5 Months New [ February 25, 2013 ]

Health: Liv came down with her first cold this month. It wasn't even a bad one and didn't last more than 4 days, but I still hated it, everything about it. I felt so helpless and wished there was SOMETHING i could do to make her feel better. We took her to the doctor within 24 hrs of her coming down with it to ensure it didn't get out of hand since we've chosen to push back her vaccines. Luckily the doc said it was just a little cold, not in her ears or throat - thank gosh. They told us we could give her Tylenol to keep her fever down and some pedialyte as needed. Thank goodness her fever was low and i managed to keep it low by giving her the Tylenol. But that created a whole new problem...something even more scary than her being sick. When i talked to the doc over the phone she told me to get Tylenol and pedialyte so i grabbed some quick on my way home. Well I'm a dope and didn't even think about the COLOR they were! Well after some erratic, hyper, crazy behavior I called the doc and talked to the nurse. When I told her how Liv was acting she said what color is the medicine? I told her purple and pink. She then told me that could be the reason for those behaviors as some kids have reactions for Red40. Well I immediately felt terrible and like a horrible mother. How didn't I think about that? I'd heard that Red40 isn't good for anyone, let alone babies! So i immediately threw the medicine away and got dye free Motrin. Either the Tylenol or the dye was making poor Livvy nutty...she wouldn't sleep for 24hrs and still managed to have massive amounts of energy. It was like she was on a crazy high of some sort, bouncing all around, shaking her head from side to side. SCARY STUFF. I still feel awful about this...it makes me cry when i think about it. I was so stupid to give her any dye and wish I could undo it. And going forward I just really hope she doesn't have issue with Red40 as it's in everything fun {but bad for you} to eat - Cheetos, Popsicles, m&m's {gasp}, pop tarts, yadda yadda. Here's an article about it if you haven't heard about this dye and it's affects. It's just so unfair that this stuff is allowed in foods and medicines because moms like me trust that it's ok if it's on the shelf. BIG A-HA moment for me. Now I'm giving everything over-the-top thought. Another side note about Red40 - it's made from bugs!!! ewww


http://www.livestrong.com/article/445428-is-red-40-food-coloring-dangerous-to-your-health/ 

Eating: we started giving her oatmeal cereal and then rice after a couple weeks. she wasn't too sure about it in the beginning and needed to figure out the swallowing thing. But she definitely has figured it out and is loving her morning cereal. I was a little leery about giving her rice with all the arsenic talk but talked to the doc and she said rice hasn't been pulled off the shelves yet... and the research a did on this said arsenic isn't completely bad for you, they just aren't sure the amount of it that takes it to the 'bad' level. UGH. Too many decisions to make as a momma!!

Next big decision - Purees vs. Baby Led Weening. If anyone has any advice or best bets about this I'm all ears!

Sleeping: She is sleeping about 7-9hrs a night, in her crib! woo! this has made my life so much easier as i transitioned back to work. she has been napping sporadically tho, not as well as when i was home during the day. she must love to be with her daddy too much! she still loves her morning nap though. After we get up around 6:15am, she nurses and has a bottle {i don't produce enough} she will usually go back to sleep for another 2-3hrs. Then she will most likely take a long 2-3hr afternoon nap too so she's bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed when i get home. :) all and all she is a great sleeper. we still haven't established any sort of 'bed time routine' but I'm ok with that since what we're doing is working! I'm not gonna try to fix something that isn't broken!

I found her rolling around in her crib one day when she was down for a nap...every time I'd flip her over shed roll back! so we officially have a rolly polly! AND shes sleeping on her tummy!!!! scared the crap out of me the first couple nights but she LOVES it. As soon as i put her down in the crib she either rolls on to her side or all the way over to he tummy and passes out. It's so cute. 

Likes: Eating :), showee time, pippy, talking, giggling {sometimes for no reason at all!}, standing, dolly, bouncing in her jumper, auggie her doggie

Dislikes: there really isn't anything she doesn't like anymore! i can't think of one things right now. weird.

New things and firsts: pulls bottle up to her mouth and pulls it out when it's empty, this funny cough/laugh thing...so cute, really sucking her thumb now {just occasionally tho}, rolling over lots!, tummy sleeping, peek-a-boo!! :D

Best Moment: I was leaving for work one morning and like usual, it takes me forever to say goodbye and peel myself away from her, and I got real close to her and said I love you, she gave me a big smile, grabbed both my cheeks and gave me a slobbery face rub kiss. My heart was SO FULL and I get all teary thinking about it. It was by far one of the best moments yet. It was like she was reassuring me that everything is gonna be ok while I'm away at work. Gosh I just love that little girl. <3

