Two Month Checkup

Ava had her two month checkup today and all is well! She's now 13 lbs, 11.5 oz. and 24.25 inches (both 97th percentile)...the nurse said she must've had a growth spurt but if that's the case, I think she's been having a growth spurt since the second trimester, since she's always been measuring in on the bigger end of things. She did great at her appointment too...she was all smiles and happy noises until she got her vaccinations: an oral one for the rotavirus (the first dose she threw up all over me along with her breakfast) and four shots...she screamed for maybe ten seconds and that's all. I can't get over how well she did--my infant daughter is tougher than I am!!!! She did give us (Craig was there too) the saddest little betrayed look and she had the lower lip going, which about killed us; but no more crying than the initial reaction. I do have to schedule an appointment with yet another specialist, something about her legs, I didn't quite catch exactly what...gotta go through the paperwork from the pediatrician to see if I can figure it out. It's another one of those "probably nothing but need to take a look" things, like her kidneys and the ultrasound on her tailbone. Oh well.







Oh, I took this picture about a month ago on my phone and FINALLY remembered to download it. SO. CUTE.

Myrtle Beach!

Craig loves the beach year round. I, on the other hand, am not very fond of the beach when it's too cold to actually enjoy it. (By "enjoy," I mean it has to be at least in the 70s, no wind or only a light warm breeze, and sunny.) Guess what it is right now? Yep...too cold to enjoy it, and hard enough wind to knock the stroller over if we're not careful. Even nature enjoys taunting me. Same thing happened last year when I went down to south Florida for a week in March, it's usually 70s-80s and when I was there it was 60s and windy. ANYHOW we do have a really nice suite that overlooks the water so even if we can't enjoy the beach itself, we can at least enjoy the beautiful view from our room! Ava has done good so far on her first trip--she was mellow on the way down, napped good yesterday and only got up once during the night (didn't really expect her to do a full night away from home like this), did fine when we've been out to eat, and only melted down really bad when we were on our way home from the outlet mall this afternoon...took forever to settle her down for her nap but she's finally out. What a good kid.

I'm going to go sit on the couch and enjoy the cable TV and the spectacular view while the rest of my family naps....adios!

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So what?

Okay I just had to post this really quick....apparently on the show The View (yes, I'm very ashamed to have it on right now! Mom, I know you are laughing at me!) today they're talking to Molly Shannon and during the intro the announcer person was like, "Molly Shannon--did she REALLY email Megan Mulally while she was in labor???"

Big deal. I emailed the other 7th grade teachers, a few friends, called some people while I was still being stitched up, and blogged a mere hour or two after Ava's birth. ;o) Beat THAT, Molly!

:o)

Well, we didn't get much good sleep yesterday during the day--the morning nap didn't last and I had to go get Ava twice before she took her afternoon nap (we're trying to let her cry it out, but not very much at this point since she's still really little....depending on how hard she's crying I currently give her about 5-10 minutes before I pick her up, pat her for a few minutes, and put her down again), and by the time she finally crashed I didn't have the heart to wake her to keep her on schedule. I think I'm going to have to rework the 10-2-6 schedule that we were trying to do--when she's been sleeping at night, she sleeps for a long time and it throws off that schedule. Last night she slept for ten hours!!! Of course a few hours into it, at almost 1:00am, she let out a bloodcurdling shriek that scared the heck out of Craig and I....and apparently I've developed some strange, baby-scream-triggered reflex because the scream wasn't even over and I was already halfway down the hall to her room. I'm not kidding, it was like someone shot me out of a cannon. Craig was laughing, however, I wasn't quite as amused. (I've had dreams about cockroaches and spiders in which I've flown from the bed--in my sleep--in much the same way. When I had the spider dream, I stood up in bed and yelled about the spiders. When Craig reached out his hand to comfort me I was convinced it was not a hand but a giant spider and I leaped off the end of the bed, caught my food on the end of it, and crash landed on the floor.) ANYHOW she was fine, she does cry out in her sleep sometimes and this was just a particularly loud one I guess! She slept solidly the rest of the night (rediscovered her thumb, which she apparently couldn't locate to soothe herself the night before) and I had to get up to pump before finally waking her a little after 8am. I'm really going to miss leisurely morning feedings with her, eventually it'll be all business when I go back to work but right now she's so incredibly sweet in the morning! When I pick her up, she's all smiles and cooing, and she's like that throughout the feeding as well. (I ignored the schedule and let her sleep today because I wanted to see how long she'd go, and I will base the revised schedule off of that.) She's sleeping now in the swing--I played with her until she got that sleepy look and started doing her tired cry--and I'll have to get her up shortly to eat before we go meet a friend and her baby for lunch. Tomorrow we head to Myrtle Beach so that should be interesting! That's part of the reason I'm not too worried about screwing up the schedule, we're going to pretty much screw it up with our trip anyhow.

