Lauren is walking!!!

walking2
Originally uploaded by linuxgrl

It's been way too long since I've blogged last, and there have been a million changes! Lauren is WALKING, as you can see in the video! My poor baby book lies helplessly abandoned on the shelf, and I'm just hoping that I can go back through and piece it all together from my videos and pictures on Flickr.

She has 6 little teeth now, 4 on top, 2 on the bottom. Her favorite food is american cheese, and she happily picks up each piece and puts it in her mouth. Foods she doesn't like end up in the seat next to her or on the floor. She still can't drink from a sippy cup at all. She bites the mouthpiece and some water usually dribbles down onto her chest. She does great when I give her sips from a small cup without a lid though.

My days have been really busy - I've done my Peds rotation, OB/GYN and now I'm 11 weeks through Internal Medicine. There have been a lot of long days but I reconnect with her at night and we always, always nurse to sleep.

She *almost* sleeps through the night now. Her usual bedtime is at 9pm and we always give her a bath right before, and then we snuggle and nurse to sleep. I put her in her crib and then I sleep on the mattress on the floor in her room. Last night she slept till 4am! I think I can almost head back over to my old room now, which would be awesome! The mattress on the floor is not doing my back any favors.

She does great with table food too now. Usually she begs for a bite or two of whatever we're eating. Today it was pancakes, sometimes eggs or pasta. She even had a bite of Jambalaya once, and the spiciness didn't bother her at all.

She loves going to the park and playing in the grass. The texture is fascinating to her. She loves to pick at every flower and leaf. She could play for hours.

It's been an amazing journey so far and I'm so proud of us for doing so well! We can't imagine life without her now and she really brings so much joy to us every day. I can't wait to give her a little brother or sister someday!

First food!

Today Lauren took her first bites of food! We got the whole thing on video which will be posted on flickr soon. We gave her a few bites of watered down rice cereal. She seemed intrigued and didn't cry at all. It took her a long time to swallow what was in her mouth, she just gummed it awhile before it finally went down. Immediately afterwards she cried to be breastfed and then went down for a nap. I'm hoping for a good long nap... if it works, we might start feeding her a bit every night before bed, to help her sleep better.

She sleeps well at night, but only because we co-sleep. It's hard to know exactly how long she's sleeping because usually I just latch her on and go right back to sleep. Sometimes I don't even wake up enough to remember in the morning! For instance, last night she slept 12 hours. I went to bed at nine because I was sick, and she joined me. I woke up at 6:30 and she actually kept sleeping till 9, which is very unusual for her. Usually she wakes up shortly after I leave for school, sometimes before.

As far as my schooling goes, the long hours of inpatient Peds are over. Outpatient peds is much better in that respect. It's pretty much an 8-5 schedule, with a nice lunch break. I get to see my baby girl a lot more often, which makes me very very happy!

Almost 5 months!

New Outfit
Originally uploaded by linuxgrl

I can't believe I haven't blogged since before Thanksgiving. It's been such a whirlwind since that time. We drove home for Thanksgiving, Christmas and then on Jan 5 I started back to school. I'm doing my Pediatrics rotation which is a lot of very long hours.... I get in around 6:30 and leave at 6:30 or 7. It's been very hard being away from Lauren all day but I think we're doing great given the circumstances.

Lauren has grown so much! At her 4 month checkup she was 27 inches, 16.8 pounds, which is above the 90th percentile for babies her age. We're still exclusively breastfeeding and it looks like we'll make it to 6 months, which was my goal. I pump 3 times a day at work, which I'm really proud of. It's actually been no problem at all. Several of the residents have babies so they're really understanding.

Her new favorite thing is bath time. We just fill up the regular bathtub with shallow water (so her face isn't covered) and lay her down and she splashes away! She smiles the whole time and cries when we take her out. We try to do this right before bedtime so she sleeps well.

We're still cosleeping, which is not something I'm in a hurry to get rid of, at least not yet. I'm away from her for such a long time every day so I really want to be close to her at night. Plus, she still eats once or twice during the night and I'd have to get out of bed to feed her. Too much work! I like our situation just fine and she'll sleep through the night alone someday.

She's really laughing a lot lately, at the strangest things. We bark at her like dogs, say the word "dada" over and over again, and she laughs and laughs. It's the cutest thing ever.

Overall, I think things are wonderful right now. We have a happy girl, a great daycare and I'm doing fine back at school. What more can you ask for! :)

Bottle Strike

Tonight was hard... Lauren's been refusing bottles lately, and we've been using the gentle approach - offering tiny bottles before or after a feeding, and she always cries like we're feeding her poison. She absolutely has to be willing to take a bottle before we send her to daycare. Plus, in a week, we're heading on yet another 8 hour road trip, and it's soooo much easier to pump and feed while we're on the road.

This morning, I woke up with a really sore nipple, from too much nursing to sleep... It was the perfect opportunity to try and get her to take a bottle. For 3 hours, we distracted her and kept her entertained while she got hungry enough to finally break down and take the bottle. Zampano played the guitar, I walked circles around the apartment while holding the bottle in her mouth... She didn't cry, but she would just chew on the nipple, without sucking.

