Sixteen Weeks!

Weight: Andy took Lizzie to his work over the weekend while I was gone and found out that she's weighing around 11.25 pounds right now, but we'll get the official stats this week at her four-month appointment.

Sleep: Sleep continues to be very good overall.  This last week she's slept until 5:00 a.m. a couple of nights (mornings?). The strange thing is, some nights she reverts back to waking up twice at 2:00 and 5:00, rather than just the one time. I haven't found a connection between anything in particular and her nights when she wakes twice, but I'm not too worried about it since she just eats and goes right back to sleep when she does wake.

Medical Issues: None! She does seem to have a little bit of a stuffy nose this week, but nothing major.

Clothes: Filling out our 0 to 3 month clothes nicely these days :)

Socialite!: Lizzie's just been hanging out with her daycare buddies these days, though my third graders have already been begging to meet her!

Diet: I've been so blessed to still be nursing Lizzie exclusively, even after returning to work. There is only one feeding each week that I think I'll need to have her take expressed milk in a bottle. Her being across the street has worked out so wonderfully for this purpose so far.  She eats every two to three hours right now (except for at night).

Baby Gear Love: We're LOVING our toys this week. She's got her O-Ball, which she loves, but even more than that, she loves another neat red and white ball with little beads that slide around on it. She's also a huge fan of her Taggies blanket with a puppy on it. She grabs him by the ears and brings him to her mouth and gnaws on him while she jabbers at us :) Still a popular item is the activity bar that we put on her car seat that my parents gave her -- she loves chit-chatting with the tiger on it on the way to daycare in the morning :)

Crying: She's a sweet girl! Only cries when she's hungry or tired basically :)

Mommy News: I'll admit it: daycare and school are getting better. I'm lucky that I have a job I love, because while I'm there, I am enjoying myself and my mind is completely occupied. But it's the nights that are tough -- I just feel like I don't have enough hours in the day to enjoy her. I want to spend as much time as possible with Lizzie girl, so we play and play and play all night and push bedtime back as far as we can until Lizzie is either too tired to play or too fussy to have fun anymore. And once she goes to bed, it's time to make lunches, pack diaper bags, pick out clothes (for mama and baby girl), and then it's time for bed. But I do think we're falling into more of a routine, which helps.

I also went to the Taylor Swift concert in Fargo on Friday night. The original plan was to have Lizzie and Andy come with, but after some discussion, we decided it would be best if Lizzie stayed home and didn't make the four-hour round-trip because it wouldn't be much fun for her. So I might have shed a few tears about hardly getting to see her at all on Friday, aside from seeing her when I fed her during the workday and for a half-hour after school, but it was the right thing for her. Baby girl didn't need to spend time in the car seat just because I wanted to hang out with her. Plus, she got some quality time with Daddy... and it was probably good for me to experience that separation for once (but not again!).

Milestones: Lizzie girl is changing so much these days! She talks and jabbers non-stop... no sound is sweeter! And she's been laughing! Another sound that's so sweet! She's given a few really good belly laughs -- usually once or twice a day for the past few days, which I'm sure will only increase from here. So sweet! Her head control continues to improve, and she's been able to keep her head in-line with her body a few times when I take her hands and slowly bring her up to a seated position from lying on the floor, which she hadn't done before. She's also been grabbing things with both hand and taking them to her mouth more easily lately. I think we're on the brink of rolling over from back to front, as well. She gets her legs up super high and rolls onto her side, which I assume is what starts the roll-over process. Another thing we've noticed is that she is turning very easily during tummy time. If I lay her down on her tummy facing me, it won't be long before she's turned herself a quarter-turn away from me :)

Fifteen Weeks!

Weight: My best guess is somewhere around 11 pounds.

Sleep: Sleep has been awesome as of late. Her naps are slowly getting longer (according to daycare [insert sad face] anyway) and at night, she's only waking once around 4:00 a.m. like clockwork. I'm still feeding her when she wakes rather than just trying to pop her pacifier in and letting her "soothe" back to sleep on her own because she's still a peanut, so I figure she could use an extra eating session anyway :) After that, she goes back to sleep until we wake her to get ready for daycare (again, insert sad face!).

Medical Issues: None!

