8 months on the 8th

K turned 8 months today.  She started crawling on her hands and knees a few weeks ago and that same week started getting into the sitting position on her own and pulling up.  She started babbling yesterday and makes the "dada" sound.  She seems to do things very suddenly without too much buildup most of the time.  She is doing better about eating and generally eats a bit at each meal or at least 2 out of the 3 a day.  She loves avocado, and she won't eat the other things if she see that I have avocado.  She's averaging about 3 ounces of formula a day, and she is willing to take a bottle now when she's away from me.  She's in a pretty clingy phase right now and wants me to be near as she crawls around.  She hits herself into my desk if I'm trying to work while she's awake.  She loves going to the baby storytime group at the library.  She's very good at church and out in public in general.  She really loves playing with her daddy.

I'm in a really busy mode right now and probably won't be posting much other than the monthly updates until at least her birthday (Easter) in April.  I'm still reading; I just don't have time to comment.  I'm pray for you all.

Cold help please!

I need some suggestions for any natural cold remedies because I seem to be getting a cold and I don't want to get K sick if I can avoid it.  I am breastfeeding so it needs to not adversely affect lactation.  TIA!

Football Game and More

We are continuing to do baby-led solids, and they are going relatively well. K definitely has an independent streak and won't let us put food into her mouth. If she want the food, whe will either pick it up herself or she will let you put it in her hand. She really likes avocado, apples, carrots and green beans. I think she likes peaches but is having issues with the slipperiness since I have gotten frozen and canned. I am continuing to steam her food until it is just tender. I peel carrots but leave the skin on apples. She doesn't eat a whole lot, but she does like to stuck on the carrot, apple and green bean. It's nice to be able to sit her in her chair and she can feed herself while I eat my own food.

K had an appointment on Tuesday for her shots. She had gained about a pound and weighs 15 lb, 1 oz now. She is pulling up like crazy. She also started hands and knees crawling, which is really funny because she is so deliberate when she does it. She really likes the times when we are around other kids. She likes to see adults, but she doesn't want to be held even by her grandparents, aunts and uncles. She gives us about 10 seconds, and then she gets this look on her face and starts to scream, even we are right next to her.

K went to her first A&M game this weekend as an outside baby (she went to 3 last year while I was pregnant with her).

She did really well. We got little pink ear protection ear muffs for her, and she wore them the whole game. She spent some time in the Beco Gemini carrier, some just sitting on our laps and nurse and napped under the blanket. She's also getting better about car rides and pretty much slept the whole trip to my ILs', most of the way to A&M ady tnd back, and most of the way home.

We are ready to start trying for #2, but I'm not even cycling yet. I'm not going to wean her until she is at least a year because I'd rather not mess with more bottles and formula than necessary. I'd like to wait until she doesn't want to do it anymore. Hopefully as she starts to actually eat more solids I'll start cycling, but right now I'm just back to waiting again. It's definitely easier than before I got pregnant with K, but waiting seems to be something that God thinks I need to do a lot.

Bow holder winner

The winner is Little Joann!  Send me an email at mrsblondies at gmail dot com, so you can tell me the color, theme, etc, and give me your address.

K is 7 months old

K is 7 months old today.  She wears 6-9 month clothes generally and is wearing medium size prefolds.  She's probably about 15 pounds.  She takes 4-7 ounces a day of formula and still nurses a lot.  She has started to try solid food more regularly this past week.  We are doing the baby led solids.  She likes carrots and Granny Smith apples that I have steamed until tender but not mushy.  She also eats oat bread with spread with pureed chicken or turkey and mashed peas.

She's is still scooting and not crawling on her hands and knees.  She has figured out how to crawl over things and is starting to pull up on things a bit.  She is super curious and loves to try to find things that we don't want her to get into.  She recently figured out that she has a voice and has started to "talk".  She makes little sounds, but not really constanant babble.

Check out the bowholder giveaway.

