Libby has been full of surprises since the day we found out she was joining our family. Libby was a surprise. As in "Surprise! I'm pregnant!" I've always been irregular, but I had a weird feeling about things back in January 2009. I thought it had been a long time, even in the face of the stress of starting a new semester and a new exercise regimen. I thought I should take a pregnancy test "to be sure I'm not pregnant". But I was. The blue line showed up immediately, as soon as it was wet. No wonder--I was already at least 8 weeks along!
She then surprised us by being two weeks early, but that's not what I want to talk about today.
Lately, her surprises have been to learn a new skill allofasudden. I had been fretting for 2-3 weeks about when she would start enjoying standing up (with help) and when consonant sounds would emerge. This week, she started both like she's been doing them for weeks. Old hat.
I am not kidding. Last week, when I took her to the portrait studio on Wednesday, the photographer wanted to get a pic of her standing with me just out of the shot holding her hands. She refused to keep her legs straight like a toddler in tantrum mode. This week, all she wants to do is stand. I was trying to show her how to hold onto the crib rail while standing, but she's not quite ready for that.
So far, the only consonant I have heard is "d", as in "ah-da" and "da-da-da", but I am excited for more! The cooing has been adorable, but come on, she's been doing it since Thanksgiving. I was ready for more language development. And the new babbling is really fun.
She's also started razzing like it's her job. She first started doing that back in January (figured out how to do it while nursing, yay), but it hasn't been a frequent occurrence until now.
Sigh. I love her.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
It's been almost two weeks! Ugghh, teaching is such a busy job. I just don't know. I really want out. If I didn't work, our lifestyle would have to change drastically, though. Like, no cable or Internet and possibly only one car. But maybe I could get a job that didn't involve so much take-home? I just feel like nothing is ever done and I never get anywhere. I'm always doing things at the last possible minute because there is no other time. And I know that staying home wouldn't solve everything, because stay at home moms have plenty to keep them busy, but... I just think I would be a lot happier.
The last two weeks have been times of change. Libby is done breastfeeding and is taking a bottle. She's eating at least two solid "meals" a day, and has tried many different fruits and vegetables. We never swaddle her for sleep anymore, which was a somewhat rough transition until about 2 weeks ago, and now she's doing really well. And on Friday night, we said "goodbye" to the evening nap in favor of an earlier bedtime.
Libby is starting to look like an older baby. She is six months old. All of these changes are bittersweet. She is such a good girl, and so happy, and every new thing is so fun and exciting. But thinking about how much she's changed and will continue to change makes me wish she'd slow down a little bit. I try to keep Future Me in mind and be in the moment with her now, because I know I'm going to wish I could return to these moments someday.
She did really well at her six-month appointment last week. When they gave her the shots, she got a big pouty look on her face and didn't cry for several seconds, just looked at the nurses saying, "Why?" She calmed pretty quickly, though, and actually almost fell asleep in my arms while I was comforting her. Then she fell asleep on the ride home.
I have to go grade some papers or plan some lessons or something. Ugh.
The last two weeks have been times of change. Libby is done breastfeeding and is taking a bottle. She's eating at least two solid "meals" a day, and has tried many different fruits and vegetables. We never swaddle her for sleep anymore, which was a somewhat rough transition until about 2 weeks ago, and now she's doing really well. And on Friday night, we said "goodbye" to the evening nap in favor of an earlier bedtime.
Libby is starting to look like an older baby. She is six months old. All of these changes are bittersweet. She is such a good girl, and so happy, and every new thing is so fun and exciting. But thinking about how much she's changed and will continue to change makes me wish she'd slow down a little bit. I try to keep Future Me in mind and be in the moment with her now, because I know I'm going to wish I could return to these moments someday.
She did really well at her six-month appointment last week. When they gave her the shots, she got a big pouty look on her face and didn't cry for several seconds, just looked at the nurses saying, "Why?" She calmed pretty quickly, though, and actually almost fell asleep in my arms while I was comforting her. Then she fell asleep on the ride home.