Clothes: Though we have a few items that are still working in newborn sizes, most of what we're wearing these days are 0 to 3 month sizes... woohoo! Our jammies that we were swimming in a few weeks ago that are 0 to 3 months are now fitting pretty well, specifically in length.
Socialite!: Since Lizzie's gone to daycare now, she's kind of a little socialite every day! I've also been showing her off around school here and there if/when I bring her over to feed her (daycare is across the street, and since we've been having work days without kiddos, I've been able to bring her to my room to feed her), so she's had lots of opportunities to see some faces she hasn't seen in awhile :)

Diet: Milk -- still nursing exclusively. We'll see how it goes when I go back to school -- as mentioned, she is daycaring across the street. This gives me the amazing opportunity to feed her throughout the day on a prep in the morning, at lunch time, and after school. I'm not sure that I will nurse her during that morning prep (I have a few days where my prep doesn't line up, too), but if I don't, I'll pump in its place. I just feel like it's a little hard for me to feed her during that time -- so she may be getting a bottle of expressed milk for her morning feeding, which I'm completely fine with. I've been storing up over the summer just for this purpose.

Baby Gear Love: This week I'm going to give a shout-out to Tommee Tippee bottles, since we've had to use them a few times since Lizzie started daycare this week. She's had no trouble taking a bottle even though I nursed her exclusively all summer. They say those style of bottles are "closest to nature" -- I have no idea if that's true, but I do know that Lizzie girl has had no troubles switching between bottles and nursing.

Crying: She's a sweet girl! Only cries when she's hungry or tired basically :)

Mommy News: It's been a rough week emotionally. I went back to work for good on Monday of this last week, and it was tough every day. On Tuesday, baby girl cried when I handed her over :( Obviously there were plenty of tears from both mom and baby that morning. Mostly, I struggle at night, though. When all's said and done and we were finally home, it was 5:00 -- almost time to start making supper. And after supper's been made, eaten and cleaned up, it's not too far off that she needs to go to bed. We try to squeeze in every last minute of play time, snuggle time and reading book time that we can before it's bed time, but it just doesn't feel like enough time. And it breaks my heart.

What's also hard is that when we get home, I unbuckle her from her seat and lay her on the floor on her blanket so we can giggle and talk and play -- and all I can think of as my sweet girl babbles and smiles at me, is "Has anyone really looked at you today? Has anyone tried to make you laugh? Has anyone really talked to you today, and tried to get you to talk back?" And not that I'm faulting daycare -- if they don't do those things, it's probably not because they're neglecting her,  but rather because they just don't have the time with all the other kids around. Plus, I'm her momma -- so I'm probably over-the-top about those things when I'm home with her all day anyway and my expectations are maybe a bit high. Regardless, I can't shut out those thoughts each day, and those break my heart, too.

So then I started thinking that going back to work was a mistake. Not that I don't like my job -- I do, in fact, I love it. But I love my baby. And would I regret not staying home with her during these years? Ah! The torment. But after a lot of thinking, praying and talking to lots of good people, I've decided that I need to give it some more time and let us develop a routine. My goal is to be out the door in the morning early enough to be at school by 7:00 a.m. (which means waking up before 6:00 to get myself ready and to get Lizzie fed and ready, too... yikes!) -- this should allow me to get a good chunk of work done before school, so I don't have to stay so late after school. That way, I can pick her up with what feels like plenty of time to play. And after talking with my principal about it, maybe a better solution for all of this is to quiet those nagging thoughts by having Lizzie spend some time with her two grandmas a few afternoons a week. That way, I'll know someone is talking to her, making her smile, making her laugh. So I feel good about things right now as I head into the first day of school in a few days.

Milestones: This week, we really noticed that Lizzie girl is using both of her hands more. She'd seemed to favor looking to the left and using only her left hand (to which I reacted by being afraid that she'd be a lefty! Oh no! Terrible! Yeah, I'm crazy) prior to this week. Anyway, using both hands more means that she's been putting her hands together, which is a big milestone for babies! She's also exhibiting better head control all the time and is continuing to babble more. We're hearing more consonant sounds now, rather than just vowel sounds. She's also let out just a few legit laughs in the last few days :) We've also noticed that she kind of hums to herself when we put her down if she's not fully asleep, which is amazingly cool. I always sing her to sleep when I rock her, so it's probably the sweetest thing we've ever heard. Her little voice is our favorite sound!

Fourteen Weeks!

(Sidenote: Lizzie is currently 15 weeks, but life has been crazy with my going back to work!)