I was just about to break down and nurse her when she finally took the milk... one tiny bottle, and then a full big one... So I guess it's bottles from now on, at least most of the time. It's a shame, because nursing is so much easier for me, and I really enjoy it. There's nothing to wash, nothing to heat up...

In other news, I've been feeling really down lately, and I think I may have Seasonal Affective Disorder. Looking back at my patterns of depression, it always seems to get worse in the winter, and definitely got worse once we moved up north. I may consider buying one of those lights... one of my professors swears by it!

Almost 3 months!

Just a few more days until Lauren turns 3 months! She'll start daycare in mid-late December and so we're trying to prepare for that. Unfortunately, she's decided that she doesn't want to drink from bottles anymore, just from the breast. She cries and fights anytime we offer it. I don't know what we're going to do - for a while she'd take one a day and then now, none at all.

In good news, the dermatologist actually helped my skin a lot! She put me on Finacea, which is azelaic acid. It's just about the only thing you can take while nursing, and I can't believe it actually worked. I'm not acne free by any stretch of the imagination, but it's such a dramatic improvement that I'm amazed. I've got so many red marks that still need to fade, but hopefully makeup will help a lot with that.

I do have a fun Lauren story to share today... We bought an ocean wonders aquarium on ebay, and she really likes it. We've only had it a few days, but the other night we put her down and left the room. Then, over the baby monitor, we hear a thumping noise, and then music starts playing. In disbelief, we walk into the room, and she's actually turned the thing on by herself! She turned herself around 90 degrees and kicked it until it turned on. I thought it was a fluke until it happened again today! It won't be long till this kiddo is mobile so it looks like it's time to start babyproofing. Yikes!

Sleeping through the night

Last night, Lauren slept from 1:30 to about 8am! She's started to be increasingly fussy in the evenings, nursing lots and lots, to tank up for the long night. Last night we went to bed as usual (I nurse her to sleep) and even though she got lots of milk, she still fussed until we gave her an extra bottle. She's been sleeping around 4-5 hours at night but this was the longest ever, to my knowledge. After breakfast, she usually sleeps till about noon, and then all of us eat together.

These last few weeks, she's really started showing lots of personality! She smiles all the time now, and loves to babble. We're so lucky to have such a happy, sweet girl.

It shouldn't be long before she's able to play with more toys. When she plays on her play mat now, she's much better with her hands - grabbing the rings on her butterfly toy or the dangling ladybug. She also loves the Lamaze Giraffe toy with the jingling bell legs.

Lauren sings!

Lauren sings!
Originally uploaded by linuxgrl

She Sings!

Last night, Lauren did something really cool. Zampano's been telling me for a couple days that she will mimic him if he sings to her. So I tried singing lots of songs to her - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the ABC song, Happy Birthday.... Didn't work. She didn't seem impressed at all.

So then he showed me what he was doing - just singing 3 notes at a time. If you do that, she'll sometimes give you a huge smile of recognition, and then she'll try and copy it. She doesn't always get it right - sometimes she doesn't sing back 3 notes, just 2, but it's incredibly cool that we're actually COMMUNICATING!!!! Even after we stopped playing the game last night she kept on singing - in her swing, on her play mat....

I shot an incredibly long video of last night's attempt, but it's too huge to put on flickr. I have to edit it down, or shoot a shorter one. It's coming though!

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!

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!

Happy 6 week birthday!

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 :)

Video of rolling over

DSCN1651
Originally uploaded by linuxgrl

Baby's 4th rollover, caught on camera. I think she gets lots better traction on the yoga mat. Her play mat is just too slippery!

5 weeks!

Today Miss Lauren had her hip sonogram to check for dysplasia, which is common with breech babies.  I'm happy to say that her hips are perfect!

After her exhausting workout last night, Lauren slept for 5 hours, which is a new record!  And this morning she flipped over again!

Today was also my first time leaving the house with Lauren alone.  I wasn't supposed to drive or exercise for 6 weeks but today I did both.  It's been 5 weeks and I've honestly had the easiest recovery ever. I feel fantastic.  My exercise was the stationary bike for 15 minutes and I took a little nap afterwards.

Well, time to feed the baby again!

She Rolled Over!!!

Lauren enjoys lots of tummy time on her play mat.  Usually if she gets fussy after a meal, we put her down on her tummy and she lifts her big head up and down a little bit.  It always seemed to quiet her down.

But everything changed today, because she realized that she can roll over.  She got really close a couple of times today, just as the camera ran out of batteries.  It's a hell of a struggle - she thrashes around, kicking her legs, spinning around in circles on the mat.  She can't quite coordinate which arm and which leg to use to push herself over.  But tonight she actually did it... TWICE.

And then tummy time was never the same.  No longer a quiet, easy exercise session, she actually remembered rolling over (which amazes me!) and immediately tried again and again to do it.  After a very intense workout, she took a huge bottle and fell asleep deeper and much faster than usual.  The kid is one day short of 5 weeks old.  I think it's normal for babies to roll from front to back at 2-3 months.  

