Molly at 7 Months

Dear Molly,
Time, please slow down! You are growing too quickly right before my eyes. I am trying to soak in every rub of your fuzzy head, your milky breath, the way your face looks when you smile with your eyes closed, your tiny fingers grabbing on to mine.

Milestone-wise, you just cut two more teeth (top middle), for a total of four. You are not sitting unaassited yet, but you are trying to crawl! You just started solid foods a month ago and eat like your mother -- ferociously. :) While we give you mostly purees, you're likely to snatch a fry off my plate and try to down it. Pizza crust was a hit. Since you started solids you have been spitting up less!

leepwise, you're still catnapping, but you sleep good at night - about 9/10 hours. You are wearing both 6 and 9 month clothing though you're still a peanut. 15 lbs at your 6 month appointment, and 15 lbs 8 oz. a month later. Socially, you love everyone. Big smiles wherever you go -- very easy going unless you're tired.

You are very amused by your sister, and especially love when she dances and cheers around the house. You also love your toys, jumperoo, and a good bag of wipes. I'm so excited for your first holiday season. I never had a baby this age this time of year. :)

I love you so much, sweet baby of mine. A year ago we didn't know if we were even having a boy or girl, and now here you are -- our dream baby.

Molly at 23 Weeks

Weight: After a 2 weeks growth spurt, she has had about 2 weeks of non growth spurts, so I'm really not sure! I'm guessing somewhere between 15-16. She seemed to chub up for a minute, but is lengthening out again. She has her next well visit in a few weeks. 

Health: Another cold -- this one has been waking her up several times a night! Development wise, she's really mastering grabbing and using her hands. We're close to finding our toes! And she really loves her mama's boobies; it's lately her favorite place of comfort. My supply has been on the lower end the past few weeks which has me nervous that it may be slowly going down. 

Sleep: Bedtime is now around 9/9:30 and she is in her crib as of two weeks ago! While she handled the transition rather well, we're now waking up several times a night -- hopefully because of the cold and not because of a regression. She sleeps in her zippadee zip swaddle and rolls from her back to belly. She'll somewhere roll herself around to bang on the sides of the crib. Still catnapping. 

Clothes: 3-6 really solidly. 

Social: Still really happy.

Crying: Hunger and fatigue. She fights naps like crazy anymore unless she's nursing. 

Molly at 19 Weeks

Weight: 13 lb last week at her 4 month well visit. Dropping in percentile to 24th, but pediatrician is not concerned. She's 80th percentile for height. I'm trying not to stress about it. 

Health: She developed a little cold the past few weeks, and we have cut two teeth already which is way earlier than Lucy did. Unfortunately she uses those little teeth to bite during nursing. Eep! 

Sleep: Still a catnapper during the day. About 5 naps a day. Sleep is more unpredictable these days -- can I blame four month sleep regression and teeth? She sometimes won't go down until 10:30 again, and sometimes a 3 am wakeup to nurse. She did pull a few 7:30s the few days after her four month vaccine.

Clothes: 0-3 can still fit, but I'm moving her up to 3-6. 

Social: Loves smiling at people, and especially loves her sister who is constantly entertaining her with dances and cheers.

Crying: Hunger and gas pains, though that seems to be fewer now.

Molly at 12 Weeks

Disclaimer: Writing this at 13 weeks! OOPS.

Weight: 12 lbs 2 oz last week. I keep bringing her in for weight checks to keep the gain in order. She's gaining on the lower end, which has me an anxious mom -- especially as we're 90% breastmilk.

Health: Jaundice gone! I'm so relieved we didn't have to go to the Pittsburgh specialist. She looks like a different baby. Now just anxious about weight gain. Such a spitter still! But she's a happy spitter so we just deal with it.

Sleep: Still a catnapper during the day. About 5 naps a day. Bedtime has bumped up during our first week of daycare to about 9:15 ish which I'm not sad about. For most of the week she woke up a little before 6 am which is perfect.

Clothes: 0-3

Social: Started our first week of daycare, and she's doing great. She's such an easygoing baby, so I wasn't too worried about how she'd do.

Crying: Hunger and gas pains, though that seems to be fewer now.

Milestones: Very early stages of grabbing things. A lot more aware of her surroundings. Once she locks eye contact with someone huge smiles. Lots of chatting. And even though we don't have structured tummy time she holds her head up so well and pushes up with her legs when we hold her up on the couch. 

