A Lovely Summer Day

I interrupt my baby posts to bring you something resembling my old blog content.  We had a nice day today so I thought I'd share.  The weather was in the low 80's in Charlotte and after a leisurely morning involving blueberry pancakes and playing the baby and dog for awhile, we ventured out to check out a place I've been wanting to try for a long time- Pinky's Westside Grill.

That is a VW bug on top of the restaurant :)

We arrived dead in the middle of lunchtime on a Saturday (not that smart) and actually brought Clyde with us too, not knowing if it was dog friendly or not, and figuring if we had to we'd get the food to go and find a park to eat at or something.  They have outdoor seating at Pinky's, and while technically, it's not dog friendly, they allowed us to have Clyde outside the fence next to our table.  We were also seated in less than five minutes, which was impressive.

This was one of the better lunches out Allie has had lately.  She hardly got fussy at all and was able to stay in her car seat the entire time, which rarely happens these days.  Pretty soon we'll probably be able to put her in a high chair, and maybe that will help.

Pinky's is a burger and hot dog joint, with some other stuff on the menu as well (I was actually tempted to get fish tacos), but what makes them extra exciting is that you can get veggie burgers and veggie dogs there, which is pretty much heaven for Greg, since he leans towards vegetarian much of the time.

We started with a small order of fried pickles, which was enormous.  

They were hot, salty, and tangy.

I opted for a cheeseburger, since let's face it, I still haven't lost my cheeseburger cravings since pregnancy.  I pretty much got the standard burger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, mayo and ketchup, except with pimento cheese.  It was delicious :)

 

I also got a side of sweet potato fries, which were good, but we ended up taking at least half home since we were so full from the fried pickles.

Greg had a veggie hot dog with chili and coleslaw and loved it.

We got a kick out the fact that when feeding Clyde bites of stuff, he immediately could tell the difference between the meat of my burger and the veggie dog.  Smart dog.

Allie took a little nap on the way home.

Back at the house, I thought about what to do for the rest of the afternoon and then decided to get out our outdoor blanket and do some playtime with Allie outside in the fresh air.

It was great to be outside for a while, and nice that it wasn't too hot today.  We stayed in the shade and I made sure to lather Allie up with sunscreen.  

The rest of the afternoon and evening was low key.  Allie tried acorn squash for the first time and seemed to like it.  I think it's funny, because she seemed to like that better than sweet potato, which we tried earlier this week.  Apple, prunes, and pears are her favorites so far.

After dinner we did the usual bedtime routine of a bath, jammies, a book, and one last nurse session for the day before Allie drifted off.  She's on her fourth or fifth night sleeping without the sleep suit now and it's going well.  She's been sleeping in a Halo sleep sack on her belly and seems to like it.

The night ended with a batch of chocolate chip cookies I made.  These have oatmeal and nutritional yeast in them, which is supposed to be good for lactating mamas.  I may have just eaten four...

Anyway, it was a great day.  I'm off to bed at a little after 9pm, because that's what mom's with six month old babies that are tired do.  Hope you guys are having a good weekend!

Six Months!

Life has been very busy around here lately, and I'm almost a week late on my six month update on Allie!  I can't believe it's been half a year since she was born.  Wow.

Allie has become quite the fun baby.  She's really in a phase where you can tell she just wants to learn and explore everything and be stimulated constantly.  She seems to catch on to things more easily now and I'm amazed at the things we're able to show and teach her.  She has learned things like opening her mouth to be fed, using a sippy cup, sitting, pulling on a toy to make it play music...  all kinds of things!

Allie had her six month well visit and we got her new stats:

14 lbs 3 oz
25 inches long
43 inches head

She's still in size 2 diapers, and her clothing is anywhere from 3M to 3-6 to 6M, it just kind of depends on the brand.

She's right on track for her stats curve, even though I hear about other babies that are easily five pounds heavier at her age all the time.  She looks perfect to me :)

Lots of new developments for Allie this month.  At six months here are some things Allie can do:

She can kind of sit, it's getting better every day, even though she's prone to falling over after a while, so you still need to watch her carefully.

She can scoot around on her belly, not exactly crawling, but close.  She can definitely move forward, and even moves in circles.  She'll do it if she sees something she wants- like a toy on the other side of her play mat.

She also likes practicing her standing!  

Allie had some really good times in the pool a couple weeks ago in Hilton Head.  I couldn't believe how much she seemed to like it.  Water baby!