Hope I'm not too boring with all the baby stuff but you know, that's really all that's going on in my world at the moment! I did finish the James Patterson book last night--woohoo!

Good while it lasted....

Last night, Ava reverted back to fussing and not sleeping very well. Ate at 9pm, 1am, 6am, with lots of fussing and restlessness in between. I'm neither frustrated nor discouraged because I fully expected it: I really didn't think she'd all of the sudden start sleeping and everything would be perfect from then on. I have nights I don't sleep so it's only natural that she'll be off on occasion as well...eventually the good nights will outnumber the bad. However, I'm working hard to keep her on her schedule during the day--right now she's down for her morning nap and she didn't go very easily but that's okay, with last night's and this morning's restlessness and the good stretch of playtime we had this morning, I think she'll be tired enough to get some good sleep in before too long.


I don't want my picture taken!!!!

This Just In!

At the risk of jinxing everything, I just have to post this: Last night the kid slept from about 9pm-6am!!!! Woke up a few times and fussed very briefly but then went back to sleep every time--I got her up to feed her at six or she probably would've slept longer! I'm trying to get her on a 6-10-2 feeding schedule and she seems to be falling into it nicely so that's good. Oh, and she was pretty much angelic while I got my hair cut today. :o) (I know--she could turn into the Demon Spawn tomorrow, but right now she's being awesome.)

That's all!

56 Days

Tomorrow, Ava will be exactly eight weeks old: that means she's been with us on the outside for exactly 56 days--sometimes it seems like it's gone by quickly and sometimes it feels like she's been with us forever. More often than not it's been a challenge (to put it mildly!) but I would not change it for anything in the world. Sometimes I miss the freedom that we had before and I definitely miss sleeping for ten hours a night on the weekends, but it's been worth it: especially in the past week or two, because she's been responding to her surroundings and to us more and more each day. A few times now I've been nursing her and she's stopped eating, and when I've looked down at her she's just been staring up at me and smiling. Sappy mommy that I have become, that totally melts me. When we talk to her, she "talks" back, making "ooooooohhh"-ing noises. We probably look like idiots, saying, "Hellooooo, Ava!" and cooing at her over and over again, but there's just nothing like seeing her smile and imitate the sounds we make. People told us that every stage of Ava's development would make some things easier and also present new challenges--right now, she's sleeping better but needs to be entertained more (not THAT big of a challenge, since right now she's satisfied to lay on her Baby Einstein mat and stare at the objects dangling from it, or to have us shake toys in front of her face).

ANYHOW--today was a good day for my sanity because I got a rather nice and unexpected break when Ava discovered her thumb! She woke a couple of times during her afternoon nap but soothed herself back to sleep by sucking her thumb...we're crossing our fingers that this becomes a nighttime thing as well...not that I'm complaining since she already does pretty well, but it couldn't hurt! So anyways, I got to read a good chunk of the new James Patterson book (maybe not that new, but I haven't done much reading for the past few months) and lounge around on the porch, enjoying the 70 degree weather we had today. (After I finished things around the house of course.) She slept from 12:30 until almost 4pm--her best nap yet.

Also--I don't feel too bad about putting Ava in day care anymore. There was some big thing on the news around here about a nanny mistreating the babies she was taking care of, and that kind of scared me. It also made me think: even if a baby-sitter didn't mistreat her, would she give her the attention and interaction she needs or just stick her in a play pen and ignore her? At least at a day care, there are parents coming and going and numerous teachers, all certified, and all accountable to one another. Not to mention, they have all the necessary baby crap: cribs, tummy time mats, swings, etc. and they follow a routine so the kids aren't just penned up and ignored. It'll give Ava a chance to interact with other people besides me and hopefully make her a more social and independent child.

Finally, here are a TON of pictures for your enjoyment! My parents stopped by for a few days on their way home from Florida and we all went a little camera crazy. :o)

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