Can you tell it's Christmas and I don't have to work? Catching up on some long overdue blogging.
So, baby girl is still just a tiny little thing! She was 6lb 7oz at birth, got down to 5lb 8oz and has been growing steadily since. The only thing is that she's not gaining weight as fast as we'd expect. She was 11lb 4oz when she had her 4 month well baby visit. That's the 2percentile for weight! At first it made us pretty worried because she'd fallen at little from her growth curve (previously 10th), but once our pediatric provider examined her and saw how strong she is, she was a lot less worried. She's still on her curve for height (10th) and head (50th!!), so that's a good thing. She's doing all the things a healthy happy 4 month old should do: rolling over both ways, starting to sit on her own with little support, sleeps great all night and is alert awake an happy during the day. It's odd because she's such a good eater! At her visit the pediatric provider commented that she eat as much as a six month old. She doesn't spit up or have reflux. I think she's just gonna be one of those girls with a great metabolism that makes all the other girls jealous when she's bigger but makes mom and dad a tiny bit anxious today :)
Fortunately, we have a trusted pediatrician in the family who helped us come up with a plan to fortify breast milk with calories to give her more calories. By her sweet kissable cheeks and shrinking pjs, I think it's working. We will weigh her again in a few weeks and see how we are doing.
In the meantime, I think Zane said it best the very first time he met her. She is, indeed, "little as a peanut!"
Monday, December 24, 2012
Mornings with Molly
Today is Christmas Eve and I'm sitting in a comfy chair in my moms room feeding my sweet girl and feeling blessed.
I absolutely love my morning time with sweet girl! She wakes up so happy (almost) everyday around 6 and will just sweetly curl up to me and eat. We hold hands or she sweetly plays with my pajama top and it just feels so wonderful. It's the absolute best way to start my day! It's especially nice because she is so distracted and wiggly for all the rest of her feeds throughout the day. Ben was feeding her a bottle at the mall 2 days ago while we shopped and waited to see Santa. She had to watch every single person walk by and it took like 40 minutes to eat one six ounce bottle and milk was all over her face and chest. She's so attentive and curious and wants to be exploring and moving all the time, making it hard to keep her focused on eating sometimes. That being said, she is such a good eater!! She has been eating five six ounce bottles per day since a little before 4 months of age. I have no idea how she stays so tiny. All I know for sure is I absolutely adore this sweet little girl and treasure these mornings together!
I absolutely love my morning time with sweet girl! She wakes up so happy (almost) everyday around 6 and will just sweetly curl up to me and eat. We hold hands or she sweetly plays with my pajama top and it just feels so wonderful. It's the absolute best way to start my day! It's especially nice because she is so distracted and wiggly for all the rest of her feeds throughout the day. Ben was feeding her a bottle at the mall 2 days ago while we shopped and waited to see Santa. She had to watch every single person walk by and it took like 40 minutes to eat one six ounce bottle and milk was all over her face and chest. She's so attentive and curious and wants to be exploring and moving all the time, making it hard to keep her focused on eating sometimes. That being said, she is such a good eater!! She has been eating five six ounce bottles per day since a little before 4 months of age. I have no idea how she stays so tiny. All I know for sure is I absolutely adore this sweet little girl and treasure these mornings together!
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Welcome November!!
November 3, 2012
This update is long overdue. Our sweet baby girl is now 15 weeks old and changing every day.
Ben and I (and I am sure Josie, Zack, and my mom) are so happy that October is over. It was a hard, busy, demanding month for both if us at work. Ben was in the ICU and worked many nights this month. I was the chief of the GYN service which has long hours as well. I also had to present at this month's "morbidity and mortality" conference which took a lot of time to prepare for.
Our support group has been amazing. My mom came and stayed a few days at a time on a few occasions this month. Molly adores her grandma! She gets her hair and nails done every time she visits and her smiles are always brighter when grandma is around. The combination of being a mom and watching my mom with my baby has brought a whole new level of appreciation for what a good mom she is and how lucky we are to have her in our lives.
Revae has also come by several times this month to help out. She came at 6am one day so we didn't have to take her to Josie's and stole Molly for a "girls day" with Ben's mom, Tia, and cousin. We are so glad she lives close by.
