Tag: L month-by-month

Yesterday was Lana’s 2 month birthday, we had her checkup on Wednesday, and here’s the lowdown:

• Height:  23.25″ (75-90%)
• Weight:  11 lbs. 2.75 oz. (75%)
• Head:  the doctor didn’t write down the measurement, but it was in about the 50% again

She’s growing like a little sunflower! And her eyes are staying so blue, I love it! Even the doctor said she thinks they’ll keep that color since they’re so strikingly blue right now. Yay! I love the dark hair with blue eyes combo, and we both have so many sets of blue eyes in our families I’m very happy one of our kids has gotten them.

Her sleeping is getting good too. I think she’s down to 1 wake up per night for good (knock on wood!). She’ll typically go to bed around 9, wake up around 3-4, then wake again around 7-8. If she wakes toward the earlier end of those ranges she usually will take a solid morning nap after that 7 am-ish feeding, and if she wakes toward the end of those ranges she’s usually up for a while during the morning before her mid-day nap. Then there’s normally an evening nap before her last feeding before bedtime.

She still nurses about 7-8 times per day, as evidenced by that weight gain. I started giving her the one bottle per day with her vitamin drops in it last month, which I’ll continue until she stops breastfeeding. Fortunately she does great with the bottle, and I’m able to pump plenty to keep our frozen supply full.

And she smiles now!! That started at exactly 6 weeks, and it is just the most joyous thing ever. She won’t look like a grumpy little man forever, hooray!! The best are her morning smiles. She’s always so happy when I get her out of her crib to wake up. Probably because I’m unswaddling her and her arms are finally free.

She’s started “talking” a lot too, and loves to lie on her plush giraffe play mat and swat at and talk to the little toys that hang down from its arches. She will happily lie there for good chunks of time, which is very helpful to me. She also loves to get her little fists in her mouth, and has been doing that for the past couple weeks too. I think we may have a thumb-sucker on our hands. Fine by me; less time we have to spend messing with that pacifier, which she still loves to calm down or help fall asleep. Thankfully, though, she doesn’t sleep with it or need it to fall back asleep once she’s out.

I think that about does it for this month. I can’t wait to spend Christmas with our 2 little angels this year!

 

 

 

Lana turned 1 month old on November 21, but we didn’t have her 1 month checkup until yesterday. So here’s how month 1 has gone…

• Weight: 10 lbs. 3.5 oz. (75%) {7 lbs. 7 oz. at birth; 7 lbs. 8.25 oz. at 4 day old checkup (50%)}
• Height: 21.5″ (50%) {19.5″ at birth; 20.5″ at 4 day old checkup (75%)}
• Head: 38 cm (75%) {35 cm at 4 day old checkup (50%)}

The doctor was surprised that her height was only in the 50%, but she thinks that will start catching up quickly seeing how tall her parents and sister are.

Sleeping – about 2 wake ups right now. She usually eats somewhere around 9 and goes to bed, then wakes at 2ish and 5ish. Sometimes the wake ups are earlier/later, but they’re generally within an hour of those times. Last night, however, she did only wake up once at 3, but I’m not anticipating that to repeat itself tonight. Of course Della woke up last night too for the first time pretty much since Lana’s first night home, so I was still up twice. Because why wouldn’t she? But Della had dropped one of her nightly wake ups by the time she was 2 months old, so I’m hoping Lana will do the same.

Her daytime schedule hasn’t really solidified itself yet. Most days she’ll wake up and eat between 7-8 somewhere then go back down for a solid nap shortly thereafter. Then she’ll wake mid-late morning to eat and be up for a bit. Another nap generally comes in the early afternoon with more feedings throughout the evening (she “snacks” a lot during the day i’ve noticed) and maybe a short nap around dinner time, but that last part of the day is often fairly random. And then there are days that follow no set pattern whatsoever, so like I said, we’re still working on figuring out what she likes to do during the day.

The past couple days have gotten better, but she’s a pretty fussy little kid. She doesn’t have colic, thankfully, since she doesn’t scream bloody murder for hours on end, but she definitely prefers to be held than put down. So I invested in a sling this time around; it certainly helps free up my hands when Della needs something and I’m trying to get anything done around the house. I know everyone says to forget about how the house looks when there’s a new baby, but when things start getting messier than usual, piles of junk take up more and more surfaces, and I can see dust bunnies rolling around, I start to get itchy. But again, like I said, she’s seemed to calm a bit within the past couple days. Right now she’s actually lying on her giraffe playmat on the floor staring at her hanging toys, something she rarely does.

This kid is strong! From about the minute she was born she’s been able to pick her head fully up off your shoulder and move it around. She turns it side to side on her own while sleeping, even though I do make sure to put her down on opposing sides during the night. She grips stuff like nobody’s business, and she loves to try to stand up when her feet rest against your lap. She enjoys busting her little hands out of her swaddle, but it does still help keep her contained and calmed at night. She’s quite the startler, too. I admitted that napping on her stomach helps that to the doctor yesterday, for which I was promptly scolded. I know you’re not supposed to put babies on their stomachs until they can roll to help prevent the occurrence of SIDS, but I figured if she can move her head around on her own, she’s never face down, and it lets her nap for hours, why not? Wrong-o apparently. The doctor said SIDS happens much more often during naps than at nights, so I said ok, I’ll go back to playing by the rules.

Breastfeeding is still going well. She latched on beautifully from the beginning, and fortunately that has continued. Her night feedings are great – she wakes up, I change her diaper, she eats 5-10 minutes and is back asleep. Her daytime feedings are usually shorter and more frequent, aka “snacks”. I don’t really care though, as long as she eats well and efficiently at night. I am going to start giving her 1 bottle a day and then keep pumping so the frozen supply remains stocked, mainly so I can give her those nasty vitamin drops. Della hated them and if they get spit out they stain the shit out of everything, so I’m not even going to try putting the dropper right in Lana’s mouth. Into her bottle of breast milk they will go. And she takes a bottle like a champ too, so I’m not worried about any sort of nipple confusion.

All in all I think she’s adjusting nicely to being an outside baby. She is certainly a wonderful addition to our family, and I am so happy she and Della will have a sister with whom to go through life. I hope their sisterly bond grows stronger every day and is never broken. Happy (belated) 1 month birthday, our little squawker!

she’s always so serious. we have yet to see this one smile