This absolutely requires a video.  One will be posted tomorrow if we can capture the moment!

Note to self

1.  NEVER drink coffee again until you stop breastfeeding.  Not even if the baby books say 1 or 2 cups of coffee a day is fine.  Doesn't matter how tired you are.  Power through it!  You will end up with a cranky, bitterly angry baby who will fall asleep for 2 minutes and then wake up screaming...  This cycle will repeat for hours, until you want to throw yourself out the window.  Don't do it.

2.  Less important, but still potentially embarrassing.  Do not eat dairy!  Not even those Mexican popsicles you love so much.  Not even if you take a lactaid tablet with it.  It will not help.  Your baby will be gassy and uncomfortable, and will fart loudly like a little old man, attracting the attention of everyone around you.  Not to mention the smell... 

Happy 1 month birthday!

I can't believe Lauren is already a month old!  It's taken us a while to figure out this whole parenting thing but I think we're starting to get the hang of it!  Zampano and I take turns sleeping and then have together time in the afternoons/evenings.  Finally I feel slightly rested!

Probably the best purchase we've made so far is our Graco swing. (on sale for $89 at target!)  She adores the nature sounds and even if it doesn't put her to sleep every time, it at least entertains her for a half hour so I can pump/wash bottles/shower/eat something....

She's starting to make some new noises and might be starting to social smile (at least I thought so a couple of times)...  She loves tummy time and really enjoys crawling upwards on my belly.  If I give her something to push her feet against she can crawl all the way up to my face!  I weighed her today on our highly inaccurate bathroom scale and she was an even 10 pounds!

Just to keep things organized, I've started a new flickr set for her second month of life.

Loose Change

Loose Change
Originally uploaded by linuxgrl

I know this is a baby blog and all, but this is so crazy I just had to share. Zampano likes to buy scratch off cards occasionally at the supermarket, and apparently we've hit on a winning streak. These 4 scratchers are worth $56... All 4 are winners, and we've only played these 4. We should totally go back to the store tonight and buy the whole roll!

Burger King

Zampano and I took a nice drive to walk around the lake at Skaneatelas yesterday.  On our way home, we stopped at the Burger King drive-thru for some food.  Lauren rarely ever cries when we're in the car and driving, but the second she smelled the food in the car, she was hysterical.  Unfortunately I was in the front seat so somehow I had to maneuver around, remove the front seat headrest and stuff a bottle in her mouth.

Apparently I used to cry at restaurants when the food would arrive too.  :)  I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

3 weeks

Lauren at 3 days...

and at 3 weeks!

She's really filling out nicely!  Her newborn clothes fit a lot better now.  Won't be long before we're moving on to the next size.  Zampano bought some onesies for her and we're hoping to at least get one use out of each before she outgrows them.  These PJ's are the best though since it's already starting to get chilly here in Syracuse.

One of my favorite times of day are those early morning feedings when we curl up together on the couch and fall asleep.  She always starts breathing heavy and her eyes roll back in her head.  Then she'll squeak and grunt, and do some stretching.  It's the cutest thing ever.  I think she's starting to have trouble sleeping without me though, which is a bit hard, since occasionally I like to shower and do other things.  But she's still so young and I really don't want to deny her anything.  For now Miss Lauren gets whatever she wants. 

In bad news, my post-baby weight loss seems to have stalled.  For a while there, I was losing 1 or 2 pounds a day (probably all water).  And now I'm stuck at 12 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight.  Time to start cutting back on the chocolate, I guess! :)

The horrifying cystic hormonal acne has not yet decided to leave, or even improve...  Maybe it's the breastfeeding, maybe the extra weight.  Most likely it's the lack of birth control pills.  Maybe a combination of all of the above, since I NEVER had acne like this before I got pregnant.  The worst of it is on my jawline, but it's all over the place - back, shoulders, chest.  I've got these awesome giant boobs and can't show them off!  It's a disgrace! :)  Anyway, I guess I never planned to breastfeed forever so at most it'll be a couple more months.  Maybe I'll go see a dermatologist...

Almost 3 weeks

Well, haven't had much time to blog lately with the baby keeping me busy, but I figured I'd better write down a few things before I forget them entirely.  The days go so fast now, it's ridiculous.

1.  Milk - I've got ridiculous amounts of milk now!  The fridge is stocked with an overflowing number of bottles on the top shelf.  It took awhile (probably longer than for most people) but now Lauren is on 100% breast milk with plenty to spare.  Pretty soon I'll need to start freezing it, since it only keeps 3 days in the fridge.

2.  Sleep - very unpredictable.  Sometimes she sleeps 3 hours at a time, sometimes only 1 or 2.  I'm completely exhausted but I've found that I can sleep pretty well with her in my arms on the couch.  The worst part about breastfeeding is that I have to pump or feed her every few hours.  If I wait too long, then supposedly my milk supply will decrease.  Haven't had that problem yet but I don't want all my hard work to go to waste.

Ugh.  Too tired to write more... must go take a nap while Zampano cares for her for a few hours...