Olivia 2 Month Update

My sweet girl turned 2 months old on September 11th. It feels like she's been with us longer than two months but at the same time like we just got home from the hospital. We had her two month appointment on September 4th (not sure why they scheduled it that way) and to say the day was bad would be an understatement. I don't want to take a lot of time explaining, so the short version is this: fussy morning, screamed the whole way to the pediatricians office, office was closed for a "staff meeting" (aka lunch) and not opened until 15 minutes after our appointment time, five shots, mommy didn't get to eat lunch until 3:30.  Awesome.

Anyway, my lady bug is growing right on track. She is 22 inches long (53%) and 10 lbs 11 oz (45%) with a head circumference of 14.6 inches (25%). Even though we are still using a shield to nurse she is getting plenty to eat. However, she is a snacker and wants to eat a little at a time all day long (9-10 total feedings per day). Because you can't force a baby to nurse I just go with the flow and follow her lead. I am somewhat comforted by the fact that she does already give me one 5 to 7 hour stretch a night (between feedings) so I know she has to make up for the lost nighttime feeding during the day. Her normal pattern is to have one last "snack" at around 8:30 or 9:00 pm then sleep until 2:30 or 3:00 am. After that, though, she never really goes back into a deep sleep and makes a ton of noise tossing and turning only to wake up for another feeding about 2 hours later. So, even when I get a significant chunk of the 5-7 hour block (which isn't often with miss squeaky, snoring husband, meowing cats and Nathan talking in his sleep) I'm still a zombie in the morning. On the plus side she has finally grown out of the screaming, squirming feeding sessions (hooray!!!).

My beautiful family

An example of the horribly uncomfortable positions she likes to sleep in.

It is amazing to see changes happen in your baby, especially in the first 6 months. Every week brings something new and fun. In the past few weeks we've started getting gummy grins and she coos every now and then. Those sweet dimpled smiles make up for the hard times in a matter of seconds. She seems to be stingy about giving me smiles, maybe because I'm with her all day long. Rotten patootie. But I know in a matter of a few short weeks she'll be actually laughing and I'll be able to snag a few more smiles for myself.

Livy is in size 1 diapers and 3 month clothes. My favorite thing to put her in are onesies with a "dress" overlay. It's easier than a dress with bloomers because  you don't have to worry about the dress riding up and scandalizing the neighborhood. I don't put her in headbands too much at home but do try to remember when we leave the house to avoid those awkward questions or comments from strangers who want to compliment but can't tell if she's a boy or girl. I have been really good so far about using the bows and headbands we have already for economic reasons, but once Jimmy finishes his phD and starts work I foresee myself developing an Etsy addiction!

Physically my sweet girl definitely takes after her daddy. She has his eye shape, nose, cheeks (complete with dimples), and jaw line not to mention his darker skin tone and hair. However, I do think she will eventually "lighten up" like Nathan did and is going to have pink undertones to her skin rather than Nathan's olive ones, meaning she'll burn instead of tan. You're welcome Livy-bug. Her eyes right now seem to be brown but both Jimmy and I see some green tones in the right light. We are really curious to see what her hair does. My little sister was born with black hair like this but came back blonde after falling out. Time will tell and I refuse to wish any of it away!

Speaking of time, Olivia certainly takes her time making dirty diapers. Usually 5-7 days to be more specific (perfectly normal and safe for a breastfeeding baby). Because Nathan did this exact same thing I don't worry this time around, I just count the days and plan for the inevitable blowout diaper. In fairness to Jimmy, I did recently have a diaper fail courtesy of a Day 6 diaper. I won't give you all the yucky details, but I will mention that pack n play mesh is very hard to clean and two baths in one day never hurt anybody.