Back to work has been alot easier than i thought {thank gosh}. It helps that I have a great hubs who is willing to stay home with lil miss - makes going to work so much easier and having Fridays off is the best. I'm so grateful for that. Luckily i get three pump breaks that really breaks up my day...my boss said that was 'mommy time' so she didn't expect me to work. So that's when i catch up on the blogs, instagram and facebook - it helps pass the time. I have such a great company - they have two special 'mother's rooms' in my building. It's all set up with two stalls, a sink, pumps, supplies, etc. and it's on my floor! I couldn't be more lucky. I hear of some moms having to pump in closets and bathrooms - that's hard. Life is beautiful. :)

My supply is REALLY low lately so it's been frustrating...i started taking Goat's Rue {used for adoptive moms who want to nurse}, well see how that works - says it takes about two weeks to kick in.

new pretties! in Liv's Lounge

hi! hi!

i know i have been on a baby hiatus; trying to soak up every last minute with the babe before going back to work (drag), but i am REALLY gonna try to get back into this blogging thing. :)

i thought i'd start with something simple, by showing you some of the new pretty DIY projects i did while on maternity leave. being home really got my creative juices flowing - like they used to - ive missed that in my life. hopefully i can still find time to do those fun things while back at work. but who are we kidding here, i mean shoot, i cant even find time to blog! ::humph::

here we go...

new handmade mobile

hand traced/cut silhouette of liv
(headband flower is cut from the paisley fabric) 

DIY bow holder made with a frame and ribbon that
coordinates with the fabric in her room (i was ecstatic i found it!)

new frame and headband bin

custom made birth stat subway sign made by me!
(and new frame)

added some flair to this lamp by hot gluing ribbon around it!

little fabric flower i made on the diamond thingy

more fabric flowers i made!

i think her nursery is always going to be a work in progress, well as long as pinterest is around!!!

phew! i made it through this post!

AND i finally posted on Project Nursery here>>> http://projectnursery.com/projects/livs-lounge/

4 Months New [ January 25, 2013 ]

Weight: 15lbs 3oz (83rd%)

Height: 25in (79th%)

Head size: 42cm (78th%)

Health: Livvy baby is "prefect" in the words of our pediatrician. She even said her head is improving and doesn't need a helmut at this time! YAY! PHEW!

Eating: not much has changed with eating. next month's post will include starting cereal.

Sleeping: Doctor said Liv should be sleeping more and told us to start her on cereal twice a day, hoping that will help.

Likes: Eating :), bath time, swinging, pippy, talking, giggling, standing, dolly, swingy

Dislikes: Burping, getting diapies changed, bumbo time, tummy time

Outings:  New year's eve we went to bru's mom's for a few hours to get Liv and Joey together to celebrate the new year. We were home by midnight and sat on the couch with sleeping little Livvy until the clock struck 12:00am. We woke her up a steal a new years smooch and that was our new years! ha...so much changes when you have a beeb. :)

New things and firsts: face rubs/kisses us, pulling stuff towards her, scratches stuff to feel textures, talks to things, grabs on to things and wont let go!, pulls herself up by holding on to my fingers, sits up in boppy by herself, does this funny birdie thing when she eats, so giggly, holds bottle, sucks two fingers and thumb, jumping in her jumpy

SLEEPING IN HER CRIBBY!!!! and slept 9hrs her first night! WOOOOO i'm so proud of this accomplishment, all before i went back to work! AND SHE ROLLED OVER twice in her crib! (but hasn't dont it since)


Best Moment: this month has been the best yet. liv is so much more engaged and fun! we have fun playing, laughing and just hanging out. she has been alot easier to take care of too!

3 Months New [ December 25, 2012 ]

Weight: No doctor's appt this month

Height: 

Head size: 

Health: Liv is a healthy baby...she's been gaining a pound every week it seems. The only thing that I've been concerned about it her head. I'm hoping we've done enough tummy time to improve the flatness some.

Eating: Like i said last month, after going to the doctor we brought her back down to 4oz but that really didn't satisfy her so we decided we'd give her 4.5oz instead. It was a little rough for her in the beginning but she adjusted. My milk supply had slowly been going down so i have only been able to pump enough for a 4oz bottle a day. So usually her second feeding of the day she will get a 4oz bottle of boob juice and then i will put her on the boob for about 10-12 minutes just so she can get the current antibodies. She still loves her food!

