~ Months 4, 5 and 6

It's been forever since I posted Ivy's monthly pictures! Here are months 4, 5 and 6. Even though I never posted anything here, I was still taking her photos and writing down things as she accomplished them. I look back and it's crazy how much time has passed, but at the same time it feels just like yesterday that she was a Newborn!



Dear Ivy,

Your personality really blossomed during this time! You came out of your shell and showed us what sweet and a happy baby you were, and still are at 9 months old right now.


4 months:




You were sleeping amazingly at this point, from approximately 9 to about 5 in the morning. Oh how I miss those nights!

Wearing 3 and 6 months clothes.

You liked to nap, during the day, in someones arms and hated the bassinet and your crib.

Still disliked car seat, but you were getting better. It was hit or miss and you cried about half the time.

Tummy time you still hated and would scream.

You hands were in your mouth all the time!

You would play with your paci, while it was in your mouth, but couldn't take it out and put back in yourself.

At the end of 3 months you starting reaching for objects.

You loved to be sung too and would smile. Songs that I would sign to you were, Old Mcdonald and This old Man.


5 Months



You had your first Thanksgiving, with your dad, at your Uncle Troy and Aunts Melissa's. I spent the day at home as I had pneumonia. :(

The 4 month wakeful period hit and you were up every 2 hours at night. You also went on a bassinet strike and the only way I could get you to go to sleep at night, was if it was in bed with us.

You started being able to pick up items and they instantly went in your mouth!

You were wearing mostly 6 month clothes, the occasional 3 month item would still fit.

Still only napping in the arms of your dad and you also decided that you didn't like your swing anymore.

You were better with the carseat and as long as the car was moving you didn't cry.

Tummy time was getting a bit better. You would look around for a couple of minutes, but then you would start to cry and face plant the floor. You rolled over from front to back for first time.

The cats enthrall you and you love to stare at them!

Your feet are a sorce of entertainment, when you lay on your back. Things you also loved were the jumperoo and the "I found love" video from Yo Gabba Gabba.

You do not like to lay on your back or lean back in someone's arms. You struggle and try to sit upright.


6 months

You learned to sit upright at the beginning of 5 months but it took you the rest of the month to become a pro. You were much happier once you could sit by yourself.

First bath in the big bath tub! No more Puj tub.

Rolling over more when doing tummy time. As soon as you were placed on your tummy, you would roll over.

Sleeping wise you were better. You were always easy to put down and but you were still waking up at 2:00 and 4:00 to nurse.


Look how much we have grown! Prior Monthly Photos

Semi Update & Big Girl Car Seat

This post was written... oh almost 2 months ago and I never finished it. In fact, I haven't blogged in almost 3 months. Where have I been you ask? Well, I have been sick: two colds, strep throat and an ear infection. I have been working, cleaning, sleeping and being a mommy to an ever on the go, crawling, little girl who is almost 10 months. Yikes! Just trying to juggle this thing called parenthood, while still trying to stay social with family and friends.

I have had several people comment on the lack of posts on here so here you go, this was written 03/26/11:

Today we went to BRU and got Ivy a convertible car seat. She has always hated the infant seat with a passion and is always trying to sit forward in it. Since, she weighs so much now, we have been leaving the car seat in the base when we go anywhere. We figured that she might enjoy the convertible seat more.

Turns out she does. She is slightly more sitting up and not reclining as much and this equals a much happier baby!



And in case any of you mommies out there didn't see, this week the AAP announced that they now advise babies and toddlers should be rear facing until 2 years of age or until they exceed the weight or height limit for the car seat.

I Found Love

Ivy loves this video! Her eyes get real big and she smiles.



I have the words memorized, that's how much she loves it. :)

My New Obsession

After working all day and not seeing my baby, when I get home I just want to kiss her all over, squeeze her and never let go of her. When I wear her, I get to go about doing things and all the while having her close to me!

Until recently, I have just been using a sling. Unfortunately after awhile, the sling starts to hurt my back and shoulders. We also have a Baby Bjorn, which we got when I went to Ellen's Mothers Day show. David loves it, but I find too bulky and hard to move around in.

I started doing research on other ways to wear your baby and came across wraps. I specifically wanted something that I could wear Ivy in and do housework at the same time. I considered getting a Moby Wrap but noticed that they were not recommended to be used to carry your baby on your back, due to them being stretchy.

