Such a neglectful mommy I am! Here is Clare's monthly update, over a week late.... The only good thing is I have her actual height and weight since her appointment happened the 18th.
Clare turned 1 month on April 14th! This was also our 4th wedding anniversary :).
Weight: 9 lbs 3 oz. SO different from her sister who had failure to thrive. Clare is putting on about half a pound a week, sometimes a little more. She is gaining so well and we aren't supplementing at all. So this is what it's supposed to be like! She looooves to nurse and any time I get a bit weary, I remind myself how desperately I wanted to breastfeed Felicity without struggles, bottles, pumping, supplementing, and that really helps put it back into perspective for me!
Height: 21.5 inches. She really shot up in the past 2 weeks! Clare has a nice, plump belly with long, thin legs.
Medical issues: The dreaded thrush for weeks now. I dealt with thrush with Felicity, too, and it took us forever to get rid of it. We're currently doing nystatin, Jack Newman's nipple ointment, AND grapefruit seed extract. Next up: Diflucan.
Sleep: this baby sleeps wonderfully at night! She stirs, I nurse her, and we both snooze. She's such a dream. Day time sleep is harder. She goes to sleep and stays to sleep very easily and for a long time when we're out, but struggles to both fall asleep and stay asleep while we're home. This means I don't get much done because she wants to be held all the time. But I'll take the great night sleeping over good napping any day!
Clothes/diaper size: She is just about done with newborn diapers and clothes and moving into 0-3 and size 1 diapers. It's so much fun seeing her wear Felicity's clothes and having old memories be brought back.
Likes: nursing, cuddling with mommy, diaper changes, baths if she is warm
Dislikes: most people who aren't mommy, being put down, the swing or really anywhere that isn't mommy
Nicknames: Clare Bear
Milestones: Is this a thing for 1 month olds? I don't think so. She holds her head up pretty well sometimes.
I don't want to forget this: I definitely don't want to forget what an easy baby she is in case it changes! It's been such a help in me adjusting so well and quickly to having 2 kids. It's a work in progress but I'm amazed at how capable and happy I feel! Her first smiles aren't to be forgotten either. She gives some great big ones just by cooing and smiling at her. It melts my heart every time! I also don't want to forget how much Felicity loves her. She is so excited to see her when she wakes up from naps, runs to check on her if she cries, and kisses and hugs Clare all throughout the day.
Friday, April 22, 2016
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Welcome to the Church, Little One!
Clare Sophia is one of the newest members of the Catholic Church! She was baptized this morning at the 8am Mass. We chose friends of ours who we've known for 7 years to be her Godparents. In fact, they are the first friends I made when I moved to Raleigh and were instrumental in my coming back into the faith, because the wife, Teri, invited me to teach faith formation with her that first year, which I did and really enjoyed. We lost touch a bit during the time that their son was born a few years ago, but then ended up both buying houses within 10 minutes of each other and rekindled our friendship. I'm so glad we did! They are great examples for Clare to look up to and I know will pray for our baby often.
Mass went very well considering we were on the front pew and normally sit in the family section. Both sets of grandparents sat behind us and we were so happy to have them there. Felicity got pretty chatty toward the end, but did very well over all. Steven had the brunt of caring for her which was a nice break for me and I just nursed, patted, and rocked Clare who was mostly happy through Mass. There was another baby being baptized which was kind of nice because I don't love the spotlight. We all crowded around the font for our babies to have their original sin washed away. Both cried a bit when the water was poured over their heads, but calmed down.
Toward the end of Mass, I heard Clare poop (it's quite loud) and figured I'd change her as soon as Mass was over. Well, right as Mass ended I lifted my hand up from where I was holding her and... well you can guess the rest. Poop on my hand, her dress, my dress. Even worse, we had no wipes because our friend had borrowed ours during Mass and used the last one. Godparents to the rescue! They had some in their car, and we had a white dress in the car so we got Clare changed before doing a couple pictures. I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get any good photos with her in the baptismal gown but I guess this is real life, huh? Oh well. That will head to the dry cleaners tomorrow!
After Mass, Steven ran to the grocery store for diapers (we used the last one in the diaper bag during the blow out and I was afraid of a repeat performance!) and then we- Godparents, grandparents, and friends- met back up at Ihop for breakfast. It was a lovely time eating and chatting, and thankfully Clare slept so I could enjoy my food! Felicity did wonderfully the whole time and was in love with her "tutu dress" of course,
After coming home for naps, we met back up with our friends and Godparents at a local park and had cake, play time, and then decided to all order chinese and have dinner together. We are now home, exhausted, and so happy. Such a perfect day!
Mass went very well considering we were on the front pew and normally sit in the family section. Both sets of grandparents sat behind us and we were so happy to have them there. Felicity got pretty chatty toward the end, but did very well over all. Steven had the brunt of caring for her which was a nice break for me and I just nursed, patted, and rocked Clare who was mostly happy through Mass. There was another baby being baptized which was kind of nice because I don't love the spotlight. We all crowded around the font for our babies to have their original sin washed away. Both cried a bit when the water was poured over their heads, but calmed down.
Toward the end of Mass, I heard Clare poop (it's quite loud) and figured I'd change her as soon as Mass was over. Well, right as Mass ended I lifted my hand up from where I was holding her and... well you can guess the rest. Poop on my hand, her dress, my dress. Even worse, we had no wipes because our friend had borrowed ours during Mass and used the last one. Godparents to the rescue! They had some in their car, and we had a white dress in the car so we got Clare changed before doing a couple pictures. I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get any good photos with her in the baptismal gown but I guess this is real life, huh? Oh well. That will head to the dry cleaners tomorrow!