She also looks good in her cover up!

Allie is also into grabbing her feet now, which cracks me up.  I've yet to see her do "happy baby" holding both feet at the same time, but often catch her holding one.

Allie starting taking more of an interest in Clyde recently, and now reaches for him and watches him when he's around, which is funny.  I caught her pulling his ear one day, but he didn't seem to mind at all.  Good dog :).

We've also started putting her in her strollers without the car seat finally.  We were kind of waiting til she was good enough at sitting to not be slumped over, and she's finally there now.  We still haven't done shopping cart seats yet, but probably should be able to in the next few weeks.

The biggest new development is probably starting solids this month.  We got the go ahead to start baby oatmeal cereal and first foods, so we've been doing that.  She's had avocado, prunes, pears, banana, applesauce, and peas so far.  She is totally her mama's baby and LOVES to eat.  I actually notice that she gets kind of mad/fussy if you are eating in front of her and not feeding her something now, so I have to make sure I have her stuff ready to go.

Feeding solids has been interesting.  I have always intended, and still intend, to make Allie a lot of her baby food.  The first night though, we went shopping for the oatmeal, and ended up picking up a couple jars of organic baby food, because my husband was excited about them (Mr. Convenience).  So jarred pears ended up being one of the first things we fed her, even though I thought it was kind of stupid because it's something I could easily make her, but we were raring to go and it was convenient.  I did "make" her pureed peas, but so far, that's the only thing I've actually cooked and fed her, which wasn't what I'd planned, but things have been so busy, it's been hard to make much.  I also am interested in doing some of the baby led weaning, but so far the only thing I've tried with is avocado and banana, and she didn't really seem to get it.  She's much more into opening her mouth wide and having me feed her with a spoon at this point, so I'm just kind of rolling with it.  All of us are having fun with it.

Right at the six month mark, Allie got her first cold.  It actually wasn't too terrible.  She had a slight fever and some congestion, but it could have been worse.  Timing wise, it worked out ok because my mom was visiting, and was able to watch her when I had to work, and then Greg came home from a trip and took over, so we could keep her out of daycare.  Of course, Greg made fun of my incessant calling to check on Allie and sent me this picture one day to show me how things were going...  Very funny.

It's an interesting time right now, because Allie is still very much a baby, but she's also exploding with progress so it suddenly feels very different.  She still has baby meltdowns once in a while though.

And she still sleeps on me like she did when she was hours old...

I love this girl to the moon and back, she is my world.  Happy six months baby!  Can't wait to see how the next six go!

From Flip Flops to Heels

So, the time has come.  I have ventured back to work.  Though initially I was a little peeved about how things worked out with daycare, having to start paying for it a month earlier than we wanted to to guarantee our slot, I now think maybe it was kind of for the best.  It allowed Allie and I to transition into it gradually, and I never really had to go through that awful first day that so many people talk about where you drop the baby off, leave for an entire day, and just cry.  It really has been baby steps for us, leaving her only a few hours at a time at first and slowly building the time up to a full day.  I've really had the chance to get used to the idea.

Allie at daycare for "water day", chillin in the kiddie pool.

I also have an awesome boss that allowed me to take all this time off and then also agreed to let me start back at work part time for two weeks before going back full time.  I did a bunch of half days where I dropped her off at daycare in the morning, then picked her up at lunchtime and still got to spend the afternoon with her, which was really great.  

I think it helped that we're now at five and a half months and that I did get to have so much maternity leave to spend with Allie.  I have loved every second of being with her and know I am SO LUCKY that I had the chance to have all this time with her, because most working moms don't get this much maternity leave.  It's been so awesome to have this extended time to bond with Allie, watch her grow, play and cuddle every day, and just enjoy the time together.  At the same time, I like the idea of her socializing with other babies and people at daycare.  I think she's been particularly dependent on me, since Greg is away so much, and I want her to be comfortable with other care givers, so I think daycare can be good for her. I'll admit it again too- I always saw myself going back to work.  While I AM torn about it, and know there is a part of me that would love to be with her all day every day, there is another part of me that wants to work to keep that part of my life going.  I like the work I do, the people I work with, and work has always been a pretty big part of my identity, so at this point I don't want to completely give that up and I it feels okay that I am back at work at this point.  I really can't imagine going back much sooner though, so I'm glad I got to be out this long.

