The one where Charlotte is six weeks old

Ah, six weeks! It seems to be one of those "magic" numbers. You hear all about making it to six weeks and then everything will be all right with the world. Well, we made it.
























"Check me out, I look so awesome in my jeans!"

Charlotte is doing fantastic. We had our six week check-up yesterday and she weighs a whopping (haha) 9lbs 5oz! I'm glad she's gaining so well, but she's still a little pixie. A month and a half old and she's as big as some babies when they're born. Her head grew 2cm and, according to the height measurement, she shrunk. Ha! We think she wasn't measured properly when she was born because A) she definitely didn't shrink, and B) she's outgrown clothes in length already so she's for sure getting longer. Her heart and lungs sound great, she's still nice and pink, and is just an all-around healthy little girl. She's still losing her hair (or maybe her head is just getting bigger? ha!) and her hairline is getting more and more hilarious. See?



















Ri-donculous!
I especially love the bald ring in the middle. It's AWESOME.

She is smiling more and more and seems to enjoy socializing a lot now. She loves when we just sit and talk or sing to her. She's got great focus and will look at us (and anything that has cool contrast) for longer periods of time. She tracks objects well and when Boyd moves his finger in front of her face, she moves her hand in (what we believe is) an attempt to grab at it. She's super nosy, always wanting to look around and know what's going on. She "talks" constantly when I'm feeding her which is cute most of the time, but not at 3am. I'm not looking forward to trying to get her to eat as she gets older - I'm going to have to feed her in a dark room just to get her to focus enough on the task at hand!



















"Hey sun, I'm so going to have a staring contest with you!"

Her sleep is still going well, with a few rough patches here and there. She usually goes down between 8:30 and 9:30 (all depending on when she's hungry enough for that bedtime bottle) and sleeps a good 5ish hour stretch before waking again to eat. She gets sort of restless and grunty in the wee morning, but usually doesn't wake up again until at least 7am. She still sleeps in the cradle next to our bed and I'm not sure when to move her into her room. I think it'll probably end up being sooner rather than later. It'd be nice not to get disrupted by her tossing and turning and grunting so early in the morning (especially when she's fast sleep through the whole thing!)

As for me, I'm doing well. I still have a small tear that needs to heal up, but aside from that I feel good. I guess it just means more hot baths and taking it easy! I can deal with that. Now if only I had the time to do that...

That's all the news here! Today's agenda = decorating for Christmas and possibly having many a nap. Until next time...



















We love to be cozy! It's the best!

The one where Charlotte is five weeks old

Five weeks!
























Paying homage to MC Hammer with her awesome parachute pants.

Over the last week, she's really started showing her personality more (I think). She's awake way more now during the day, making noises and interacting with us. We got some real smiles yesterday and they just keep coming!








"Mom, you're so funny!"



"You're still so funny, hours later!"

She's still doing relatively well with her bedtime routine. Last night she had some tummy problems that seemed to throw the routine out the window but, other than that, it's been good. Tuesday night she slept straight from 10pm until just after 4am. It was awesome.

She continues to get bigger and rounder. Her big ol' head doesn't really fit in the nice cozy head rest that we had in her car seat and we don't have to wrap her diapers halfway around her back anymore. She's starting to eat more, especially in the evening and at night. We usually have to have 6oz bottles ready for her at night because she just wants more more more! Her eyelashes are getting longer and her hair is slowly disappearing from the front ... I'm afraid she's going to end up with a skullet very soon. How very sad. We need to invest in some sort of cute hair accessories stat to compensate for her weirdo hairline.

We have our six week checkup on Wednesday, so we'll have a weight and health update next week!

The one with the routine

Now that Charlotte is a month old, I've decided she needs to man up and start following a routine. No, just kidding ... but I have noticed that she's starting to fall into relatively predictable patterns of eat, sleep, and play. So, I thought maybe I could work some sort of routine into the routine that she's set out for herself.