Sleeping: She slept 8.5hrs!! wooo... that's the record! We've been letting her nap flat on our bed and on the couch hoping she'd get used to it and be able to sleep flat in the cosleeper. We finally were able to pull out the nap nanny and now she sleeps flat at night! She is on a good schedule of sleeping until about 530ish, eats, cuddles with me (love my morning cuddles!) and falls back to sleep until 9 or so, eats again, plays, takes a 45-60 min nap, eats, plays, takes a long afternoon nap (usually 3 hrs), eats, plays, short nap, eats, chills out then goes down for the night. She is so funny, she really likes chill out time. She lays on the couch, watching TV, with her blankies, piggy and pippy. She gets SO excited when you give her all those things - it's SO cute. :)

Likes: Eating :), bath time, swinging, pippy, talking, giggling, standing

Dislikes: Burping, getting diapies changed, bumbo time, tummy time

Outings:  Christmas eve and christmas day were both exhausting and fun. Christmas eve we went early to my mom's and did our family xmas and then went to aunt p's to do the family xmas. I was super annoyed with everyone asking about Liv while she was sleeping. I swear, every 10 minutes someone would say "is she awake?" I was getting irritated! lol

Christmas day, we woke up and had our first xmas as a new family :) Then we went to his mom's for breakfast and presents. Then we went out by his aunts for their family xmas.

Holidays are fun and i love them, but with an infant they're A LOT of work! I feel like I have to pack up her life to go anywhere (and my pump...ugh!).

New things and firsts: 
First laugh while playing, grabs my hand and pulls it to her mouth, prefers sitting up, sat in bumbo, uses hands to suck on bibby and blankies, rolled from belly to back, grabbed rattle and pulled towards her, looks up at you while in your arms, plucked pip out of her mouth and placed it down, put pip back in her mouth, very giggly, grabs ours faces and gives us a wet face rub

Best Moment: Our first Christmas as a new family. :) This holiday season just gave me a whole different degree of warmth within. It was unforgettable. 

2 Months New [ November 25, 2012 ]

Alright...here we go! I'm going to try my very best to piece together month two based on my iphone notes :)

Here are her stats from her 2 month appt

Weight: 12lbs 13oz (88th%)

Height: 23in (69th%)

Head size: 15.7in (76th%) - uh ohhh.... big head genes are setting in...dun, dun, dun! And the doc said her head looks a little flat so we need to do more tummy time. I'm hoping she won't have to get a helmut. :(

Health: Livvy is a healthy baby and growing like a weed! As you can see by her stats above, she is quite a big girl. When we went for her two month check up the doc said she is overweight and overfed and suggested we cut her 6oz to 4oz. So looks like this girl is going on a baby diet. :/

Eating: After feeding Liv she never seems satisfied so we (first time parents) thought she was just still hungry so we kept upping the number of ounces we gave her. By her two month birthday she was already up to 6 oz. As you saw above, the doctor was very unhappy with us and told us she needs to get used to not feeling STUFFED. This is why she was projectile vomiting too because she was beyond full. Oopsies!

Sleeping: She's sleeping a little longer now at night. Her longest stretch is 7.5hrs. She is still in the nap nanny in the cosleeper at night and will nap on the couch or in her swing.

Likes: showers, when we make noises with our mouths, her pip (finally)

Dislikes: burping, having to be changed before eating, tummy time

Outings: We went to his aunts for Halloween evening, which was a lot of fun. The cousins dressed up as Micky and Minnie! Thanksgiving was a lot for all of us. We went to my mom's first and then his mom's. It was a lot of driving, packing shit up, noise and people. Liv was overstimulated and we paid for it.

New things and firsts: 
Week 5 - smiled at me when talking to her, she's 10lbs, in 0-3 size onesies, in size 1 diapies, first showee
Week 6 - laughed at me when i asked her if she was tired, held bottle by herself (proly an accident), she's 11lbs, she moved up to 5oz
Week 7 - sleeping 6-7hrs
Week 8 - she's 12lbs, put pip in her mouth

Best Moment: When she smiled at me for the first time :)))

Liv got her first shot. I wanted to hold off on all her vaccines until she was two, but I've been a little concerned after hearing that some of the diseases they vaccinate against are actually coming back because people aren't vaccinating their kids anymore. After talking to the doc, she suggested atleast getting the DTap, so we did. I got the shot in the hospital the day after Liv was born because it's so prominent now and my arm hurt for weeks after so i was a little scared to give it to my baby. But she took it like a champ, not even a flinch! She didn't have any side effects from it or really anything, maybe she was a little more sleepy but that's it (thank gosh!). I think I'm going to hold off on all the rest of them tho until she's two and then do a staggered schedule. I don't want to overload her little body.