As far as her personality miss priss does like to be held.  All. The. Time. She's not quite as content to hang out in her bouncer and watch life go by as her brother was at this age. She would rather be toted around in my arms so she can be part of the action. On top of that she doesn't do that well in the Moby wrap yet.  I have become very proficient at doing things one handed: eating, tidying up, brushing teeth, reading books to Nathan, washing hands, carrying around the bouncer, typing and more.  My sweet girl is slowly starting to have longer periods of what I call "happy awake time." That is, time when she's awake and not being a fuss-budget. I use that time to get small things that require two hands accomplished and for reading books to her and having tummy time (which she hates). Despite loving to be held, baby girl is a good self soother (you know, for a two month old). Like any young baby she does need a paci or her hand every now and then to help calm down, but usually she can do without. I think when she figures out how to get her thumb properly in her mouth it will be game over and I'll have a good sleeper on my hands. As it is we still swaddle her, not really because she still has the startle reflex, but more because she starts thrashing around and punching herself in the face. Not restful!

Baby girl loves her daddy. He is really good at getting her to calm down and is so much more confident with her than he was with Nathan at this age. See exhibit one:

Exhibit 2: this is what I call her "happy daddy place." This is what I see after he's been holding her for a while. Rotten.

Livy is a very tolerant baby sister. Nathan is adjusting okay to having an attention stealer little sister. His primary strategy is to ignore her and ensure that I am NOT holding her. He still tells me to put her in her bouncer, give her to daddy, or plain don't pick her up. Instead he wants me to pick him up, hold him and play with him or just sit and watch him while he plays. If she's in her bouncer he'll go over to love on her, tickle her toes and give her kisses. He even occasionally wants to hold her.  She takes it all in stride. It is so adorable to watch her track Nathan as he moves around and she gives him smiles even though he doesn't appreciate them yet. Nathan also goes out of his way to be disobedient when I appear holding sister or if I'm nursing her. Some of this is just being two years old, but I will hear him being perfectly good with daddy then I come downstairs with Olivia and he promptly becomes whiny, needy and deaf. This too shall pass.

It is good being over the 2 month hump. Not that I get anything more accomplished, but at least now I get smiles for my efforts. The only lingering problem is that she still has thrush (a big reason why I still use the shield since I also suffered for about 5 weeks). She originally got it at 4 weeks old right after I finished two consecutive rounds of antibiotics for mastitis (oh, the many joys of breastfeeding).  I just can't get the darn stuff to go away! We even tried gentian violet for three days (pediatrician's recommended duration) which was super messy. As Jimmy said, it's not just a catchy name! I only got pictures on Day 1 and Day 2 because Day 3 was Sunday and we were a hot mess that morning. I felt the need to keep explaining to people that no, I did not put lipstick on my infant and yes, she is in a two day old stained onesie because I didn't want to ruin more clothes. We sit across from the youth group and Jimmy said we got some interesting looks from the girls that morning! Luckily by the next day you could hardly tell she was purple and the following day she was back to normal.

As I finish writing this Livy is almost 11 weeks old. We are moving her to her room this week and have our first trip to South Texas next weekend for the wedding of a dear friend who is practically another big sister to me.  Olivia isn't the best traveler and isn't afraid to express her dislike of her car seat, but luckily she wears herself out within 20 minutes. A really really long 20 minutes! So, look for an update on that adventure soon (or, you know, within two months of the actual event)!

Oh! How did this cute picture of Nathan get in here?!?

Lady bug, Mommy loves you with everything. You are already growing into a beautiful little doll and showing your loving personality.  My favorite days are spent snuggling with you and just staring at your precious sleeping face. You fill my heart and I pray that we come to have the mother-daughter relationship I have always dreamed of having. But even if our relationship someday isn't so wonderful, know that I will still love you. Mommy is always here for you, angel. Always.

"The Zoo, Yay!"

That was the reaction we got from Nathan when we told him we were getting ready to leave for the zoo this past weekend. He was soooo excited to see the animals and specifically said he wanted to see the tiger and lion.