Weight: I'm a total creep and I took Lizzie in to be weighed at Andy's work this week on a shipping scale. I wanted to know how much she weighed more accurately than my usual bathroom scale trick, but I didn't want to look like a nut job at my doctor's office :) Anyway, it paid off, because I found out that she weighs 10 pounds, 12 ounces. That's up three-quarters of a pound in three weeks... yahoo!

Sleep: Is anyone incredibly tired of hearing about the swaddler saga? One week it's on, the next it's off, and then it's back on again... but I'm please to report that we've finally come to a resolution that I have a feeling won't change: we've broken free from swaddling for good, my friends! After Lizzie caught a taste of life without the straight jacket swaddler, she just couldn't go back and sleep very peacefully. She was waking up a lot in the middle of the night (like, four times... which is up from her usual one or two times a night), and I noticed that her arms and legs were flailing a whole lot less when she wasn't swaddling, so I let her try it without... and it's been a success! So I think she's graduated out of it.

Also, I've mentioned a lot about my anxiety to do with her learning to fall asleep on her own and how I've consulted many mommas about it. Well, as it turns out... baby girl just needed to get a little older and I needed to worry a lot less. This past week, I decided I wasn't going to worry about trying to get her to fall asleep on her own because it was my last week off before going back to work -- so I decided, instead, to enjoy her fully, which meant rocking her to sleep for all naps and at night (and maybe even holding her for the entire length of some of her naps! I think I am more spoiled than her now :)). However, when I put her down in her crib for a few naps and in her bassinet at night, she woke up bright eyed and fussed a little for her pacifier. And then the magic happened: I popped it in her mouth, and she turned her head to the side, closed her eyes, and fell asleep. Unbelievable. I'm not going to lie: initially, this may have caused a tiny mommy meltdown. I might have shed a few tears over the fact that she no longer needed me as much as she once did -- that she's becoming more "independent". Ha! I know, so dramatic. But I cried about it on the night before I had to take her to daycare for the first time, so my emotions were mega-high.

Anyway, she's awesome. She falls asleep on her own (when she's drowsy) and is starting to sleep longer all the time. She's slept another night fully through the night now, and other nights she tends to wake up just once around three or four, and again at six or so to eat again, at which point she falls asleep again. When she wakes after that varies... sometimes she sleeps in until 10:00!

Her naps remain hit-and-miss. Some days, they can be 40 minutes long. Others, they will be two to three hours! I haven't figured out what the ticket for those long naps are yet, but that's okay.

Medical Issues: None!

Clothes: Last week I said we were officially in our 0 to 3 month clothes, but I think I spoke too soon. Last week I put her in her 0 to 3 month jeggings to wear with a t-shirt (rather than a onesie) and they fell right off her when I picked her up. Whoopsies. So I would say we're still in between newborn and 0 to 3 months... but I think we're having a growth spurt, so I have a feeling we'll be in 0 to 3 soon.

Socialite!: Last weekend, we went to my sister-in-law's family's cabin to celebrate my nieces' and nephew's birthdays. We had such a great time in the sunshine, but Lizzie girl basically slept the entire time. Not sure what that was all about, but once we got home, she was bright eyed and bushy-tailed. So I'm not sure if she was just snoozing because she was in a new place and wanted to sleep through it, or if she really was that sleepy... either way, we didn't see her eyes much!

Diet: Milk -- still nursing exclusively. However, I'm starting to prepare myself for going back to work and having to pump and have her bottle fed part of the day while at daycare. She's going to daycare across the street from my classroom, so I'm hoping to actually go over and nurse her (rather than pump for her) on my prep and at lunch, but we'll see how/if that works out. If it doesn't, I'm okay with it -- but it would be nice. 

Baby Gear Love: The Snugabunny Swing remains a favorite, as is our play gym. She also loves her O Ball and some of her other toys that she can reach up and try to grab. Her favorite is a little pink butterfly that makes a pretty jingling noise :) As always, her Bright Starts Carrier Toy Bar is a favorite for traveling in the car, even when we're close to home.

And "Mommy Gear Love" this week would be Nick Lachey's lullaby CD... I'm a sucker for anything Nick Lachey related. Don't judge.

