9 Months

Weight: 15lbs 4oz (3rd%)

Length: 27 inches (25th%)

Eating: We are eating anything and everything.  This has been our routine.  Nurse in the morning around 6:45 and then oatmeal with 1-2oz fruit at 7:15.  Then a bottle of expressed breast milk at 10:30, 3oz solids and 1/2 banana at 11:30 for lunch.  Then a bottle at 3:00.  Nurse at 5:30.  Dinner of about 5oz solids at 7:00.  Usually she will also eat whatever we are having for dinner.  She loves eating broccoli, carrots, pancakes, cinnamon apples.  She will eat chicken, ground turkey, anything and everything.  She still isn't too found of fruits.  I can get her to eat strawberries, bananas, and apples.  We tried kiwi this week and she actually liked it.  I've really enjoyed making her baby food.  It's been fun!  The last 2 weeks though she has been having a middle of the night feed around 2:00am.  I have no idea where this came from as she hasn't had a middle of the night feed since December.  Growth Spurt?

Bedtime: So we are still in limbo with this evening nap ordeal.  We tried getting rid of it to see if that would help sleep through the night.  eh not so much.  We are back to taking an evening nap with bed time around 8:30.  We usually do baby massages, pjs, brush our teeth and then story time.  If it's bath night, we do bath first then the rest of the routine.

Awake: She is awake for about 3 hours now.  I'm done with school, so I get to be a stay at home mom.  We are having fun with our awake time.  We have gone for walks, played in the water on the patio, worked on walking, clapping, waving, and blowing kisses.  We also read books and just play.

Naps: She has been taking a one hour nap in the morning around 9:30 and then typically a 2 hour nap around 12:30/1:00.  Then we do the 45-60 min nap in the evenings at 5:30.

Diapers: size 2

Clothes: 6 month clothes 

Favorites: This past weekend she started standing on her own.  She will let go and stand.  She has made it for about 1 minute now.  Once she realizes she's standing she usually plops back down.  If we keep her distracted with a toy in her hands, she can stand longer.  We are also starting to wave bye-bye.  It's so cute.  She has her hand facing her, so she's really waving bye to herself.  She just watches her hand when she does it and then gets so excited.  We are cruising across the couch.  She can walk holding onto our fingers.  She pulls up on everything.  We are having so much fun watching her explore everything around her.

Green Beans...YUCK!

We tried green beans this last week and Alexis wasn't too impressed.

We have tried them again and she is starting to like them.  Not as much as the carrots, but I can get her to eat them.

5 Months

Wow!  5 months already.  Mommy and Daddy are having so much fun watching you explore the things around you.  We love to hear you jabber away and tell us all about it.  We are very blessed to be your mommy and daddy!

Yum Yum Yum...Toes!

Look I can get my knees up under me and my belly off the floor.

I love tummy time!

Fingers are always in the mouth.

No teeth yet, but she sure is acting like she's teething.

Weight: 12.5 lbs (this was clothed with a diaper on at urgent care)

Length:

Eating: She is still breast feeding 3 times a day and taking 3 5-6oz bottles of breast milk a day.  She typically breast feeds around 6:45am, bottles at 9:30, 12:30, and 3:30, breast feeds around 6:00, and 8:45pm.  Those are all rough estimates.  While I was in Chicago for one of my interview trips, she stopped the middle of the night feed.  She woke up in the middle of the night.  Eric gave her her pacifier to calm her down while he was warming up the bottle.  When he went back to get her she was asleep.  She has been without a middle of the night feed for almost an entire month.

Bedtime: We start our bedtime routine around 8:30.  This consists of bath (which is every other day), baby massages (lotion time), pjs, Advent (we read a nightly short story this month), eat and bed by 9:15-9:30.

Awake: She is awake for about 2 hours at a time right now.  We start our day at about 6:45.  If she's not awake by then, we wake her up to get her day going.

Naps: She typically takes two shorter naps in the morning.  Then in the afternoon she will take about a two and a half hour nap.  She then takes a 45-60 minute nap in the evenings from 6:30-7:30ish.

Diapers: size 1 still,  Once we finish off what we have, we will make the transition to size 2.

Clothes: 3 months, we got rid of all of the clothes that were 0-3 month as they were too small.

Favorites: She sure loves morning time.  Once she wakes up she is all smiles and just "talks".  She really is a happy baby always smiling.  She loves to talk and we have heard a few ba-, ga, and even ma- out of her when she jabbers away.  She loves to stand.  If we are out to dinner, we just get her out of the car seat and she just loves standing to look around.  She also has figured out that she can "move."  She scoots around by pushing backwards and rolls around.  Long gone are the days that I put her down and she stays in one spot.  She can sit by herself in the "tri-pod" position.  She can sometimes sit normal for a few seconds.  She is starting to pull her knees up under herself while on her tummy too.  It's too cute.

Santa, I know him!!!