Molly at 8 Weeks

Weight: We haven't had a weight check for two weeks, but I'm guessing she's somewhere in the low mid 11 lb range. I've been starting to stress that she's not eating enough based on pumping output and how much she takes via the occasional bottle.

Health: I took her to the pediatrician about 2 weeks ago because she's been spitting up so frequently. While they weren't concerned about the relux, the PA noted her jaundice and requested another lab check with CBC, so we took off to the lab where they had to take it from her arm. She was still showing pretty elevated levels so they wanted us to take her to pediatric GI doc in Pittsburgh. Ultimately her color started improving, so another lab check just a day before our scheduled appointment showed her levels went down by a lot and we have to get it re-checked in two weeks. Praying they continue to go down and she finally kicks the jaundice totally. I was so worried thinking she had some sort of liver disease, but it seems like it was just a very prolonged cause of breast milk jaundice.

Sleep: Her first nighttime stretch still sits around 5-7 hours with bedtime around 9:30/10 pm. She's gotten better about being quicker with her MOTN feeding, but her second stretch of sleep is still very light especially when it starts to get light and the damn birds start chirping right around the same time. I added another layer of white noise last night which seemed to help and she slept until 8 am. We have less than 4 weeks to figure out a wake up routine that will let me maximize my own sleep and get myself ready before she wakes up. Fingers crossed we can pull it off!

Naps are a wreck. Frequent 20 minute naps are her jam.

Clothes: 0-3 are fitting decently now. Still gowns at bedtime, and some sort of romper for day/going out.

Social: We try to get out when we can -- now mornings we hop in the car to take Lucy to summer camp. The friends visiting have obviously slowed down, so we try to get out when we are able. Luckily there are outdoor festivals and things to go to that help get us out of the house.

Crying: Hunger, overtired. And gas pains make her so upset it breaks my heart. Fortunately it doesn't happen a lot.

Milestones: First social smiles have happened this month. A lot more aware time though she's not that interested in things for very long. 

Molly at 4 Weeks

Weight: We're finally back to birthweight at 3 weeks! She's now probably about 9 lbs 8 oz. She had lost over 10% of her birthweight so we had repeated weight checks. Apparently jaundice makes you too sleepy to take in the required calories, but I also think her birthweight was a little inflated thanks to the IV fluids.

Health: We had about 10 lab draws for biliribuin checks since her discharge as well as the weight checks. While she still has it at 4 weeks, it's not something the dr is concerned about. Lingering just like Lucy's did. I notice she looks a lot less yellow by nighttime and when I have her outside for periods of time. She is pretty exclusively breastfed, and we finally found a bottle she takes well -- the Comotomo. Expensive, but worth it for times I need to leave the house!

Sleep: I feel like she's doing rather well with sleep. The first week she would do a few 3-4 hour stretches starting around 11 pm. By week 4, we're now upstairs and her first stretch is between 5-6 hours. She has a pretty big awake time after that which I'm hoping we can work on. Her naps are getting shorter throughout the day unless we are out and about in the stroller, car seat, or wrap. Her naps are supervised in the rock and play downstairs for the most part. Bedtime is spent in the bassinet swaddled with white noise and her bink for extra support after feedings.

Clothes: Mostly newborn and mostly sleepers during the day and sleep gowns at night. She's not quite filling out 0-3 yet, but probably will in the next 2 weeks if she's like big sister at that age.

Social: I attempt to either have a visitor or get out of the house each day to soak in the nice weather and help ward off any PPD. She's been out in public since discharge and travels well. Sleeps better with a lot of ambient noise and motion, so when she needs some distraction I pop her in the stroller and walk around the neighborhood -- something I couldn't do with Lucy due to the time of year. I notice my mental health is better on days when we have things going on, though I do get worried I am throwing her off a "schedule" -- but let's be real, she doesn't have one of those!


Baby Gear Love:Carter's clothes - Still love everything Carters for comfort and durability especially at this age.

Pampers Swaddlers - Tried and true best diaper for newborns. Also loving Dove baby wipes - soft and not too wet.

Swaddle Me By Your Bed Sleeper - Barely an incline and makes me feel much better about SIDS than the RnP Lucy slept in.

Wubbanub - Thankfully she takes the bink which helps soothe when I'm not available.

Crying: Mainly cries when hungry or when getting her arms in clothes. Also when clusterfeeding and getting frustrated nursing.