So, a woven wrap it was! Thanks to the lovely girls on the AP board on the Bump.com, I became familiar with the baby wrapping world, which I never knew existed!

There are so many different types of woven wraps, different sizes and they are just beautiful. They are pricey, but I was able to find a used one that I loved on a FSOT board, that was a great price.

Woven wraps are definitely not easy to use. They take lots of practice. I think this one reason why they aren't very popular. It has been a fun learning process.

Here are some pics of a finished project. I believe this was my 3rd try at it and the first time that didn't leave Ivy crying. I was super excited after this and really proud of myself. What I didn't realize at the time though, was that I totally messed up the last couple of steps and Ivy is not supported well, at all! I was doing dishes and she started to slip down. I was a little horrified, once I had realized what I had done.

Didymos Indio Lilac, 4.6 m, supposed to be a double hammock carry

I made sure to re-read the directions several times before trying again! It's still a work in progress, but today's try was pretty good and Ivy and I ventured out of the house to get the mail!

Day 19: Confessions

Not everything is perfect in our household.

 

 

~ This morning for breakfast, I ate half a slice of Kahlua Coffee Chocolate Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. I opened the fridge and I saw it sitting there and then it said: Eat Me. How could I resist?

 

~ I haven't done one load of Ivy's laundry, since before she was born. Many thanks to my wonderful mother in law for doing it for me.

 

~ Hmmm... that last confession just made me realize that I haven't done a single load of laundry at all. ::bows my head in shame:: Thank you David.

 

~ I really need to buy my parents Christmas gift and send it to them before Christmas this year. I am already a terrible daughter, because they got last years gift when they came out to visit Ivy in August.

 

~ For a slight moment yesterday, while pumping at work, I wished that Ivy was on formula. Pumping is a pain. I give props to all the moms who exclusively pump. I don't think I could do it. I soon remembered though all the positives to continuing to breastfeed and I would miss it if I weaned her now.

 

~ Sometimes after a long week of work I don't want to share Ivy. So when out and about visiting with family and friends, I will put her in the sling. People are less likely to ask her to hold her when I do this. 

Day 18: Reaching

At almost 4 months, Ivy has started taking a genuine interest in her toys. In just the last day or two she has been reaching for them. For awhile now, she might accidentally hit a toy with her hand, while laying on her play gym. She normally just stares at the toys for a couple of minutes. For her to really like them, it had to make sounds or light.

Well when I came home today, she was making very intentional movements with her hands. Grabbing at the hanging toys or batting at them! I thought it was maybe just her doing it accidentally again but this was definite reaching.

Since, she likes to stand more now and is playing with her toys, I think she finally may be ready for a jumperoo!

Day 17: Wordless Wednesday

Day 15: Baby's 1st Christmas Ornament

In David's family, him and his brothers were given a Hallmark ornament each Christmas. When we got married, all of the ornaments came to live at our house. We have since carried on the tradition for ourselves and we typically by each other an ornament each year. I think this is a great tradition and plan on doing this for our children as well.

So, I have been searching for Ivy's 1st ornament and here are a couple of ones that I have seen and liked.

Lenox

Lenox

Hallmark

The problem is that I can't decide which one I like the best!

Day 14: Weekend in Review

Overall it was a pretty good weekend! Busy, relaxing and productive.

Friday night, Ivy and I got all bundled up and went with Jenni and Dave to one of the local high schools football game. It was Ivy's first game and she did great. She slept through most of it, including sleeping through the screaming done by the young boys behind us. When she was awake, she was really intrigued by all the sights and sounds.

Saturday, Ivy and I went to a friends baby shower and then made a trip to Trader Joe's. I also made this flan for our friends wine tasting/dinner party. I'm not normally a big fan of flan, but this recipe was really good! I want to make it again. The wine tasting was fun and like always the food and company were great.

I also noticed that Ivy has figured out how move her pacifier in and out of her mouth. It has to be in her mouth first for her to be able to do it. She can't pick it up and put it in her mouth. Well she can pick it up, but she ends up trying to put it in backwards or sideways.

Then today, we went to church, then lunch with David's parents and then came home and cleaned. This evening the family came by for pizza and hanging out.

Whew! I need another weekend to relax from how busy we were!