After Mass, Steven ran to the grocery store for diapers (we used the last one in the diaper bag during the blow out and I was afraid of a repeat performance!) and then we- Godparents, grandparents, and friends- met back up at Ihop for breakfast. It was a lovely time eating and chatting, and thankfully Clare slept so I could enjoy my food! Felicity did wonderfully the whole time and was in love with her "tutu dress" of course,
After coming home for naps, we met back up with our friends and Godparents at a local park and had cake, play time, and then decided to all order chinese and have dinner together. We are now home, exhausted, and so happy. Such a perfect day!
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Unicorn Baby
Clare is 3 weeks old now. Already I'm thinking it's going too fast! She is the type of baby that would lead one to want ALL THE BABIES. I refer to her as my "unicorn baby" because she is just so easy. When I get frustrated about something with her, I have to remind myself that she can't be perfect in everything, even though, so far, she seems perfect in most things! Since the very first day, she has been a champion sleeper at night. She also slept a ton during the day for the first 2 weeks. It was only a problem because I needed to feed her frequently due to my supply and her weight loss, but otherwise was a dream. She's still an awesome sleeper at night, but has finally started to wake up more during the day. She will stay up now 2-3 hours sometimes but then will do awesome 2-3 hour naps as well. My one complaint about her is that she's hard to get to sleep. She'll fall asleep easily in my arms, but I need to be able to put her down to either be with Felicity or get stuff done, being that she's already been in my arms nursing for a while and I can't then hold her for 2-3 hours after that, but she wakes up VERY easily. I have to time it just right to be able to lay her down and she will only accept the rock n play during the day, though I can put her in our bed at night, which is where she sleeps. But back to the unicorn-ness :). I mostly have to wake her up to feed her still, which hopefully will end at her 1 month appointment if she's gaining well, and she very easily goes right back to sleep at night. If I don't wake up, which is rare, she has been known to sleep in 4 hour stretches at night, meaning I may only feed her once during my night. I generally wake up on my own every 3 hours and do a dream feed, and she's starting to do that on her own now, which we both sleep through. Clare does not like to be put down when she's awake (or, really, when she's asleep) and pretty much only cries if I do try to put her down, she's hungry, or has a burp or gas. I think sweet Felicity cried more in 30 minutes as a newborn than Clare cries in a whole day! She also has started to develop her own schedule which, to me, is crazy early because it took us 6 weeks to get Felicity to figure out day from night! She sleeps from about 7pm to 6 or 7am with the feedings in between, is up about 2 hours, then snoozes on and off all day until she's up for another stretch just before bed. Since Felicity goes to bed at 7, I still get a bit of "me time" or "couple time" (depending on if Steven is at work or not) before I wake Clare up to eat. I didn't expect to have that for at least a month! Man, this baby is easy. Any struggle I'm having this time around is from juggling 2 kids and meeting Felicity's needs (understandable as her world has changed!), not from adjusting to my newborn or lack of sleep. What are the chances our next baby will be like this??? :)
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Big Sister
Felicity has amazed me in every aspect as a big sister. Though she loves babies, she is a total mama's girl and I was very worried about how she would adjust to someone needing my attention day and night. Besides a very few instances of "you're MY mama!", she has shared me gladly and joyfully, loving every bit of having a baby sister. Felicity spent the first two weeks exclaiming "she's so cute! she's so little! she's so silly!" every time she looked at her baby sister. The last week, she's wanted to help with everything, which I'm encouraging of course. She likes getting diapers, "watching the baby" for me if I go into another room, helping to rock her, and even likes holding Clare's head or body as I nurse her. It's funny and precious. We had one incident today where she pushed the swing too hard and Clare slumped forward, then fell out of the swing and face planted onto the floor, but it was not intentional at all, although traumatic for everyone! Felicity is definitely learning her own strength as she navigates being a big sister and I often have to remind her that she can't push on/brace on/lean on the baby.
Felicity often refers to Clare as "baby Clare" or "my sister". The love Felicity has for Clare makes my heart almost burst. I wanted a sister so badly for her, mostly because I loved having a sister so much growing up. Rachel and I are two years apart and, besides the teenage years, have been really close. Until we were probably 12 and 14, we were the best of friends and played together constantly. I hope my girls are the same way and, so far, it seems they will be. Felicity requests to snuggle Clare in her bed, or climb in my bed with me if I'm nursing first thing in the morning. She's just the sweetest, most doting, loving big sister! Sometimes I get a little sad thinking about the things Clare won't have that Felicity did, like my ability to hold her through naps as a newborn, all the undivided attention, and things like that. But then I realize that Clare will have something Felicity didn't- a big sister to love on her and teach her and, to me, that's way better than what she might be missing out on. We are definitely having some growing pains as we adjust to a family of 4, but I am so, so blessed and happy to have a wonderful big sister for my sweet Clare.
Felicity "reading" a book to Clare
Felicity often refers to Clare as "baby Clare" or "my sister". The love Felicity has for Clare makes my heart almost burst. I wanted a sister so badly for her, mostly because I loved having a sister so much growing up. Rachel and I are two years apart and, besides the teenage years, have been really close. Until we were probably 12 and 14, we were the best of friends and played together constantly. I hope my girls are the same way and, so far, it seems they will be. Felicity requests to snuggle Clare in her bed, or climb in my bed with me if I'm nursing first thing in the morning. She's just the sweetest, most doting, loving big sister! Sometimes I get a little sad thinking about the things Clare won't have that Felicity did, like my ability to hold her through naps as a newborn, all the undivided attention, and things like that. But then I realize that Clare will have something Felicity didn't- a big sister to love on her and teach her and, to me, that's way better than what she might be missing out on. We are definitely having some growing pains as we adjust to a family of 4, but I am so, so blessed and happy to have a wonderful big sister for my sweet Clare.
Snuggling in Felicity's bed
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