In case you are wondering, my work doesn't give me any free paid maternity leave- I used a combo of my own sick leave, annual leave, and FMLA (unpaid), which basically meant I got paid every two weeks while out but it was about half of what a normal paycheck for me looks like and I used a lot of sick and annual leave.  Using leave was actually fine with me, because I had accrued a ton of leave in my years of working and wanted to use it for this very purpose.  I've always kind of hoarded my leave, thinking I might use it for maternity leave some day.  I was also lucky that the lack of pay for the days I took unpaid leave also wasn't an issue because Greg makes a ton more than he used to under the new airline contract he just got (excellent timing).

Breastfeeding/pumping is going well so far.  My Ameda pump (which I got free through insurance), came with a handle black travel bag, and I just pack it up with my parts and bottles every day.  I have only done a couple full days so far, but on those days I pumped for times, twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon, and got about 15 oz total.  I also pump at home before bed at night, so between the work sessions and the night one, I usually get enough for the next day for daycare.  If for some reason I don't, I dip into my freezer stash, which is huge (pretty much a whole shelf in our freezer).  I've been leaving four 4 oz. Dr. Brown bottles for a full day of daycare, and actually, that's more than enough.  Allie usually only ends up eating three of the four at daycare.  I think it's because when I have her and breastfeed, she eats close to every two hours, but doesn't usually eat 4 oz- probably more like 3 oz or less since it's more frequent.  At daycare they go a little longer, like three hours, between feedings and then she eats more.  It's good because that ensures that she finishes the bottle and that they don't have to keep trying to get her to eat.  It is sort of annoying that she usually doesn't eat one bottle, but it's good to have more than enough than not enough.  I don't want to waste it, so what I've been doing is usually getting home and feeding her the extra bottle, and then breastfeeding her a couple hours later before she goes bed, because I can usually only get two feedings in from the time we get home to before she goes to bed.

As for how pumping at work is logistically?  I am lucky to have a private office, a mini fridge, and a microwave, plus a kitchen with a sink down the hall, which make it all fairly easy.  When I'm ready to pump, I just close my door (it is locked from the outside), and pump.  It takes me about 10 minutes and I'm getting good at actually working while pumping.  What I've been doing is pumping one time, then putting each assembled flange/bottle in a ziplock bag in my fridge.  Then I reconnect them to the pump again for the second session.  After that one, I disconnect the bottles, put caps on them, and store them, then take the flanges and parts down the hall to the kitchen to wash them (I keep some Seventh Generation soap there).  Then I put them in a Medela steam bag with 2 oz water, carry them back to the office and microwave them to sterilize them.  I do the same thing for the afternoon sessions.  I also bring a cooler bag with an ice pack to transport the pumped milk home in.  At home I have a dishwasher and a big Babies R Us bottle/part sterilizer, so I use one or the other on Allie's bottles and my other pump parts.  I feel like I'm getting used to it.  I have eight 4 oz bottles, and a bunch more of the pump bottles, and an extra set of flanges and parts, so I just kind of keep rotating through everything.  Breastfeeding is much easier than dealing with the pump and bottles, but I'm glad that pumping seems to be going well so far so that I can continue to give Allie breast milk.  When I'm not working, I pretty much avoid pumping and bottles as much as I can.

I'm getting used to wearing heels again for the first time in a long time.  I was so swollen at the end of pregnancy, I wasn't wearing heels much the last couple months and have barely worn heels at all since having Allie.  My normal mom wardrobe has been t-shirts and shorts with flip flops for the past couple months (and jeans and t-shirts before it got hot).  I actually sought out some shorter pants so that I can wear flats to work more, because I have gotten so used to not wearing heels!  Another consideration is breast pump-friendly attire.  I have a couple cute dresses that zip up the back, and haven't worn them to work yet, because I feel like it's going to be a huge pain to unzip and take them half off to pump.  I gravitate towards "mom friendly" or well pump-friendly outfits now :)

Work is going pretty good.  I literally had 700 emails in my inbox when I got back, but luckily a lot were stuff from months ago advising of outages that already happened, old news letters, and events that have already passed, so I was able to weed through a delete a lot.  I have an awesome back up person and she did a great job of keeping things up to date so the first few days weren't too terribly overwhelming.  However, as I've been back longer and people have figured out I am back, the flood gates have sort of opened, and I am definitely pretty busy.  My boss has also mentioned some projects he's been waiting on til I got back, so I know I have some big stuff coming up.  On one hand it feels like I never left, but on the other, it's weird to be back after so long.  There's new faces of new people that have come in since I have been out and changes to some of our systems that I'm getting used to.  For the most part, it's the same old thing though, and I've been pleasantly surprised that I haven't forgotten how to do my job and can jump back in.