But let me back up. The whole reason we went to the zoo was because Jimmy's cousin George (or, JR) and his wife and daughter came back up to Katy to visit us again before their second daughter is born in late November. The weekend also happened to be Darlene's birthday, so they wanted to do a little more than just sit around our house and shoot the breeze all day. Viviana (their adorable daughter) had never been to the Houston Zoo, so that was first choice of activities.

The weather was terrible Friday night and didn't look to be much better Saturday morning, but we kept an eye on the radar and ultimately decided that it was going to be dry enough to go. Turns out we for there about an hour too early and had to do some inside exhibits for a while to kill time waiting for the drizzle/rain to stop. The day stayed overcast and cool even though there was 1000% humidity and sticky, so the animals were out and pretty active. Well, except Jonathan the Lion who was taking his usual belly up nap by the glass of his exhibit area. The tigers were feeling particularly amorous and I was thankful my kids are both too young to ask uncomfortable questions about why the boy tiger started to, um, wrestle with the girl tiger.

From the cats we circled around to the African side of things and saw the chimpanzees, rhinos, and giraffes. Nathan got to color a rhino mask and take a picture with a rhino character. At first he didn't want to get near the guy, but when he saw his cousin go fearlessly up to him and get a hug and a picture he wanted to do the same thing. He hesitated again until Mommy went and stood by the rhino, but he still wanted to keep an eye on it just to make sure. Poor guy.

The highlight of the day for Nathan was getting to feed the giraffe! We always go and see the giraffes, but we usually aren't there during feeding time. However, this time we made it and there happened to be a very cooperative giraffe at the fence with a few other patrons. Since the line was so short we went ahead and paid the $5.00 for three lettuce leaves (what a racket!). I was afraid he wouldn't actually want to feed them once he got so close, but Daddy held him and he gave them to the giraffe with no problem. He was so excited to tell me and is sure to hold up three fingers when telling anybody about the experience.

By that time Livy was tired and hungry (weren't we all) so I stopped at the cafe right by the giraffes to feed her and sent the boys off to the carousel. By the time they were done with that Nathan was tired and ready to go home. Knowing that he would fall asleep on the way home we all got a quick lunch before heading out. He was asleep before we hit the freeway.

We had a fun but exhausting weekend (for this mama anyway)!

The Aunts Go Marching...

A few weeks ago (okay, a month) we got to spend a little time with Nathan and Olivia's Aunt Kelley and Uncle Chris. They weren't able to visit long, but we enjoyed having them here and letting them snuggle with Livy. You'll have to excuse Kelley's platinum locks...her stylist needs to re-review the chapter on dyes before she touches someone else's hair.

We also enjoyed a slightly longer visit from Aunt Ashley who flew in from California to meet her niece and play with her nephew. Olivia and I went to pick her up from the airport and even though I really worried about how it would go (lady bug is not the best traveler) she did great and slept most of the time. With Ashley visiting and the lure of the grand babies as strong as ever, Lolo and Momo and Popo also made the trip up here. While they were here Jimmy and I managed to sneak out for our first date in a long time. Hooray for relatives! Olivia was a little fussy that weekend with so much activity and Nathan mostly played with Popo as usual. Aunt Ashley tried to play with him but for some reason he was kind of mean to her all weekend and insisted that he didn't like her and would get mad if she tried to play with him. He was probably bummed she didn't bring her dogs, although if he ever met Jude (her 75 lb golden-doodle who thinks he's the size of Prince, her 20 lb poodle) in person he would change his mind. He loves dogs but is only used to small dogs and gets a little freaked out by bigger dogs who want to get in his face (which pretty much defines all dogs). Anyway, hopefully he'll be nicer to her at Christmas!

In between the aunts visiting, Grammy came to visit. You know what that means! Laundry gets done, dishes stay washed, dinner gets cooked and kids get snuggled. Oh, and Jimmy and I get a hug or two in there as well. My babies are so blessed to have such wonderful grandmas and aunts to love on them.