Bow Holder Giveaway

I made this bow holder for K.  I am going to give away a custom bow holder to be picked randomly from whoever comments on this post by the night of Friday, November 11, and I will try to announce the  by Saturday, November 12.  K's has a turtle since her room is turtle themed and a place to put headbands.  The winner will get to choose the letter, a theme and the colors.  Good luck!

Pictures of K

I hadn't loaded pictures onto my computer in a while, and I finally got around to it.  Here are some pictures of K from the past couple months.

K's first solids, avocado.  She likes it.

"Reading" a book by now Pope Benedict XVI.

K in her Tigger outfit with Tigger, Pooh, and Piglet.

In her crocheted outfit getting ready to come home from the hospital.

Same outfit at 6 months.

Baby led solids.  She doesn't always take a bite, but she definitely likes the bread when she's in the mood.

Halloween. My parents got her a drindl in Germany.  My brother said she's St. Edith Stein as a baby since we couldn't come up with any other German saints.

Cloth diaper update (almost 7 months)

My post on my plan for my cloth diaper stash.
My post on cloth diapering at 1 month where I talk about washing and other stuff.
My post on clothing diapering at 3 months.

K is almost 15 lbs.
Right now we are using: 
3 dozen Green Mountain Diaper Prefold Medium (Red)
8 Flip One-Size Covers with Snaps 
Snappi Size 1 Triple Pack 
Baby washcloths (I have about 3 dozen I think) as wipes
2 Fuzzibunz One Size Diapers 
4 Thirsties Stay-Dry Hemp Insert, Small
2 Fuzzibunz Hanging Diaper Bags
G Diaper Flushable Inserts (when we travel, etc.)
Planet Wise Wet Bag, Large


I've packed up what she's outgrown:
2 dozen Green Mountain Diaper Prefold Newborn (Orange)
6 Thirsties X-small Covers3 dozen Green Mountain Diaper Prefold Small (Yellow) 

We don't use the wool cover anymore because the snaps came loose twice:1 Little Beetle Little-to-Big (One Size) Organic Wool Cover with Snaps

At this point, we've been almost exclusively cloth diapering for about 6 months.  When she goes to the nursery during my bible study at church, she wears the Flip cover with a G diaper insert.  We haven't had any clothing-affected blowouts despite some bad possibilities.  The Flip covers have kept everything in.  We even use the prefolds when traveling to my in-laws and grandparents, since we can wash there.

She is finally wearing the medium prefolds, which are supposed to fit until 25 pounds, so she may be wearing them until she is potty trained.  I got 3 dozen because for a while with 2 dozen I was having to wash almost every day.  She likes to wet after you take her diaper off and sometimes I was going through about a dozen a day.  Thankfully, the number of diapers she is going through has slowed down, although she still likes to wet when her diaper is off.

I'm no longer using her Little wool cover because we had problems with the snaps coming loose from the cover.  I would like to get the Babee Green wool cover in medium (which is supposed to fit 15-25 pounds) when we can afford to get 1 or 2.  It is supposed to avoid the problem of the snaps getting loose and coming out.

Here are the things I would like if we are able to have another child:
2 or 3 Mommy's Touch Newborn Cover- for before the umbilical cord falls off, the Thirsties were a little too big for 6 pound, 6 ounce K when she was born and we ended up using disposables. They are like a newborn version of Flips that fold down for the umbilical cord stump.
1 dozen Green Mountain Prefolds Preemie size- to go with the Mommy's Touch Covers
2 Babee Green wool covers, small (fits 8-18 pounds)

Baby Led Solids

K has been fighting me a lot on eating solids.  Most days I'm lucky to get her to even take one bite (which is my goal).  She does like to hold the spoon and put it in her own mouth when she eats.  I have been making her food, steamed and then fork mashed.  So far she has had:
-avocado (likes)
-banana (doesn't like)
-sweet potato (ok)
-chicken pureed with sweet potato (likes)
-yogurt (likes)
-apples (likes)
-peas (ok)
-oatmeal/oat bread (likes the bread)

