I can't believe that my little girl is already 4 weeks old. The time has already flown by. She is amazing and I can't imagine her not being a part of our lives. I will not say that there has not been a lot of stress, but I seem to be easily stressed out lately. Worrying about this an that and wanting to make sure I don't mess up this precious daughter of God. Here are some things that Ellie is starting to do right now
- Make noises other than crying and it is so cute. The first time she made a noise was June 25 and she looked around shocked and wondered where it had come from.
- She has such a strong little neck and loves to hold her head up.
- She also has very strong legs and loves to push against anything and everything. Patrick really likes to play the game with her to have her push against his hands when he is holding her.
- She is focusing on our faces pretty good and even sticks out her tongue if you stick yours out first.
- Ellie really likes to pee and poop every time we take off her diaper to change it. This was after the very first time it happened. Who knew that poop could shoot so far? It happens very often at night. Last night, Patrick was changing her and I heard him from the other room scream and I came running. It was all over his legs and all over our bed. Lesson learned, don't change her on our bed:)
During the night, I try to get up with Ellie and let Patrick sleep, because he goes to work, she had only been waking up once at night and then pretty early in the morning. After eating at around 5:30 or 6am, Patrick would get up and play with her and let me go back to bed. I absolutely love this picture. We don't actually let her sleep in our bed with us, he was awake and watching her. I will say she loves laying on our bed though and falls fast asleep every time. 
And this is one during an afternoon nap that I caught of him:)
- Ellie really loves bath time. As soon as she hears the water, she calms right down. She wouldn't mind sitting in there all day if we would let her.
- She really doesn't like to be all swaddled up. She loves to be able to move and move. Here is how I found her after a nap one day. I don't know how she did it, but she managed to wiggle her foot between the snaps. They were all still snapped too. She has also gotten her arm completely out of her jammies, but I didn't get a picture of that.
- One of my favorite things is that she loves to stretch and makes the best stretch noises/grunts when she is waking up. I really love this picture. She is just so darn cute!
Since I haven't been so great at posting regularly, here are the stats from Dr's appointments.
1 week
gained 7 ounces weighing in at 7lbs 10oz, still 20 inches long
2 weeks
gained again weighing in at 8lbs 5 oz, still 20 inches long
She is gaining weight really well and starting to get the cute little rolls on her arms and legs.
Right now I have been struggling to find some kind of routine. Getting adjusted to parenthood is quite a lot of work, which I was ready for, but the whole routine thing....hopefully that will come in the next few months. I am not sure why, but I stress so much about this. I have decided, with a little pep talk from my sister and mom, that I will just go with the flow for right now and watch to see what Ellie is doing, then decide how to tweak that and hopefully find something that works for both of us.:)
Ellie is such a good little baby and has put herself on a pretty good schedule where she eats about every 3-4 hours. She has a hard time sleeping though. She just fights it so much and sleeps great in your arms, which I love, but also want her to be able to sleep in her crib. Any suggestions are more than welcome on how to do this. Tonight is actually the first night that I laid her down awake and she fell asleep. YEAH!
I will also say that I was pretty emotional for a few weeks after she was born. Crying all the time. Patrick took this picture tonight and wanted me to post it with the caption that I am feeling much, much better and not crying ALL of the time:)
I am sure there is much, much more that I have to post and want to say, but it is really late for me and I am sure Ellie will be up shortly, I really should be sleeping right now. We love having her in our family and are so excited for everything to come.
I can't believe that my little girl is already 4 weeks old. The time has already flown by. She is amazing and I can't imagine her not being a part of our lives. I will not say that there has not been a lot of stress, but I seem to be easily stressed out lately. Worrying about this an that and wanting to make sure I don't mess up this precious daughter of God. Here are some things that Ellie is starting to do right now
Right now I have been struggling to find some kind of routine. Getting adjusted to parenthood is quite a lot of work, which I was ready for, but the whole routine thing....hopefully that will come in the next few months. I am not sure why, but I stress so much about this. I have decided, with a little pep talk from my sister and mom, that I will just go with the flow for right now and watch to see what Ellie is doing, then decide how to tweak that and hopefully find something that works for both of us.:)
Ellie is such a good little baby and has put herself on a pretty good schedule where she eats about every 3-4 hours. She has a hard time sleeping though. She just fights it so much and sleeps great in your arms, which I love, but also want her to be able to sleep in her crib. Any suggestions are more than welcome on how to do this. Tonight is actually the first night that I laid her down awake and she fell asleep. YEAH!
I will also say that I was pretty emotional for a few weeks after she was born. Crying all the time. Patrick took this picture tonight and wanted me to post it with the caption that I am feeling much, much better and not crying ALL of the time:)
I am sure there is much, much more that I have to post and want to say, but it is really late for me and I am sure Ellie will be up shortly, I really should be sleeping right now. We love having her in our family and are so excited for everything to come.