I will say that just as I suspected, there are not enough hours in the day with Allie on the days that I work.  I get a little time with her in the morning when we're getting ready, but usually not more than about an hour from when she's awake til we leave.  When I pick her up after work, she usually smiles when I walk in and as soon as I get her home and out of the car seat, the clock is ticking and I'm cuddling and playing with her for the two to three short hours I have with her before she goes to bed.  BUT, the good news is that I appreciate that time all the more.  It used to be that after a long day with her I would sometimes be watching the clock waiting for her bedtime because it had been such a long day.  Now I feel like I watch the clock because I only have a certain amount of time with her and I don't want it to end.  I can tell I am holding her a snuggling her longer and soaking the seconds I can spend with her.  Those hours of the day that I do get to spend with her are so special.

Could you die?  That lower lip!

I think being a working mother is working for us so far.  As a mother, I don't know that you're ever completely satisfied one way or the other- at home or at work, but this feels right to me for now.  I'm getting used to our new normal, and I think Allie is too.

Five Months

Allie is now five months old!  Wow.  It's hard to believe she's been with us for five months now.  In some ways it seems like longer than five months and it some ways it seems like it's flown by.  I think all new mom's have that same sense of time going by slow and fast at the same time, it's hard to explain.

It's been a wild five months with this little girl!

Allie is still rolling over like a pro.  I've actually seen her do a complete 360 roll a couple times, rolling from back to front to back again, but usually she rolls from back to front and stays propped up on her arms for a while.  You can tell she wants to crawl and go somewhere, because she often pulls at the blanket or play mat she's laying on, and rapidly kicks her legs and tries to scoot forward.  I think we still have a ways to go, but at the same time, with most of the skills she's mastered, one day she's struggling to figure it out, and the next she's doing it, so you never know.  We bought a fence for the living room to contain her in case she gets ambitious and starts moving.  It is also good for keeping Clyde away from her.  Though he isn't a threat, he does love to lick her and we try to keep that to a minimum.

We have been working on sitting.  She's still fairly wobbly, but I prop her up against me or with the Boppy pillow around her to get her used to the idea.  She doesn't seem to completely get it yet, but again, hopefully it'll be one of those things she just all the sudden can do.

Allie is less fussy than she was at four months.  Not that she doesn't have the occasional bad day or meltdown, but I feel like we kind of resumed less fussy behavior again, which is a relief.  The other day she was awake in the car for about a half hour and was even smiling and cooing without a pacifier, which is rare. She's definitely awake a lot more when I'm out and about with her these days, and that's something I'm still getting used to.  I feel like it makes planning outings a lot less predictable, so I find myself bracing for possible meltdowns.  Usually she surprises me and does fine while out, even if she's awake.  She doesn't like being confined in the car seat too long, so that's usually the biggest issue if she's awake while out for a longer stretch.  I try to be conscious of her need to be out and give her time to play, so outings are usually short for this reason.

Greg's parents were here for a few days recently, and this was their first visit with her since she was three weeks old, so it was fun to see them with her.  They are enamored with her like everyone else is.  Allie is pretty good about being held by and interacting with others and a few times Greg's dad had her laughing hysterically.  One thing I've noticed though, is that after too much stimulation she definitely gets upset.  Sometimes she'll be laughing and smiling and then a couple minutes later she'll start crying and I can tell she's had enough and just wants some quiet chill time.  I can also tell that I am her go to person for calming her down.  Others try, but usually as soon as they hand her to me, she immediately stops crying and is okay.  It doesn't surprise me since I'm with her far more than anyone else.  I definitely get a certain satisfaction in knowing I am her comfort person.

Daycare is going well, but we have yet to do a full day.  I'm starting work next week, but will only do a bunch of half days at first and will see how it goes.  I have been putting off planning out a schedule, but finally talked to my boss and decided on three partial days next week.  Probably the week after we'll do at least one full work day before I go back full time, just to make sure I have the flow of dropping her off and picking her up down.