Milestones: All of them! First bath after losing her belly button stump at 9 days old, lots of travels, lots of doctor visits, first Knoebel's trip at 3 weeks old. We may attempt tummy time and activity mat this week -- she's got decent head control already! 

Lucy at 49 Weeks

Weight: 20ish I think.  But she doesn't get weighed until after her birthday. 

Medical Issues: Just getting over a seasonal cold right now -- some coughing and snotty nose stuff. But I think that's just par for the course the next few months, especially with her crawling all over and putting everything in her mouth. 

Sleep: About two naps a day. She's getting much better at not throwing a fit when we lay her down -- it rarely happens at night. It's like she just knows it's sleepy time and goes down without a peep. Her wakeup time is about 6:30 every day -- sometimes 7. Never thought I'd see the day! 

Clothes: Averaging 9 month clothing. 

Social:  Her verbal skills have been really improving this week. She tries so hard to communicate. While I don't know if they're actual words she will say things like dada, yeah, book, yuck and our favorite nonsense word -- mm-bah. I bet it means something to her though. She's consistently happy around everyone she meets -- her ultimate favorite are strangers. The stranger the better. 

Food: Purees and pouches and table foods and formula. It's fun giving her new foods to try. This week she's had cheese, noodle, roast beef, eggplant, hamburger.

Play: Loves taking all the books off the shelf and climbing on things she shouldn't. Huge fan of wrestling and chasing Dad. Loves tickle fights and being tossed in the air. When you tell her no, she tends to think it's a game and just laugh at you. 

Milestones:  Really verbal now and can stand unassisted for a few seconds until she realizes what's happening. LOL And first pumpkin patch!

Lucy at 47 Weeks

Weight: 20ish I think. Sometimes I lift her and think she's heavier than the day before, but that could be in my head! 

Medical Issues: We're over a tummy bug from 2 weeks ago and getting over a little cold from last week. Think she has teething pain, but it's hard to tell because she's been eternally teething. She's back to her fussy mood swings in the morning. It's super hard to put her down while I need to rush around the house getting us ready to head out the door. Also a lot of crankiness at dropoff. 

Sleep: She's been averaging 2 naps a day, down from 3. But the length still isn't solid. She goes to bed around 8 pm pretty consistently and wakes up around 6:30 am. Now that it's colder, I've been putting her in fleece footie PJs -- at least until we bring the space heater back in her room. When she wakes up in her crib or when she is mad I put her down for a nap, she'll crawl to the corner of the crib that faces the door and just rock on all fours. She can do that for a long time. 

Clothes: Most things between 6-12 months. I am realizing I may have overdid it on the 12 months winter clothes because they don't quite fit and it's getting chilly out there! Dressing her now is interesting because I have to think more about separates instead of one piece rompers and dresses. And I have to think about shoes soon too! 

Social:  Babbles a lot. Can say things that sound LIKE hi, bye, duck, book. Is only skittish around my immediate family, which is just so weird. 

Food: Purees and pouches and table foods and formula. I really need to get serious about decreasing her formula intake so she has room for three solid meals a day in prep for the big ONE. Had her first Pudgies Pizza and pumpkin donut from DD.

Play: Her musical table and Zany Zoo. Likes looking at and touching books. 

Milestones:   Her honorary grandparents babysat her while we went out on a date! She did well, from what we hear. :) 

Lucy at 45 Weeks

Weight: Probably around 20 lbs by now. Thinning out even more. Who would have thought I'd have a tall, lanky kid?! 

Medical Issues: A little snottiness. Popping two times a day during the week now. Probably some teething pain. Now has six teeth!! 

Sleep:  She sleeps until 6:30 am during the week and on Sunday she slept in until 7:30 am. Hallelujah! Her naps are pretty regular in that there's three a day. She can usually do hour stretches now -- sometimes longer. 

Clothes: Noticing she fits 6 month tops and dresses better than her 9 month stuff, yet 12 month pants fit her best in length.

Social: Started showing some Mommy preference recently. If I leave the room, she looks around for me and then wails. 

Food: Mainly purees, but trying to increase her table foods because I'm getting the hunch she gets frustrated being spoonfed. I will give her anything I think she can not choke on and that's not complete junk. Most of it ends up on the floor, but she does try everything I put in front of her.

Play: Her musical table and Zany Zoo. Likes looking at and touching books. 

Milestones:  Ran her first 5K! 

Lucy at 39 Weeks

Weight:  18 lbs maybe? 