She usually eats around suppertime (anywhere in the 5-6ish range) and then again around 8:30-9:00ish. I decided last night to try and use that late evening feeding as the "bedtime" feeding and attempt to get her to bed before midnight or later. Usually she eats again around 11:30/midnight but I was hoping to at least get her some good sleep before that. So, last night she ate at suppertime, played a bit, and then about half an hour or so before she'd be "due" to eat again (ie. before she'd start smacking and giving me the sucky face) I gave her a bath, massaged her with some bedtime lotion (mmm Aveeno), put on a clean diaper, put on clean pyjamas, and put her in her sleep sack. I fed her at 9:00 in the rocking chair and she was conked out on my shoulder by about quarter after 9. I waited to make sure, put her in her cradle at 9:30, and she was out!

Success!

Not only did she fall asleep so deeply so early, she stayed asleep until 1am! And even when she woke up to eat then, I don't think she was fully awake. She kept her eyes shut while she drank and was back asleep in her cradle by twenty after. Awesome.

However ... then she woke up at 4:30 and was all "hey Mom, wanna chat with me? Listen to all the things I have to tell you while I drink this bottle. I'm so noisy! Look how wide open my eyes are! Aren't I adorable? Mom, why aren't you talking to me? Listen to what I have to saaaaaay!"

Mommy was not impressed.

I ended up bringing her back upstairs to rock her back to sleep because I was tired and did not want to stay up at 5am. She drifted off a little bit and after a good half an hour of rocking, I decided to just put her in her cradle and she can talk herself to sleep if she so desired. The second I put her in her cradle, she was out like a light. What a goober! It didn't last long, though, so I ended up pulling her onto my chest, patting her bum while I dozed, and finally got her back to sleep and into her cradle at 6am.

At 8:30am, we were up for the day. Well ... I am. She's conked back out in her swing, just like every morning. I won't be going back to sleep though. It's time to get up, have my tea, and catch up on my internet stuff.

So, aside from her little party at 4:30 in the morning, I'd say my first attempt at a bedtime routine was a success! I also think she would have slept a bit longer past 4:30 had she drank more of her bottle at 1:00. She only had about 2oz so it didn't fill her up enough to stay sleeping. I know before this, she'd only wake up once per night and last night she was up twice ... but I much prefer her (and me!) going to bed at a regular time instead of midnight or later. That's really the only reason she'd wake up once - because she was up so late to begin with!

For the other parents out there - do you have a bedtime routine? What does it look like? When did you start working on a routine with your children? How long did it take before it actually became a routine?



















I'm hoping last night wasn't a fluke and we can keep this pleasantness going!

The one with the Moby!

Happy one month Charlotte!
To celebrate you finally leaving my body, I will wear you as if you were still inside.
























And you will like it.

The one where Charlotte is four weeks old

Four weeks! Wow! The first two weeks dragged like crazy but the last two have gone by pretty quickly. That's exciting. I really look forward to what the next little while brings. Taking care of a newborn is quite taxing. It's like being in a relationship where the other person is constantly demanding everything from you, yet does not acknowledge that you even exist. I can't wait for the interaction to increase!









































Teeny little baby feet!

Charlotte is still growing like a weed. I'm not sure how much she weighs now or anything of the sort, but I can just see her getting bigger and bigger. She's starting to outgrow some of her newborn sleepers and is fitting into some regular clothes now. She just looks more like a baby now and less like a newborn. Not that she was really newborn-looking to begin with... We're still trying to figure out who she looks like and we haven't come to any conclusions. She must just have the best of both of us because she certainly isn't one of those babies that looks just like one parent or the other. I mean, really, right now she kind of looks like a gremlin at times... but we love her just the same!

She has been more vocal lately, giving some goos and aahs. Right now she's yelling at the sun on her play mat :) She focuses really well on us these days and seems like she's trying to talk to us. Tuesday morning, I think she may have smiled at me while I was changing her diaper and chatting with her. It was pretty awesome :) She still adores her play mat and kicks her legs like crazy when the music plays. She also really likes the throw blanket that we have on the back of the couch - it's navy with yellow suns, moons, and stars embroidered. I think she really likes the contrast and will stare very happily at it while we burp her.