1 Month New [ October 25, 2012 ]

Weight: 9lbs 6oz (68th%)

Height: 21in (60th%)

Head size: 14.17in (38th%) - we've been very concerned with this number as daddy has a big noggin, but she's been having a below average sized head. :) 

Health: Baby girl is a healthy baby. My whole pregnancy she was very active with a very strong heart beat and functioning body. She is still very healthy! She passed her APGAR test with a score of 8-9 and each time the peditricians checked her in the hospital they came in and told me how healthy she was. And she passed her hearing test the first run through (which was awesome!). Her first visit to the doctor was the saturday after she was born and she had was one ounce short of gaining her birth weight back within 4 days (impressive) - 7lbs (20th%), 20in long (49th%), 13.18in (10th%) head. Because Livvy checked out so healthy they wanted her back in three weeks. We went back on 10/19 (her current measurements above). Next time we go back is for her two month check up.

Eating: Livvy has had no problem eating! But breastfeeding has been interesting. When we tried to feed right after she was born she screamed, shook her head and pushed away with her hands. :( Since I was so tired and didn't want wee one to starve, I let them give her formula when she went to the nursery the first night. The next day I tried it again and she did the same thing! Unfortunately I didn't see the lactation nurse until really late in the day so I got no help. That being said, I gave in and was just feeding her formula (against my birth plan but oh well!). The second day in the hospital I asked for late check out (LOL) so I could work with the lacation nurse first thing that day. Those nurses are very weird and rather than dealing with them I just told them I wasn't forcing her to do something she didn't want to and if it ended up working - great and if not - oh well. We left it at that and I tired a few times here and there the first two weeks and she really didn't want any part of it. She was getting what she wanted from the bottle and was very content with that. Then on her three week birthday she took it! She was starving and crying her head off so I stuffed a boob in her mouth and viola! She has been taking the boob when I offer it to her which is maybe once or twice a day (some days I do without since it hurts so much!). But because I don't really know how much she gets I let her feed a little and then end up giving her a bottle because I don't want her to get hungry again in 30 minutes. This whole first month I have been able to give her atleast one, ususally two or three 'boob juice' bottles a day which has made me feel alot better about giving her formula. Just as long as she's getting some of the good stuff. :) Pumping is a total pain in the ass to me though... the first 10 or so days were very hard for me (couple melt downs) because I was still adjusting and pumping was just ONE more thing to add to the routine, but now I've got it down. And like I said Liv LOVES eating! She went from eating every two hours to now every 2-3, sometimes 4 hours depending on what were doing. If we're out or she's sleeping she can go alot longer than if were just at home and she's bored (we both like to eat when we're bored!). The past couple days though she has been one hungry hippo! She must be growing because that's all she wants to do is eat with the occasional projectile puke! Eww.

Sleeping: She was a good sleeper when we first brought her home; she was sleeping about 4.5 hrs. Then she started getting up every 2 hours...that sucked! But she's going 2.5-4.5 hr stretches now and we've figured out our routine to maximize our sleep (thank god). We will usually feed her some time between 11pm and 12am and then go to bed. She will usually get up around 3 or 4am and then again at 6 or 7am. I usually nap 8:30-10:30-11pm, we'll feed her, go to bed, Bru ususally gets up first shift and I get up second shift and stay in the living room (usually I'm up then) so Bru can get a good stretch of uninterrupted sleep. This seems to be working for us and it only took about 3 weeks to figure it out! ;) Ducky girl is one noisy sleeper! She grunts, wheezes, sneezes, coughs, giggles, moans and breaths heavily - it's very hard to sleep soundly!

Likes: Eating :), mumford and sons, staring, bath time (esp getting her hair washed), swinging

Dislikes: Burping, getting diapies changed, being in one position for too long, being cold

Outings:  I have been forcing myself to get out and do things since the first two weeks I couldn't drive and couldn't lift her. We've gone to doctors (obvi), Bru's mom's a couple times (since that's all we do is laundry!), my mom's (to meet the puppies), dominics, buy buy baby (a couple times), Bru's dad's, lunch and vonmaur with grammie, yorktown and OB malls and target, gyno and starbucks (just me and Liv). We've also been on a couple walks in the stroller and in the carrier.

New things and firsts: 
Week 1 - Rolled over during tummy time! (woah slow down baby!), smiling in sleep
Week 2 - Holds pip while sucking it, helps me pull bottle into her mouth, holds head up to look at me, pushes off my lap while we're tummy to tummy, looks at herself when I take a pic on my phone, staring, follows things with her eyes, 
Week 3 - belly button fell off, first giggle in her sleep (the single most cutest thing I've ever heard/seen), first smile in response to something I did, 
Week 4 - finally latched!, slept for 5 hours during the night

Best Moment: Her birthday. :) It truely was the most incredible day of my life. Watching her head come out and seeing her face for the first time was something I'll never forget. Then when they put her on my chest...OMG, it was so...so words can't describe. It felt like the world stopped. . . . . . . 

Nicknames: sweet pea, Livvy girl, Babe, Beebs, Monkey butt, ducky, peanut, baby girl, bay-bee

I guess I didn't take a 1 week pic :((