So much development in 2 months

Adeline has made so many developments over the past 2 months! I have been writing them in a journal so that she can look back and read about herself. She sits up for at least an hour with no assistance. She's been doing that for about a month. Over the past week, she has been saying "ma-ma--- ma- ma--- maaaa maaa" etc. I'm glad I was her first word, whether or not she knows she's saying it. Sleep- She still does not sleep through the night, but wakes up every 3 1/2-4 hours to drink a 4 oz bottle. The websites say we should start sleep training, so we'll see if we can handle that. She is still sleeping in the rock n play, but is 5 pounds away from being too heavy in it. We put her to sleep in the pack n play (since she is still eating throughout the night, I'm too lazy to go down the stairs to feed her then come back up.. so the pack n play is up by our bed). After 4-5 hours of sleeping in the pack n play, she gets up for her late night feeding. I then move her to the rock n play. Napping- She has become a great napper. She takes a nap every 3 hours. She does not sleep for a consistent amount of hours, so we rush to get things done until she wakes up. Her naps range from 40 minutes to 2+ hours. Day care- Right now, my mom watches her 2 days a week, Nick stays home with her 2 days a week, and our close friend watches her on Friday's. This makes me so relieved because she is watched attentively and does not have competition for attention. Although, she is in her separation anxiety mode, so if you leave the room, she starts crying until you are sitting right next to her. Teething- She is not teething yet, but she is a drool queen. We have to change her bibs and onesies multiple times a day because she drools so much. It's cute and she is mouthing EVERYTHING! Baby-proofing- We put on the cabinet locks and a baby gate on top of one of the stairs. It will take a bit for us to get used to it, but it's better we put it up now than if she is already mobile and we're struggling to put stuff up. Giggling- She is SUCH a happy baby. She is always laughing and smiling. Everyone who meets her loves her. Strangers comment on how happy and chubby she is. I guess a well fed baby is a happy baby! I am looking forward to the future, especially the holidays.

Solid foods

On 07/12, we tried baby oatmeal cereal with Adeline. She did wonderfully! Needless to say, only half of the food made it into her mouth. She seemed to love it, though. I wonder if she'll always be so excited to try new foods. I hope to keep her on baby cereal for another month or so. I don't want to start her on veggies until she is 6 months. We'll see if she can last that long. Here is a picture for your enjoyment.

Weight loss goal

When I was right at the point of delivery, I had gained 42 pounds since becoming pregnant. (I was only supposed to gain 15-20, according to my BMI calculator). It was easy to lose the first 20 within the first few weeks. The last 22.. not so much. It took a month to lose the next 7 pounds. For the last 2 months, I was stuck at 15 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. Over the past 2 weeks, I have felt a bit thinner. I weighed myself this morning.. only 7 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. Almost there!!!!! Unfortunately, my goal is to beat my pre-pregnancy weight since I was "overweight" by doctor's standards. So in reality, only 20-30 more pounds to lose. ::sigh:: Wish me luck!

Discovering her voice

Adeline has discovered her voice! Over the past week, she has been making grunting noises just for fun (at least, I think they are because no other results come of it)But this week, she decided to start making high pitched noises. You can tell she is enjoying making the noises. Now, every morning, she is in her crib making the noises to try to get our attention. It really is cute, even though it is hard at the time to wake up. She grows so fast.

Naps

Adeline is a decent napper.. when you are holding her, when she is driven around in her car seat, or when she is in the swing. She does go to sleep okay in the crib or rock n play (at gma Keller's house), but she does not sleep longer than 30 minutes or so. Today, while at my parent's house, she cried for 15 minutes (with calm moments when I came in to pat her stomach and soothe her with my voice) until she finally fell asleep for 45 minutes. When she woke up 45 minutes later, I knew she was still tired. I rocked her to sleep in my arms, in which she fell asleep within 30 seconds. Once I set her down in the rock n play, however, she woke right up and started crying again. What was to be done? After 10 more minutes of her not going to sleep, I decided to try swaddling her. When she was first born, the hospital swaddled her oh-so-tightly. She did well at the hospital with sleep. Once we got her home, she seemed to strongly dislike the swaddle. No matter how tightly we swaddled her, she always worked her arm up out of it. She was like a mini Houdini! She also would cry and cry until we took her out of it. She always has loved sleeping with her arms in a "surrender" position next to her head. So today, I decided to swaddle her, just to see what happened. Instantly, Addy quieted down. After setting her in the pack n play, she stared off into space for about 2 minutes before she fell fast asleep. We are one hour in and she is still sleeping soundly! Could this be the new "norm" for her naps? Whatever works!

Changes are part of growing

Adeline is 14 weeks old! I didn't think I'd say it, but I've almost forgotten what she was like when she was first born. I was looking at pictures of her as a newborn and what a difference. I have loved being with her everyday to see her changes. That said, it makes me very sad that I have returned to work. While I have only physically been back one day (Thursday), it was a hard day for me. I wasn't crying on the outside, but inside, I missed her horribly. She is with my mom while I work, so at least I know she is being taken care of by someone who loves her. That still doesn't change how hard it is. It makes me sad that I might not see her first giggle, her first crawl, her first steps, etc. My mom has tried to help fill my heart ache by sending me cute pictures and videos of Addy throughout the day. One thing we have recently started was crib training. I knew this had to be done, especially since she is outgrowing her rock n play bassinet. She has done remarkably well. She sleeps in it for about 5-6 hours, then wakes up every 2-3 hours to eat. I am not sure if she is crying because she is hungry or if she just can't put herself back to sleep. I have to remember that she is only 3 months old and might not be ready to skip out on her night feedings. Below are some recent pictures: --------------------------- Rock n play --------------------------- Crib sleeping --------------------------- tummy time -------------------------- Her first full day away from me

First Mothers Day

Time is flying by too quickly. I will have to go back to work next week. Luckily, I can start by working from home, but I will have to do full time starting early July (as opposed to end of August, which was what I originally planned). This was just found out today. Yikes! Time to scramble child care up quick! I enjoyed my first mothers day. We had brunch with our close friends and their 3 children. We then went on a hike with them. Afterwards, we were able to relax at the house for a bit, then we went to my parents house. My mom gave me a journal to write things about Adeline along with my thoughts. I simply adore my little Addy. She is getting so big. I will weigh her tomorrow, but she is definitely over 12 pounds. My boss was kind enough to buy me 8 baby boot camp classes as my baby gift. This is definitely needed to help kick my butt back into shape! I am 3 classes in. I have to jam the next 5 in ASAP!