Thursday, December 6, 2012

2 Months!



Did two months really go by that fast? I can't believe Isla already had her first Thanksgiving. I'm so excited for all the "firsts" for Isla...first Christmas, first Valentine's Day, first President's Day.....but as each one goes by it means she is closer and closer to "toddler" status. My goodness, how do we keep our babies from growing up!? Alex and I are always excited about new things she does or noises she makes. Life with her gets better and better everyday.


At 2 months Isla is now 10lbs and 10 oz and 22 1/2 inches long! 


While we are on the subject of "firsts" we had our first big parenting scare. Some of you may have seen on Facebook, or if you were in my class  you saw me leave with tears in my eyes. Alex called while I was in class and told me that Isla was in her swing and started to flail her arms and legs. He ran to her and saw she was turning colors and couldn't breathe. He hit her on the back and pushed on her chest and it took about 15 seconds for her to take a breath. He called the pediatrician and they advised us to go to Children's ER in St. Paul. We took here there and the Dr. (after telling him the story three times, its like he didn't believe us) said it was most likely acid reflux that she choked on. Then he went on to tell us that her eyes looked funny and spent the rest of the time telling us to get her eyes checked out immediately (her eyes have always seemed fine to us). Needless to say I wanted to punch this guy in the face. We stayed up in shifts that night (because had Alex not seen her flailing he wouldn't of known she wasn't breathing because she couldn't make any noises). The next day we took her to Ready Care and had a better experience with a Dr. there. HE thought her eyes looked fine. But he also said it was probably acid reflux and an extreme case of choking. Most babies will clear their own airway but this time was different. After talking to my aunt who told me about pyloric stenosis, I also insisted that she have a GI test to make sure it wasn't something else. The GI test was normal so the conclusion is that the breathing issue was from acid reflux. She has baby Zantac but it only helps with the pain, not the acid reflux itself. So now we watch her even more closely and she still sleeps next to the bed (the plan was for her to be in the crib by now, but we're not comfortable with it while she still has the reflux). She hasn't stopped breathing since, thank goodness. She does gasp, gurgle, spit up in volumes, and cough though. I can't wait for her to outgrow this so we don't have to be scared anymore. But then I'm sure there will always be something to be scared/worried about.....

Here are some pictures of our happy girl.....and sometimes our not so happy girl :)





Some of our favorite memories from the last month are:
 Her cooing! She makes so many different noises now
She is smiling! She loves her changing table and the bathtub the most
She is starting to track objects and likes to watch the bears and stars that circle her swing
She is still farting and sneezing or coughing at the same time
Oh, and of course...the new obsession with the binky.... (I hate to admit it but there have been one or two nights where I have fallen asleep holding the binky close to her mouth so it wouldn't fall all the way out, while she was in the rock and play. Sometimes a mom is just desperate for sleep...)
Her eyelashes are growing and getting darker!


Don't mess with my binky...

Oh and of course, the embarrassing bath pictures.....one month old and two months old




Isla's first Thansgiving was a success. She loved the turkey, mashed potatoes, and egg nog the most. Just kidding. Here are some pictures...







Isla loves her daddy's thumbs

After Thanksgiving, we decided to have Christmas before Christmas while Dad, Julie, Jonathan, and Wesley were visiting.



We love her little reindeer butt!


We are really looking forward to our moms coming out this month and next! Isla is loved by so many people, but her Nana and Grandma Laurie are just dying to meet her and hold her and kiss her and we can't wait for that to happen.


Saturday, November 10, 2012

1 Month!

My baby is a month old! Actually as I'm writing this she is 1 month and five days...time goes so fast.



Week four and five memories:

Alex holding Isla after he got home from work telling her how she melts his heart to butter

Holding up Isla with her face right in front of mine telling her how much I love her, and her spitting up in my face

 Doing tummy time for the first time and she was able to turn her head from side to side

Putting Isla in the moby wrap and her spitting up directly down my shirt

Isla held up her head for several minutes even while I was burping her

I learned that you MUST bring an extra outfit in the diaper bag

Isla went with me to my community site for my Master's Project and was such a good baby

I think that Isla smiled for the first time (that wasn't gas) on 11/9, but Alex doesn't think its official enough yet to write in the baby book

Isla coughing/sneezing and farting at the same time never gets old

We used 240 diapers in about 28 days averaging 8.5 diapers a day. Not bad really. That's about $45 a month for diapers so far. And as soon as we subscribe and save on Amazon, it'll be even cheaper. 

Isla met so many people this week - she went to Alex's and my work, and met two of my friend's kids (which was a glimpse into the future for me- one in which we will not have china in reach and we'll have gates blocking the stairs :) )




Wishin time would stop right in its tracks....              






Isla and her friend/wardrobe coordinator Nicole :)

                                                                                      





Barley has become quite possessive of the lap of whoever is holding Isla - sibling rivalry?

 I can't enough of her little footsies

 Remember - tummy time is your friend :)





Playing with her good friend Erin and

 Isla meeting her friend Angie






Official one month picture

 And at one month, Isla is not sitting up on her own yet!
Whoops!

