I'm back on the grid...

Well it has been a while… over 3 months actually! After posting my birth story, I battled with the idea of continuing my blog or just leaving it as it stood as a pregnancy blog. Part of me really wanted to continue on, but then as the days and weeks and months went by that I didn’t post anything I thought of all the things I would have to write in to catch everyone up and it just seemed overwhelming. Then I got a few requests from people to continue it, so here I am. I wont pretend to spend a huge effort grandfathering in everything from the last 3 and a half months, but here are the basics and here we go from here on out!

Aurora
Just a little pixie, has been small the whole time. Finally got her out of newborn diapers just a few weeks ago, and just this weekend retired the newborn clothes and got out the 0-3 month stuff. The fancy clothes (dresses with matching panties) all still fit the newborn size. She has fallen off the charts for smallness weight at just over 10 lbs now and head circumference (although its not like she was really far up “in” the chart to begin with), but with height she’s in the 50th-75th percentile. The doctors are slightly concerned, however, considering the fact that she couldn’t be happier and more content, is peeing and pooping just fine and we are trying to get her to drink as much of Mommy’s milk as possible, they don’t really have any other suggestions for us, and are satisfied with the fact that she is gaining, if slowly. And my instincts tell me that she is just perfect the way she is, and not to force her into charts and categories with other babies.

As mentioned, she is the happiest baby on the block; smiling all the time now, and giggling little bits here and there. Her best time is in the morning after waking up. She is so alert and active, ecstatic to interact. It’s a wonderful way to start the day. She’s babbling now too, which is music to our ears.

She sleeps through the night; goes to bed around 9pm and wakes up for her morning feeding at about 4am and goes back to sleep until we wake up to get ready for work at 6. She goes to bed like a charm for the night and for naps; just feed her, change her diaper, swaddle her wind up her “twirly friends” as Ryan calls them (her mobile) and she is off to neverland.

Her eyes are staying blue and I think they are here to stay. Sorry Ryan and Brian, but I won another bet. Her hair is staying sort of reddish-brown, we will see if it lightens up. She for sure has a fryer tuck fringe around the head going on though. Ill have to trim it if it gets to be too ridiculous. I am not about to have a baby girl with a mullet. She does have Ryan’s skin it seems though, which we will jump for joy at if it sticks. Time will tell!

Me
Well I am great. I healed up pretty good, and was walking with Aurora as soon as I could manage. But still really craved my runs. I have been able to take some of them and it feels great. It makes me really sad to take time away from Aurora though, so it’s really a battle to take the time for myself to be healthy but have to be away from her for it. So we go on as many walks as we can during the week for her and Guinness, and I try to get a few runs in during the week. After all was said and done, I had just under 10 lbs to loose. I still have 7 left. It’s a tough process! I am eating really well though when I can (commitment to producing great breastmilk) and that helps a lot.

The breastfeeding thing is going well, though not fantastically. With the introduction of many bottle feedings, Aurora is impatient at the breast when I’m not completely full. (So pretty much anytime that is not the morning feedings where I am full-o-milk). But as long as my boobs produce as much as she needs, I don’t really care. So I pump away. It is a pain in the butt, and I spend over an hour a day pumping (in addition to the time I spend breastfeeding her) but its totally worth it for all of the benefits of breastfeeding. I keep the stats handy about it for motivation: 71% of all children are breastfead in the beginning; it drops to 36% by 6 months of age, and only 17% of children are breastfead by 1 year old. I can see how it is much easier to just move to formula, even if it is more expensive.

I have been back at work for 2 weeks now. It was hardest the 2nd day back. The first day was like a vacation from the house; the second day was realization of the reality of leaving Aurora for 5 days a week. Aurora actually was very pissed at me after my first day out, and went on a breastfeeding strike and was very unhappy with me, but I slowed things down that night, cuddled a lot with skin to skin time, talked to her and told her about work and apologized; she somehow understood and was much better the next day. But now I have a schedule down and am very comfortable with how things are going. We figured out the care thing; Mondays and Wednesdays Ryan’s mom Cheryl is there from 7-9am, then my mom comes and takes over till we get home. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have made arrangements with an awesome sitter in Tierrasanta who we love, Diane who lives just down the street on our way out to work. (The previous 2 weeks, our cousins Kimmy and Sheila, as well as Aunt Diana were nice enough to cover those days). Most Fridays Ryan has off due to schedule and furlough, and I will take whatever Fridays he doesn’t have covered.

Well, I think that’s enough for now at least, we will see how long it takes me to come back for round two!