14 comments:
I am so glad you are feeling better, I cried a lot the first few weeks as well, but I guess you know that it does get better. I hope you get a routine all figured out, it makes life so much easier, sometimes you just have to go with the flow. It will come! I love all the pictures, Julie was a swaddle baby, she would sleep a lot longer swaddled. I am glad you are having so much fun with her, babies are just so precious.
It's good to hear how you guys are doing. It's so exciting and life-changing! I don't have any advice yet with a schedule, but some ladies in my branch have suggested (multiple times) reading the Babywise books.. I guess they are all about putting your baby on a schedule. I have yet to read them though. I'd be curious to see what other people think.
She's growing and changing so fast and I'm not there to watch!!! Can't wait to see you all again. Love my daily pictures.
Nicky, Maren is 7 months old and I can tell you that the first two months or so I was a stresscase too. Maren had the same sleeping pattern you just described. I thought I would never have a routine again. And I didn't think I was that emotional, but looking back I realize that I was all over the place. Anyway, all this to say that I think your mom and sister are right on, and that the best way to make it through is to just go with the flow and have no expectations...especially in the sleep department. Obviously every kid is different, but what I wish I'd done is try to enjoy that time holding her to get her to sleep (instead of feeling frustrated about how long it was taking). Before I knew it she was falling asleep on her own (with a little help) and now she doesn't sleep on me at all. I was worried that I was creating a dependence on me (by always rocking her to sleep), but I was WAY too worried about that.
That said, a book I liked was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weisbluth. I still reference it. Good luck! Things will (they will!!) settle down in the next month or so!
She's so cute! And you are lookin great!
I love the stretching picture! It is so cute! I'm glad to hear you are feeling better!
What?! That was my first thought.. I can't believe she's already 4 weeks! She's darling, and I love all of her hair. I'm glad you are feeling better too! You look great.
Cohen has always been on a really good schedule since he was born. I read most of Babywise and like it for the schedule purposes- but I don't like letting them cry it out when they are that little. Basically it said routine should this "eat, wake/play, nap." repeat. I would sit at Cohen's crib and stroke his head and whisper to him and sings quiet songs to help him calm down and fall asleep. He always feel asleep pretty easy in his crib, every baby is just different. He hasn't fallen asleep in my arms since he was really really little, and sometimes I wish he would. So just enjoy, and don't stress too much. Although it is sooo nice once they get on some sort of routine. Good luck :)
ps. SO EXCITED for harry potter!!!
OK....go with the flow, girl! I did read a bit of the Babywise book but liked the Healthy Sleep habits happy child one better. Of course, I don't think I started reading them until Spencer came along. OR maybe Kelsey. That said, I agree with the non cry it out theory at this stage. Just hold her and relax. She'll learn, for now. Just let the two of you get used to each other and help her know she isn't alone and is loved loved loved loved loved...that every time she needs something you are there. She'll learn to sooth herself in time and all will be well. Can't wait to see her this weekend or next week....yeehawwwwwwww!
Oh my goodness. . . what a doll! Her little legs are absolutely adorable!
As a mom of the most high maintenance baby I and my family and friends had ever seen, here's my advice (Sarah was great in the eating dept but horrible at sleep)
1. Do what ever is easist for you and the baby until she's 6 months--you can't spoil a newborn and you can't teach her anything either.
2. Schedules suck, routines rock. The difference is that a schedule goes by a clock, a routine goes by the baby's needs.
3. After that, meet them where they are and go slow. Sarah had a hard time sleeping on her own as newborn. The bathroom fan and oven fan helped. We had her bassinet in the bathroom during naps for months. But they change so fast. Today's problems will be nothing in a month or two--you'll have a whole new set :)
4. In a year, she'll be eating and sleeping fine, no matter what you do now so just enjoy her.
She's beautiful! In that first picture I think she looks a lot like Patrick. I'm glad you showed off her rolls, cuz I was thinking she looked pretty skinny otherwise-LOL about getting out of her jammies w/o popping open a snap.
So happy to hear your happier now. Sadness comes to all new mothers. It's normal, it sux, but it's normal, expecially the tears. I'm so glad she went to sleep when you laid her down. We would try to have a bedtime routine to let Erik know it was night and time to sleep a lot. The main thing I remember doing is having specific jammies, not just putting him to bed in what he wore that day, and saying it was night time, and laying him down after the last feeding and diaper change.
You'll get a rythm going, don't worry. And don't be surprised that each day is different. I had the hardest time scheduling a photo apt with JC Penny becuase, yes he ate then soon slept every 3 hours but that was different times each day. So You're normal!
She is absolutely precious! I love her! Congratulations, you two! You have such a beautiful little girl!! Wish we could hop back there and see her!
She is a doll, look so much like her mommy! I had a hard time at first also, it is stressful being a first time mom! If you like reading get The Happiest Baby On the Block, one of the best baby books out there. They even have a little DVD of it that is helpful also.
Oh my gosh! I only have two things to say.
#1 - Ellie is adorable.
#2 - I LOVE that you have no problem posting pictures with poo on your pajama pants. :) YOU ROCK!
Love you all! Can't wait to meet the little sweetheart.
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