Two Months Already!

Out little bean is two months old already! (And by this blog post, she will be nearly 10 weeks today-- this photo was taken last week.) And, as I guessed, things just keep getting better. It is crazy looking back of photos already and seeing how big she's gotten. 

Another sad note about the two-month mark-- going back to work. My job sadly only paid for 6 weeks of maternity leave, which was heartbreaking. (I took 8 weeks, but the last 6 weeks being unpaid just didn't pan out for us). Going back to work was so much harder than I ever thought. Everyone tells you it will be hard, but I don't think you can really wrap your head around the idea until the time comes. I definitely spent the week before in a lot of tears; every time she would fall asleep on me, or smile at me, or anything else at all... It's not the fact that I don't think she will be taken care of incredibly well (my mom is so amazing, if I turn out half as good a mom as she was to me I will be lucky), it's more the fact that I can't spend 100% of my time with her. I'm heartbroken that I am going to miss anything. I know spending 9 hours away from her every day will mean we are going to miss some big milestones... I have to keep reminding myself that even if she has firsts at Grandma and Grandpa's, that she will have firsts here too. And everything will be okay (still doesn't mean I have tears writing this now... sigh.) I know with time things will get easier, but I'm still in a bit in a rough patch. 

Right now Walter gets to spend the first half of the day at Grandma's, which means I can go over there at lunch to feed the bean. This has been super helpful for my poor little brain too-- having a Norah snuggle break in the middle of the day is just what I need these days!

Size: We have been vastly underestimating how much she has been growing-- she was 12 lbs at her 6 week appointment, and 24 inches long-- (90th percentile for weight and 100th for height) so she's spending her time working on getting big and healthy. Which we have been enjoying too! I can only guess she is around 13.5 pounds or heavier at this point. 

Sleep: This month has been monumental-- sleeping through the night is possible! We've officially had three nights where we've put her to bed (around 8-9) and she hasn't woken up until 7 or so. It's been wonderful! All of the other nights she's good for about one long stretch, a wake up/feed/change, then a shorter stretch. Still not bad at all!  

Social: Being awake more often these days means she is up for playing more often! Right now her favorite thing to do is talk and smile to people when she's on the changing table or on her play mat. It's quite precious. She's started to make cooing sounds (which melts my heart), and little laughing noises. You can make her super happy and smiley when playing with her chin, which again, nearly makes me cry-- she's just so dang cute :)

Diet: Still breastfeeding! Everything is going really well. We're working on being able to be more efficient in public (successful feeding at the Puyallup Fair with my mom-- still haven't tackled places like the mall and such yet), and the mess factor is going substantially down.  She has taken the bottle like a champ as well-- I've been pumping on my breaks, so my mom is fully stocked. So far, no major problems! (She's gotten a scary habit of trying to drink too fast and gags herself... which is super scary... but she handles it pretty well and goes right back to eating good. Still scares me!) 

Clothes: Oh my. Two months old, and fitting 3-6/6-9 clothes. We have been using the diaper service Bryan's boss got for us this month, which adds a bit of bulk-- so our 3 month onesies look like deep-v shirts. The bulk of our clothing stash for her was three months-- I foresee us needing to buy a few items sometime soon here! 

Likes: Still loves eating! She also loves time on her mat looking at herself in the mirror. Changing her diaper still makes her super happy-- she legitimately looks joyous in the process. 

Milestones: Looking at us in the eyes, smiling and making (more purposeful!) sounds. She's also started gripping things-- not so much a purposeful grab, she more gets excited when she gets something in her tiny fingers. 

This month, it seems like a mass majority of my photos have been on my phone! Shame on me. I will make a point to have and post more photos regularly. Right now I hardly spend any time online-- our nights are pretty packed. We get home with her around 5:45, and after a quick dinner/playing with her until her bed time at 7:45-8:30, I do a few chores, get ready for the next day (sanitizing and such), maybe watch one show with Bryan, and am in bed. I'm still not ready to sacrifice those few hours of Norah time for internet time (who the heck would? Look at that face!) So at the moment, I will stick to weekends :) 

A little photoshoot

I've had a few people ask me why we hadn't taken newborn photos (where babies are posed to be wrapped in strange things looking contemplative or hanging out with strangely contemplative faces). At first, my thoughts were that they were expensive and a bit silly (and my sister did such a fabulous job in the hospital, I felt extremely lucky!). However now I'm feeling a bit sad that I don't have even more photos of our gal in her first few days. In a 'better late than never' attempt, I set up a mini-photoshoot in our bedroom to try and capture a few 'birth announcement worthy' photos of our own-- even at nearly two months old. I think they turned out pretty well! I'm still not sure which announcement route to choose (is a two-month old photo too old for an announcement?) but I am having fun looking regardless. (To design or not to design? Minted.com has some fabulous options, but being a designer I always feel guilted into doing them myself-- hmm...)

Kelly came over the other day too-- and took this little pic while she was getting changed; she loves time on the changing table!! Some of my favorite faces so far. That's where I get the majority of smiles in my day for sure.

In other news... I go back to work on Thursday. I can't believe how fast two months has flown by. I feel extremely lucky that I have a job I love, and that Norah gets to go hang out with my mom (I was so lucky to have her growing up, and feel even more blessed that she wants to be such a huge part of my daughter's life). Even though this is the most amazing solution for us, it's still heartbreaking. I am trying to soak up every smile this last week. Until then, I'm trying not to think about how hard it's going to be to be away for her 9 hours a day. Transitions are never fun.

Alrighty, I'm off to do some more snuggling :)

7 Weeks!

I can't believe it's been seven weeks already. Norah has been keeping us plenty busy-- the past few weeks we have been figuring out how to sleep (and when!), and also starting to figure out things outside of the house.

I learned the hard way that keeping her up too late equals an even later night for me. A few nights of 'hyperactive baby', left me to some 3am Googling, which lead me to the idea that a hyperactive baby in the night equaled a sleep deprived baby. Lesson learned! We've been putting her down at 8pm or so, and now she has been much happier. The other night, she slept for a whole seven hours in a row! We have also been instructed by the pediatrician to stretch her feedings out a bit, looks like a full nights sleep might be nearly around the corner.

I can't believe fall is around the corner! Which in our house means lots of beef stew, apple cider candles and football. Lots of football! Our lovely friends have provided us with a bit of football gear (thanks Jess!!) which makes Bryan a happy dad :) We also spent the other weekend sprucing up our backyard a bit; my dad showed Bryan how to use the paint sprayer to stain our silvering fence-- it looks awesome! (I did my part as well, by tearing out the old red shed-- with my bare hands-- post-partum power!!) 

Norah is still dictating my days, which means my posting is a bit erratic-- today for instance, she ended up taking her 11:00am nap right about now at 3:00pm-- sleepy gal! My house suffers, but I don't mind. I'm so thankful she's sleeping at night so I don't need to nap when she naps. 

Other than that, we have been out and about in the world more these days-- we went out on a date with her the other day, first to Home Depot-- then another night to the Ram and Babies R' Us. Little steps! Yesterday Grete kidnapped us and took us to a pickling stand in Puyallup and out to lunch... we had so much fun! Every time we take her out it gets a bit easier. It's definitely been an adjustment, but each time we do something new I get excited. I am so excited to make more memories with her.