MONTH TWO

Even though this is her second month post today marks 6 weeks exactly we've had her home.

The girls had the good idea to take a picture with her bunny.  I figured it would help with a better perspective of how she is growing from month to month.

and because everything goes in her mouth.

We took her for her two month visit today and she got three shots and one oral vaccine. Boo!
Weight: 8 lbs.
Height: 21 in.
Head Circumference: 14 1/8 in.
On the premature growth scale she is just over 50% for all measurements.  Without any corrections she is 2.5%, tiny but growing at an appropriate pace.

She is a good eater eating 4 oz. most of the time but without fail at least once in a 48 hour period she will have 6-7 oz.  If you're thinking the same thing I am, you're wondering where it goes.  Though she is a good eater she is a slow, painfully slow-sometimes. Almost immediately after her one month check up her feeding amount almost doubled. When we brought Ava and Adisyn home we would set our alarm every three hours for a feeding. With Reece we haven't had to. She is very loud at letting us know she wants/needs to eat. Her first month she was exclusive breast milk for the exception of 1/4 tsp added to her bottle twice in a 48 hour period (hardly anything but they insisted it would help her to gain weight since it's a high calorie formula). Moving onto the second month she is about 70/30 ratio. Still mostly breast milk but we've added more formula to help her gain more weight. Two weeks after her one month visit I took her back for a weight check. Within those two weeks she gained 1 pound, weighing 7 lbs. Success! She gets bottle and breast, whatever works for us at the time and it has relieved some stress from me.

She is such a good baby. Shawn insists that she is more needy than Ava and Adisyn but I think he just forgot how difficult that time was. I will admit that she will go from zero to historical in no time, but otherwise I wouldn't agree with Shawn.  The screaming can be difficult to handle at 2 AM which is something we didn't experience with the twins.

Since I've been staying home I am the one to get up with her most of the time. Usually every 3-4 hours, sometimes every 2.  She takes about an hour to eat, change her diaper and cuddle her before laying her down to sleep.  So essentially I'm awake every two hours.  Every now and then I get a much needed break. Shawn will get the older girls up, fed, and taken to school which has been such a help. Fortunately it's the slower season for him.  I've been able to manage using a swaddle blanket and have my eye out for a better one that she can't escape out of. Right now it's more important for her to gain weight so I haven't rushed the issue. Once she's 10-15 lbs I want to invest in a sleeper to help work on sleep training in hopes she will get longer spurts of sleep.

She is doing much better with tummy time. She's always been strong and holding her head up but that would last a few minutes then she was fast asleep (Stomach sleeping is her favorite).  Now she is more alert and will roll to her side.

She still grunts a lot and pushes hard for bowel movements. Her doctor isn't concerned about it so I try to relieve her discomfort as much as possible. Adisyn had issues so I imagine it will be an ongoing thing with her until she's past 4 months.

She has recently found the ceiling fan and she's obsessed. She is always staring at it and it's the cutest. She also still enjoys watching the tv and most recently the Christmas tree.

The girls are such great little Mommies. They are always tending to their babies. A couple of times Shawn or I will see their baby laying on the bathroom floor or living room floor and we've had to take a double take because we thought it was Reece. Ava has attempted to pick her up to hand her to me. Yikes. We had a discussion after that and since it hasn't been a concern. They love to help out with whatever they can. They can't wait to feed her. Speaking of feedings again she has improved so much. In the beginning it was so stressful because she would choke a lot and has stopped breathing momentarily, enough time for complete panic to set in. Now that she is better and has more control I would feel comfortable with others feeding her so I'm looking forward to a much deserved and needed dinner and drinks with Shawn.

I've started a bedtime routine with her.  Not sure how beneficial it is at this point but I'm hoping in time the consistency will pay off. She will usually eat about 6-7pm at that time I will feed her a little bit give her a bath, wrap her up and then top her off with some more.  So far its been better.  Usually when I would put her to bed when Shawn and I went to bed this is what we saw looking at the monitor.

We've ventured out a little more with no issues. She gets a ton of attention so I always have to cover her car seat so strangers aren't taking a gander too close for comfort. We also had our first play date where we met Mabel (Reece's newest cousin).

I'm loving how alert she has been this month. I feel that there is more bonding. Sometimes when I hold her we will stare into each others eyes. It's the best!  She stares at me a lot now and looks around the room checking everything out. 


She still loves her swing, being in her car seat, and as I mentioned before sleeping on her tummy. She has so much strength in her legs when I've propped her up on her boppy (I'll do this sometimes during tummy time) and she will push herself over the edge and is face first into the ottoman. Don't worry she's always attended to during this time but it's hilarious. She still hates bath time and being hungry.

One thing is for sure this angel of mine has taught me slow down more.  She doesn't allow me to get much done these days.  I did try out the baby bjorn this week and she loved it.  I was able to get some stuff done.