Crying: She's a sweet girl! Only cries when she's hungry or tired basically :)

Mommy News: Well, it finally happened. I finally left Lizzie girl at daycare for the first time last Wednesday. After many subsequent nights where I laid in bed, crying and telling Andy how much I was going to miss her and how I couldn't go back to work, the day came and I had to do it. I got up and got myself ready before waking her to eat and get dressed. I thought I was doing really well -- all while I got myself ready, I felt just fine. But once I went to wake her, it was all over. I couldn't stop the tears from coming. Baby girl is so sweet in the morning and full of smiles and coos -- it's my favorite time of the day with her -- but on that day, I couldn't hardly look at her. She'd smile at me, and I'd try to smile back, but would only cry harder. Oh, so sad. I cried as I dressed her, as I put her in her seat, as I drove to town (with Nick Lachey serenading us all the way... ha!), and especially as I unbuckled her from her car seat to hand her over to someone else. Someone else. Not me. Oh, so sad. Handing my baby over to someone else for the day is one of the hardest things I think I've ever done. But, I did it. And it was fine. Especially since I came back to nurse her a few hours later, which certainly does make me feel better. So it was definitely a good decision to opt for a daycare so close to me. Luckily her daycare visits and my workdays last week were limited to that one day, so I got the rest of the week off :)

That night after her first trip to daycare, I rocked her to sleep in her nursery, and I just cried. I was sad because I had missed so much of her day, because I missed her. And the most interesting thing happened -- Lizzie looked at me in a way I'd never seen her look at me before. She's never seen me cry before I don't think -- so she just stared, wide-eyed and so carefully, directly into my eyes. Like I said, it was a look I've never seen her give me before -- almost as though she knew I was sad, and she was trying to understand it. And I think she did -- because she then gave me the most genuine, soft smile I've ever seen my baby give. And I'd like to think it was her way of telling me, "It's okay, Mommy". She continued to offer me those smiles as I cried and we rocked -- and I thanked God, again, for her sweet little life. What a blessing she is. My heart is truly so full.

Milestones: Lizzie is beginning to swat at and reach for toys! It is so awesome how much she's developing lately. We love this little lady!

Thirteen Weeks!

Weight: I'm guessing baby girl is around 10 and a half pounds at this point.

Sleep: After resuming the use of our swaddler, Lizzie's sleep still isn't quite as good as it was before I started messing things up [by banning swaddler use for a few days]. I think it's because she realizes now how great it feels to sleep not in a straight jacket-type contraption. Whoops. She did have one awesome napping day where she had an hour-long nap in the morning and a three-hour nap in the afternoon. Aside from that, she tends to be sticking to her 25 to 40 minute naps during the day, and waking a couple times at night.

Any advice from anyone about how to help your little one take longer naps? I think Lizzie is waking up on her first "light sleep" phase of her sleep cycle, which is why she's only taking 25 to 40 minute naps most days. 

Medical Issues: None!

Clothes: I would say that we've officially stepped foot into three-month clothing almost exclusively! Though Lizzie is still wearing a lot of newborn things (and is still waiting to grow into some of it, too!), we've transitioned her into 0 to 3 month jammies and onesies for the most part. Right now, it all fits how her newborn clothes fit when she was first born: way too big! But we have to start somewhere, right? 

Socialite!: Sweet girl got to see her godfather, Norm, again last weekend! We were lucky enough to have him stop in Alex on his way through and have supper with us at Zorba's. She was a good girl, and even let Norm snuggle her for a little bit :) Unfortunately she wasn't giving out any free smiles at that point, so he didn't get to see any. Guess he'll just have to come visit again... :)

Diet: Milk -- still nursing exclusively.

Baby Gear Love: Loving our Snuggabunny swing, as well as this amazing contraption that hangs from her carseat handle that entertains her endlessly that my mom and dad gave Lizzie before she was born. 

Crying: Only crying when she's tired, wet or hungry. She's a sweet girl!

Mommy News: Please don't remind me that I have to go back to work in a little more than a week. Don't get me wrong, I love my job! But what will baby girl do without me all day (or maybe more like what will I do without my baby girl all day)?! Yikes.

In other mommy news: I've heard people talk about how they're not sure if they'll have enough love to go around for all their kids when they get pregnant a second (or third, or fourth...) time. This seemed like a ridiculous notion to me. However, this last week has started to help me realize why they say that. I honestly thought that when Lizzie was born that the amount of love I felt for her (which was already a lot) was how much love I'd always feel for her. Wrong. It is incredible to me how much my love grows for this little girl each day. It's hard to explain, but it's this gradual love that kind of sneaks up on you as it grows and grows and grows, and when you realize how much you love this little one, it completely knocks you over. I know that's a weird way to put it, but it's as best I can explain it. Anyway, I kind of see what people mean: how can you possibly love one little person this much, and still have more room to love another little person that much? Not that I don't think it's possible -- I know it is! I just kind of understand it a little more now. And not that I'm pregnant again -- I was just thinking through it all.