I'm starting to doing baby-led solids (also known as baby-led weaning) like I had originally had plan instead since she is able to decide if she wants to eat.  Spoon-feeding does not seem to be working for us.  It's not that she doesn't like the flavors because she will eat occasionally.  Today I put her different purees that I had already made on a piece of toast and she fed herself and loved it.  I'm going to steam up some more apple and sweet potato, but I'm going to cut them into stick/wedges (long and somewhat) that she can hold and gum.  I'm going to continue to do the chicken pureed and spread it on bread since she won't be able to chew chicken for a while.  Next up food-wise: carrots, green beans and peaches.  I'm going to steam her fruits and vegetables and occasionally mash them to spread on bread.  I'm trying to figure out about freezing things after I steam them since I'm not going to be pureeing/mashing them.

Prayers for a friend, and some other things

Most importantly, a friend of mine just had her third miscarriage.  Please keep her and her husband in your prayers.

K had her 6 month appointment on Tuesday and she weighed 14 lbs, 2 oz, which is a gain of almost a pound in a month.  She's 24 1/2 inches tall.  Her percentiles are staying consistent so the doctor is fine.  He was very impressed with her physical abilities (scooting, sitting).  K is taking about 5-8 ounces of formula a day and I am continuing to support her in slowly weaning herself from the formula.  I hope

We decided to wait a little while to move K to her own room, but we are moving her to her pack and play as soon as she falls asleep instead of letting her stay in the bed since it was preventing all of us from getting good sleep.

Tuesday was also my 31st birthday.  We went out to dinner and had sushi.  My sisters-in-law were in town this past weekend, and we went out on a date after K went to bed on Saturday night.  It was great to just have some couple time.

Happy Half Birthday, my little K

K turned 6 months today.

She is wearing some 3-6 month clothes and some 6-9 month clothes, but her new fall clothes will be 6-9 month  size.  She is still in the small prefolds, but we will probably be moving to the mediums pretty soon.

She can sit unassisted without using her hand whenever she feels like it.  She usually gets bored with it but has been more willing to do it lately.  She is still army-crawl/scooting everywhere like crazy and has been getting onto her hand and knees (or hands and feet) a lot more lately.

She is still mainly taking 30 minute catnaps, but she will occasionally take naps that are 1 hour or more.

She is also starting to spread out her eating more.  She hasn't been particularly interested in actually eating the solids I offer her.  She often only takes 1 or 2 bites, but we are going to persist and continue trying every day.  She has tried avocado, banana, sweet potato and yogurt.

She has a pink zebra lovely that she sleeps with.  She will be moving into her room to sleep on Sunday, after her aunts leave from visiting this weekend.

Stressed

Can't go into details but could use some prayers for peace and healing.  K is fine and I'll be posting about her half-birthday tomorrow.  I'll try to put up some pictures and/or video.

Focus

I am going to be focusing more on K on this blog and try to not to vent about non-motherhood related family stuff.  I need to protect my family's privacy in these matters better than I have been.

K actually took a 1.5 hour nap yesterday morning.  I fed her avocado just before she went down so we'll see if that continues again or if it was just a pleasant fluke.  She didn't sleep well that night so that may have been why she took a longer nap today also.  We started banana today (not a huge hit, but we'll try again tomorrow) and then probably sweet potatoes next.  I haven't decided what to do follow that.  I started to offering solids twice a day yesterday.

K is getting even closer to crawling and is getting higher up on her arms and even lifting up on her legs a little.

7 Quick Takes

I don't have the energy to get the button from Jen at Conversion Diary who hosts 7 Quick Takes.
1. K and I went to visit family in Austin for about 5 days last week.  She had a hard time until her daddy came out Sunday.
2. D learned that K really likes the Colts.  She sat (no hands) and watch them and didn't cry.  It's completely random since we live nowhere near there.
3. K is so close to crawling (despite the fact she's not even 6 months old yet).  She scoots across the room and no longer shoved her head down while doing it.
4. K started on solid foods on Tuesday.  This week is avocado.  She seems to like it, although she's not taking much (which I know is totally normal).  Next week is bananas, and then we are doing sweet potato.
5. K is still taking about 8 ounce of formula a day.  Hopefully as she takes more solids, we will be able to reduce the formula and just do solid and nursing.  We are still supplementing at the breast.
6. I'm struggling with how much time I'm spending by myself with K.  I don't need time away from her.  I just need help in the evening so I can eat dinner and get ready for bed without her in arms.  I need D home more night when he's not working.
7.  My mom bought me a Beco Gemini carrier and I'm loving it.