Day 10: Recent Photos of Ivy

I realized that it's been awhile since I posted some photos of Ivy, so here you go!

Day 9: First Real Laugh

Last Friday, Ivy gave me her first real laugh at 3 1/2 months old! For awhile now she would give us kind of a half laugh. Kind of like a "ha ha". But this time it was definitely a laugh. It sounded like giggles almost. Supper cute!

And of course when I grabbed my phone and tried to record her, she stopped. That little rascal!

Day 5: Excitement

Here is a little video that I took the other day of Ivy talking. Sorry for the not so great quality as it was taken on my cell phone. She normally talks and coos in this sweet quiet voice, but this time she very excited.

Day 4: Chunky Legs

I put Ivy in the Bumbo today and her not so little legs barely fit! She can't be getting too big for the Bumbo already. She is only 3 months old! She will probably be able to use for a little while longer, but not as long as I expected. Boy am I glad, we are just borrowing it and didn't buy one ourselves.

My little girl is growing up too quickly!

Day 2: Pumpkins, Fall and a Ladybug

Even though Ivy was not old enough to go trick or treating this Halloween, I still insisted that we dress her up and take photos. So, I bought her a very cute ladybug costume and we ventured out to the pumpkin patch in Yucaipa and tried to take some photos.

They came out pretty good. It was cloudy out and Ivy still squinted the entire time we were there. :( But what can you expect from a 3 month old!

So here is what we were able to get.









I can't wait for next year when she is more active!

Day 1: ~ 3 Months

Dear Ivy,

You are now 3 months old and getting bigger each day. I am constantly amazed at what a wonderful baby that you are. You are rarely fussy. You are sleeping through the night. The Lord has definitely blessed us!

Physically: You are still in 3 months clothe,s but some are getting small on you. You can wear some 6 month clothes. I weighed you the other day and you are close to 15 lbs! I think your hair may be becoming more red, which I still can't get over the fact that you have red hair in the first place.

You have sticking your hands in your month for awhile, but it's only just recently that you started holding your hands together and playing with them. You sit in the Bumbo and stand with assistance. You still hate tummy time and your car seat. You have not rolled over yet or started reaching for objects, but I am sure you will learn to do these things soon.

I went back to work 2 weeks ago and I miss you so very much while I am gone. When I come home though you greet me with the biggest smile. We started swaddling you again a little after 2 months and you started sleeping for 6 to 7 hour stretches. You were still going to bed after 12 though. I was worried about this when it came time for me to go back to work, but you all of a sudden started to go down at 9:30 after eating. I wake you up around 5:30 and feed you before I leave for work and you sleep another 3 hours for dad, eat again and then go back asleep for 2 more hours.

I am really looking forward to the next couple of months, as we head into the holiday season. There will be many firsts for you and I can't wait!

Love,

Momma

Getting So Big!

I know I am late on doing Ivy's 3 month post and picture and hopefully I can do it tomorrow. Until then, here are some photos of Ivy's first time in the Bumbo!

First 2 Weeks of Work

Going back to work went better than I anticipated. I didn't cry when I left in the morning, which really surprised me. That evening was another story. As I got her and myself ready for bed, I cried because I kept thinking about how I had to go back and how much I had missed her. But like everyone said it got easier each day.

The first week I did half days and on my first day back, by the time I went and did my drug test (silly that I had to do one) and came back. it was almost time to leave. I am really glad I did this as it it helped me ease back into work and getting used to pumping.

This past week of working a full 40 hour week went well. My first full day, David brought Ivy to the office so my boss and a couple of the other ladies could meet her, as they had been sick when I had brought her in previously. I miss Ivy so much while I am gone, but I am busy at work and the day goes by really quickly.

David has been doing an awesome job of watching her during the day. She has been sleeping great and sleeps late for him. She has started going to bed around 9:30 and I have to wake her up at 5:30 to feed her. I have been getting around 7 hours of sleep each night, which is awesome!

When I come home, I try and savor each and every moment I have with her, before going to bed. We have done a lot of cuddling and I have been putting her in her sling more often, so she is close to me. Somehow though, I need to work on fitting in cooking dinner and cleaning into our schedule. I am sure with time everything will fall into place.

Going back to Work

I would love, love, love to stay at home with Ivy, but unfortunately it's pretty impossible for me to do so. We have crunched the numbers and thanks largely impart to my student loans, I can't stay at home with her.

