Monday, October 19, 2009

Alexis is 2 Months Old!


Last Night Alexis turned 2 months old! What a crazy 2 months it has been! I want to record what she is doing, and what life is like so that whenever I get to her scrapbook, I'll have something to refer to!

*Since last month, we have seen some leaps in the right direction. One big leap is car rides. While she used to scream every time we drove, and usually the whole time be it a 5 minute trip or an hour one, she now usually falls asleep!! Hurray! That is a huge improvement as we would all get stressed out every time we had to drive somewhere. Not fun listening to a screaming newborn and not be able to do anything about it!

*Although she usually falls asleep in the car, she still will not let us put her down to sleep when out of the car. As soon as we try to lay her down, she wakes right up. Example. She had been up most of the day today. Sleeping maybe 20 minutes at a time. After dinner Craig got her to sleep once again, tried to lay her down and said "let's see if we make twenty minutes." Eight minutes later.... So I am trying very hard now to get her to fall asleep on her own in her bed. This requires a bit of crying, and one of us standing near by to keep popping the paci back in. Hard to hear her cry but necessary for all of us.

*She still needs to be swaddled to fall asleep.

*On the 15th we used her last newborn diaper and started her on size 1's.

*She had a HUGE growth spurt this past week or so and all of a sudden fit in a bunch of her 0-3 clothes! Still quite a lot she doesn't fit in but it was fun to find some new things to put on her!

*On that note I noticed today that all of the tiny Gerber onsies she wore the first month or two now look super tiny next to her. Sad to put away her first clothes. Crazy to see how much she has grown!

*Tomorrow she will go in for her wellness visit and get her first round of shots.=0( This does not make mommy happy. I hate shots. =0(

*She is smiling a lot more and just started making some new cooing sounds. Adorable!!

*She is crazy strong and whips her head all around. She now can hold her head up for quite a long time!

*Her right eye still has a leaky tear duct that seems to have gotten worse instead of better. I spend a good part of the day wiping yellow goop from it.

*She doesn't have a bowel movement but once every 8 days or so. A few weeks ago she required "a little help". Poor thing!

*She is still incredibly gassy. Stinky!!

*She has been on medication for reflux now for almost 2 weeks. It seems to be helping as she is not spitting up quite as much. We will talk to her Dr. more about this tomorrow as we have only seen the Dr. out here. (And our Dr. back in Whittier is the best there is! Looking forward to talking with her!)

*She's been to Sea World twice this month, once for the first time! And she did really well!

*Her 2 month photo shoot was awful again. Got a few good ones before she fell apart and was once again inconsolable!

*She still wakes up a few times a night and eats once around 4am now. Still looking forward to a solid nights sleep!

*Along with the growth spurt came new roundness to her cheeks and she now has ROLLS on her little thighs!! Our boys were all skinny legged and I wondered if she would get the typical girl thighs! I didn't have to wait long for that answer as she is only 2 months and already getting them!! So cute!

*She is more aware of her surroundings. Something off in the distance will catch her attention and she will just stare and stare. She likes looking at fans and mobiles. She loves the one on her swing and that it has a mirror to look up into. Keeps her happy for a few minutes at a time!;0)

*Does much better with her baths. Usually gets one every morning and can get through most without any tears!

Tonight our little one fell asleep in her bed. It took a lot of patience and time, but we did it! Seeing bits of improvement here and there is very helpful to keep going! I am struck all of the time with the fact that I have a baby girl! I love her so much and am so thankful for her. No matter how much she has cried these past 2 months she still has a family that adores her. You would think the boys would have tired of that by now, but their love for her is unconditional. Truly amazing to see. We are complete with her here.







Strong neck!




Thursday, October 01, 2009

"It Will Get Better..."


I haven't been able to get on here and blog. Actually, I haven't been able to do anything. I am barely able to keep up with the three other kids, laundry, dishes and general picking up of the house. Alexis takes up most of my day...and to prove a point, I started this blog ohhhh about 6 hours ago but Alexis woke right up and screamed. So now she is in my lap after a feeding, it's almost 9:00 and I am hoping she will sleep a bit until her 10:30 feeding. I admit, I have been having a hard time. I love children, especially babies and especially newborns. This newborn is giving me a run for my money. I am often at a loss on what to do. I always had a certain pride or satisfaction at getting babies to stop crying. To help calm them. This adds to how hard it's been caring for Lexy. She needs to be held all day. She has periods in the day where even when I am holding her, she just screams. And today I was at the point where I was just too tired, to physically and mentally exhausted to get up, walk around and do the bouncing she needed. I sat in the recliner with her instead and just cried. That was a new low. I'm sad because everyone keeps saying, "It will get better". I know it will, what makes me sad is that she will be bigger when it is better. And I don't want to wish this amazing newborn stage away. I want to enjoy it, savor it, like I have done in the past with the boys. I'm also torn wondering if something is wrong with her. Does she have reflux, colic something that can be helped with medication? Is she in pain? I tried calling her pediatrician, left a message but never heard back. Knowing how wonderful she is I am assuming she never got the message.

I am so thankful for those that have encouraged me. Facebook has been a wonderful place for that. I am thankful for those reminding me this to shall pass, I just wish it could pass more peacefully. This is my last baby. I have looked forward to her arrival for what seems like forever and I reeallllly want to enjoy her. I would like to not feel so emotionally drained by the end of the day and not feel like my boys are getting the short end of the stick. And even more simple, I would just like to be able to finish my pregnancy album...do something other then taking care of children or cleaning.

It will get better.....





This is a picture of her last week when I talked about having her fall asleep on the bed while doing laundry!