I have to go grade some papers or plan some lessons or something. Ugh.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
PRAISE THE LORD, Libby is over this dreaded "4 month sleep regression" if there is such a thing. I think. I hope. I pray. She slept 9 pm - 6 am last night, unswaddled! She is "supposed" to sleep till 7, and I got her to go back to sleep till about 6:45, which is good enough! I hope we have a repeat performance tonight!
Then this afternoon I fed her prunes for the first time. I did not have high hopes, because up to this point, she has tried a few bites of a new food and then fussed. Today I had to go back for more two times, and she ate the WHOLE jar! She has never eaten that much at a time before. Prunes leave nasty brown drool everywhere, but she needs the fiber, especially now that she's on formula full-time (its iron is constipating).
Then this afternoon I fed her prunes for the first time. I did not have high hopes, because up to this point, she has tried a few bites of a new food and then fussed. Today I had to go back for more two times, and she ate the WHOLE jar! She has never eaten that much at a time before. Prunes leave nasty brown drool everywhere, but she needs the fiber, especially now that she's on formula full-time (its iron is constipating).
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The End
Well, we have come to the end of our breastfeeding relationship. On Friday the 12th, Libby was diagnosed with a respiratory virus and double ear infection. She lost her appetite and nursed poorly for a couple of days. When her appetite came back late this week, I couldn't keep up. My supply tanked from lack of demand. I realized on Thursday or Friday that she wasn't getting enough and started offering a bottle after each time she nursed, and today she is still sucking them dry. I'm worried that she's sometimes still not getting enough with the bottle because I'm only making 4 oz, and my supply doesn't seem to be improving (since she's still taking 4 oz of formula after nursing), so I think it's time to quit and go to bottles.
I'm kind of sad about it, but we had a really good six months. It was rough in the beginning, and I think a lot of women would have given up, but I persevered. I am so glad I did. It really helped us bond, and was such a rewarding part of our relationship. Plus, breastfeeding is so much easier than taking formula and bottles everywhere, not to mention cleaning the bottles! Libby going to formula may expedite our getting a dishwasher. :)
I'm kind of sad about it, but we had a really good six months. It was rough in the beginning, and I think a lot of women would have given up, but I persevered. I am so glad I did. It really helped us bond, and was such a rewarding part of our relationship. Plus, breastfeeding is so much easier than taking formula and bottles everywhere, not to mention cleaning the bottles! Libby going to formula may expedite our getting a dishwasher. :)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Bump in the night
Okay, so this is not related to Libby, but I have to share. Something pushed hard on the bottom of my foot last night, and it scared me so much I sat straight up in bed and almost yelled. For a minute, I sat there, before realizing what it was. Unbeknown to me, Todd's foot had been below mine (not under, closer to the foot of the bed), and he flexed his foot in his sleep, which gave me that little push. Creepy.
My last entry was about cloth diapering, but it was very diaper-oriented and did not share my feelings on the whole thing. I love cloth diapering (or cd'ing, as it's known in the online community). Let me count the ways:
1. Good for the environment. Everyone has heard this one. I was horrified to discover that we threw away a plastic grocery bag full of dirty diapers EVERY DAY when Libby was a newborn. I was glad to know we would soon be using cloth. Then there are the chemicals in the disposables. Ick. I hate the smell, walking down the diaper aisle at the grocery store always makes me frown. People say cloth is no better because you do so much more laundry and use all that water. True, but disposables take a lot of water to make, we just don't see how much. And I think keeping stuff out of landfills is more important.
2. Good for the baby. Libby has had very few very minor diaper rashes that have all disappeared in a number of hours. Her lil booty is very happy in cotton diapers.
3. Good for me. We have never had a poop blowout in a cloth diaper. I have heard that this is often a once-daily occurrence in disposables, and I can believe it's true since we've had 3-4 of them and almost always have L in cloth.