5 month appointment and pictures

K had her 5 month appointment today and she's 13 pounds, 4 ounces (25 percentile) and 24 inches tall (15 percentile).  She only gained 5 ounces in the past 2 weeks, but she gained about 2 pounds in the past month so we aren't too worried.  She's been a bit cranky the last few days, and we think she's in the early stages of teething.

We are probably going to start solids pretty soon.  She went back up to about 8 ounces of formula, which was slightly disappointing.

Sitting pretty.

In the sling with Momma.

Do you see the theme?

K is 5 months

K turned 5 months today.  I won't know her weight until her appointment next Tuesday, but it should be 13 pounds, something ounces.  K is continuing to wean herself off the formula and is taking 5-6 ounces a day now.    She's still in her size small prefold diapers (hopefully for a little bit longer) but she moved up on the rise on her flips.  She's still in her 3-6 month clothes, and we probably have a while before we need to move up.

She's moves like crazy and generally won't stay still long enough to practice sitting, although she can balance with one hand and grab stuff.  She's not crawling yet, but she does move by scooting (shoving her head down, sticking her bottom in the air, and usually falling to the side) and rolling both ways.  She become very interested in toys (and things she shouldn't play with), and she has a zebra lovey.  We've been taking lots of walks in the M.aya Wra.p (especially at nap time) now that it's under 100.  It's actually pretty pleasant most days, weatherwise.

She's still not napping great, but she is occasionally sleeping longer than 30 minutes.  She seems to be teething, but we'll see on that.  She is quite social and loves her daddy so much.

Tired

I'm so tired right now.  Yesterday was extra bad on the nap front.  K took one good nap in the morning but then I had a terrible time getting her to sleep and ended up having to drive her around for 1.5 hours last night.  I was hoping to hang out with D and a couple friends but K was hysterical.  D has been working a lot (like he has had  not had a full day off since a week ago Monday) and he's working today and has to go out to mow my parents' lot on Sunday.  He does have Monday off.  Since he's working so much, he goes to hang out with his friend on Thursday and Friday evenings, which I understand, but I've pretty much been dealing with K by myself all day and I'm not really getting a break.

She's only occasionally napping longer than 30 minutes and won't go to bed until between 9:30 and 10:30 (and lately it's been 10:30).  Once she's down for the night, I still have stuff to do to get ready for the morning as well as getting a bit done for my class so I'm not in bed for another hour usually.  Then she's nursing off and on from 4 or 5 until she gets up, so I'll not sleeping great during that time.  Yesterday and today, she seems extra fussy and is even having a few spurts of hysterical crying so it's been extra rough.  She doesn't seem sick and doesn't have a fever or anything.  Being tired and frustrated is really starting to wear me down and I've had a couple crying spells myself.

I'm not getting anywhere near as much done for my class as I want to, and I need to get it done so D can not have to work quite as much.  I'm feeling resentful that I'm not getting it done and that when she freaks out when we are out, I have to leave and D can stay.  I feel lonely.  It's really frustrating because I don't know what to do.

Balance *Updated

D and K, with me in the background.

Update: She weighs 12 lbs, 15 oz so she gained 1 lb, 9 oz in 3 weeks or just over 8 oz a week.  I'm so happy!