As far as the emotional side of daycare?  I'm doing pretty good with it.  Probably better than I expected.  I think it's been good for me to sprinkle in some "me" time here at the end before I get into work and motherhood at the same time.  While we're getting used to some half days of daycare, I make the most of it- cleaning, grocery shopping, working on her baby book, working out, stuff like that.  Still, it's kind of like this quote, "Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body" -Elizabeth Stone.  Now, I can't spend anytime away from Allie without a little bit of ache.  She's always there in my mind.  She's my heart.

It seems that Allie misses me too.  The teachers asked if I could leave a shirt or something to see if it helped her feel more comfortable with bottle feeding, so yesterday I left the fleece jacket I had on.  They said she did a lot better than usual with the bottle with my jacket draped around her, and when I went to pick her up, she was sleeping in a crib clutching my jacket tightly like a lovey.  It totally melted my heart.  She missed me and was comforted by my smell...

When I'm with her, Allie still usually eats every two to three hours.  At daycare I think she's going closer to three hours between feedings, and then eats between 3-4 oz from a bottle.  I did switch her to the level two nipples on her bottles and the ladies at daycare are pleased with those (apparently it was taking them like 45 minutes to feed her a bottle with a level one nipple because the flow is so slow).  I think she eats less at an individual feeding from me, but I feed her more frequently, so we're kind of figuring out the whole daycare bottle feeding thing.  Pumping for bottles seems to be going pretty well, and I haven't felt like I have had any supply issues lately, but I'm also really conscious of drinking tons of water and eating a lot every day to make sure I keep my supply up.  I'm interested to see how pumping goes when I go back to work.

Sleep is still fairly good.  Not much has changed.  She goes down around 7:30pm and is almost always up once a night to feed (the time varies anywhere from like midnight to 4am), then usually sleeps til 5:30am to 7am.  We have some mornings where she is up before 6am and those are a little rough- seems to be a trend lately.  I probably need to go to bed earlier, but I kind of enjoy my couple hours after she goes to bed, and rarely go to bed much before 10pm, often later.  I really shouldn't complain though, I know this is a lot of sleep for both me and the baby compared to what a lot of people get.  It's going to be interesting to see what it's like once I go back to work and she's at daycare for a full day.  Allie still sleeps in the Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit, but I've been thinking about trying a night without it to see how it goes.  She takes naps without it at daycare in a crib and seems to do okay, and sometimes it seems like the suit is preventing her from sleeping in a position that might be more comfortable and might help her sleep better, so it might be worth it to try it without it.  I just have to work myself up to it, like I did switching her from the bassinet to the crib and all the changes we've made.  My fear is that she'll sleep worse without it or that I will because I'll be watching the monitor all night to make sure she's okay, and I haven't been willing to deal with that yet.  Baby steps!

Watching the baby monitor with a glass of red wine.

Stats:
Weight- 13lbs 8oz (by my scale)
Still size two diapers, and I don't see us moving to size three for a while still.
Mostly 3-6 clothes, depending on the brand.  She can fit in to some 6M stuff, and actually can still wear some of her 3M stuff too though, so there's kind of a wide range right now.

What else?  We aren't starting solids til closer to six months.  Our pediatrician said she doesn't think babies digestive systems are completely ready til then, so we're waiting.  We're also going to skip rice cereal and may do oatmeal, but we're going to discuss at the six month appointment.  Honestly, in my opinion she doesn't seem to be showing much interest in food in the way they describe babies who are ready for it anyway (grabbing for it, etc...).  I feel like she's still all about the boob ;)  Also, she can't sit on her own yet either, so I'm not in a huge rush.  I did buy the Sage Spoonfuls cookbook and containers for when the time comes though.  I think I'll probably do a combo of Baby Led Weaning and purees.  Allie has tried teeny tiny amounts of two foods though- Breyer's vanilla ice cream and applesauce.  Both went over okay.  I think she was confused about it more than anything else.

Allie's likes:
-Repeatedly making the sounds of different letters of the alphabet
-Being talked to in silly voices
-Being tickled
-Being kissed on the cheeks
-Being sung to
-Her Taggie blanket
-Rolling onto her belly
-The Rock N Play (well, better than any other baby holding device)
-Music

Allie's dislikes:
-Not being talked to, played with, or looked at enough
-Being held sideways unless she's tired (she prefers upright on the shoulder).
-Too much stimulation
-Being confined in the car seat

Nicknames:  Sweet Cheeks, Little One, Baby Girl, Allie Girl, Little Allie, Little Peach (We called her this more when she was first born).