Medical Issues: A little bit of dry skin/rash next to her mouth that I'm attributing to the new canine teeth I noticed. I put some excema lotion on it which helped. 

Sleep:  She had a few mornings she "slept in" until 6:30 am. I wondered if it was a result of being tired from the crawling, but the one night she woke at 4 am out of nowhere. Her naps seem to be getting better. She'll get at least one hour nap in a day. But mostly she takes 4-5 naps a day during the week. 

Clothes: Fully into 6-9 now! I'm almost afraid she'll cruise right though this size though. 

Social: Still loves people. We are always on the move it seems. Many trips to Target, Sam's Club, the grocery store, restaurants, people's houses. For traveling, she's still in her Graco Snugride infant seat, even though she's too long for it. I can't make a decision on purchasing her main carseat, but we do have one (uninstalled) for W's car. 

Food: Lots of purees. We're up to three "meals" a day -- oatmeal for breakfast, a puree at lunch, and a puree at dinner. I've also been introducing a few "people foods" as deemed necessary. Yesterday she had herbed bread and a taste of spaghetti sauce.

Crying: She was pretty cranky when we got back home, but I'm blaming that on all the physical milestones she just had. It's not easy doing that much growing!

Play: Water bottles! And her hairbrush. And every other non-toy. 

Milestones:  Standing assisted. She hasn't mastered pulling up to things on her own, but when I put her on something, she loves to just stand and clutch on. We also had our first bloodshed from said milestone when she fell and bumped her chin on the way down. :( She's been gaining some speed on the crawling. When I'm getting ready in the morning, she'll try to follow me, but she usually hasn't made it out of the room by the time I'm walking back. I kind of hope she just likes to be around me.  

She also got two new teeth that poked through -- her canines. I wasn't expecting that; I was told the top two would come in next.

Lucy at 38 Weeks

Weight:  18 lbs maybe? 

Sleep:  About the same. Still an early riser! And apparently likes to nap at minor league baseball games. 

Clothes: Pretty much into most of her 6-9 month stuff, though the arms/shoulder area are usually too big for her. She's a long baby though. 

Social: She had her first overnight, out of town trip this week! We stayed with one of my besties in Pittsburgh. There she got to meet/play with a doggie and sleep in a PnP in the guest room. She did amazingly well on the drive down and through most of the trip. She amazed me. 

Food: Purees (about 2-3 times a day). She eats anything I give her, but has a special love for the green beans and sweet potatoes.

Crying: When she gets overtired. She also cries a lot when she wakes up because she must be starving! 

Play: Still likes her Zany Zoo and her jumperoo, but she's getting more content to play with little toys on the floor now. 

Milestones:  CRAWLING!! Wes brought her by the day we left for our trip. Within five minutes, she was clapping (first for us to see!) and then crawled when I set my iPhone on the floor. Fortunately we were able to capture it on video! 

Lucy at 36 Weeks

Weight:  Somewhere between 17 and 18 lbs I'm guessing.

Medical Issues: Nothing really. I'm happy to report (and hopefully not jinxing us) that ever since summer started and we switched daycare, she's been really healthy. 

Sleep:  The past four days naps have been pretty decent in length, but that could be because she's been at home (4th of July vacation). The past few weeks it would take about 20 minutes of crying and rocking on all fours before she would finally submit to sleep, but now it's taking about 3 minutes after I turn on her sleep sheep. Therefore, the sleep sheep is my new old favorite baby gadget. :) 

Clothes: Getting more into the 6-9 months stuff, though some of it is too big, especially in the shoulder/arm area. I put her in onesies and cotton pants to go to daycare, and at home she lounges in onesies. Weekends are dresses and rompers. 

Social:  Taking her to restaurants is getting a lot more challenging. She doesn't cry; she'll just yell. I thought with her being able to hang out in her highchair and nibble on food, she'd be distracted, but I fear our days of eating out are coming to an end for a while. She's still a social butterfly and loves smiling and "talking" to any stranger that looks at her. She's never developed the fear of other people yet. If that's supposed to happen by now, I think she skipped it. She loves people. 

Food: She likes fruit purees after all! I've been getting more adventurous with other non puree food. This week she's had puffs, watermelon, and pancakes. She's really getting the hang of it. I've also started giving her "breakfast" before school.

Crying: Same

Play: She's still in love with her Fisher Price Remote Control. Also Sophie. Blows raspberries like it's her job. 

Milestones: First Fourth of July!