I'm having a hard time right now finding balance right now.  I just feel very stressed out right now.  K has gone from taking about 16 ounces of formula a day to about 10 or so this past week.  I'd love to think that it's because she's getting more from me, but due to all the feeding drama we've had, I don't know.  She's pretty happy most of the time, especially compared to when she was younger before we started supplementing, but I just don't really have any confidence in the area of feeding anymore.  We are doing a weigh-in tomorrow so I'll know if she has gained well enough or not.  If not, I don't really know what we can do, as D has told me since I'm constantly offering and she just doesn't seem to want anymore.  I'll update with tomorrow's weight.  I'm still mainly supplementing at the breast, but she will take bottles now so she may take 1-2 ounces a day that way when she's too riled up to latch.

I'm having a hard time balancing my class, K's needs, housework, playing and interacting with K, and spending time with D.  K getting fed and diaper changes is obviously my priority, but I feel like everything else is not getting done as it should.  D works a lot so I try to make sure that the three of us spend time together when he's not.  I feel like I should be playing more with her than I do, but then I get behind on my other responsibilities.  Please pray that I can keep it together and figure out how to best balance everything.

A Day in the Life of the Blondies

Here what today was like.  D is working a lot this weekend so it's going to be a long day.  It probably seems like I'm feeding her a lot, but she only takes small amounts at a time and therefore eats more frequently.
5:30 am (later than it used to be, we'll see if this sticks)- K stirs and I bring her to bed to nurse
6:05 am- D's alarm goes off, D gets up to shower and get ready
6:30 am-  D tells me goodbye, gets his lunch and water and leaves for work since he needs to be there by 7am, K is nursing on and off but mostly sleeping somewhat restlessly, I go back to sleep for a little while
7:45 am- I wake up, take my morning pills, get her formula and everything else sorted out for feeding, and I got to turn on my computer
8:00 am- K is stirring, but I already have the shower on so I jump in for a quick shower
8:15 am- K is up for the day. I get dressed, change K's diaper (twice since she decides to poop right as I put on the new one) and put on her daytime clothes (she picks which of two outfits to wear), I grab a granola bar to eat to get me until at least her first nap
8:30 am - I throw in a load of laundry while K rolls around the pack & play
8:35 am - we go sit on the couch  in our library/office roomso she can feed, I nurse her and supplement at the breast, I check email, etc.
8:50 am- another diaper change, I try to feed K again, but she doesn't want to eat anymore, so I put her in her chair so I can get the meatball mix made for tonight's dinner
9:30 am- meatballs mix is made and onions are cut up for spaghetti sauce, I'd like to do the garlic but K is starting to fuss so I take her back in the library, she sits on my lap while I do some stuff on the computer, then I start to feed her again
10:10 am- K falls asleep on the boppy on my lap, I work on my class while she naps, she briefly wakes to nurse/pacify on my breasts
10:45 am- K wakes because she can't roll over on my lap, I change her diaper, she desperately needed a diaper change since it was completely sopping wet.
11:00 am- I try to feed K again, she's not really interested, so I take her with me to the kitchen and get my lunch of pasta salad ready, I eat while she plays on her activity mat
11:30 am- K is done with playing on her mat so I pick her up to feed her again
11:45 am- K falls asleep on the boppy on my lap again, so I start to work on my class again.  Again K nurse, gets some supplement and pacifies herself during the nap.  I'm fine with this since it gives me the ability to work on my class instead of spending the time getting her into the pack and play gingerly and then have to get up when she wakes after only 20-40 minutes.
12:45 pm- K is up again, so it's time for another diaper change.  She spits up down my back so I have to clean that up.
1:00 pm- I fold and put away laundry while K plays in the pack and play.  I take K in her room and put away her clothes and eat some cereal, while she plays with her stuffed turtles on her quilt.
1:20 pm- K eats again
1:30 pm- K plays while sitting on my lap.  Time for another diaper change and then we get ready to go to the store to pick up a few things.
2:00 pm- We go to buy a belt since mine broke, then we go to the grocery store.  I change K's diaper in the parking lot after shopping, feed her then change her again.
3:45 pm- K falls asleep on the ride home, so I get her and the groceries out of the car.  She sleeps in her car seat while I work on dinner.
4:20 pm- K is up. I put the food in the oven and get ready to feed her.  I give her another diaper change.
4:45 pm- K sits in her chair while I pull out the meatballs and get the water going for noodles.  She gets fussy so I try to feed her, but she isn't in the mood.  I carry her around for a while, and I get dishes put in the dishwasher.  I put her back in her chair so I can dump the water and eat my dinner.
5:30 pm- Back in the library, K feeds for a few minutes.
5:40 pm- Time for another diaper change.  I get the diaper wash going while K is in the pack and play.
5:50 pm- I put K on the activity mat to play for a little while.  She should be getting sleepy, but her afternoon sleep wasn't great since I took her out for 2 hours and she didn't sleep until we were almost home, so she's probably a little overtired and fighting it.
6:10 pm- I feed K, she's almost asleep but D calls right then and my phone is in my pocket. Nap fail.
6:20 pm- Another diaper change, and I go ahead and give her a bath.  As I'm getting the water ready, she pees on the towel I have under her, but thankfully it was just there for that exact reason.  She has a happy bath time, gets clean and plays with her turtleduck.  I put on her pjs.
6:50 pm- I feed her again, and she falls asleep on the boppy on my lap.
8:20 pm- She wakes up, eats a little bit.
8:30 pm- I put her chair while I clean the kitchen a little bit and start the dishwasher.
8:40 pm- I change her diaper, add the detergent to the diaper wash, plays on her quilt, and eats again for a very short time.
9:10 pm- D calls to say he's on his way home and I get his dinner warmed up.
9:30 pm- D gets home and eats. We watch a bit of Doctor Who on DVD.  I try to feed K some more, but she's not interested so I go change her diaper.
10:40 pm- K finally falls asleep (she's not usually up that late but she been on the past few days, plus she was excited that her daddy was home), I get some things cleaned up and ready for the morning
11:15 pm- I go to bed

