This past month has certainly flown by more than the first two. Emily is smiling up a storm now (in between cries ;-) ), and she is able to enjoy so much more around her. I am guessing that she weighs about 12 lbs now since she was at 11.5 at the end of last week. She is too cute. Her cheeks are still round and chubby, and the rest of her seems longs and muscular. She loves moving those muscles, too! Every time she is awake, we have fun practicing pulling up to a sitting and standing position. She has made so much progress with tummy time also. Now we can go 2-4 minutes at a time with her head at a 90 degree angle as long as I have something interesting for her to look at. We got a car mirror for her that plays music, but it didn't attach well in either car. Now I prop it up on her crib for tummy time, and she loves looking at herself and listening to the music play! Her favorite position is definitely still flat on her back to wiggle around and look at the toys and music box on her exercise mat or the mobile in her crib.
Em is starting to be able to grasp a rattle when we place it into her open fist. Sometimes she inadvertently brings it to her mouth and starts to try to lick it. But mostly she is still content to just look at things.
Bath time, diaper changes, and clothing changes are no longer battles. Yay! I think she does like bath time now, but I still haven't seen any smiles yet. My biggest challenge is keeping her warm from the bath to getting dressed. I hate coming into a cold room after a warm shower, too. And the winter just makes it worse. Maybe I'll get a portable heater to turn on when I change her. I've tried warming up her towel in the dryer, but it doesn't help once the towel has to come off and clothes have to come on. Any ideas to help this??
Sleep has been so unpredictable! I think she's been going through her growth spurt since last Friday. Her "average" nap is only 45 minutes and her "average" night sleep lately has been 5-6 hours, 3-4 hours, 2-3 hours between meals. She goes to bed between 7 and 8 each night and is up by 7-8 usually each morning. But the past week we got 6 1/2 hours as our first stretch (in between meals, not actual sleep) two different nights. 2 other nights we've had a crazy time of her being unable to stay asleep- up every two hours, or just not staying asleep after we put her down in her crib. Naps have either been 30 minutes (def not long enough so she feels cranky after that) or 2 1/2 hours. So....maybe after this week we'll get into a pattern again! Even though a 7pm bedtime means I definitely have to get up twice at night to feed Emily, it has been nice to have some down time with Greg after the witching hour and to be able to clean up dinner and ease my way into bed instead of crashing. We are still going to bed around 8:30-9 each night because we need the sleep!
I am doing better handling the crying now. She still seems to have tummy troubles (more reflux/not burping than gas now), but we are learning how to better care for her in this. We've still got her propped up to sleep, but at least she is in her crib now and not in her rocker seat. We have an herbal supplement called Colic Calm that works well. I try to only use that as a last resort. And most of all, I am trying to get burps out of her as much as possible! That seems to lessen the spit-up and reflux issues in her sleep, which eventually will help her to sleep for longer stretches.
Next update: my dad and step-mom's visit, a wedding I was in, a job update, and Bible study update. :-)
Em is adorable! Sounds like she's growing beautifully! We enjoy the updates! Miss y'all.
ReplyDeleteTry using two towels when you get her out of the bath. Owen hated being cold too, so I would wrap one around him in the bathroom and put another one on top of him when we were putting lotion on and getting dressed. That way I would only have to uncover one body part at a time. Having the towel hood over his head helped keep him warm too.
ReplyDeleteLove all the pics!