Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Allie's First Two Months!

These past two months have been full of different emotions for me as I have taken on this new role as a mom. Even with the lack of sleep (anyone who knows me knows that I love my sleep), I have never felt more purposeful and joyful. My days now revolve around my little one and mostly consist of breast feeding, changing diapers, and entertaining her. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Sometimes while singing to her and/or rocking her to sleep, I gaze at her and just cry tears of joy. She is my greatest accomplishment and I am already so proud of her!

As I mentioned in my previous post, Allie was born on July 22nd at 3:12pm. She was 7.5 lbs and 20.75 inches. As most people know, babies tend to lose some weight a few days after they are born. When we left the hospital, she was down to 6.11 lbs but at her two week appt, she was back up to 8.1 lbs and still 20.75 inches. Today she had her two month appointment. She is now 10.10 lbs (45th percentile) and 23 7/8 inches (97th percentile). We have a tall girl! She also had her dreaded vaccinations today. She was a little bit fussy during the check up, was pretty calm when she was given the oral vaccination, and then she cried/screamed as soon as the first shot went in. She calmed down immediately after I started nursing her and fell asleep soon after that.

Allie has been a good sleeper for the most part! Yes, she is still in our room and I plan to keep her in our room until she outgrows her Rock n Play. She usually sleeps for 4 hours at night, wakes up to snack a bit and falls right back asleep. There have been a couple of nights where she slept up to 6 hours without even waking up to eat. There have also been a couple of nights in the past week where she woke up screaming and wanted to cluster feed. I'm hoping that doesn't continue because I just hate to see her so sad.

As for food, she is exclusively breastfed. I didn't even pump until she was three weeks old and I rarely pump as I am still on maternity leave. She was also introduced to her first bottle at three weeks and took it like a champ as well so she is not very picky about breast vs. bottle which will be good for when I return to work.

We have spent the majority of my leave at our house and Nan-nan's house. She and Stella are becoming great friends! When Stella was first introduced to Allie, she wasn't sure what to think and she slapped her (don't worry, it wasn't hard and Allie didn't even cry). Now Stella is giving her kisses! We've been on many shopping trips: Oviedo Mall, Target, and Waterford Lakes to mention a few.  She's also been to several restaurants and visited Oviedo on the Park and Riverside Park. She usually uses these outings as a chance to take a long snooze.

First Month: She spends most of her time eating, sleeping, hiccupping, and grunting. She absolutely adores watching her butterfly mobile along with looking at lights and ceiling fans. She also loves her pink mam pacifier, pulling her Mommy's hair, and bath time. She doesn't like when her dogs bark, especially Lily's shrill bark. Overall, she's a very happy baby and we are so blessed to have her!

Second Month: She is still doing all of the above but she also has begun smiling, cooing, and a little bit of laughing! Her gums are very prominent and we think they are the cutest! When she talks to us, it often sounds like she is saying "Hi!" She has been to church a few times and enjoys the praise and worship music. Her current favorite song is "You're Beautiful" by Phil Wickham. If she's upset, I nurse her and sing this song to her; it immediately soothes her and helps her fall asleep. She still loves her pacifier but has now found her fingers and often sucks on them. We think she may follow in her daddy's footsteps and be a soccer player as she loves kicking! She also has grown some long eyelashes like her daddy.

Milestones:
  • July 25th-Home from the hospital!
  • 3 weeks old-Outgrew her newborn diapers, began wearing size 1 diapers.
  • August 9th-Allie finally lost her umbilical cord after 18 days!
  • August 10th-She got her first real bath in her whale tub!
  • 5 weeks old-Outgrew her newborn clothes, began wearing 0-3 months and 3 month clothes.
  • August 22nd-Turned one month old and celebrated her Aunt Mel's birthday!
  • 5-6 weeks old-Started cooing and smiling!
  • August 30th-Attended her first church service!
  • September 22nd-Turned two months old!