We decided to take Alexis to get her picture taken with Santa before Thanksgiving.  We figured the lines would be shorter now than after.  With an almost 4 month old, we didn't think she would make it in a long line just to get her picture taken with a total stranger in a red suit.

We decided to go to Bass Pro Shop because they had a really cute display for the pictures and a great looking Santa.  I picked her up from daycare yesterday, and we met Eric at Bass Pro Shop.  We got there at 5:30, and there was no line at all.  She was a little sleepy so we couldn't get a smile out of her.  She didn't fuss or cry, so that was a good thing.  Here is a picture Eric took with our camera.

How awesome is it to have "reindeer" in the picture.

We are so excited to enter our first Christmas with a little one.  Eric is ready to hit up the Black Friday sales.  I'm ready to decorate the house, and pull out the Christmas movies. 

We Have a Talker

Someone woke up from her morning nap and was just "talking" away in her crib.  Eric stood there laughing for about 5 minutes before I turned the light on and started recording.  She was just laying in her crib "talking" for about 15 minutes before I got her out.  She was very entertaining.  We love seeing her personality come out.

Happy Halloween

 Here are a few of our Halloween outfits that we wore the week of Halloween!

My Halloween PJs

What I wore to daycare on Halloween

Cupcake with a Cherry on Top

3 Months

Alexis is already 3 months.  I can't believe how fast time is flying.  We are having so much fun seeing her personality come through.  She may look just like her daddy but she definitely has her mommy's personality.  In the last 10 days or so she has really discovered her voice.  She loves to talk.  There have been mornings when she wakes up at 5:30 to eat but then just jabbers away without any interest in eating.  She is definitely a morning person like her daddy.  She will just jabber away playing on her activity center while we get ready in the mornings.  Then in the evenings she will jabber away as well.  Eric and I will just laugh and smile as we listen to her "talk".

 

 

Weight: 10 lbs (Eric held her and got on a scale, so this isn't exactly accurate)

Length:

Eating: She is still breastfeeding.  I'm so proud of myself for making it 3 months.  It was kind of questionable as far as rotations and pumping, so I'm super excited we have made it this long.  She has been BF around 6:15 in the morning before I go to work, then taking 4-5 oz of EBM at 9:15, 12:30, and 4:00.  Then she BF around 6:30 and 9:00pm.  She was waking up around 4am to eat but these last 2 weeks for whatever reason she has been getting up at 2am.  I'm ready for her to sleep through the night :)

Bedtime: Her last feeding is typically around 9:00pm and then she is in bed by 9:30. 

Awake: She is typically awake for 90 minutes in between naps during the day. In the evenings that is stretched out to about 2 hours.  We are still working on our evening routine to get her to have her last feeding later in hopes of sleeping through the night.  While awake she is either playing under the activity center or doing tummy time.  She typically just jabbers away.

Naps: She typically takes about an hour nap after getting to Ms. Julia's in the morning.  Then she will take another hour and a half nap late morning.  Then in the afternoon she will take about a two and a half hour nap.  Then in the evening she might doze off in the swing for 30 minutes.  Naps seem to have stayed consistent.

Diapers: size 1

Clothes: 0-3 months although she has to wear NB pants.  She has outgrown the 0-3 month footed pjs, so she is in 3 month pjs. 

Favorites: She loves her tongue.  She has figured it out these last few weeks and it is constantly sticking out.  She also always has her hands in her mouth.  She has figured out how to grab things.  She loves her Mr. Moose and Moose Kisses (see pictures above).  She loves Miss Caterpillar that hangs on her activity center.  She loves looking at the baby in the mirror.  If she is super fussy we just go into the bathroom so she can see herself.  She loves to talk to us.

2 Months

Wow I can't believe Alexis is already 2 months.  I wish time would slow down just a bit.

Look at those baby blue eyes

And we're done taking pictures because I want to eat my sticker.

Weight: 9 lbs 10 oz (25th %)

Length: 22 1/2 inches (50th %)

Eating: exclusively breast milk;  She nurses first thing in the morning around 6:15 before I have to leave for work.  Then she takes a bottle of expressed breast milk around 9, 12:30, and 4.  Then she nurses around 7:30 or 8:00 pm and then again around 3:00 am.

Bedtime: Her last feeding is typically around 7:30 or 8:00 pm.  That then puts her in bed between 8 and 8:30.  Then she wakes up one time around 3:00 and is back in her crib by 3:45. 

Awake: She is in such a great mood in the morning after she eats before I have to leave for work.  We can usually put her under the activity center and she will grab at the toys above her head and hit the toys on the floor that make noise.  It's so fun while I'm getting ready to hear her toys going off and hear her "talking."  This sure does make it hard for us to leave on time though since we want to sit there and play haha.  At Ms. Julia's she is typically awake playing for an hour and a half between feeds.  

Naps: She typically takes about an hour nap after getting to Ms. Julia's in the morning.  Then she will take another hour and a half nap late morning.  Then in the afternoon she will take about a two and a half hour nap.  Then in the evening she might doze off in the swing for 30 minutes or so while we eat dinner.