Traveling

This weekend was pretty rough because K didn't sleep well since she was overstimulated due to traveling, so I had a hysterical baby who wouldn't eat or nap.  We had to drive her all around the neighborhoods in our hometown to get her to nap.  D is actually driving her around right now since she was basically hysterical when we got home from church this evening since it, of course, went long when she was already tired.  I feel like a terrible mother when her naps get so messed up and she gets hysterical.  I'm very tired; I went to bed after midnight both days this weekend since one night I had to walk her around my IL's neighborhood at 11pm (thankfully they live in a very safe area) and the other I stayed up after K went to sleep to watch a show with D since I hadn't really got to spend much time with him.  I'm stressed out about getting my online class done so that I can hopefully get a job soon (working from home), but I've got a while left.  I probably won't be commenting much for a while although I'll might have time to read.  Need some prayers that I can handle all the stress.

Prayers for a Blogger

Amazing Life asked me to pass along a prayer request for Maria at Living in Lewis Land, who lost her husband tragically this weekend.  The funeral is today at 11 am central time.  Please pray for their family, especially Maria and their 3-year-old daughter Gianna.

K's 4 month appointment, pictures and video

K had her 4-month appointment Tuesday.  She weighed 11 pounds, 6 ounces (up 5 ounces this week and almost a pound in the last two weeks) and she's 23 inches tall.  Her pediatrician said that she has a good amount and ratio of fat and muscle, so she's probably just going to be small (big surprise :).  We are staying at the current amount of supplement and she'll do a weigh-in in two weeks.  I was hoping that she'd be able to lessen the supplement, but we'll have to wait on that I guess.

The doctor was really impressed with her motor skills and she's definitely advanced on her physical development, according to him.  She did a tripod sit for him, and he was pretty amazed at how well she held herself up.

Here are some video and pictures of her skills

Just being smiley in her pjs.

Practicing sitting in her pack-n-play.

Sitting in Dadda's chair.

Video of K scooting

Video of K sitting

K is 4 months

K turned 4 months today.  She can roll both ways, although she prefers rolling onto her tummy from her back.  She can move a couple of feet by rolling.  She will also move a couple feet by scooting her legs.  She also likes to make noises with her mouth, and she is practicing new sounds every day.  She loves to smile at her daddy and does a smile then looks coyly away.  She giggles and is very funny.

