Transferring E to Her Own Room...

She is 5 1/2 weeks old now and I think its time she sleeps in her room (plus she makes so much random noise when sleeping next to us so we end up getting minimal sleep). Is there a specific way to comfortably move her to her own room or do you just put her in there one night and hope for the best?

That's what we started with. We put her in there one night, shut the door and went to bed...within minutes it was crying and screaming at the top of her lungs...I guess that's not the correct way to do it...

So the next day, we spent the day thinking what would make her feel like this wasn't such a big deal....first we put her mattress from the pack-n-play in her crib. She's been sleeping on that for weeks and it has her "smell" on it. It's gotta help right? Then I thought lets try to get a nap in that room. If anything it is a start. That afternoon she fell asleep in her swing and once we thought she was in a "deep sleep" we moved her. SUCCESS! She slept there for about and hour but like I said it was a start!

That night would be the real test though...At about 11pm we rocked her to sleep in her rocking chair and attempted the transfer. When we put her in her crib she instantly got fussy but we just stood there and rubbed/patted her on the side. Apparently that is the trick...instantly asleep! And besides waking up for her two feedings, she slept there till 9am!

Last night, being day 3 of this adventure was yet again a success. We did exactly the same thing as the night before. At 11pm, rocked her to sleep, and then put her crib (where I continued to rub/pat her on her side till she fell asleep.

Tonight...the pack and play gets put away! Woo Hoo!

First "REAL" Smile :)

When really little babies smile, people automatically say "it's gas". So when is a baby supposed to express a genuine, meaning-filled smile?

I found many websites and read many books where it talks about babies smile instantly after birth in their sleep, but these are called "reflex smiles". Although they say somewhere around your baby's 6th week of life they will express a "learned smile" (a smile as a reaction to something).

Today Ellery is almost 5 weeks old and I think we have now not only seen her "learned smile" but also caught it on camera. All day today she has been smiling at Chad and I. The smile is different than the type of smiles we see her doing in her sleep or that she  was originally doing.Today she really has been opening up her mouth wide to smile. Plus her eyes get really big and she seems to focus on whatever is in front of her., instead of just letting her eyes wander around the room. I hope these are "real" smiles we are seeing today and I really hope we see many more of them in the next couple days. :)

1 month old

Age: 1 month
Height: 22 inches
Weight: 10 lbs 1 oz


Oh my goodness she is a month old today. How is it that the last month of pregnancy goes by SO slow and yet the first month of my little girl's life just flew by?!? In this past month, she has gained 1 lb and 7oz already. She is still able to wear newborn sizes, but also able to fit into some of her 0-3 month sized clothes (especially her footie-pajamas because she is so long). 


Miss Ellery is still a great baby, cries very little, eats a lot and poops a ton! To celebrate her one month birthday, her Grandma Sue and I took her shopping for some new clothes :)


Her next doctor appointment is when she is 2 months and that is also when she will get her first round of shots. 

Look What I Can Do With A Baby Carrier!!

The best invention ever for a mom that has tons to do and a new baby in her time: The Baby Carrier! It is amazing! As soon as a baby is 8lbs+ she can be carried in it (which for little Ellery was as soon as she was born).

Today I tried it out, and it was amazing the things I could get done all while still holding her. Here are just a few of the things I accomplished today with her:

#1 I did my hair, while holding her.

#2 I put my makeup on, while holding her.

#3 I vacuumed the house, while holding her.

I still plan on making dinner tonight while holding her and who knows what else I'll do yet today. :)

From one first time mom to any soon to be mammas out there. Here is my suggestion "If you don't have a baby carrier or don't know if you should get one... GET ONE!

Tummy Time

Tummy time is the best! It gives babies a different view of the world around them and it is great way to help infants develop their muscles. Tummy time works on infants holding their heads up, strengthens their back muscles and gets them to work on moving their legs (encouraging  rolling and crawling motions).

We try to give Ellery tummy time a couple times a day. Usually she only has it for 5-10 minutes at a time, or until she gets overly frustrated. She tries so hard though...her legs are always a moving and she grunts and moans as she is attempting to move on her own.