Diapers: size 1

Clothes: 0-3 months although she has to wear NB pants.

Favorites: She loves tummy time with "bubba".  She also just loves being in the activity center playing with her toys.  She has rolled from tummy to back about 5 times in this last week now.  She has been "talking" a lot this last week.  She also interacts with us a lot more when we talk to her and she will respond with a smile.  This really has been a fun month with her becoming more alert and interactive with us.  I can't wait to see what this next month brings.

We've Got a Roller

This week during tummy time we have been working on rolling over with a little help from mom/dad.  We would just ever so gently give her a nudge to help get her to her side and then she would finish the rest. 

When she got home from daycare this evening, she was in a great mood!  I decided lets do some tummy time.  She was doing great holding her head up, so I thought lets work on rolling over.  I just barely nudged her going from tummy to back.  Then we went back to tummy.  Then she went to her back all by herself.  Eric and I were both there to witness this milestone.  I immediately grabbed the camera to record it.

Rolling Over: 9/27/12 

8 weeks 3 days

The Many Faces of Alexis

Alexis is really starting to interact with us and make faces while we talk to her.  It is so much fun!!!  We are even starting to get some ooohs and coos.  Enjoy some of the many faces she makes :)

Our First Sick Doctor's Visit

So Alexis had her first doctor's appointment today that wasn't a well visit. :(

Off and on for the past 2 weeks one of the fat creases in her neck has been irritated.  I originally thought it was just from milk dripping down into the crease.  When I first noticed it, I started wiping her neck down after every feeding.  Then on Sunday I noticed it was beefy red and somewhat puffy.  It had somewhat of an odor, so I thought it was a yeast infection.

Thanks to a wonderful family physician I know, she told me it was ok to use an over the counter anti-fungal.  (Thank you Dr. P)  I used it twice yesterday and again this morning.  It was still pretty red this morning and she acted like it was bothering her.  I decided to go ahead and put a call into the pediatrician.

Sure enough, it was a yeast infection.  We got a prescription anti-fungal, and I was told to mix 50-50 with some cortisone cream to help with the inflammation three times a day.  I put some on her around 4 this afternoon once we got home, and at 8 after her evening feed it already looked a little less inflamed. Poor little girl!

Night Shifts

As part of my ER rotation, I have to work 4 night shifts (7p-7a). I chose to work Friday and Saturday nights, that way Eric doesn't have to work the next day. This past saturday was my last night shift. Woohoo!

So Eric sends me texts and keeps me posted on how the nights are going; ie. when she gets up to eat and that she is back down asleep. He did a great job flying solo. Not only did he have to get up with her in the middle of the night but he had to take care of her during the day while I slept. These past two weekends were rough for the bough of us.

Well Saturday morning around 5 or so I get a text from Eric with this oh so cute picture.

While he was feeding her, she had a blowout poopy diaper that got all over him, on the couch, and on her.  Well after he cleaned everything up he was talking to her and asked why she pooped on daddy. she just started smiling. So he took a picture. She has been giving us a few social smiles, but this is the first time to catch it on camera :)

Back to Work Already

Life as a medical student doesn't really allow for a maternity leave.  Alexis was born July 30th which I was technically still on my cardiology rotation.  I only missed 2 days of the rotation, so the school is allowing me to pass the rotation.  PHEW!!!  I was to start my next rotation on August 1st.  Luckily I scheduled a research month for August.  What that means is I was to use the month to finalize my big clinical research project I did during my fellowship.  This included analyzing the data and typing up my manuscript.  This is all something that could be done at home.  Well I didn't quite get it finished but shhh don't tell the school that. 

I had to schedule ER this month due to some scheduling conflicts for October.  The October rotation was to start September 24th.  With ER you are just required to get 15 shifts in.  Well that being said I had to go back to work on Saturday September 1st.  I was not excited to be leaving Alexis so soon. 

Eric's parents drove up for the holiday weekend which was nice to allow Eric to have some back up if he needed it with his first time being by himself with Alexis for more than an hour.  I had no doubt Eric would be fine, but it is just nice knowing there is help available if needed.  Eric did a great job sending me pictures through out the day while I was at work to help me out.  Here are some of the pictures Eric sent me while I was at work.  They all made me laugh and put a smile on my face.

The first picture I got that morning.  This is what she looked like when she woke up.  haha I just love this picture.  It's like she's saying "What?" with that arm up out of the swaddle. 

In the mamaroo taking a mid morning nap for daddy.

She got some new toys during a trip to Target.  The pink light is like a glow worm but it's a seahorse.  She loves it!

Laying on the bed talking with Daddy after getting up from a nap and diaper change.

Tummy Time!

Daddy was teaching her how to Box, "Bob and Weave"

That special moment when I got home and got to hold my baby girl.  I just cried!

It definitely was hard, but I am just that much closer to becoming a doctor.  :)