She's definitely adorable and we get comments about how cute she is wherever we go.  She's also super alert and loves to smile at people when we are out and about.  She's definitely getting more interested in playing with things.  She plays more with her rattle toys, and she tries to eat her diaper cover during diaper changes (don't worry, we don't let her actually put it in her mouth).  She plays with my shirt and the tubes while I feed her.

She's been having some napping issues lately.  She has a very small window in which to get her down for a nap, and if something messes that up she tends to get herself crazy overtired and hysterical.  She's been having poor timing on dirty diapers and tending to have one right about the time she's in the nap window.  When I do get her down for a good nap, she'll sleep about 2 hours, although she'll usually wake up and fuss but go back to sleep on her own.  Nights have always been better for her sleep, and she does give a 5-6 hour stretch most nights.  She goes to bed at 10 or a little after most and sleeps until 7 or 8 (with a few nursings in there), although after 6 it's kind of fitful sleep.  She nurses before sleeping and then usually at 3 or 4 and then 6 off and on until she's up for the day.  I have no desire for her to nurse any less, so I'm willing to put up with interrupted sleep.

She's still doing about 14 oz of formula a day, and we are still supplementing at the breast.  We are using the tube placed directly into a bottle, and she controls the flow. She gained 10 ounces last week and hopefully if her gain is good tomorrow, we can talk about very slowly (like reducing 2-3 ounces a week) weaning her off of the supplement.  I'd love to have her off formula if possible and I'm hoping that we can get my supply to cover her needs.  If not, we'll be starting solids right at 6 months and I hope that after that point we can be doing just breastmilk and solids.

I definitely will do some things differently if we are able to have another child.  I'll be doing weight checks every week or two starting at two weeks until we are confident about weight gain.  I won't be doing the crazy traveling that we did; no traveling out of the city until at least 2 months old.  Anyone who wants to see us can come to us.  I'll also start pumping earlier and try to have a stockpile if I can.

I feel like I'm finally getting this being a mother to K down, even though there are definitely challenging times each day.  Also, I feel like D and I are getting on the same page about things and working better as a parent team most of the time.  Don't get me wrong, when she's gotten overtired and is hysterical, I still get pretty stressed, but it's not as soul-crushing to me.

Quick Weight Update

K gained 10 ounces this past week!  She's now 11 lbs, 1 oz.  She has her 4 month appointment next week and we'll probably be re-evaluating the supplement level then.

The Weight Gain Saga continues...

She only gained 2-3 oz in the last week.  She was between 10 lbs, 4 and 5 oz at the last weigh in.  This week she's only 10 lbs, 7 oz. The pediatrician wants us to go back up on formula about 4 oz or so (to about 14 oz a day).  I'm guessing at this point that she won't be off the formula before we start solids at 6 months.

She's also not napping well lately.  She's just catnapping 15-30 minutes.  She had been doing well about transferring. She'd fall asleep while eating and I could put her in her pack-and-play, and she'd sleep about 2 hours.  The past four or five days, she's been waking as I put her down or after maybe 5-10 minutes.  It's hard for me to get her to sleep without using the breast, although D can in the evening many times.  She usually gets really worked up if I let   It's also challenging since she eats every two hours or so when she's awake, there is not much time when she's not eating to get her to sleep.

Here's a video of her rolling over.

Need some prayers

I'm dealing with a situation right now that could use some prayers.  K is fine but I can't really get into details beyond that.

Formula weaning and K pics

K gained about 4-5 ounces  this week, which isn't terrible but it's not great either.  We are going to stick with 10 ounces of formula/supplement a day for the next week.  We'll see how her gain is next week on whether we continue to wean from the supplement, we stay where we're at with supplementing , or we go back up on the supplement.  She has about 3 more weeks until she's 4 months old.

K now rolls over almost immediately as soon as we put her on her back.

K, D and me on Independence Day.

K's pouty face.

K's baptism, June 5.

D and K on Father's Day.

D, K, and me on the beach in Hawaii after my brother's wedding.