Tonight we used a bobby to help her during tummy time. I read online that a boppy pillow will angle babies at an angle that encourages them to use their neck muscles and lift their heads (and that should be the original focus of tummy time...they need to do that before they can crawl and roll). Well she apparently did not like her boppy tonight because she maneuvered herself right out of it. Here is the video I got of her tonight. :)

Ellery's Weight Check

Because last week Ellery only gained .5 oz, Dr. Brandes wanted her to come in again in a week to get reweighed. If she wasn't gaining weight, we would have to talk about her diet and discuss possibly supplementing formula. If she does gain weight by the weigh in (at least .5oz a day is what Dr. Brandes wants her to gain) then all will be great and she can keep on her breast milk diet. 

Well.... at 2 weeks she weighed 8lbs 12.5oz... and now at 3 weeks she weighs 9lbs 7.5oz! She gained 12oz in 7 days! That is great the dr said: almost 2oz a day! We think that she is going through her "3 week growth spurt" because she has doubled her intake of milk and seems to always want to eat now. Last night at two different times she drank about 5oz of milk. Prior to this she was only drinking 2.5oz at a time. We definitely have a growing girl, with a growing belly. She looks so funny lately...her legs and arms and even chest are so skinny...but her belly is SO ROUND...and her face is really filling out. Such a chunky monkey...but such a cutie too :)

Well she better enjoy this time when everyone is wanting her to gain weight...because before she knows it she will be hit with the pressure of society wanting girls to lose weight...

Baby Language

I saw this video today and it really intrigued me. It is a great video regarding babies and their language they are using to communicate with moms/dads to tell them what they need before they get to that loud hysterical cry. Apparently there are 5 key sounds or words babies are using to express their specific needs.
"Neh"      means "I'm hungry"
"Owh"     means "I'm sleepy"
"Heh"      means "I'm uncomfortable" (change positions or needing a diaper change)
"Eair"      means "I have lower gas" (legs will also tend to be pushed out while making this sound)
"Eh"        means "I need to burp"

According to this video, the key is to pay attention to the sounds the baby is making prior to the big cry. Once he/she starts to really cry it's harder to hear what they are asking for. Today I'm gonna try this theory out and try to really pay attention to Ellery's sounds prior to crying to see if I can get her exactly what she needs and not just run through the list of things it "could be" trying everything till she is happy again.

Shrinkx® Hips Ultra Compression Belt

It's here, now time to test it out and see if it really works like everyone claims it does. I'm talking about the Shrinx® Hip Belt. It is a wrap belt you wear under your jeans that supposedly works, slimming your hips, from the time you give birth to 8 weeks after. Apparently the box and all the websites I have seen about this say that during pregnancy and for 8 weeks after your body is releasing a hormone called "Relaxin".

"Relaxin" is a hormone that your body uses to loosen joints and ligaments. It is what helps your pelvic joints to loosen and widen, allowing the baby to be able to pass through the birth canal during delivery. This Shrinx® Hip Belt is supposed to provide constant pressure to guide your hips back to their prepregnancy position (hopefully even smaller).

So it came in the mail today and I instantly put it on. I made it as tight as I could. I can definitely feel constant pressure now on my hips, the question is will it actually change anything. I will keep you all posted, especially because I feel like everyone I know now is pregnant, or planning on getting pregnant soon.

So week one hip size: 40.25inches.
I will remeasure next Thrusday and see if any changes are being made. I assume it probably wont change that fast, but hopefully in a few weeks I see a few changes and I can get back in ALL of my old pre-pregnancy jeans (so far I can only get in to 1 of my pre-pregnancy jeans).
 

2 week check up...Hemangioma...

Today we had Ellery's 2 week doctor appointment:
Age: 2 weeks

Height: 21.25 inches
Weight: 8lbs 12.5oz (didn't really gain any weight)
Doctor Name: Dr. Brandes
Dr. Concerns: We are going to keep an eye on the hemangioma on the back of her neck. Today they actually did an ultrasound on it to get measurements and verify that is truly what is it. It was really scary taking your 14 day old baby in to get an ultrasound done. In the end they said they still think it is a hemangioma and the fact that you can move it means it isn't hooked on her spine. Dr Brandes even called Children's Hospital in St. Paul to get a second opinion on the ultrasound results and her own observations and they seemed to also agree that for now we will just continue to monitor it. (Chad and I took pictures of it so that we can have something to reference back to each time we check it.)
Dr. Advice: Start giving her 2.5-3 oz of breast milk at each feeding (we were giving her 2 oz) to see if that helps her gain weight. We will need to bring her back in next week, not for a full check up, just to get weighed and make sure she is gaining weight.