4. Good for the family. I have already mentioned how cheap cloth diapers are. As I said before, we have probably spent around $300 on cloth all together, and I'm hoping to only need to spend $25-50 more before she's potty trained. That's two years away, folks. That brings me to:
5. Good for all. (sorry, I'm running out of individuals. This is probably actually "good for mommy and daddy") Cloth diapered babies are potty trained earlier because they are better able to tell when they are wet, and they don't like it.
So, cloth diapers. Check 'em out.
My last entry was about cloth diapering, but it was very diaper-oriented and did not share my feelings on the whole thing. I love cloth diapering (or cd'ing, as it's known in the online community). Let me count the ways:
1. Good for the environment. Everyone has heard this one. I was horrified to discover that we threw away a plastic grocery bag full of dirty diapers EVERY DAY when Libby was a newborn. I was glad to know we would soon be using cloth. Then there are the chemicals in the disposables. Ick. I hate the smell, walking down the diaper aisle at the grocery store always makes me frown. People say cloth is no better because you do so much more laundry and use all that water. True, but disposables take a lot of water to make, we just don't see how much. And I think keeping stuff out of landfills is more important.
2. Good for the baby. Libby has had very few very minor diaper rashes that have all disappeared in a number of hours. Her lil booty is very happy in cotton diapers.
3. Good for me. We have never had a poop blowout in a cloth diaper. I have heard that this is often a once-daily occurrence in disposables, and I can believe it's true since we've had 3-4 of them and almost always have L in cloth.
4. Good for the family. I have already mentioned how cheap cloth diapers are. As I said before, we have probably spent around $300 on cloth all together, and I'm hoping to only need to spend $25-50 more before she's potty trained. That's two years away, folks. That brings me to:
5. Good for all. (sorry, I'm running out of individuals. This is probably actually "good for mommy and daddy") Cloth diapered babies are potty trained earlier because they are better able to tell when they are wet, and they don't like it.
So, cloth diapers. Check 'em out.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Diapers
We are a cloth diapering family. A friend of mine cloth diapers her son, who is about 18 mos older than Libby, and seeing her go through it made me interested. I started researching, and found out there is a TON of info and support on the Internet.
Because Libby was such a tiny baby (under 7 lb for the first 3 wks of life), we used disposables for the first two weeks till her umbilical cord stump fell off. She swam in Pampers Swaddlers Newborn, prompting us to unsuccessfully search for preemie diapers. I think she was wearing newborn size diapers for the first two months, certainly for the first 6 weeks.
When Libby was 2 weeks old or so (I think it was when my mom was visiting approx Sept 17th), we started using the Thirsties wraps I had bought before she was born. Someone online had recommended using washcloths as diapers under a cover instead of actual diapers, so we bought two 18-packs at Walmart and used two in each diaper. We also bought newborn size prefolds, about 12 of them. We had about 6 Thirsties. These worked until she was about two months old.
When Libby was two months old (early November), we bought size Small Thirsties (we had been using extra small) and started using the prefolds we had bought before she was born, which we had about 24 of.
At the end of December, we were getting ready for daycare. We bought 9 or so BumGenius pocket diapers, which are probably the most popular cloth diaper nationwide. We already owned 3, which we had used at night since Libby was a month old or so, probably. BumGenius are so popular because of their ease of use, and I knew daycare would be cool with them because baby W. (the aforementioned friend's baby) had worn them at the same daycare. We also bought four Thirsties Duos Size 2, which are size M/L, and 12 "red-edge GMD" prefold diapers to use at home, because Libby was already too big for the size small.
We now have about 14 Bumgenius, which is enough to have 5 per day at daycare, one at night, wash every other day, and not get nervous about running out. We have one of every color they make, and two of both shades of pink, both shades of yellow, and neon green. I love the colors!