Josie and Zack, of course, are the only reason we survived such a crazy month. Molly is so lucky to spend so much time with her aunt, uncle, and cousins who love her so much and take care of her like she's one of their own. Josie has been up waiting for Molly at 6-615 everyday most days over the past ten busy weeks and is often putting Molly in pjs as we pick her up at 630 in the evening. She somehow manages to care for all of Molly's needs while still being a great mom to her three little ones. She texts me updates daily and it is always clear how genuinely in love she is with my sweet girl. The other great thing is getting firsthand advice from a woman I consider to be a role model on how to parent. And Molly loves her Aunt so much. Her cousins are so sweet to her too, especially Emerson who always wants to hold her hand, kiss her, bring her toys, and comfort her when she's sad. Zane reads to her and loves to hug and kiss her. Smith is sometimes a little jealous of her and is at a phase where gentle is not in his vocab but you can tell he loves her too. He had a different high pitched voice he'd use when taking to her-like his form of baby talk. I cannot imagine leaving Molly with a stranger for so many hours of the days and feel so blessed that this arrangement has been working so well thus far!
Molly is changing every day. One of my favorite things she does now:
Smiles!!!
She is the smiliest little girl lately and is often so sweet and content. She has even cracked a laugh every know and then. The first time she laughed, Ben was post call and I was home on a chilly fall Sunday morning. I'd made pancakes and eggs and we were having a lovely morning as a family. Ben was holding Molly while laying on the couch and lifting her up in the air above his head and she just burst out a laugh. She'd clearly been wanting to laugh at several times before this, but it finally came out and was so cute. Ben and I were so excited that we always laughed and cheered with glee - apparently we were a bit too excited and scared our poor sweet girl. Her big smile went to a sad lip and then to an all out cry. She went 2 weeks before daring to try to laugh again. :) Lots of smile pics below.
This update is long overdue. Our sweet baby girl is now 15 weeks old and changing every day.
Ben and I (and I am sure Josie, Zack, and my mom) are so happy that October is over. It was a hard, busy, demanding month for both if us at work. Ben was in the ICU and worked many nights this month. I was the chief of the GYN service which has long hours as well. I also had to present at this month's "morbidity and mortality" conference which took a lot of time to prepare for.
Our support group has been amazing. My mom came and stayed a few days at a time on a few occasions this month. Molly adores her grandma! She gets her hair and nails done every time she visits and her smiles are always brighter when grandma is around. The combination of being a mom and watching my mom with my baby has brought a whole new level of appreciation for what a good mom she is and how lucky we are to have her in our lives.
Revae has also come by several times this month to help out. She came at 6am one day so we didn't have to take her to Josie's and stole Molly for a "girls day" with Ben's mom, Tia, and cousin. We are so glad she lives close by.
Josie and Zack, of course, are the only reason we survived such a crazy month. Molly is so lucky to spend so much time with her aunt, uncle, and cousins who love her so much and take care of her like she's one of their own. Josie has been up waiting for Molly at 6-615 everyday most days over the past ten busy weeks and is often putting Molly in pjs as we pick her up at 630 in the evening. She somehow manages to care for all of Molly's needs while still being a great mom to her three little ones. She texts me updates daily and it is always clear how genuinely in love she is with my sweet girl. The other great thing is getting firsthand advice from a woman I consider to be a role model on how to parent. And Molly loves her Aunt so much. Her cousins are so sweet to her too, especially Emerson who always wants to hold her hand, kiss her, bring her toys, and comfort her when she's sad. Zane reads to her and loves to hug and kiss her. Smith is sometimes a little jealous of her and is at a phase where gentle is not in his vocab but you can tell he loves her too. He had a different high pitched voice he'd use when taking to her-like his form of baby talk. I cannot imagine leaving Molly with a stranger for so many hours of the days and feel so blessed that this arrangement has been working so well thus far!
Molly is changing every day. One of my favorite things she does now:
Smiles!!!
