She's four months old!

Where did my newborn go? As soon as she was a week old, I remember thinking, "Darn! She is week old already!" While I do miss all of the wonderful things about newborns, I am certainly loving this baby stage. She is no longer a baby blob. Smiles are so cheap, but laughs are expensive! This girl smiles at everything! But, I am waiting for that baby giggle that is so hysterical and contagious.

She had her 4 month check up today. She is growing like a weed, which is great. I am still working at keeping my milk supply up and the SNS has been helping with that. I think she is starting to wean herself from it because she doesn't take much from it anymore. Today she weighed in at 13 pounds, 4 ounces and is 25 inches long. She also had to get her first 2 shots today. I felt so bad because I couldn't prepare her. In one way, that is nice. She doesn't know what is coming. Poor girl. She was cooing and smiling and then BAM! And just as she was recovering from that, BAM! Once I picked her up and gave her a snuggle, she was fine.

"Operation Take a Nap" has proven successful! As of yesterday I put her down for a nap and she goes right to sleep! Now we are working on staying asleep. I can only get about 45 minutes out of her in the morning. In the afternoon she can sleep for 2 hours, but has been waking up after an hour or so. One day we were able to get her to go back to sleep after a quick cuddle. I am hoping that as she figures out this whole napping thing her naps will become longer. I am really looking forward to summer vacation because then I won't have to wake her up to go pick up her brothers. She is still a rock star sleeper at night. I tend to nurse her around 5:30pm or so and then she sleeps until at least 5:30am sometimes 6am. After I nurse her in the morning, she typically continues her nighttime sleep until 8am or so.

I am completely in love with this little girl. She thinks I am hilarious. She really only complains when she is tired or when she has a wet cloth diaper. She loves to watch her brothers play around her. She doesn't argue with me or call me names. The boys think she is really cute and like having her around. She slobbers on my shoulder, loves both of her thumbs, is practicing rolling over, gives me the best open-mouth smiles, is losing her hair, and is starting to enjoy her baths. I can't wait to see what she does next!

I don't think this would pass Quality Control

One thing I love about having chickens is the color of the eggs that we get. Eggs that look like this don't make it to the shelf at the store and it is a shame. Today Harriet laid an egg that is the reverse pigment of what it normally is and I love it! Usually the spots on her eggs are a dark brown, like the spot at the top of her egg shown below.

Today we got this:

And yesterday we got that.

Same chicken. How does she do that?

Nap Issues

Lately, the only way G will fall asleep to take a nap is if she is in my arms. Just like this.

So, this weekend "Operation Take a Nap" was put into effect. No more going to her and picking her up. She knows how to soothe herself to sleep. She does it at night and in the early morning. It is time for her to figure out the daytime sleep. With Day 2 coming to a close, I can honestly say that we are getting somewhere. She doesn't cry as long and she has been sleeping at least an hour for her morning nap and two hours for her afternoon nap! I really hate listening to her cry for longer than a few minutes, so it has been challenging for me. But, deep inside I know that she can do this. I am hoping that tomorrow is even better!

So much to say!

I have been trying to catch up on all of my posts. It is going slowly but surely. I have been post-dating all of my posts. So, if you don't see anything new, scroll down until you find something you haven't seen before. Those of you that subscribe to RSS feeds should see the new stuff automatically. I will get back to posting in present day soon enough I am sure.

Overheard this morning

"I love sausage. I am going to marry sausage."

- uttered by B, while eating breakfast this morning.

My new breast friend

No joke, this thing is awesome. The babe started to completely refuse my breast and would only eat from a bottle. It was very frustrating to know that I had food to offer her, but she wouldn't even try. I was able to track down one of these little devices and I am SO glad I did! I thought it would be totally obnoxious and inconvenient, but it is no more of a hassle than making a bottle for her. Now, instead of freaking out when it is time to eat, she willingly latches on because of the instant reward of the supplement! Since she has a constant supply of food, she is able to nurse longer which will help to increase my milk supply. Thank you, Medela, for making nursing an enjoyable experience once again. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Aren't you glad you stopped by to read? ;)

Eating shouldn't be so traumatic!

G and I are having issues lately. I want to nurse her. She won't latch on. She wants to eat. I don't seem to have the milk. I have some. Just not as much as she wants. But, she won't take what I have to give her. Our day goes like this:

6am wake up: Nurses really well on both sides, since I am really full in the morning.

9am: Wakes up from morning nap and nurses pretty well on both sides. She seems to want more, so I supplement with what I pumped the night before. After nursing I pump for 10 minutes to try to increase my supply.

Noon: Wants to eat, but screams bloody murder when I try to latch her on. I try to trick her by sticking a bottle in her mouth and then do the old switcheroo. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If she does latch on, she nurses through let down and then won't work for the rest. I end up supplementing with 2oz of formula. I pump afterwards.

3pm (or so): Same story. If she is so hungry, why won't she latch? Does she know that it is a dry well?

5:30pm (or so): Typically I have been able to get her to nurse right before bed. But last night she freaked out when I went to latch her on. So, I ended up giving her a bottle first and then tried to nurse her. I was able to get her to nurse for a little bit, but she was so tired that she just fell asleep and didn't nurse too well. I pumped afterwards.

9pm (or so): I pump for about 20 minutes to try to boost my supply. After 3 hours, I only get about 2 or 3 ounces. TOTAL!! Poor girl has been starving.

How do I fix this? How do I make more milk if she won't even nurse in the first place?

Where has all my milk gone, long time passing? Where has all my milk gone, long time ago? Where has all my milk gone, not to babies, anyone. When will she ever learn? When will she ever learn?

Team work makes the dream work, girlfriend. Let's get it done.