I feel like Allie and Greg have bonded a lot more, and that really makes me happy.  I think it helps that she's getting bigger and smiling and laughing more, he sees that she can be fun now and she will give him a big smile if he tries to play and interact with her.  I hope their bond continues to grow.

As for me?  I was thinking the other day about how when you have a baby, it's like you start life over.  You experience life from the beginning again, through a baby.  It's neat.  You think about how life and everything in it must look for someone experiencing it for the first time- flowers, people, places, holidays, everything.  Surreal.  For me, I feel like I left a bunch of stuff behind, and while I do sometimes miss it, I'm completely okay with it at the same time.  I used to be really social and loved going out to dinner, which is something I pretty much never do now.  I'm still in touch with my social side, but it's more in the form of mommy play dates now.  Running was one of my big passions prior to pregnancy, and it's just not right now (although I did get in a two mile run while Allie was at daycare the other day).  It's mainly due to life with a baby, but also partly due to weather (I hate running in the heat), lack of desire, and lack of motivation.  Life has changed.  Priorities have changed.  My ability to do certain things has changed.  I'm happy, but I also look forward to Allie being at an age where we can interact differently- talk more, go more places, do more together.  That will be fun.  At the same time, I love her at the stage she's in.  She's just super cute and cuddly, and it's so easy to love her in this phase.

As Of Late

This post is coming to you with a baby asleep in the Moby Wrap on me.  Allie has never really liked this thing, but this morning I felt the desire to get it out and try it again and she hung out in it while I did laundry, unloaded dishes, and walked around and seemed to do pretty well in it.  I think she kind of liked looking at everything I was doing, and then eventually got cozy enough to fall asleep on me when she got tired.

So, blogging has become really sporadic, I know.  I've been busy with life and motherhood, and most of the time there doesn't seem to be a concise blog topic in there, it's just a jumble of my life.  Still, I feel the need to update and document anyway, so here I am.

Last week, Allie and I spent another five days in Hilton Head with my parents.

Out to breakfast.

Nothing you guys haven't seen before- tons of great meals, walks in the plantation and at the beach, floats in the pool, shopping at the outlets...  Oh, there was this epic lobster roll from a farmer's market food truck...

Allie had her first real dunk in the pool.  Til then it had just been toes in, but this time we did the swim diaper and bathing suit and actually put her in the pool.  She did great!  Unfortunately none of us remembered to bring a camera, or even a phone, so it kind of went undocumented.  Fail!

Allie started daycare this week.  That's probably the biggest news around here.  She did half days on Monday and Tuesday.  We are gradually transitioning her in.  It actually went better than I thought it would.  I didn't cry and she seemed to do fine.

Right after I took this picture, two babies tried to steal Allie's toy.

We are still getting used to daycare.  I brought three bottles with about 4 oz. each both days, and she had two each day (she was only there like 4-5 hours).  The daycare ladies said I should try switching to level 2 nipples because it was taking her forever to eat from the bottle.  I actually wasn't surprised they suggested this, because I have also been wondering if I should do this.  I know I'm a little clueless about bottles since she mostly breastfeeds.  For a long time I didn't want to switch to level 2s because you want the baby to prefer the breast over the bottle and they might not if the bottle milk flows faster, but now I think we'd be okay to switch to the level 2's so I'm going to get some.

I think it helped that I went to yoga while Allie was at daycare both days.  I actually had a yoga pass to my studio that was expiring this week so I went three days in a row, and it felt great.  A couple times I came close to crying when we were winding down and slow sad songs came on and I thought about Allie, but overall, I think it was good for me to be there doing something for myself.  I'd love to be able to continue to go with some consistency, but with Greg's schedule all over the place and going back to work soon, I don't see it happening.  I think I'll probably just drop in for classes once in a while if I can.