She is the smiliest little girl lately and is often so sweet and content. She has even cracked a laugh every know and then. The first time she laughed, Ben was post call and I was home on a chilly fall Sunday morning. I'd made pancakes and eggs and we were having a lovely morning as a family. Ben was holding Molly while laying on the couch and lifting her up in the air above his head and she just burst out a laugh. She'd clearly been wanting to laugh at several times before this, but it finally came out and was so cute. Ben and I were so excited that we always laughed and cheered with glee - apparently we were a bit too excited and scared our poor sweet girl. Her big smile went to a sad lip and then to an all out cry. She went 2 weeks before daring to try to laugh again. :) Lots of smile pics below.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
So many grandparents
This post was written back when Molly was like 4 weeks old and I somehow never published it! Oops! :)
Molly is blessed with amazing family. We visited four sets of grandparents in four days over the weekend. Thursday, we packed up the CRV (why do babies have so much stuff?!) and headed to Pueblo, where Ben grew up. Molly did great on the drive! We then had a lovely dinner with the Mendozas - Molly's aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents. She loved all the new faces and was awake for over five hours! Grandpa Ben has a special touch with her and she loves to cuddle up with him or sleep in his arms. You can tell she's already got him wrapped around her finger! She slept so well that night at grandpa Ben and Dawna's house!
 |
| Packed up for the road trip |
 |
| Molly with Grandpa |
 |
| Aunt Irene and Grandpa Ben |
 |
| Great-grandparents |
 |
| Ben and Dawna |
 |
| Time with Grandma Rita |
 | ||
| Tummy time on a quilt made by Rita's friends |
 |
| I love this picture of Molly with her Grandma |
Saturday morning, we sadly had to say goodbye to grandma Rita and Nick, since grandma Jodi and Dave were waiting eagerly in Colorado springs. Molly adores grandma Jodi. We are so lucky to spend quite a bit of time with her. She stayed with us for a few days after she was born and visits frequently to help out. She has all sorts of tricks up her sleeve: she's the best of anyone at getting Molly to take a pacifier, loves giving her bottles, changes diapers and even cuts her nails. This is a funny story: I was confused and convinced that Molly's fingernails just don't grow yet (I was almost worried). I was explaining this to friends and my mom overheard. "honey, I've been at your house at least once a week. That's about how often her nails need filed."
 |
| Grandpa Dave |
 |
| Grandma Jodi |
We also met new friends on Saturday. Phil and Heather, my long time mentors and friends came over to meet her. Teresa, a friend I met on the first day of kindergarten also came with her adorable 2 year old and 6-month old twins. Her last visitors for the day were my aunt and uncle, Judi and Bin, who came to c spgs to watch the preseason bronco game with us and see Molly.
 |
| Teresa holding Molly |
 |
| Molly with Teresa's twins |
 |
| Checking out Phil |
 |
| Curling up with Heather |
 |
| Heather giving Molly a bottle |
 |
| Love this picture |
Sunday, we went to church and met even more new people. Great friends from over ten years including the Lind and the Pace family. Sunday evening we visited grandpa Jack and Kris. We basically put her in the middle of the room and just stared at her for hours. I love how intently she was looking at their faces. It was a great night until Molly realized she was over tired and needed a car ride to consul her. So we packed up and headed home. Overall, such a good weekend away.
 |
| Molly with Mary Pace |
 |
| The Lind kiddos checking out the baby |
 |
| Meg Pace holding Molly - Meg was like 5 when I met her - can't believe how old she is |
 |
| Love this picture with Grandpa Jack |
 | ||||||||||
| Grandma Kris |
Friday, August 17, 2012
3 week update
Molly girl is already over three weeks old. We couldn't possibly love her more. Like most newborns I'm sure, her life consists of sleeping, eating, and going through diapers like mad. We throw in occasional awake time on our tummy or running errands with mom and dad. Here are some updates on all of these topics:
SLEEP
She is such a good sleeper, but not always when we want her to be. I've spent hours and hours during the day trying desperately to get her to wake up and eat. We've also spend many hours at night rocking and shushing and singing and more rocking trying to get her to sleep. We are finally maybe starting to make headway in the night vs day difference. In the meantime, two parents who thought they were pros at sleep deprivation after all that residency has put us through are exhausted!!