Isla attentively listening to her Nana's voice through the recordable story book


  And finally...cheese, oh how I miss you. It's only been two full weeks of going dairy, red meat, and tomoato free but its definitely making a difference for Isla. So I guess its worth it :)

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Catching Up

The last three weeks have gone by in the blink of an eye! Literally, a blink of the eye, since that seems to be as long as I get to close my eyes for at one time :)


 Isla's first visit to the Dr. went well, she gained some weight and was at 5lbs 14oz. Still such a small peanut at 5 days old.




We decided to have family cuddle time (FCT as we nicknamed it). 




This is one of my absolute favorite pictures so far. I don't care how I look, its just amazing to be so close to my baby girl and I love how we instinctively face each other.

The first week Isla was home, Alex was home from work and it was so nice. He cooked all the meals and helped keep the place clean so I could just concentrate on learning how to breastfeed. I never knew I would have so many questions. We even took a breastfeeding class, but until you are doing it for the first time, you wouldn't know what kind of questions to ask. Luckily I have a few breastfeeding moms for friends who were very helpful when I would text or call. Also, we had a nurse come out to the house on day 6 and she was also helpful. I never knew the benefits of breastfeeding until a few months ago. I have to say that I am impressed with the amount of support that is now available for moms. It just takes the courage to ask questions and seek out help if you are struggling. Its now week 3 and I still have questions. Breastfeeding is definitely more of a commitment than I thought it would be, but I think it is worth the work.


We gave Isla her first bath that week. It was a little stressful :) She screamed the entire time and her little lower lip was quivering, she was so cold. We couldn't put her in the water though because of her belly button stump. Luckily she had her ducky towel to keep her warm afterwards. Her belly button stump fell off at day 9 and she was much happier once we could place her in some warm water while washing her.

Other Week One Memories:
Alex was pooped and peed on, which has never happened to him before
I had to "practice" going to Target with the baby before Alex went back to work
We discovered that it's possible to think that "sharts" are adorable




Week two we were still learning alot. Alex went back to work and I was with baby girl by myself for a long time. She was only sleeping for a couple hours at night (like one hour at a time for three hours) so I was trying to figure out what to do to help her sleep more at night. She also appeared to have major gas pains which was worrisome for us. She wasn't screaming, but grunting, kicking, and fussing. I even took her to the pediatrician because we were worried. They said it was pretty normal though and gave us some suggestions to try which included feeding her every two hours (except at night). At 12 days old she weighed 6lbs 9oz and was growing very healthily!

Isla was able to meet Grandpa and Grandma Julie in her second week.


I had to give Isla a bottle and a pacifier at two weeks because I was going back to school. I had to leave for about six hours on Friday, Saturday, and that Monday. I was so sad. I knew it would be hard to leave and I hated doing it so soon. I was also stressed about how much milk I had frozen and if it was enough to cover the times I was gone. Everything went well though and the bottle and milk were not a problem.

Week Two Memories:
I don't know how much Isla has grown in inches, but her little legs are too long to rest on my arms when I hold her across my body now
Many more smiles now - although its probably just gas
Isla is making eye contact for longer periods of time
We found daycare!

     Look at that eye contact! My friends at AM will appreciate this :)

Onto week three! Grandpa and Grandma Julie were here all week and helped to watch Isla,  It was awesome. I was able to get some much needed things done around the house and homework. In fact Julie...can you come back? I've already messed up the baby's room ;)




Isla's getting more and more fussy and having crying fits at night (between 12am - 5am). We thought it might be acid reflux. We took her to the Dr. today though and they assured us that Isla is perfectly healthy! Apparently projectile spitting up and gurgling and hiccups 3 -4 times a day is perfectly normal. She just may have colic. I even brought in a video to show the Dr. how Isla fusses in her sleep. Its just hard for me to see her strain, grunt, kick her legs, etc., and to think that she is ok. But if the Dr. says so..........

Here is the video...does anyone else's baby make this much noise during naps and at night?



This video wasn't the one I wanted to upload, there is another 30 second video where she is doing the same thing, but just throughout the whole video. But anyways, you get the idea.


After her 1st church service

We might have picked a hat that was too big...whoops


YAY!                                          

 Her feet are my favorite

 
Hey Isla, maybe if you slept more at night you wouldn't be so tired during the day ;)


Week Three Memories:
Isla went to church for the first time
Isla pooped and peed while I was changing her diaper. The poop shot out and went through the mesh on the pack and play onto the floor and all over my pants :) So far, everytime she's peed or pooped outside of her diaper, I just laugh. Maybe eventually I'll get annoyed
Continuing that thought, Isla peed all over the scale at the Dr.'s office today
Baby now weighs 7lbs 11oz so she is thriving :)
ONE night this week, I actually got 4 hours of sleep in a row for the first time since she was born

P.S. I had to change the background of the blog. I figured purple is her color, and this layout looks more organized to me