I talked to my boss recently and will be starting some work the week of 7/15.  I haven't come up with a definite plan yet, but he said I could do half days or whatever I wanted, and then I'll go back full time the week of 7/29.  I am trying to wrap my head around it.  On one hand I think I'm a little excited and ready to be back in my office.  I bought some new clothes for work to kind of get myself in the mood.  I also had lunch with a co-worker yesterday and kept asking her a million questions about work, so I know I feel like I've missed a lot and do want to get back and catch up on things there.  On the other hand, I realize that my unlimited time with Allie is coming to a close, and it's incredibly emotional and sad that I won't get to be with her as much as I want.  I think about how week days will go and worry about getting to spend enough time together if we only have a couple hours after I get out of work.  She sometimes goes to bed as early as 7pm, which leaves us maybe two hours together at night.  I feel like that's not enough.  Ugh.

I've been soaking up the moments with her, even when she's melting down and have been letting her fall asleep on me for naps, even though I know I should be trying to get her to nap in the crib, just because I know I won't have these moments as often anymore in a couple weeks.

Well, I really just wanted to check in and say hi.  We are having a pretty uneventful 4th of July, which mainly involved a trip to Buy Buy Baby and some ice cream, but I did dress Allie in a red, white, and blue outfit, just to be festive.

I'll definitely do a 5 month update on Allie since that's coming up in about a week!  Yipes!

Four Months

Allie turned four months old last week!

For comparison, here's some pics of month one:

Month two:

And month three:

Obviously I haven't done the greatest job positioning her so that you can see her growth, but you can see how her hair has grown and she's kind of chunking up and looking like a bigger baby now.

After my last post I feel like a lot changed in the last couple weeks.  My once somewhat predictable baby has become a lot less predictable.

For one, she's had some fussier days.  Ever since she started rolling over, she needs more time on the floor to explore this and more stimulation in general.  It's getting harder for me to get things done because gone are the days when I could leave her in a swing or Rock N Play for a little while without a huge amount of interaction if I'm doing dishes, cooking, or something else.  I constantly have to be singing to her, making faces, or interacting in some way to keep her entertained, and not just from across the room, she wants me up close and personal and has been known to melt down if I go from the kitchen into the pantry and she can't see me for two seconds.  It's cool that she wants the interaction, but frankly, it's also kind of exhausting to be "on" all day long.  Let's just say I may have eaten a lot more nachos and and frozen burritos for dinners lately, because I can't really cook when she needs me right near her at all times.  One day she had a pretty long meltdown and nothing could console her.  I was checking baby books and Google for symptoms of teething and ear infections, convinced she was in pain with no way to tell me, but eventually it passed when she finally fell asleep.  It must have just been a fussy day.  Thankfully most of the time this passes.

"Angry cry"

The good news is that on the flip side of the fussies, we are getting some deliriously happy moments like I have never seen before from Allie.  She has this huge smile and is even doling out a bunch of laughter lately, which is awesome.  It's pretty fun!  Here's some video of her laughing.  Pay no attention to her silly mom trying to figure out if I actually recorded it or not at the end ;)

Allie can now roll over AND push herself up on her tummy, which is cool.  She used to get her arm pinned under her when she rolled, but now she has figured out how to rock back and forth and free it.  She spends tons of time on the floor practicing her moves and I feel like she is dying to crawl once she gets pushed up.  She grunts and coos and gets all frustrated, but the minute you swoop in to save her she seems annoyed and if you put her on her back, she just immediately tries to flip to her tummy and do it all again.

I was lucky that for the longest time I could easily make plans for lunch or to do something in the middle of the day and pretty much know that Allie would sleep peacefully through it.  I no longer think this is the case.  She had a pretty good cry in the middle of a visit with Greg's sister and family while we were out to lunch one day.  We also experimented with a dinner out one night and that didn't go well either.  I think maybe the noise is a factor.  Before she seemed to be lulled to sleep by a noisy restaurant, now it seems to bother her and makes for quick over stimulation.  If we take her out now, we're leaning towards places we can pay upfront and make a quick exit if necessary.