So as of Monday, I will be back to work. :(

She will be at home during the week with daddy. This makes me feel so much better. If I can't be at home with her, the next best thing is Dad. I know the two of them will form a special bond because of this, which is a plus.

In preparing to go back to work, I began pumping a couple of weeks ago to build up a stash. I also started taking Fenugreek in efforts to bump up my supply. I started taking it when I started pumping, so I'm not sure if it has actually helped. I think it has though. I figure if it doesn't help, oh well as it's not hurting me to take it.

One thing that I dislike about it, is that I now smell like maple syrup. Yuck! I hate maple syrup. David thinks it's funny. The plan is, if I am able to pump enough at work and not have to dip into my stash or do additional pumping sessions while at home, I will probably stop taking the Fenugreek. And if not, I guess I will smell like maple syrup for several more months!

Ivy is also exclusively breast fed and I knew I wanted to introduce the bottle in advance, so David didn't have any problems when I actually went back to work. When we introduced the pacifier at 4 weeks, she would not take one. We tried several different types and she finally took a Nuk, but that was also with a lot of persuading. Because of this, I was so sure we were going to have problems introducing the bottle.

Well, when it came down to it, she took the bottle from David like a pro! Whew! I took a really cute photo of her taking her first bottle, but I can't find the camera anywhere!

The bottle that she ended up taking was the first one we tried, which was the Medela bottle that the pump provided. I also have some Weil Baby bottles that I received from the Ellen show, but we haven't tried them yet.

So far, she has taken several bottles from David and a bottle from my mother in law, with no problems. I have not given her any, as I fear that if I do, she might decide to reject the boob, due to the bottle being easier. My goal is to breast feed for a year or more and unless I absolutely had to, I don't want to do anything that might decrease my supply.

Going back to work also has required some new clothes. I hate spending money on new clothes, especially when my old ones are still nice, but my old ones don't fit. I have lost all of the baby weight that I gained, all 40 lbs! Wohoo! But, my boobs increased dramatically in size. I went from a small B to small D. Holy cow!

My pre-pregnancy clothes also tended to be on the form fitting side, so the bigger chest, plus the tiny bit of belly left, doesn't work in my book. Properly fitting clothes are a must when dressing professionally for work! We went shopping and I came home with several new shirts that I am looking forward to wearing!

I have 4 days left of maternity leave and I am trying to savor every moment that is left. I decided that I will not fret over going back to work. I will not spend this time worrying about it and being a bad mood. Nothing can be done to change the fact that I have to go back, so I am going to enjoy these last 4 days with baby girl!

And if any of you have any of you working mommas have advice, I am all ears!

~ 2 Months

Dear Ivy,

A couple of days ago you turned two months! TWO MONTHS! I seriously can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. I was watching video the other day of your first bath and you were so little. You are not my little Newborn anymore. ::tear:: You are a chunker! Time needs to slow down!

You have developed so much in the last month as well. You are much more interactive. You smile and coo all the time now, which started around 6 weeks. You also mimic our facial features. If I stick out my tongue, you will do it back. You have learned to put your hand in your mouth. You can now track objects and you love to stare at your mobile.

Physically, like I mentioned already you have grown leaps and bounds. At your most recent Dr's appointment you were:

12lbs 9.5 oz: 90th Percentile!
23 inches: 75th Percentile

You grew out of the Newborn clothes and have grown out of most of your 0-3 month things. Your eyes are still blue and your hair still strawberry blond! :D You developed baby acne around 4 weeks and it finally went away at around 8 weeks. It was sad to see your little face sooo red. You were sick for the first time ever at 8 weeks. You developed a little cough and you were very fussy for a couple of days.

Sleeping is going pretty well. This month you really liked your swing and would nap in it during the day. For some reason though, when it comes to going to bed, you will not go down in your bassinet unless it's after 12pm and you have to be very tired. Most nights you give us a 4 to 5 hour stretch and then two hour stretches from then on. In the early mornings, I normally put you in bed with us, as I miss having you close to me. Soon, I will be going back to work and I really hope that you will start going down in your bassinet earlier.

And I am constantly amazed at how I love you more and more, each and every day. By becoming a mother, you have filled the missing puzzle piece in my life. I thank God for bringing you into our lives!

Love,

Momma