11 weeks.

At 11 weeks old, this girl brings such joy to my life. Although, she has brightened my world since she arrived, her smile makes me smile every single time.

At her appointment at 9.5 weeks, here is what we learned:

*Weighs 10 lb, 7 oz

*22 inches long

*Dr. considers her "evening fussies" as colic but I try not to use that word very often because I think it's something that's overused whenever a baby is a little fussy. However, we have learned that if we take her for a walk when she starts fussing, she is completely content. The outside is a new favorite of hers!

*Part of her spitting up may be largely due to her formula being too much liquid so Dr recommended adding rice cereal to her formula to "thicken it up" for her. We had switched to hypoallergenic which has alleviated all of her fussiness during feedings and the rice cereal has immensely helped the spit up situation. She usually drinks about 3-4 oz during each feeding (4 times a day) then drinks 5.5oz at night.
*She got 3 shots and 1 oral dose of medication at the appointment. She screamed almost as loud when she was forced to swallow the oral medication as the shots. But, the poor girl had bruises on her legs for days after the shots.

I know I've said it before but now it's twice as true... my daughter is a rock-star sleeper. She sleeps no less than 8 hours and has gone up to 12 hours at night between feedings. This is not a one-time thing and each night, I am proud over and over and over again. It's been going on for about 2 weeks or so and I'm loving the sleep!

We have established a routine-ish. Not down to the minute or even down to the hour but we are working towards it. Here is my best example:

9 am Wake up, eat, smiles to go around!

10 am Nap Time for an hour or so

12:30 Eat

1 pm Nap Time

4 pm Eat

4:30 pm Nap Time

7:30 pm Bath Time

8 pm Eat

8-8:30 pm Bed Time

5:30 am Eat, kisses and back to sleep.

Luke and I went out on a date the other night and ended up looking at pictures and watching videos of Chloe most of the time. Oh well, it's this stage of our lives and we couldn't be happier.

She continues to love, love, love bath time. I switch it up between showering with her, putting her in the bathtub in her bath seat, with the Bumbo, in the sink, or just a quick scrub with a washcloth on the bathroom counter. I'm trying to establish her night time routine so I make sure she gets some type of bath each day but time often determines which type of bath she receives.

We've had an extreme amount of poop explosions recently. We are talking in between her toes even....

Luke turned 26 this past week so Chloe & I surprised him at work with balloons and cupcakes. I've never got to surprise him before so I think it might have been more fun for me than him.

The dreaded teething experience may be beginning. I know it seems extremely early but Luke started at 3 months also so... we will find out. I've read that teething can commonly be confused with other things but I'm not sure how to differentiate. She has been screaming and screaming and screaming randomly throughout the day for the past 2 days. So much, in fact, that her little voice is hoarse today. Anyway, we are seeing what may be teeth in her gums but are more just noticing signs such as unexplainable irritability, excessive drooling, chewing on the nipple of the bottle but not eating, calming down when cool teething rings are stuck in her mouth, etc. It may be teeth and she may be an unusual case of them coming early orrrr we may look back and laugh at ourselves when Baby #2 comes along because we find out there is no way this little hiccup was teething. You live and you learn  :)

Most exciting thing recently, a visit from "Auntie Effie" and Great Aunt Anita. For years we have discussed my cousin Stefanie becoming my kids' "Auntie Effie" and the title finally fits! She was absolutely adorable with Chloe and the 5 of us girls had a blast!

Our love bug. Hope you enjoy her new photos!

Couple videos that hopefully capture a little of her personality.

Easter shots coming soon! Then, we are headed off on our very first flying adventure. My mom is here visiting and will fly back to Nebraska with Chloe and I this coming week. We are going to visit for a week to meet her 2 cousins, Grandma Edna, Aunt Sheila, and see Papa!! I must admit, I'm slightly nervous about flying with her but I'm so glad my mom will be along for the extra arms and moral support. However, the flight back will just be me & her. Here's to hoping all goes smoothly!

Taking a few minutes to look down

I've got so much to do. Family is coming to town in 2 days, dishes from company are stacked on the counter, 8 bottles, nipples, straws, caps, and rings to wash, and 2 playdates today that I need to get myself ready for. Maybe I could curl my hair today instead of another careless bun. Maybe if she naps long enough, maybe, just maybe I could shave my legs. I go to the kitchen to rinse the bottles so I can load them in the dishwasher. I get all 8 rinsed and then I hear the squawk. I shut off the water and hold deathly still thinking she will fall back to sleep. Another squawk. And another. I tiptoe into the other room, stick her pacifier in but no good. Squatting down, I pick her up and pull her in close. We snuggle for a second and her eyes start to close. "After a few more seconds of snuggling, she will fall back asleep and I can get some work done" I think to myself so we sit down. If I make a mental list, I won't forget all the things I need to do once I put her down: drink some water, eat breakfast, do dishes, start laundry,  put away last weeks laundry, make the bed, do my hair, get out the spare mattress, vacuum, sweep, call Modesto Imaging, call the insurance comp.... and I stop suddenly. She grabbed my finger. I realize that I was staring blankly at our green wall, not sure where my hands were, but now I know. My daughter is holding my pointer finger on my left hand, my right hand under her little bum. I was so busy looking into 10 minutes from now, I wasn't focusing on the present and I wasn't looking down at my daughter. So I looked, I mean truly looked, and here is what I saw....