Like I said, just after writing my last post a bunch of stuff changed.  One thing has unfortunately been my breastfeeding.  I had kind of a scare one day when it seemed like my milk supply was taking a plunge.  I had been noticing that it was taking longer to let down for Allie, which was annoying her at feedings, and then at the end of the day when I went to feed her before bedtime, I had like no milk for her.  I even pumped in case it was an issue with Allie not being able to get the milk, but couldn't get anything pumping either, so I ended up defrosting frozen milk and giving her a bottle.  I was really upset!  The next day I scheduled an appointment with my lactation consultant and also polled my mommy friends to see if they had dealt with anything like that.  I followed suggestions that I up my food and water intake and that did seem to help.  In meeting with the LC, she also suggested massaging my breasts before and during feeding to encourage let down.  I also find that if I smell Allie's baby smell and concentrate on envisioning feeding her it helps.  Breastfeeding can be so mental!  All of these things seemed to help (like I need an excuse to EAT MORE!) but it's made me worry a lot and I am being really conscious to eat and drink a lot lately.  I also am trying to go more like 2 1/2 to 3 hours between feedings instead of 2 so that my supply builds up more between feedings, and I am pumping when Allie finishes a feeding and sometimes a little before til let down starts so that I'm ready to go when she latches and doesn't get frustrated.  This is tough though, and I think the stress isn't helping my supply and feeding issues.  I hope that it will be okay as long as I really stay on top of everything.

I also discussed breast feeding/pumping when I go back to work with the LC.  My plan is to pump three times a day at work (soon after I get in, lunchtime, and an afternoon session).  I also already added a pumping session at night before I go to bed to try and keep my supply up (so far I don't get a whole lot during that one since my supply is much more abundant in the morning).  Daycare doesn't require a set amount of milk, but they want me to start with four bottles with about 4 oz each a day and see how that goes.  While I usually have no problem feeding her about that much from the breast (I know because the LC has weighed her before and after feedings, so I know she usually eats about 3 1/2 oz) when I'm home with her, I'm a little worried about getting that much milk pumping.  Hopefully it'll be enough.  I do have a freezer supply.  I am actually open to formula if it seems to be necessary, but I'll still try to exclusively breastfeed and bottle feed breast milk if I can.  I also ordered more bottles for daycare and bought some extra pump parts so that I can put some in rotation now that they are getting used/washed more.

We went by daycare recently to meet the teachers in Allie's room and introduce her.  It went well.  We went over things like feedings, nap time, what to bring, etc...  I have some projects like a photo collage and binder I need to put together for her before she starts and I need to bring them a list of immunizations from her pediatrician.  I'm getting used to the idea that this is happening.  Sigh...

I waited on writing this post because Allie had her four month check up today.

New stats:
length- 23 3/4 inches, 25-50th percentile
weight- 12 lbs 12 oz., 25-50th percentile
head- 41/5 cms, 50-75th percentile

Still rocking the big head ;)

This appointment was kind of rough.  Greg was away, so I took her by myself, and made the decision to leave her car seat in the car and carry her in, since last week the lactation consultant had remarked that she was surprised I was still carrying her in the car seat.  I thought, "Hey, I should just carry her in this time!"  This was a mistake because she immediately became kind of fussy in the waiting room and I was supposed to fill out some paperwork, which was next to impossible while holding a fidgety, fussy baby.  And it took them over a half hour to call us back to the room.  Then it took a while in the room for the doctor to come in.  By the time the doctor saw her she was already very fussy, crying, and hysterical, even before shots.  After she got her shots I fed her in the office to calm her down and then she fell asleep on the way home and for a couple hours after.  The shots were actually probably the least painful part of the visit.  The long wait was worse.

At every doctor's visit, I come armed with a list of questions.  At this visit I asked about starting solids (will wait til close to six months), cereal (will also wait til about six months and use only oatmeal), sleeping on tummy (is ok now that Allie can roll over and prop herself up), crying it out (we don't need to until after six months and only if she is up a lot and not sleeping, which isn't really an issue), and using the jumperoo (doctor wants me to wait til Allie can sit up better and we're supposed to start working on that).

Allie met a lot of new people in the past couple weeks.  Greg's sister, her husband, and kids came to meet Allie, our friends from Indiana came out, and my friend Michelle also visited.  I also brought Allie by the office for the first time in a while and she met a handful of people there too.

Michelle assisting Allie with tummy time.

Allie seems to be in a "mommy" phase, and seems to want me above others a lot.  I'm kind of okay with this because I love that she loves me, but I know it's because I am the one that is here with her 24/7 and she might be closer with Greg if he was here more.

Greg missed his first Father's Day with us, but we celebrated before hand and had some great days off together before he left.

Allie and Greg visiting a local children's museum for the first time.

Greg gave me a couple good breaks while he was home this time and I got to go to a yoga class and even sleep a little extra, which was great.  We're still figuring out how to balance things while he's home, but I thought this past week was a pretty successful mix of taking turns and spending time together.

That about sums up four months with our baby!  Love this girl...