It really cooled down here this week so we got out the footy pajamas! She is already too big for size 3 month footies because she is so long. She is starting to fill out a little and not look quite so skinny and her baby thigh rolls are coming in! This week also brought a little shake up with my beautiful night time sleeper waking up at all hours again. She hasn't been nursing as well during the day, but I hope it is just a quick phase. Maybe she just wants the bottle instead? Of course I spend every night trying to figure out why she's waking up. Is she too cold? Is her belly not full enough? Is she just having a wild dream? Too much stimulation? And now I am that crazy mom who emails the daycare at 1:30 in the morning asking them if they could try harder to stay on her schedule...

We went to Bay City this weekend to visit Pat's family. It was too cold and rainy to go for a swim, so we played pass the baby around inside instead.

My days of working from home one day a week are over so I'm back at it five days in a row this week. I still don't know how working moms do it. Is it Labor Day weekend yet?

Rough Week

Three head colds, two bouts of food poisoning and one blocked tear duct. It's been a rough week. Thank you grandma for saving us this weekend! In good news, Fi has been spending a lot more time on her tummy and can now put things in her mouth. We were afraid we may have had a case of pink eye on our hands so we rain checked having friends over and ended up spending Pat's birthday going to Outback Steakhouse and then cuddling on the couch. Kids really do change everything!

Three Months and Baptism

Fiona was baptized today in the same church my sister and I were baptized in. It was really hot, but it was nice to see so many people that knew me when I was younger. Baby had a head cold, but she pulled through like a champ and was pretty content all day. She wore a gown that great grandma Audrey brought back from Ireland over thirty years ago. I stitched in the initials of everyone who has worn it: her dad, uncle, and four of her cousins. I'm not a pro at back stitching by any means, but I think it turned out kinda neat!

We came back to a little brunch and passed the baby around. We are very lucky to have a sweet family who love this girl so much. Of course I forgot to take pictures of any of their smiling faces...

This is all that was leftover from my budget brunch with all groceries from Aldi (our new obsession). No photos of any of the other food... the ham and cheese sandwich on a stick were gone in a flash!

Go figure the only photo I take of her the entire day was this; a second in the series I like to call Bloomers on the Head

 She is already turning over on her side, touching her toes and holding on to some toys. She pulled one of her hanging toys loud enough to play a song and I yelled to Pat in the other room, "You've gotta come see this!! She did it all by herself!!" Obviously I'm very proud of her genius motor skills. And since I never posted three month pictures, here are some new romper favorites.

And of course, some smoochin' with mama.

First Week Back

I survived the first week back to work and only had tears on Monday, hard to believe. The daycare uses an app to send updates and pictures of Fiona's activities throughout the day so I know she is happy :) By the end of the second day she was taking bottles like a pro. I feel like I have so much more freedom now! Pat has her to himself two days a week and I think he realized how hard it is and how little else you can get done... :)

I can tell pumping at work is going to get old pretty quickly, but my goal is nothing but breastmilk until she starts on solids at 6 months. There are three other women at work who pump, and three more that will be coming back in the next few months, so getting into the mother's rooms may be a challenge, but at least we kind of have a built in support network, right? At least someone else to commiserate about cleaning all those parts and bottles.

Last Week of Leave

Today is my last day of leave. I return to work tomorrow and Fiona has her first day at daycare. I want to tear up just writing that sentence. I've grown so much and learned a lot about myself in the last few months taking care of a baby, a dog and a house while Pat was away teaching at the recruit school. Some days seemed like survival mode, but for the most part I felt like I had a pretty good handle on things at home in our little bubble. I know many moms work full time and balance things, but I don't know how they do it! I suppose I will figure it out just like I figured out how to keep a baby alive for the past twelve weeks. I know there will be tears, but soon it will just be routine. Fingers crossed anyway!

I knew I loved this girl before she was born, but I had no idea how attached and completely over the moon I could feel for her. I secretly love when she still tries to look at me when someone else is holding her. She has changed so much in 12 weeks and I can't wait to watch her grow and interact with us more and more. Her hands are open a lot of the time now and it just cracks me up when she has them resting on her knees. I finally clipped her nails for the first time while she was sleeping. Sometimes I try to bite them while she is nursing! And her little "conversations" are too cute, just cooing away and smiling. I am going to treasure as many of these moments as I can. 

She has been such a good night sleeper so far and has no problem putting herself to sleep in her crib but my favorite time to hold her is when she is all wrapped up and drowsy and we can just sway around her room in the dark. I love this girl so much! She is so sweet in the mornings and often has a little smirk on her face when she's doing her morning stretches. She is following us with her eyes and now moves her head to look when she hears a sound. She can hold her head up pretty well when she is being held, but needs more work on her tummy time. She has fashioned quite a nice baby mullet as some of her hair gets longer, but is getting balder in spots where she lays her head. She almost has a full bald ring around the back!

Big Week, Big Girl

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.