two little baby acne bumps remaining on each side of her nose, a little tuft of hair on the bridge of her nose, yellowish speckle of something in her ear that I need to clean when she wakes up, the light from the window hitting her jawline just perfectly that I can faintly see the little bumps that she wakes up with every morning, her perfectly curled eyelashes, the short crease on her chin that turns red when she's been sucking on the pacifier too long or too hard, her "twazy hairs" sticking in every direction, patches of dry skin on her pink, chubby cheeks, fingernails that need trimmed, perfect arches of her eyebrows that can only be seen when the light catches the hair just right, a little itty bitty booger in the right nostril of her tiny button nose. I smell stinky bursts of air coming from her round mouth hanging open in a perfect "O" shape but a waft from her diaper takes away the smell of her breakfast of champions.... whew. I think it may be a full diaper. As if in complete agreement, my right hand starts to feel some little toots as her eyes flutter open. I can see the beautiful blue color of her daddy's eyes looking up at me. Just as quickly as they had opened, they fall closed again. She starts sucking on her green pacifier that had fallen out during her short snooze. Suddenly, just like a mouth full of pop rocks, her toots pop off in rapid succession in my hand and a laugh escapes my lips. A smile starts to appear on her sweet face and I silently scold myself. How could the load of blue jeans spilling out of the dryer ever be more important than living this moment? I plant a big, wet one in the middle of her forehead which causes her to suddenly loosen her grip on my finger. As she starts to wiggle, I realize its time for her next bottle. Before I lay her down, I thanked God for this precious gift that we call Chloe Jane.

Psalm 139:14

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    Your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

Nine.

Chloe hit 9 weeks yesterday. 

Sooooo, I may (or may not) have made friends at our local Starbucks. When I went through the other day, one of my "friends" asked if I had the baby yet (I think my belly no longer rubbing the steering wheel was her first clue!). I bragged on Chloe a little and said, "I can't believe she is 9 weeks old already." She commented on how time flies because it seems like just yesterday I was pregnant. Time does fly, huh? Reminds me of a few years ago at scrapbook retreat when I asked at the dinner table how old babies are before they open their eyes... obviously I was quite naive then but it does seem like yesterday that she was in that eyes-never-open stage. And look at her now:

Our sweet girl has such a personality already and we are loving to see her grow and change each day. She is still very cuddly but also likes her independence. When I lay her down on my legs with her head on my knees, she's started doing the rocket ship launch off my stomach. Also, she can stand on my legs when I'm burping her so she now tries to climb away from me. One of her favorite places to hang out is her changing pad. She looks up at the frames above and kicks like crazy. The other favorite: her activity mat. It keeps her busy for HOURS. And I mean literally hours. On Sunday, she played for an hour in the morning and an hour and a half in the afternoon. I will come check on her and she will just be grinning from ear to ear. I love it. Every once in a while I will switch the music over to sounds and she starts kicking faster and smiling bigger. She definitely keeps me entertained, that's for sure. Luke & I make comments every couple days about how great she is.... No brag, just fact.

Thank you all for your messages and texts asking about Chloe's eating/spitting up this week. (If you are new to the blog, read here for more info on the struggles we've had recently.) She is doing much, much, much better. Spitting up is almost non existent and the fussiness is few and far between. The doctor wanted to schedule an "upper GI" which would take xrays of her upper digestive tract but I haven't proceeded with that yet. We are going to get her shots tomorrow so I will check her weight progression at that time and see if it is still recommended. Thanks for reading!! If you'd ever like to make a comment, select "anonymous" from the drop down menu and simply sign your name in the comment box with your feedback. 

~Crystal~

Our Little Vacationer

Chloe’s first vacation was…. Interesting. I think Mini Vacationer didn’t have quite as much fun as mommy & daddy but we will work on that for next time J

Ready to go!

