Cooper: Babysitter

Cooper is just obsessed with Alex. He wants to be where ever she is. I can't tell you how many times he just gets his bone and lays in front of her crib chewing on it. He always has to be near her if we are doing tummy time. If she start cooing, he has to get up to check on her. It is so cute! He can not keep his tongue of that baby and she doesn't seem to mind one bit! I can't wait until she gets bigger and is able to interact with him even more.



We got to see Abby again last night. I met Katie at a La Leche League meeting. It was great to meet other new mommies that are breastfeeding and going through the same struggles I have been going through. Some days are so easy but we have those days I just wish I would allow myself to give her formula. My goal is to breastfeed for at least 6 months...I am 1/3 of the way to meeting my goal! While I was at the doctors office yesterday, I had a bottle of pumped milk just in case she got fussy. I tried giving it to her and she looked so confused. My poor little baby, she is so used to me snuggling her while I feed her and she wasn't able to get that while we were there. She wouldn't take the bottle from me. I guess that should make me feel good, she wants me! She did take a bottle from her Daddy just now so it's good to know that she isn't going to starve if I'm not there.

2 Months Old!

I can not believe my sweet baby girl is already two months old! She is growing so fast and it was confirmed at the doctors office today! When she was born she was in the 5th percentile for her weight...she is now in the 50th! My little chunky baby!

Here are her stats:

birth weight: 5 lbs. 12 oz current weight: 10 lbs. 7 oz!

birth length: 19.5 inches current length: 22.5 inches!

Can you believe this little thing is already over 10 pounds? I can't. The doctor said everything looks great! She had her 2 month shots. I couldn't watch. I heard my poor baby crying so loud. The second they were done, I picked her up and she stopped crying. She has been a little fussy, but not too bad.

Alex has started smiling. I have tried everything I could to catch it on camera and kinda succeeded today. The pictures above are all from today. Not a huge smile, more like little smirks. She just melts my heart! I love her so much!

I also had my appointment with the Arthritis specialist. (man, I sound old talking about my arthritic bones!) So anyway, the doctor is 95% sure it is Rheumatoid Arthritis. I am starting medication tomorrow to help with the pain. I have to have more blood work done to confirm RA and then an ultrasound on my hands and wrist later this month. Honestly, I haven't read much about it so I'm still kinda in the dark about what exactly it is. I'm planning on reading up on it as much as possible over the next few days so if they confirm that's what it is, I'll be able to ask any questions I may have.

Lazy Sunday

Yesterday was the best! Alex woke up around 7 so Josh brought her to bed with us. We all ended up sleeping until almost 10! We never sleep in anymore, especially now that Alex is here. Cooper even joined us. It was perfect! We had a late breakfast and Josh decided to do some work on the car. Alex actually took a nap in her crib, which is unusual for her. She usually sleeps on me and cries when we put her in her crib for a nap.

She has started getting really fussy at night. I try to feed her and she will eat for a couple of minutes then she just gets super fussy again. We move her around, try different positions and nothing helps. It usually last until about 9:30 or 10 then she wears herself out and finally falls asleep. Last night, after she wore herself out, I got her ready for bed and she went down at 10:30...she didn't get back up until 6:15! Woo hoo! A whole night of sleep! It was great. The past few nights she has been up once around 3 so I was shocked this morning when I heard her rustling around and it was already 6:15! I am not getting my hopes up that she is going to start sleeping through the night just yet, but we'll see what happens the next few nights.

Alex has her 2 month check up and shots tomorrow. I think it is going to be harder on me than her. It breaks my heart to hear my pumpkin cry. She usually gets over it pretty quick. I also have an appointment tomorrow with a specialist to talk about my high ADA counts. Hopefully they will be able to give me some insight as to why I am so much pain.

Alex and Abby

Abby is here! She was born last night and we went to see her this morning. She is adorable! Both Mommy and baby are doing great. Here is the first picture of Alex and Abby together. Alex was not too happy because she was cold. She welcomed her new BFF by flinging her arm at her and smacking her in the face. Alex better watch it, Abby has a few ounces on her and will be able to hold her own pretty soon!

Nomi!

We were so excited, Nomi came to visit us on Wednesday! She stayed the night and left yesterday. I love having my mom here, she just loves on Alex the entire time. Alex kept smiling for her. She took a 3 hour nap in Nomi's lap yesterday morning then we ran some errands in the afternoon. We went to Gymboree and got some adorable clothes for Alex to wear this fall. I can't wait to see her in them. Mom also picked up a little something for Abby. Abby's room is a jungle theme so Mom got her a monkey hat, onesie and socks. Alex got a cute mouse hat. So now we will have Alex and Abby, the mouse and the monkey. Speaking of Abby, today is her birthday! Katie went to the hospital this morning at 5:30 to be induced. We are now waiting for word of her birth. We are so excited and can't wait to go see her so Alex can meet her new best friend for the first time!

On a sad note, my sweet baby girl has a rash on her face. I am thinking it is from her car seat. It showed up one day after she got sweaty in it. I started reading online and found some information about other babies getting rashes from their Chicco car seats. It has something to do with the chemicals they use to make it flame retardant. I am going to start covering the part that touches her face to see if it clears up. If it does, I'll have to see if I can find a car seat cover so it doesn't keep coming back.

We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home!

a few more pictures...

here are a few more pics from our shoot with Emily!

First Overnight Trip!

This weekend Alex went on her first overnight trip. We went to Josh's parents lakehouse on Saturday. I, of course, was stressing about forgetting something as I packed, but thankfully I remembered everything for Alex, I just forgot a few things for us, but it was no big deal. We made do. She was great in the car. It was about a 3 hour drive. She slept most of the way down, only waking up once to cry for a few minutes, then when we stopped at the grocery store. Josh went in while I fed Alex in the car.

I think she is coming out of a growth spurt, she spent the end of the week eating nonstop and Saturday and Sunday sleeping nonstop. I felt bad she wasn't awake more to see Grandma and Grandpa, but she had some quality naptime on everyone. It was also Alex's first night sleeping in the same room as us. She did pretty good. It took her a little while to fall asleep, but once she did, she was out. She was only up once each night.

We headed home today and she was good again. This time she stayed awake most of the trip. We had to keep an eye on Cooper, if she started to make a noise, he would lick her. She didn't mind at all. He ended up laying with his head almost in her carseat so he could watch her. She got fussy about 45 minutes from home so we stopped for a feeding and diaper change, then she was good to go.

I think our weekend at the lake wore everyone out. Alex is sleeping on me while Josh snuggles with Cooper on the floor (see pic below!)

Mommy, Daddy and Alex

Grandma, Grandpa and Alex

Josh and Coopie "recovering"