Her nighttime sleep pattern seems to have emerged. I try to put her to bed earlier in the evening (like around 9ish or so) but I've decided that it's completely futile to attempt to put her to bed before 11:30. It's like the clock strikes 11:30 and she's like "okay, time for bed". Otherwise she sleeps a bit, wakes up, is grumpy, has a poop, is gassy, or something that just keeps her up until then. She wakes up once in the middle of the night to eat and goes back to sleep until 7am. This morning when she woke up, I checked the clock and, sure enough, it was 7:06am. "Right on time!" I told Boyd. Hopefully this isn't a fluke and that it stays this way for a while. It's really nice to have something relatively consistent at this stage in the game.



















Having a nice sleep on her dad.



















She's getting so round! Must be all the flies she's catching ;)

Today she got to meet her Auntie Rochelle and Uncle Paul for the first time. How exciting! And tomorrow she will get to meet her Auntie Holly for the first time. Hooray!




































Thanks for coming by, guys :)

Tomorrow is Rochelle and Paul's "congratulations on getting married!!" party and Charlotte has a brand new party dress all ready to go. Hopefully it will be a good outing ... outings lately haven't exactly been stress-free, so let's hope that tomorrow goes smoothly.

And that's all the news for this week!

The one where Charlotte is three weeks old

"I'm this big now!"




We had our three-week check-up on Tuesday afternoon. Charlotte is 7lbs 10oz now, so she's gained 8oz since birth. She's nice and pink, her lungs are clear, her heartbeat sounds great, and all seems well with her.
I'm healing well apparently. I was asked how breastfeeding was going and, of course, had to cry and explain what happened while being made to feel bad about my decision. I was offered an appointment at the Open Arms clinic to do a feeding assessment if I wanted to give it "one more shot". I said I didn't know if I wanted to do that.

"You're done trying?"

Well, I guess so. Saying it that way makes me sound selfish and like I don't care about doing what's best for my daughter, but yes. I am done trying. I'm done having to explain myself. I'm done having all these crummy feelings come back. I want to just be able to accept what's happened, deal with it, and move on. I've had two feeding assessments with the public health nurse. I've tried everything. I hate that people think that I've just given up without trying. I don't know what else anyone can tell me or show me. Sure, feeding works relatively well when someone is helping me but guess what - I don't have four hands! I can't hold her hands out of the way, position her properly, pull her chin down, and do breast compressions all at the same time. Sorry. I don't have someone here 24/7 to be my breastfeeding partner. So just leave me alone! I've done what I can and I'm still doing what I can to make sure she's still getting some of my milk through pumping. I completely understand the importance of breast milk, but why is there such a push for breastfeeding? When I breastfed her, I didn't get any of that nice bonding that we're supposed to have. She'd fall asleep and I'd spend the whole feeding feeling frustrated trying to wake her up. I can still have skin-to-skin, eye contact, and all that when I feed her my breast milk from a bottle. I just don't get it. Argh.

Anyway...

In the last week, Charlotte has started focusing on things much more. She is definitely looking at things now, especially our faces. She still loves her play mat and loves watching the light-up sun when the music plays. She's getting stronger and holds her head up for longer periods of time. She moves a ton - when we put her in the middle of the cradle at night, we wake up to find that she's wedged herself into the side somehow. When she's on her tummy, she kicks her legs so hard that I'm surprised she doesn't move forward when she does it. Super strong baby!
We're slowly easing into a routine. Nighttime is still hard and we're trying to figure it out, but the day seems pretty predictable lately. She's usually up sometime in the hour of 7am, eats, goes back to sleep until about 9:30ish, will usually eat again, spends some time awake and playing, and is usually asleep again by lunch time. She has lots of awake time in the early afternoon and usually again in the evening. She's usually up once or twice in the middle of the night to eat and will sometimes go back to sleep easily and other times will be up for hours fighting sleep. We just need to figure out a good bedtime routine and to get her to sleep in her freakin' cradle! That's still a huge struggle. Last night she just slept with me on my chest because I was too tired to bother fighting.

That's the news for this week!



















Watching the sun change colours and play music



















Staring at the puppy



















Hey, there's a baby in that mirror!



















So goofy!