Laine - 4 weeks on December 28th

At her 1 month appt, Laine weighed in at 10 pounds, 6 oz! She is already growing like a weed! I want to try to document our joys/wins and challenges as we go. It has been amazing to be able to go back through Aidan's posts in 2006 and see what kind of challenges we had and at what age! This blog is seriously like a baby book on steriods! I need to get it printed and bound soon, there are over 5 years of posts on this blog!

So Laine was 10 pounds, 6 oz at her 4 week appt. She has grown out of her 0-3 months clothes and is wearing just 3 months currently! She swaddles now exclusively for bedtime and naps. Initially, she could do it either way, but not anymore! She fights the swaddle but can nap much longer (2 hours as opposed to 45 min, which makes for a much happier baby) with the swaddle and we haven't even really tried bedtime without it. Who wants to test anything out at bedtime? ha! She eats every 2 to 3 hours. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later. We just go with it! Her latch can be poor sometimes, causing her to get wind while eating and making spitting up a real problem. We are constantly readjusting, trying to improve. Some feeds are awesome, others are more challenging! Aidan was a total champ in this dept, so you can imagine my confusion with this learning process with Laine!

I would say the first 4 weeks of life for our little one have been a complete blur. BLUR. First, you come home and you are in a state of bliss! Then the baby settles in, gets a bit more used to you, starts to show signs of fussiness (especially in the evenings!). Then the job seems to get exponentially harder. And then the days pass and you realize that you've been in your pj's for 4 days straight and maybe only showered twice during that period! It's pretty tough. And it is pretty tough with a toddler to take care of on the side! People with 2+ babies, I am not sure how they do it. Sometimes, when David was at the FWFD, I had problems just getting Aidan his dinner ready! And we've had to skip books on occasion at bedtime. Sweet Aidan has been so flexible and helpful during this time though. He is such a great big brother!

So as of yesterday, Laine is 5 weeks old! Sleeping is going ok. Probably right on track for her current age! Some nights are better than others! Initially, she slept very poorly on her back. We used her Rock N Play sleeper a few nights and she gave us some 5 hour stretches in it. But I decided to kick that to the curb after her sleep went back to the 2 hour waking schedule and she seemed a bit uncomfortable a bit in it around 4AM. I think initially it gave her a secure feeling, but it isn't really a bed so I decided if she is sleeping the same amount of time in the Rock N Play as she is in the crib, I should probably stick with the crib to avoid any bad habits that might be hard to break later! So, we've been sleeping exclusively in the Pac N Play and has gotten better sleep with each passing week! We've gotten a few 5 hour stretches out of her and also had a few nights that were 1.5 hour stretches all night (HARD!)! So, I guess we just go with the flow and allow her to get some more age under her belt and she will do better! We put books under the legs of one side of the PAC n play to keep her elevated with her reflux and I think it helps. This too is temporary!

We have started encouraging her to fall asleep on her own for naps during the day. Now that things are SLOWLY settling down and getting into a routine, we decided to encourage naps in her crib, as opposed to her swing/rock n play all the time, per the recommendation of our pediatrician. Nothing crazy, but we swaddle, rock and cuddle until she is drowsy then put her down awake. She has fussed a few times but is learning to go to sleep on her own. Yesterday, during her afternoon nap she FLIPPPED out and so we aborted that mission quickly. But her morning nap went without a hitch or even a fuss. I imagine some days will be really easy and others will be harder :) But she is just 5 weeks old, which is far too little to have a war of wills, especially when crying is involved. But I think if we keep on keeping on and just continue to encourage, she will eventually get it, without any type of extensive CIO down the road. But I think fussing is ok. There is a big difference between fussing and wailing at nap time. Today, for example, she is napping in her crib as we speak and she fussed on and off for 6 min before falling asleep. I think that is pretty good and not too dramatic. I'm not above aborting though and letting her nap in the swing if need be. After all, we're just beginning. It would be great to report in a few weeks that she has picked up the skill and can nap and go down for bed without a peep! But nothing is predictable at this age, so I may report back that she is now exclusively napping in swing! ha!

She is a sweet joy, starting to smile already and beginning to be more content during wake times. And I feel like I'm slowly getting back to my normal self, bit by bit. I had a few days of feeling just exhausted and crazy and I'm thankful for friends and relatives who are understanding and let me bend their ear OVER AND OVER about how hard it is. I'm sure they are SO SICK OF ME!

Anyway, I'll upload more pictures this week. :) Hope everyone is doing great!