Also, I can't believe how much more emotional I am now that I'm a mommy. I wasn't any extra emotional really when I was pregnant... but now that Lizzie's here: watch out world! Crazy mama who cries at everything has arrived. Yeesh! I got the sweetest board book from my aunt and uncle when Lizzie was born called "Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You" and I can't read it to Lizzie without getting all choked up. And don't get me started about watching the news... is it possible for me to watch it at 10:00 before bed without getting teary eyed? Oh boy.

Milestones: We are getting so much stronger at tummy time! Lizzie no longer gets mad (right away) when we put her on her tummy because she actually enjoys being propped up on those little elbows and looking at the world in a new way! 

Twelve Weeks Old!

Weight: Earlier this week, I finally decided to step on the scale with baby girl to see what she weighed, as I hadn't done that since her two-month check-up. When I stepped on, the scale showed that she weighed 10 pounds -- which was very concerning, because at her two-month check-up, she weighed almost 10 pounds already. So we stepped off and stepped on again, thinking it was a scale-read error.

Nope.


It was right. Ten pounds.


My stomach churned. I knew what this meant: we'd be introducing formula to supplement nursing, because she obviously isn't getting what she needs to thrive.


Defeated, I called my doctor's office and asked if I could get Lizzie in for a weight check. So off we went, where I placed her on the scale and saw the same dismal news: baby girl is 10 pounds, 1 ounce. My heart sank, again.


"That's not good," I told the nurse. "She was nine pounds, 14 ounces last time." She went to grab her computer and returned a few moments later.


"She's eating great! She's gained almost a pound and a half since last time! She wasn't nine pounds, 14 ounces... she was eight pounds, 14 ounces at her last check-up," the nurse informed me.

Sweeter words were never spoken to a worried mommy in this situation! So all is well and I was just getting ahead of ourselves by a pound.

So weight this week? Ten pounds, one ounce :)

Sleep: Why do we mess with things that work? On Monday of this week, I decided (for some unknown reason) that Lizzie shouldn't be swaddled any longer. My thought process was that I should wean her off of swaddling now so that it's not such a big deal later, when she's older. So for the last four days and nights, Lizzie girl has had both naps and overnights in a non-swaddled state.


Mistake!


Poor baby girl can't catch a break with those flailing arms. Just when she's starting to fall asleep... POW! She socks herself in the eye with those crazy arms. I kept telling myself it would get better, that she'd get used to it -- and maybe, probably, she would. But while talking to my mom and aunt about it last night, I realized that if swaddling baby works -- go for it. They both told me about a few people who swaddled their babies until they were (relatively) big, and it helped them sleep more soundly and control those silly arms. Once she can roll from back to front, I'll certainly stop -- but why endure waking up every hour in the nighttime or 30-minute naps during the daytime that just lead to a sad, cranky baby?

So anyway, that's basically how sleep was this week: waking every hour or so at night and naps that lasted 30 minutes, all because of flailing arms. Let's just say we returned to the swaddling again today :)

I also noticed this week that she's super tired around 7:30... like, can't stay awake tired and if she falls asleep, she's out for the night. Normally bedtime has been 9:30, but maybe we're starting a new phase? It makes me sad to have her crash so early (I want to play more!) but it is nice to have some extra time to get things done at night.

Medical Issues: None!

Clothes: We're now in a spot where we're using about half newborn and half 0 to 3 month clothes. We have a few 0 to 3 month jammies that are small enough to work, as well as a few onesies and pants that work in that size as well. Otherwise our other 0 to 3 month stuff is still way too big, as is some of our newborn stuff!

Socialite!: Baby girl got to meet her great-great aunt from Texas last night, as well hang out with her great aunt and uncle, her great grandparents and her grandparents. Unfortunately she was a little cranky (remember? I was silly and didn't swaddle, leading to a lack of naps...) so she either preferred hanging out in Mommy or Daddy's arms or kicking her little legs on the floor.

Diet: Milk -- still nursing exclusively.

Baby Gear Love: We just love that play gym and our SnuggaBunny swing! We're also big fans of the SnuggaBunny bouncy chair

Crying: Not too bad, just fussy at night still. Maybe I shouldn't say "fussy" as much as I should say "sensitive".

