Caitlyn @ 10 Weeks

She's getting so big and growing so fast it makes me happy and sad at the same time! We took her to her 2 month appt last Monday (Nov 17th). She weighed 11 lbs 7 oz (75th percentile) and is 23 in (50th percentile). She has really bad reflux issues. We had her taking Zantac, but it didn't seem to be making a difference so the pedi switched her to Prevacid. I think it's making a little bit of difference but she still spits up all the time. It doesn't seem to bother her most of the time it's just a huge mess. We keep a bib on her constantly because it's easier to change that then her clothes all the time. She got 3 shots and an oral vaccine while we were there. That was heart breaking. Since I'm still breastfeeding they let me feed her right after the shots and that seems to calm her down pretty quickly.

Milestones:
She's smiling more and more and starting to giggle a little bit too. I love talking to her because she's starting to respond back. When I say hi to her she trys to mimic the sound and say hi back. It's so precious!!! At 9 weeks she finally figured out how to keep her thumb in her mouth! So she's a little better about self soothing. She's still colicy at night but much better during the day. And even though she's colicy at night once we start her bedtime routine she's a happy baby and goes to bed pretty easily and is sleeping through until 5 or later in the morning! For bed time routine we do a bath, I feed her and swaddle her and put her down. Sometimes she'll cry when I lay her down but it never lasts more than 5 min and she's usually out! She'll also stay in her swing for more than 5 min now. She hates tummy time so we don't try that much anymore. She's holding her head up on her own now which is so much better. We can sit her on our laps and play with her. She loves being naked! When I'm dressing her in the morning I take her clothes off and let her lay there as long as she wants naked. She's so happy during this time! I need to write these things down as they happen...I feel like I'm forgetting things!

I go back to work in less than 2 weeks. I'm so sad. I've cried a few times and tried to convince Jared I should stay home. If it wasn't for health insurance I'd be able too...it totally sucks! But I've got to do what I need to for our family. We got into the daycare that we wanted which is by my work so I can go see and feed her over my lunch hour. I'm hoping to continue breastfeeding after I go back to work...we'll see how pumping at work goes. I never expected to enjoy bfing so much. I can't imagine not doing it...it's our bonding time!

Pictures of Caitlyn to follow....

Caitlyn @ 6 Weeks

Caitlyn will be 6 weeks old on Sunday - I can hardly believe it. Time goes by so quickly! And she's changed so much in this time already. She's a very colicky baby and this has made things a little tough for us. It's just so frustrating to have her cry when you've satisfied all of her needs. She's been fed and her diaper is changed and she should be happy - but she's not. She's getting a little better as she gets older. They say this usually passes by the time they are 3 months old. This makes me a little sad as that's when I have to go back to work. So by the time she's no longer fussy I won't get to spend as much time with her. But I'm also glad that I hopefully won't be taking a fussy baby to daycare. It's one thing for me to be frustrated, but I don't want someone else who is watching her to be frustrated since I don't know how they deal with their frustrations.

We took her to see her pediatrician when she was a week old and found out that she was tongue tied. We were referred to an ENT (surprisingly it was Jared's ENT) to have her evaluated. We took her and were told that it was about 2/3's tied so it wasn't totally bad and since I wasn't having problems feeding her we didn't have to get it clipped. But if we waited she could have speech problems later on and if we were to get it clipped when she was older she would have to be put under general anesthesia. So we decided to get it clipped right there in her office. It took about 15 min and Caitlyn slept through the entire procedure!

I've known since the day after she was born that she was going to be a thumb sucker. I thought maybe I could fight this...but it's a losing battle. She's still trying to totally figure out how to get it in her mouth and keep it there...but she's getting better at it with each passing day. I know she'll be a happier baby and will be able to self soothe more once she totally has it figured out so I'm now praying it happens soon. She very rarely takes the pacifier - even though I try each time she's upset.

She's already outgrown her newborn clothes and has moved into size 1 diapers. They're still a little big for her but she's too long for the newborn clothes. At least she'll be able to wear this size a little longer. She didn't even get to wear some of her newborn outfits. And she won't get to wear some of her 3 month clothes because they're summer clothes and it's too cold for those now.

I go to a breastfeeding support group every Wednesday and get her weighed and as of last Wednesday she weighs 10 pounds 6 oz. We don't go to the pedi again until 2 months so I like knowing that she is gaining well since I don't know exactly how much she's getting with each feeding. I love going to this group as it gets me out of the house and talking with other new mothers. Listening to them I know that Caitlyn and I are normal with the things we go through.

I'm hoping to post more often with news of Caitlyn and how she's changing and growing! I'll be posting new pictures soon - I just need to get them downloaded to the computer!