Libby wore Size 1 disposables for only about a month, Size 2 the same. She was wearing Size 1 in November, maybe part of December, and wore Size 2 until about the 1st-2nd week of January. We bought a pack of Size 2 on January 1st in case the new BumGenius didn't arrive in time to start daycare, but they did, and she only used about 5-10 of those diapers before needing to go to Size 3. She should be in Size 3 for quite some time, since they're 18-28 lb. By the way, she was only 14 or 15 lb when she started wearing Size 3.
Okay, this was a really boring post, but I've been wanting to get it down so I have something to refer to "next time". Also for the record, we've spent about $250-300 on cloth diapering, which is the cost of 25-30 packs of disposables, which would have lasted 15 weeks at most. I don't foresee spending more money on cloth for at least a month, at which time I think $25-50 should fix us for another spell.
Because Libby was such a tiny baby (under 7 lb for the first 3 wks of life), we used disposables for the first two weeks till her umbilical cord stump fell off. She swam in Pampers Swaddlers Newborn, prompting us to unsuccessfully search for preemie diapers. I think she was wearing newborn size diapers for the first two months, certainly for the first 6 weeks.
When Libby was 2 weeks old or so (I think it was when my mom was visiting approx Sept 17th), we started using the Thirsties wraps I had bought before she was born. Someone online had recommended using washcloths as diapers under a cover instead of actual diapers, so we bought two 18-packs at Walmart and used two in each diaper. We also bought newborn size prefolds, about 12 of them. We had about 6 Thirsties. These worked until she was about two months old.
When Libby was two months old (early November), we bought size Small Thirsties (we had been using extra small) and started using the prefolds we had bought before she was born, which we had about 24 of.
At the end of December, we were getting ready for daycare. We bought 9 or so BumGenius pocket diapers, which are probably the most popular cloth diaper nationwide. We already owned 3, which we had used at night since Libby was a month old or so, probably. BumGenius are so popular because of their ease of use, and I knew daycare would be cool with them because baby W. (the aforementioned friend's baby) had worn them at the same daycare. We also bought four Thirsties Duos Size 2, which are size M/L, and 12 "red-edge GMD" prefold diapers to use at home, because Libby was already too big for the size small.
We now have about 14 Bumgenius, which is enough to have 5 per day at daycare, one at night, wash every other day, and not get nervous about running out. We have one of every color they make, and two of both shades of pink, both shades of yellow, and neon green. I love the colors!
Libby wore Size 1 disposables for only about a month, Size 2 the same. She was wearing Size 1 in November, maybe part of December, and wore Size 2 until about the 1st-2nd week of January. We bought a pack of Size 2 on January 1st in case the new BumGenius didn't arrive in time to start daycare, but they did, and she only used about 5-10 of those diapers before needing to go to Size 3. She should be in Size 3 for quite some time, since they're 18-28 lb. By the way, she was only 14 or 15 lb when she started wearing Size 3.
Okay, this was a really boring post, but I've been wanting to get it down so I have something to refer to "next time". Also for the record, we've spent about $250-300 on cloth diapering, which is the cost of 25-30 packs of disposables, which would have lasted 15 weeks at most. I don't foresee spending more money on cloth for at least a month, at which time I think $25-50 should fix us for another spell.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Don't it always seem to go
I cut Libby's hair tonight. Ten minutes later, I missed it. She has had incredibly long hair since birth. In the last month or two, it has become clear that it is just these little wings at the sides of the back that are super long, not the back in general. She also has some hair on top of her head that is quite long. I decided to even these areas up a little bit with the rest of her hair. I did this between bath time and bedtime, and as I nursed her before bed, I missed playing with that super long lock of hair. I put the cut hair in a little ziploc. Some of the pieces are two inches long, and I left at least that much in some places!
I wanted to blog about diapers and advice I'd give new moms (and myself next time), but it's going to have to wait till later.
I wanted to blog about diapers and advice I'd give new moms (and myself next time), but it's going to have to wait till later.
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