12 weeks - back to work

I went back to work on Thursday. My first day back went well, but the second day was a little more difficult. When I left the house in the morning Kaelyn was crying which made it very hard to just walk out the door (Tim was up "tending" to her). So the second day included a few Mommy tears. I wish I didn't have to work or could work just part time, but that isn't possible for us. booo! I think the second day I was gone was harder for Kaelyn too. She really enjoys nursing and as most baby's do she finds a lot of comfort in it. A 10 minute bottle isn't as cozy as a 40 minute boob!



Kaelyn hasn't been sleeping well lately. The last 2 weeks have been a mess! Some nights she'll sleep 4 straight hours, eat, then sleep again for 4 hours, other nights she'll get up every 2 hours. I thought maybe she was hungry so I would feed her every time she woke up, but I'm now thinking she just can't get herself back to sleep. So we've been doing a little tough love the past few nights. When she wakes up during these times she doesn't really cry much she just has a constant fussy noise that she does. Unless I hear serious cries/screams than I let her stay in bed. I'm not real excited about the "cry it out" method, but I think in this case it will work for us. I do find she is learning to soothe herself by sticking her finger(s)/hand in her mouth. She still refuses to take a pacifier and most times it just makes her more mad! I'm guessing she'll turn into a thumb sucker. Unfortunately with thumbs you can't control them not sucking it as easily as a pacifier. O well, she 3 months old I guess I'll worry about THAT later.

I think otherwise she is doing great. Still breast feeding like a champ! Pumping at work is so annoying, but it's worth it! I wasn't really able to get a supply before going back to work so on Friday Tim had to give her a bottle of formula. MINOR! I was okay with that. It may take me awhile to get into a routine of pumping at work and actually pumping enough. I get impatient and can see myself saying "that should be enough" and just stop the pumping session a few minutes earlier than I should.

Well Kaelyn managed to soothe herself to sleep tonight. I had put her to bed asleep at 8:15, but she woke up 10 minutes later. She managed to do it in about 25 minutes with a few hiccups after, but she seems to be out now so I'm going to go to bed. Let's hope she sleeps a little better tonight.

11 Weeks - Bumbo fun and more smiles!!

We have been getting plenty of smiles these days! And what parent doesn't love getting a ton of smiles from their newborn?! We have also recently started putting her in a bumbo seat (the blue thing she is sitting in). It's great for building neck/head strength. I don't keep her in there too long because there is nothing for her to rest her head on and it gets pretty floppy after awhile. She has become a TV addict! Even when she is on the floor playing on her play mat (which is underneath the TV) she turns her head and looks up at it! And if you're holding her she will follow it with her eyes as you rock back and forth.

Bed time has become a production. I'm trying to get her to go to bed earlier than the usual 10-10:30. It's been a little bit of a struggle. Before I knew when to do her last feeding and now I don't. I want her to be in bed by 8:30 which has worked a few times. When she has gone to bed earlier it results in multiple wake up times during the night. I think we need to cut out some of her day time naps to help make her more tired when bed time comes. She's been all smiles and wide-eyed at 12:30 a.m.!! That's not ideal when I go back to work!And by 4:30 she no longer wants to sleep in her crib instead she sleeps in her swing for a few more hours.

More recently she started rolling onto her side!! She usually does it while on her play mat, but there are little bars that go up and over the mat which prevent her from rolling onto her belly (not that I think she is ready to go that far yet!)

Also, breastfeeding seems to still be going well. I'm planning to pump when I go back to work. Hopefully pumping will go well so we can continue with the b-milk!! :)

Camping Trip was a flop

We took Kaelyn to camp for the night on Friday. It was our first overnight in a new place as a family. We left our house around 9:30 and went to my Mom's first to pick up an air mattress. Once we got there Kaelyn needed her diaper changed and while Tim was changing her she ends up peeing all over her clothes! So before we even get to camp we do an outfit change. And at this point she's being really fussy - I imagine it's because we were ruining her morning routine. She goes back to sleep in the car for about an hour and then she wakes again to eat. I pull over and nurse her for 40 minutes!! We get to camp around 1:30 which is almost 2 hours later than originally planned. She continues her fussiness through the afternoon and hardly naps at all. She also wanted to constantly nurse which was difficult since I'd go in the other room for 30 minutes or more while everyone else hung out together. At one point everyone got to go for a boat ride while I stayed at the camp to continue nursing. Which was no ones fault!! I felt awful that Kaelyn was so unhappy. By early evening she was becoming very difficult. She didn't want to be held by anyone other than me. Even Tim couldn't get her to calm down. Her bed time rolled around (10:00) and she falls asleep. We brought her play pen so I swaddled her up and set her down. Within just a few minutes she wakes up. So needless to say she hardly sleeps during the night which meant Tim and I didn't get much sleep either. I didn't bother putting her back in the play pen instead we used her Boppy and put it in between us. We have never co-slept so neither one of us felt comfortable falling asleep. Although, I did manage to get a couple of hours, but poor Tim was too concerned to fall asleep. Anyway, by 7:30 a.m. we decided to just pack up and come home. Kaelyn slept almost the whole ride (2 1/2 hours) Thank God! When we got home I nursed her and she took about a 3 hour nap, woke up, I nursed her again, and she went back to sleep for another 4 hours! Poor girl was so exhausted. I guess she isn't ready for overnights outside of her home. She has set a nice routine for herself and we obviously disrupted that with new smells and new sleeping arrangements. Her big grins after we got home were more than enough to make us realize that home is where she wants to be right now.