FEEDING
This has been the most difficult part of being a new mom for me thus far. We initially had delay in my milk coming in, and she lost more weight than they wanted in the first few days of life. We therefore supplemented small amounts of formula in a syringe both during and after feedings. She seriously was so so cute taking formula from a syringe! We will post video. In the meantime, i was feeding and pumping like crazy to try to establish a milk supply. By day five of her life, we were able to stop formula as she was starting to gain weight. In the subsequent week, I learned the joys of engorgement and got a bad case of mastitis. Once again, there was a concern about weight gain when she was still way under her birthweight at her two week check up. Ben and I, who were already exhausted, added pumping and supplementing stored breast milk to each feed. She now has finally been gaining weight (8oz in the last 5 days!), and we are so glad she's had exclusively breast milk since day 4 or 5 of life. I mentioned previously how hard it can be to wake her up to eat. She does this sweet stretching routine to wake up and also usually is pretty passed out for burping. Videos below.
DIAPERS
We go through these like mad. I counted yesterday and we went through 14 diapers in 24 hrs. This girl knows how to poop. Don't worry...no pics of poopy diapers.
TUMMY TIME
She loves this! We first tried tummy time when she was 5 days old and out friends, Brian and Stephanie, we're visiting. Already, she was able to push up with her legs so she was basically on her side and she lifted her head once. Since then she has become a tummy pro and can turn her head from side to side. My favorite "tummy time" is just having her lie flat on my chest and nap. It feels like heaven!
SLEEP
She is such a good sleeper, but not always when we want her to be. I've spent hours and hours during the day trying desperately to get her to wake up and eat. We've also spend many hours at night rocking and shushing and singing and more rocking trying to get her to sleep. We are finally maybe starting to make headway in the night vs day difference. In the meantime, two parents who thought they were pros at sleep deprivation after all that residency has put us through are exhausted!!
 | ||||
| Day 1 of life at the hospital |
 | |
| Day 1 of life |
 | |
| Snuggling with Dad at the hospital |
 |
| Sleeping in her carseat on our first family outing: we went to Rubios and Target |
 | |
| More sleeping |
 |
| Snoozing on her quilt that her Aunt Emma made - she loves hanging out on this quilt |
 |
| Snoozing in her car seat with her pink bow from her cousin, Emerson. Emmy will be sure to keep this little one girlie! |
 | |
| Another snoozing pic with her pink bow - this was taken on mommy's 30th bday |
 |
| Sleeping on the drive home from visiting her cousins - poor little neck! |
 | |
| Sleepy girl |
This has been the most difficult part of being a new mom for me thus far. We initially had delay in my milk coming in, and she lost more weight than they wanted in the first few days of life. We therefore supplemented small amounts of formula in a syringe both during and after feedings. She seriously was so so cute taking formula from a syringe! We will post video. In the meantime, i was feeding and pumping like crazy to try to establish a milk supply. By day five of her life, we were able to stop formula as she was starting to gain weight. In the subsequent week, I learned the joys of engorgement and got a bad case of mastitis. Once again, there was a concern about weight gain when she was still way under her birthweight at her two week check up. Ben and I, who were already exhausted, added pumping and supplementing stored breast milk to each feed. She now has finally been gaining weight (8oz in the last 5 days!), and we are so glad she's had exclusively breast milk since day 4 or 5 of life. I mentioned previously how hard it can be to wake her up to eat. She does this sweet stretching routine to wake up and also usually is pretty passed out for burping. Videos below.
 |
| I got so excited the first time I actually got milk when pumping after hours and hours of pumping with no results....One whole cc! I totally fed this little bit to Molly because I was so happy. |
 |
| Milk face |
 |
| Big stretch after a meal |
 |
| Snoozing through a burping |
We go through these like mad. I counted yesterday and we went through 14 diapers in 24 hrs. This girl knows how to poop. Don't worry...no pics of poopy diapers.
 | |
| Changing out the diaper genie - lot of diapers! |
She loves this! We first tried tummy time when she was 5 days old and out friends, Brian and Stephanie, we're visiting. Already, she was able to push up with her legs so she was basically on her side and she lifted her head once. Since then she has become a tummy pro and can turn her head from side to side. My favorite "tummy time" is just having her lie flat on my chest and nap. It feels like heaven!
 |
| Tummy time :) |
 | |||
| Tummy time on mommy's chest |
 | |
| More tummy time on Mom |
Overall, we couldn't be any happier and feel so blessed for this sweet little angel!
 |
| A wink and a smile |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)