Mommy News: Not gonna lie: there have been some tears now about heading back to work :( But every mommy survives, and every baby does fine, too.

Milestones: Baby girl is starting to notice her fists and bring them to her mouth to suck on. It is way too cute :)

Eleven Weeks Old!

Weight: My best guess is 11 pounds, but we haven't made any attempts at weighing her lately. All I know from carrying her around and how my arms feel while nursing? She's definitely heavier than any of the free weights I pick up at the Y :)

Sleep: Still really good. Naps are much better, though she still has a tendency to wake up 40 minutes in and requires me to stay with her until she falls asleep again for another couple of hours. So she's usually taking one nice, long nap in the morning and one nice, long nap in the afternoon, followed by one or two smaller cat naps toward evening. She's going to bed around 9:30 these days and sleeping four or five hours in her first stretch, three hours in her next, and three hours in her next, before waking up for the day. She did have two nights in a row now where she's slept very soundly. One night she slept a full eight hours in a row (10:15 p.m. to 6:15 a.m.!) and last night she only woke once in the night.

So, call me crazy, but I'm actually a little sad that she slept that full eight hours because that might mean she's going to start sleeping an entire night's worth soon. Don't get me wrong, I love a good night's sleep (which I haven't had a full, uninterrupted one since early on in my pregnancy!), but it's one of her first ways of asserting some "independence" from momma. I'm sure it sounds weird, but I'm also sure there's some other mommies who have felt the same way (right?). And now that I've breathed a word of this more publicly than my own mind, she'll probably start waking up every two hours again :) Ha! Wouldn't that be ironic?

Medical Issues: None :) Gas issues have resolved themselves and sweet girl seems to be doing very well.

Clothes: Our newborn pants continue to look more and more like flood pants every day, and some of our newborn onesies are making her look more and more like the Incredible Hulk! So I've (sadly) begun to phase out some of her smaller newborn onesies. I've tried to bring in a few 0 to 3 month things, but most are still too big -- which is fine, because much of our newborn things still fit. Target finally got in some new onesie packs with matching leggings this weekend, so we picked up a pack of each in the three month size, but I'm sure they're a little big yet.

Socialite!: Where to start?! Sweet baby was lucky enough to meet some great friends from the school I taught at in Fargo last weekend when one of my friends got married (woohoo!). You could tell that all of my friends are recent mommies... they are baby-holding experts :) It was another great example of having good friends -- things don't change even after being apart for a long time... I am so blessed! Great times were had by all in our family -- even daddy had fun!

She also got to meet her newest baby friend! Beautiful little miss Peyton was born last Monday, and Lizzie, Andy and I went to visit her and her mommy and daddy and bring them some food and a little gift. (Sidenote: If you know someone who's just had a baby, give them food. My mom did this and so did a sweet friend of mine, and it was amazing to not have to think about what to make when you come home from the hospital those first few days!)

Finally, Lizzie got to meet all kinds of family over the weekend on her first visit to Andy's family's cabin! We loved spending time with Andy's cousins and aunts from Portland and Wisconsin, as well as his grandparents, parents and sister. They were so great with Lizzie and it was so nice to just get a chance to talk with them.

Diet: Milk -- still nursing exclusively.

Baby Gear Love: Still loving her play gym! She's officially more interested in herself in the mirror on her play gym than in Andy or myself :) I'm also loving that SnugaBunny bouncy chair and swing as well -- she can see far enough now to watch the birds and see the mirrored dome on her swing, so she stays very entertained while I'm cooking supper or if she's just getting fussy.

Crying: She's a sweet baby girl :) Most of the time she's not fussy -- only when she's getting tired, when she's wet or is hungry. 

However.

She hates the car. As in, despises it. She can maybe make it five minutes to the YMCA before she starts to cry -- but that's a 10 minute trip, so it doesn't offer enough time for her to get very upset... just fussy. And if we're in the car for longer, she'll typically fall asleep, which is good. But if the ride is too long, she'll wake up from her nap and be very agitated. Let's just say we had a four-hour ride, and baby cried for a third of it (and mommy cried for probably half of that third!). Anyway, our best remedy for that was to drive through the night, after her bedtime. And lucky us: worked like a charm. Not a peep -- just a content baby. And a content baby = content mommy = content daddy.

Mommy News: Not a whole lot in mommy news. Just trying to ignore the inevitable: going back to work in a few weeks!