Our plans were to leave around 5:30 on Wednesday evening so I got Little Missy loaded to run some last minute errands around 3. After the errands, we were planning to go to work and feed her there before we hopped in the car to take off. Luke called as I was snapping her in and said that he could leave as soon as I got there if we wanted. I was thrilled and we took off around 3:30. Chloe was sleeping but had eaten last at 1:30 so I knew we wouldn’t make it too far before she was hungry. At Los Banos (about 45 mins from home) we stopped for an early dinner, gas, and to feed Chloe. I knew we couldn’t put her right back in the carseat after she ate so I fed her first half the bottle in the car. After she spit up all down the back of my shirt all the way down to my sweats, we decided to walk around Target feeding and burping her…. slightly white trashy, I know! She finished her bottle and Luke was holding her while I grabbed a few things. I warned of the spit-up baby that I had grown accustom to the last couple days but this dad felt “above” that so he continued to carry her without a burp cloth. Sure enough, she spewed alllllllll down the front of his shirt. The devious side of me thought this was pretty priceless but I knew he was embarrassed so I felt bad for him. It gave us a good laugh and decided it had only taken him two months to be "that guy" with the spit up scent. After an hour and a half, we felt ready to hit the road…. Chloe was NOT ready. She cried while we got gas and spit up all down the front of her outfit. I got out her little books and she calmed down while she sucked mercilessly on her binky. Finally about 15 mins later, she was out. The next 2 hours were spent with off and on sleeping while I continued to pop her pacifier back in every 20-30 mins. We stopped at a gas station about 45 mins from San Luis Obispo and I took Chloe out in the backseat. Her back was sweaty, her front and right arm were covered in spit up, and the stench from her diaper wafted to my nose before I even had her all the way unbuckled…. It was dark and Luke was already inside so I pulled my pillow out, laid her out, and went to work. Big mistake. This was our first diaper blowout and poo was stained in the front of her sleeper. I think it was about an 8 wipe cleanup, outfit change, and back in the carseat. She immediately fell asleep and we finished the drive with no incident. Arriving at 10, we fed her and had more fussies until we put her to bed at midnight.

On Thursday, Grammy watched Chloe while the other 4 of us went to ride quads on the sand dunes in Pismo. The family always had talked about their hours and hours spent there during Luke’s childhood but I’d never been able to experience it before so I was pretty excited. We rode for about 2.5 hours and I had a great time!! Luke hadn’t ridden in over 5 years so he was quite sore but still enjoyed himself.

Dinner was tough that night. We went to a great steakhouse and I took Chloe in to change her diaper while the family was seated. She was asleep but I had smelled something foul so I knew I needed to change it. Not sure what it was, but the smell wasn’t her diaper so I got her all snapped up and headed out to sit and rock her to sleep….. well, that was against her will apparently.  It started with crying, then started the screaming. I took her out to the lobby thinking that mama’s magic touch could lull her to sleep in no time…. Boy, was I ever wrong! I held her until the appetizers came then Jill took a shift. I ate until the food came. Then I took a shift while Jill ate and then she came back to relieve me while I ate. About that same time, Luke finished and went to assist too. By the time the bill was paid, Chloe was asleep. Hmmmm. We got her strapped in the car before my tears started. I felt horrible that we had come to spend time together as a family and we couldn’t even enjoy the dinner all together. Luke did a great job reassuring me that it’s part of having a baby in the family and it was OK. She was so exhausted that she was in bed by 8:15 and Luke & I followed shortly after.

Friday dawned at 6 since Chloe Bug had gone to bed so early. We snuggled in bed as a family then snuck off to Starbucks for a morning boost. After breakfast we loaded in the car and drove up to San Simeon to see the elephant seals. 

Chloe's first trip to the beach!

It was a nice drive to chat and spend the time with hubby while Chloe snoozed in the back. About 3 hours later we got back to San Luis and we fed Chloe in a nice clothing store while G-pa and Grammy shopped. I wasn’t too interested in whipping out a dirty diaper in the man’s store so I sat in the back with Chloe on our way to dinner to keep her awake so we didn’t have a repeat of the night before. I changed her diaper as soon as we arrived at the restaurant, rocked her a little, and she was oooouuuut. 

Dinner was such a unique idea. NO plates. Just crab legs, shrimp, potatoes, and ears of corn dumped on the table to feast on. Needless to say, the family was pretty excited. The girl that grew up landlocked went for a more boring route of fish n chips :)

About 5 minutes after the first photos were taken, it began again…. I snuggled, rocked, showed books, bounced, and finally took the crying baby to the back hallway to try to calm her down. Nope, she wasn’t interested in calming down. The screaming started soon afterward. We are talking about red face, gasping for air, tight legs, head back to make the MOST POSSIBLE amount of noise kind of screaming. Once Jill finished her dinner, she once again came to hold Chloe while I ate. She had the magic touch to calm her down and get her in the car seat and outside for a walk. Just like a replica of the night before, the bill was paid and the baby was silenced. Grammy gave Chloe a bath before bed and again, these tired parents went to bed around 9.

 

Saturday morning we packed up and headed home without any problems from our little girl in the back. In retrospect, the screaming may have been parent inflicted. As Luke & I discussed what the possible cause could be, we realized that she slept most of the days while we were away. Whether it was in the car or shopping with Grammy, she was on the move which lulls her right to sleep. Therefore, by the time evening came, she hadn't been active enough to be rid of her energy. It may not be the answer but we haven't had the severe screaming at home because she keeps busy with her swing, books. activity mat, looking out the windows, etc. Soooo, we will see if that's the answer but once again, every day is a learning experience and maybe we just learned this lesson one day too late! We are thankful for an understanding family as we broke up the family meals and we are thankful that Chloe got lots of loving while being away!!

Until next time,

Crystal