Our Married Life

Well well. Things seem to be changing so quickly. I want my newborn back. Who said she can hold her head up and start grabbing stuff??

It’s exciting to see all these little milestones, and they seem to occur almost weekly. She will be turning 3 months on Saturday.

She definitely has a stronger neck and can sit up (with assistance of course). There is the occasional head butting, but she’s getting there. She’s getting to the point where she would try to sit up when laying in her swing or bouncer.

The other exciting milestone is grabbing objects. I’m not sure if she really knows what she’s doing, but she’s definitely aware of her hands and will grab a toy and swing it around. She likes to stick her hand in her mouth and chew in it. The other day, I caught her chewing on one of her toys (but I think the toy was just in the way of her hand). Because she has found her hands we’ve had to rely on the pacifier more often. We only give it to her when she starts sucking on her hands and during the day when she naps. The problem is she can never keep it in and she will wake up every 15 minutes crying and wanting her paci. It makes for a very unproductive nap.

And finally, she is sleeping through the night. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I think the late feeding at 8:30 is helping. She will sleep until 5 or 6, and she wakes up without crying, just from moving around and some fussing.

I’m hoping we can be a bit more consistent with her bedtime. Tonight she’s going down at 7:30, last night was 8:30… Luckily it’s never after 9 and the routine is always consistent.

One new development that’s rather annoying is that she’s voicing her discomfort more. Lots of angry screaming and crying. It happens when bath time is over and we are dressing her, or if we are changing her and shes not in the mood at the time. I wonder if she’s too cold or not ready to get out of the tub.

Lots of new little things… She’s pretty easy going for the most part.

I spoke to my mom today, and she sounded sad that she couldn’t see the baby. I guess we will have to make a trip soon to visit her.

I’m not looking forward to starting work. I’d hate to miss out on any new developments.

Ok, so I didn’t think this would become an issue but starting two weeks ago and becoming worse this week Miss E has completely refused to take the bottle. We literally have to fight on it only to give up and waste several ounces of breast milk. We have been giving her the bottle early on since January with no issues. But lately, she’d just lick the nipple, turn her face, gag, and eventually cry. We would take a break and try again only to repeat the process. After about an hour we would give up. There are times however when she’d take in about 2 oz but not without fighting and screaming, and having milk all over her. The other issue is spitting up. It happens when she gags, or is laying down too soon after eating. We just have to remember to keep her propped up for a few minutes before we lay her down to play. Not sure what I need to cut in my diet to keep her from spitting up. Dairy? I don’t drink milk, but maybe cut out cheese?

We went and bought new faster flowing nipples for the NuK which she was using, a Dr. Brown bottle, and Playtex Ventaire. So far, I don’t think it’s a bottle issue, so we are sticking with the Nuk.

It’s really quite frustrating and defeating. Yesterday was the worst. Brian tried to feed her and she screamed and screamed. I tried offering the boob, but by then she was too upset, so we just put her to bed.

I successfully gave her a 4 oz bottle this morning, but not without the licking, gagging process. It also took an hour.

We’ve talked about exclusively bottle feeding to avoid all the anxiety that comes with breastfeeding. Things like, not making enough milk, etc. But really the big thing holding me back is the bonding experience. Despite the terrible first two weeks, I actually enjoy it. There isn’t a moment that makes me feel closer to her than when we nurse.

But we’ve got to get this bottle feeding under control so she doesn’t become a pain for the daycare folks in a few weeks. We are visiting her grandparents this weekend. I think it’d be a good idea to have them try to feed her, just so she’s not used Brian or myself.

We survived our very first roadtrip as a family (sans doggies). We went to go see her great grandpa who was ill, plus we owed a visit to all her other great grandparents. We spent majority of Tuesday driving around the Austin and McDade area. It was quite the beating, especially we me sitting in the backseat.

Miss E did pretty well. On the way there, we had to stop in Waco to feed her, but we had to wake her to do so. It was either that or pulling over on the middle of 35 somewhere. She slept most of the way there without fussing. In the afternoon we drove another 45 minutes to visit more family and she finally threw a fit during the last 15 minutes if the drive. The same thing happened on our return trip home yesterday. I guess she was just ready to get out of her carseat.

We are hoping to head down there soon. If she does relatively well, maybe we can take a roadtrip later this year.