Today has been the scariest day yet as a parent. After our dr appt and ultrasound we sat quietly by the phone for hours waiting for the dr to call with her results. The whole time obviously I was thinking the worst was what we were going to hear. But in the end, even without a 100% for sure answer, we did get reassured that for now its just something to keep an eye on and the dr didn't seem like we should be worried about it. But how could you not still be a little worried...it's our little girl and of course we want EVERYTHING about her to be perfect and healthy.

Got Milk?

My boobs are bionic. Seriously no one in the world must produce more milk than I do...it's crazy the amount I am getting. I have been pumping about every 4-5 hours now (every 3 hours was just getting to be too much and I know when I go back to work it is unrealistic to think I'll be able to pump that often). I usually get up only 1 time during the night to pump, and then pump again when I wake up and then a few times throughout the day and again once before bed. Last night, when I woke up for my middle of the night pump, I was able to pump 20 ounces between the two of them! If you don't know... that is a crazy amount. Then 5 hours later I got 12.5 ounces and then about 4 hours later I got 15 ounces. An average day Ellery is eating about 16-20 ounces of milk so all the rest is going in the freezer to save for when she needs to go to daycare. Well it sure is a great thing that we got another freezer because our little one is already filling up. Chad counted today and we have over 240 ounces already saved up... so like I said my boobs are bionic...Either that or I am part cow! Either way, the breast milk is great and healthy for Ellery, saving us tons of money and helping me burn tons of calories.

Pampers vs Huggies

Just like clothes, I have come to realize that different brands of diapers fit babies differently. At the hospital they were using Pampers size 1 diapers and all seemed fine. They fit well and contained her pee and poop without any problems. When we got home the only size 1 diapers we had from gifts were Huggies...no big deal correct? WRONG! They were way too big on her. They would go up past her belly button and were not tight on her legs. Needless to say she had many "blowouts" in these diapers and we learned our lesson fast. We even had a few sample newborn sized Huggies diapers but those also didn't seem to hold anything in on Elle. Apparently at the moment she is just more of a Pampers girl but hopefully she will grow into these Huggies sized 1 diapers beacuse I have over 200 of them.... :\ I would hate for them all to go to waste. This just tells me, next time instead of stocking up on diapers when I'm pregnant, just take that extra cash and buy gift cards you can use at a later date to buy the specific diapers that fit the individual child themself...because I'm sure it will be different for everyone one.

Eye Opening Dangers of Co-Sleeping

This is some info that the public health nurse shared with me:
"More  babies die each year due to suffocation while co sleeping with their parents, than from SIDS"

I thought this sounded crazy because as parents and parents to be you hear all about SIDS and rarely anything about co-sleeping. It's also such a common and easy thing to do. Baby falls asleep in your arms, you are either really tired and just fall asleep or you don't want to risk moving the baby to the crib because he/she may wake up...

I found on many websites that more than 2x of babies are dying from suffocation rather than from the mystery diagnosis of SIDS. Not all of these suffocation deaths are from co sleeping, some are from bumpers in the crib, toys or blankets in cribs, or even babies sleeping on their stomach...but many of them are happening when co-sleeping. There have been many times co-sleeping has resulted in parents rolling over on top of their baby, bunching up blankets into their baby or pushing pillows into their baby. Obviously not doing these on purpose but still all could have been prevented.

SIDS is still something that Chad and I constantly worry about and do everything we can to help prevent it: put Ellery on her back when sleeping, use a firm mattress, keep the house at 70 degrees, give her a pacifier at night, etc. However even with doing all those things we still have a worry in the back of our heads of SIDS because there are so little things known to for sure cause it. But I know now after talking to the public health nurse, and doing some of my own research, I will no longer co-sleep with her. That is something I have full control over and I can't imagine putting her at risk like that.

Take this information or leave it, I'm not judging anyone who has co-slept with their little one, but it was defiantly an eye opener for me.