the bottle, so I figured I should just eliminate that as well. I didn't have any saved breast milk that I could have put in the bottle, so that was an easy decision.

Since my breast milk supply wasn't exactly prepared to feed a (almost) two month old baby, it was not easy. For the most part, Christina has been breastfeeding every hour since we got rid of the formula. Thank goodness, I have not run into the problem of having empty breasts when she wanted/needed to nurse.

From what I have read, I believe that as she continues to nurse every hour, my body will eventually adjust and provide more milk for her at each feeding session, so that she will not need to nurse every hour. So far that has not happened, but I am still hopeful.

I am happy to report that Christina is really back to herself now. I think it is safe to say that the formula was the culprit for all of the crying. Thank goodness I was able to eliminate it, and figure this out.

Of course, solving one problem is never the end when you are a parent. Each day brings a new challenge.

Figuring out why Christina is not gaining weight . . . check
Getting Christina to gain weight . . . check
Finding a surgeon to fix Christina's tongue-tie . . . check
Having the tongue-tie procedure done . . . check
Getting through Christina's recovery . . . check
Teaching Christina to learn breastfeeding with her new tongue . . . check
Figuring out why Christina continues to cry when her tongue has healed . . . check

Now, what is next???

I am going back to work in two weeks. I have to say I am stressing out. CC is still not on a firm night time sleeping schedule. The breastfeeding, then bottle feeding, then breastfeeding has sort of thrown us off. I also have no clue how to get her on a napping routine. In addition to my concerns about her sleeping, I am going to need my milk supply to increase quickly. By the time I go back to work, I am going to have to be able to pump enough milk so that she can be fed by bottle while I am at work. If I don't have enough, I either have to quit my job, or give her formula. As much as I don't want to give her formula, I obviously cannot quit my job.

So I feel like I have to solve the sleeping and eating problems before I go back to work. I know I don't really have to, but it would make things much easier. If she isn't sleeping well when I go back, I'll just have to adjust to being up several times a night, and then going to work tired. If I can't pump enough breast milk for her to eat while I'm at work, we will just have to experiment with different kinds of formula and hopefully we will find one that doesn't upset her tummy. I guess it can be done, but I can't help but worry.

Plus of course, I don't want to leave my baby. But, I am trying not to think about that. Thank goodness for the first couple of months she will be taken care of by either Nik, my mom, or my sister Rachel while I am at work. That is a huge relief. Now when the end of January rolls around and she has to go to daycare three days a week, that is another story.