This week Fiona officially outgrew all her newborn clothes, got her vaccines, and started sleeping in her crib. We even had to adjust the car seats straps to the next notch, she is growing so fast! Big week for baby, but hard week for mama. I was sad to put away her newborn clothes, but at least there are a lot of cute outfits in her 3 month collection. 

I was nervous about putting her across the hall all night, but she has been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now and is getting pretty tall for the lounger that we keep by the bed (this girl has legs!). I was hoping I would get more sleep without hearing every little sigh and grunt she makes (or the sound of her kicking her lounger all night), but now I just watch her on the monitor. Me to Pat: "Can you see her breathing??" Every time I look at her in there she either has her feet in the air wiggling all around, or sleeping like a perfect angel. I kept with our normal routine of feeding in the dark, swaddled with arms out and listening to the sound machine,  and she slept in there like a champ!

At the doctor she loved laying on the table and kicking her little legs like crazy, tearing up the paper liner. She kept turning around to see that baby in the mirror. Totally mesmerized. Getting her vaccines wasn't too terrible, I did feel awful for her though. She was fussy all night and you could tell she was uncomfortable. Three shots in her legs left her pretty sore, but she got a lot of extra cuddles. The doctor said she dropped a little on the curve for percentile in weight, so I need to try and pump more milk into her feedings since she's no longer eating in the middle of the night. It could also be that she will just be long and lean, so hopefully she stays stable for her 4 month appointment.

And I just love this picture of her and her daddy, especially with her hair sticking out everywhere.

So stinking cute!

Two Months

Fiona girl is already over two months old and this sleeping through the night thing seems to be sticking around. Naps tend to be shorter during the day and she is awake longer, but usually a happy girl until the evening when she takes a quick ride on the fuss bus to frown town...

We made our first trip to Ohio last week, just me and the girls! Luckily they slept the whole car ride and when we arrived I handed them right over to grandma :) CeCe was on guard protecting the baby from the neighbors walking past and from all our visitors, so when we got home she was so exhausted, she hid in her crate for some peace and quiet.

Fiona still loves to be changed but she kicks so much, she's out of control! Feet right in her poop.

I only have three more weeks left of my maternity leave and I'm already getting nervous. Fi doesn't like taking a bottle and the few times we've left her she barely ate anything. Pat had her for about 8 hours while I went out of town for a bridal shower and she didn't eat at all. He had to put on ear protection because the poor thing wouldn't stop crying :(

It's a good thing she likes the new baby carrier, we may be wearing it for days at a time.

Sleeping

I totally get how sleep deprivation is used as a torture mechanism. Your mind and emotions do crazy things! Not having a full 8 hours of sleep in 8 weeks is really getting to me.

I have been trying to follow the suggestions in the BabyWise book for schedule and sleeping and Fiona's night time sleeping finally seems to have increased. I feed her every 2 1/2 - 3 hours during the day and aim for a bedtime of 9pm. Last night she woke up around 3am, but settled herself and woke up wanting to eat at 5am. Now granted I didn't' sleep the full 8 hours because I was laying in bed trying to be still so she didn't know I was awake... but I was happy none the less! Our progress with might time sleep seems to be two steps forward, one step back, so I don't anticipate her going 8 hours every night, but at least we know she is capable!

Pat and I have been able to have a few date nights out without the baby which has been so nice, but every time I have to wear something that isn't stretchy, I remember again that my shape is still not back to what it used to be and its always changing and its very frustrating! I only have a month left of maternity leave, so I'm hoping I can fit into some of my old clothes by the time I go back. I don't think yoga pants are considered business casual. Not yet anyway.

Fiona Lately

We are starting to get smiles from this little girl. It makes the fussy times easier when you know this face is in there somewhere. Having her small interactions makes her seem more like a real person and less like a squishy blob.

She has gained almost 2 pounds and over an inch in height and the doctor said she looked beautiful and healthy at her check up this morning. I started pumping this week so we can bottle feed her too. We went out to dinner for my birthday and could stay out longer than 90 minutes! She is also up to sleeping about 5 hours at night and getting better at soothing herself to sleep during her daytime naps. woo hoo!

Finally we had a break from all the rain this week and I was able to use my birthday present. All these years crying about not having a hammock, I finally got one! Not quite confident in balancing her on my chest for a nap, but maybe someday :)

I can't complain too much about the rain because it left plenty of time for indoor snuggling. CeCe has been very patient and extra cuddly and is more and more comfortable with Fi everyday. As evident here:

Pat has been back to work after a month off. I was nervous about my first week alone, but I had lots of lovely visitors to get me through. Regardless, it's easy to say we all miss him when he is gone.

Baby Fi is 3 Weeks

Well this week we had a sort of disaster in the upstairs bathroom. The drain pipe for the tub cracked and Pat had to tear up the tile floor. The marble floor we put in ourselves last year. Now we have a toilet and pedestal sink hanging out in the hallway and all the toiletries stacked up in the powder room downstairs. Middle of the night bathroom runs got a lot trickier. Gah!

Fi has been making so many more facial expressions and just cracks us up when she is in her active sleep state with her eyes closed but kicking and moving all around. She has been reaching out for more things and looking around, sometimes making eye contact. Or at least we think she is looking in our eyes :) Her awake time is increasing which throws me off because I'm used to her sleeping all the time, but we are trying to get a schedule going. If I stay up late and wake up early, I only have to get up once in the middle of the night! 

It's hard to capture all the cute faces she makes, but here at least I caught the beginnings of a smile.

I want to try and make my own baby book to keep all her cards, her hospital bracelets and other momentos in, but its been hard keeping up with this blog, so a scrapbook may be pretty ambitious...

I love this book, so I may just pull the trigger on it.

Newborn Session

Thank you to the sweet and very talented Sabreena for these beautiful photos of our little family.

Fiona Pearl Gallagher

After a surprise induction on Friday, Fiona was born Saturday May 9th at 3:04am. She was 7 pounds, 11 ounces and 19 1/2" long. I went for my routine doctor appointment for my 39 week visit and mentioned that I hadn't felt as much movement this past week so the doctor ran some tests. During the ultrasound, she didn't see much fluid, so she sent me over to triage. They ran some more tests and decided to induce. Pat rushed home from Lansing and met me at the hospital. 12 hours later, we were staring at this little face.

My favorite picture of all time. It's so hard to know how you're going to feel when you first meet, but of course it's love at first sight. We just kept saying how full we felt inside and how surprised we were by it. I always joke that I am not a baby person and have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm not as intimidated about figuring it out anymore. I must be in the euphoric baby high stage!

We stayed at the hospital until late in the afternoon on Sunday to make sure we got the hang of breastfeeding before we left. Nobody warned me about how painful and challenging it would be! We were excited to get home and introduce CeCe to her new sister. Pat went in first and took her out for a short walk while I brought Fiona inside. Then when CeCe came back to the house, she went right up to her and kissed her face. I can't wait for more moments like this.

I love this yawning face even though she looks like she's crying. She makes the cutest expressions and I could just stare at her and listen to her coo in her sleep forever. I feel like I have to kind of mock myself for saying these things because I never understood it when people would talk about their own babies the same way.

Fiona Pearl, we love your messy brown hair and blue eyes that are deep like the sea.

Welcome to our world!

xoxoxo