Milestones: First trip to Andy's family's cabin! Maybe next year we can get in the water and go on a boat ride!

This week was also the first time Lizzie has been interested in reading books (well, looking at the pictures and listening to Mommy's voice, anyway!).

She's also starting to giggle with more than one syllable, if that makes sense. It is too sweet :)

First time sleeping eight hours through the night!

Also starting to push up on her arms more during tummy time!

Ten Weeks Old!

 And another 10-week picture... because I'll have the "I just can't decide" platter. Thanks!

Weight: I'm guessing anywhere between 10 1/2 and 11 pounds at this point... which would mean that we've doubled our birth weight! Way to go, little Lizzie!

Sleep: Sleep this week is super. I've decided that parenting is such a "learn as you go" type of thing. You go through trial and error, and do a lot of 'critical thinking' about your little one's personality to determine what works and what doesn't (at least, what works and what doesn't this week :)). Anyway, last week I mentioned how I wanted to get back into more of the routine where I put her down for a nap when she starts to yawn, in hopes of getting better naps and a happier baby. And guess what? It's worked quite well, really. But at times, I was still getting these little 30-minute naps, which isn't conducive to having a happy baby. So I did a lot of reading and a lot of mommy-consulting about what to do to help baby put herself to sleep (both when naptime begins and if she wakes prematurely, in the middle of a nap). I've ruled out the "cry it out" method for us -- it may work for some parents, and that's totally great -- but for me, it's just not right. So what we've been trying is what I've been hearing other mommies have done and what I've read to be the "No-Cry Sleep Solution". Here's what it's all about:

We rock her, lullaby her, love her, until she's almost completely asleep. Then we put her down just barely awake, rub her tummy and stay with her until those little eyes close. Sometimes this does require us to pick her up again to settle her back down if she gets fussy and restless, but we're okay with that because she's still learning.

If she wakes up in the middle of her nap and fusses, we go in, put her pacifier back into her mouth or rub her tummy, and walk out. If she fusses again, we do the same thing. Today, this happened probably 10 times before she decided she'd go back to sleep. But I'm a stay-at-home mommy for the next five or so weeks, so the beauty of it is that I have the time to do this right now. Anyway, it seems to be working for us... especially because when she has woken mid-nap and we've used this strategy, she goes back to sleep for another two or so hours afterward.

So overall, she's napping a nice one and a half to two hour nap in the morning and a three hour nap in the afternoon, with another cat nap at night before going to bed. At night, she's sleeping great. Still on her usual schedule of sleeping four hours, then three hours, then another three hours before waking up for the day.

Medical Issues: We've cut out gas drops completely, and baby girl seems to be doing just fine without them :) Yahoo!

Clothes: Still hanging out in our newborn clothes. I've been testing the waters on our 0 to 3 month clothes, but they're all still way too big!

Socialite!: Lizzie got to meet some pretty special people in our lives this week, so that was pretty awesome. Hanging out with her usual crowd at the YMCA while I hit up yoga classes and also spending some time with her Grandmas, Grandpas and aunties as well.

Diet: Milk -- still nursing exclusively.

Baby Gear Love: We are loving our play gym this week! Lizzie Bear is finally starting to take an interest in it, especially the mirror, and doesn't get mad when we put her underneath it anymore! We're still loving our swaddle blankets, as well as a nifty sound machine that my grandma gave us. Sleep Sheep is still in heavy use at night, but he has an automatic off after 45 minutes, and the sound machine is constant, which makes it perfect for nap time, so that's gotten some pretty heavy use.

Crying: The crying has gotten so much better. She just gets fussy when she's tired and hungry now, but she is still a bit more "sensitive" at night and cries more easily then.

Mommy News: Last week I mentioned that I was going to start making her headbands rather than buying them... so I put my nose to the grindstone today during one of her three-hour naps and made a whole bunch of them!

I've also been having second thoughts about going back to work. I think this is coming just because it seems like school is getting so close now. And it's not that I don't love my job -- I do! And I love the people I work with. But I just keep picturing myself dropping Lizzie off and walking out the door without her. It breaks my heart! And I don't want to miss out on her, either. Sad, sad. I know it'll be fine. I just might need to wear waterproof mascara and have a fanny pack with Kleenex around my waist those first few days!

Milestones: Her smiles and coos become more frequent all the time :) She also discovered herself in the mirror on her play gym! She loves to look at herself and smile and talk. It is too sweet!