Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Happy 2 Month Birthday!


Awesome crochet hat
Originally uploaded by linuxgrl
Well, we're home from our visit to Virginia, which was lots of fun! Everyone misses her already and hopefully we'll be back very soon, by Christmas at the latest.

Right now Lauren's been sleeping in her swing for a few hours, which is way longer than she usually tolerates it. She's been sleeping through the night with me, which has done wonders for my mood, although my skin still looks like crap. Hopefully a trip to the dermatologist will help.

Usually Lauren wakes up a few times during the night to nurse, and then in the morning around 7 or 8 she starts kicking to let me know she's had enough and wants to go play.

This month she's really started smiling a lot and her eyes are much more focused. Zampano noticed yesterday that she was really watching him eat his dinner. She still loves playing in her play gym and practices standing up all the time. She has such an array of cute hats but really dislikes wearing them. Makes for a fantastic picture though!

Quite suddenly at around 6 weeks, she started pooping way less. It used to be with every feeding, and then all of a sudden it was once or twice a day. Big, huge yellow poops that smell oddly like buttered popcorn. Yesterday brought a giant blowout diaper that leaked in her cute new pants. I spent a long time trying to get the stains out but finally they faded to an acceptable level.

She has her 2 month checkup in a few days. Can't wait to find out her height and weight! She's grown so much I can't believe it. Our bathroom scale says she's 13.2 pounds!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

8 weeks

This week Miss Lauren is visiting all her family in Virginia. We took our little traveler on her first road trip, down through Philly, Delaware, Maryland and finally Virginia Beach. It took 11 hours, but she was good for 80% of the time. Spent a couple days visiting with the grandparents and great-grandparents. She cried a lot, maybe because she was gassy or tired, but eventually charmed everyone with her sweet smiles. We got to go through Zampano's baby pictures and baby book, and I think she is really starting to look more like him every day.

And then it was up to Richmond to visit with my sisters, who were just dying to meet her. Right now she is napping in my sister's arms, while my other sister is still asleep upstairs. Later today we'll go shopping for some winter outfits. Tomorrow we head back toward home. I'm really sad and wish that we lived closer to everyone. You never know, fate may bring us back down here!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Happy 6 week birthday!

Lauren Growing


Oh Miss Lauren, you're growing so fast!  This week brought lots of new cooing sounds, more rolling over, and a transition to almost 100% breastfeeding FINALLY!!! (except when I'm asleep, when we give her pumped milk in a bottle).

A couple of her onesies are starting to get really tight, and my favorite white footie PJ's (pictured) are starting to get a little short in the legs.  She also graduated to the single-head support pillow in her car seat!  I can't wait till her 2 month appointment so we can get her weighed and measured.

I had my 6 week OB checkup today and the ladies in the office were beside themselves at how cute she was.  One of the nurses walked her around the office and everyone said she looked like a little doll.  Even my normally somewhat grumpy OB was very charmed by her.

There have definitely been some moments when I've been completely exhausted and overwhelmed during these 6 weeks.  There have been many days that I haven't left the house at all, or showered till late in the afternoon because I couldn't get a second to myself.  But just sitting here writing, after she's been asleep almost 3 hours, I REALLY MISS HER.  I can't wait until she wakes up the next time, because my arms just ache to hold her.

I'm not quite sure how things will work out when I go back to school.  I found another 3rd year medical student on Ravelry who continued to breastfeed after she returned to school, and that gives me hope.  I don't know exactly how long I really WANT to breastfeed.  It's a lot of time and effort, and my acne probably won't get better until I go back on the pill...  But it's nice to know that it's possible.

I also started on weight watchers today.  Time to drop some poundage and eat healthier!  I can't imagine my breast milk is very healthy for Lauren when I'm eating nothing but chocolate and cereal all day :)