Happy Two Months Emma Kate!

Emma, you are TWO months old! We skipped the one month post, because quite frankly, that time was all a blur. Here’s what you are up to these days:

-You are sleeping 7-8 hours at night, and this makes momma happy! You sleep from about 10pm-6am. I think this was a gift from God, as he knew I was going back to work and would need sleep! (**After writing this post you OF COURSE didn't sleep through the night last night, you woke up and cried at 3am, but with a little help from daddy and a paci, you went back to sleep in about 10 minutes on your own! good girl, I would just rather you not need assistance, but I'll take what I can get).

-You are so good at putting yourself to sleep and soothing yourself at bedtime and during the night! At bedtime, we put you in your crib and you may fuss and cry for a few minutes, but then you go right to sleep. Last night at 1am I heard you on the monitor and turn on the video, your eyes were wide open but then you started sucking your hand and closed them and went back to sleep.

-speaking of hands, you have found your hands! You suck them sometimes, and I never know if it is because you are hungry or just trying to soothe yourself J

-You take several naps a day, but you are a not a good napper. You usually take one long morning nap, but the rest of the day is up in the air. You might take a few cat naps in the afternoon, and sometimes we can get a long afternoon nap out of you. You don’t like naptime, because when we try to put you down, you cry a lot more than you do at night!

-You are not on a consistent napping or eating schedule, because I work and you are being taken care of by a friend for now. I try not to stress over this, and just go with the flow. I just want you to be happy during the day while we work and I am not a psycho schedule mom. Since you are sleeping through the night, I am perfectly happy with the way things are going and the way we do things.

-Despite not eating at consistent “times” everyday, you still eat every three hours or so. We take the first feeding time of the day and base the rest of the day’s feedings off of that.

-You eat about 5-6 times a day, anywhere from 2-4 ounces at a time. Like I said, you are not consistent. The charts say you should be eating 5-6 times a day, 4-5 ounces, so I always TRY to get you to eat 4 ounces, and you are getting there!

-You are not into eating. You could care less sometimes. This is not good for your weight gain, especially since you have a hard time gaining weight anyway with your heart condition!

-Due to your health issues and SEVERE milk protein/soy allergy, you eat a specialized prescription formula called Elecare. You started this around 7 weeks of age. The doctor says it tastes bad, and suggested that we add a drop of vanilla extract.

-You smile sometimes, but it is hard to get you to smile! We could make the goofiest faces, and you won’t smile. But then you smile at the most random things! I would not say you are a smiley baby, but that is probably because your tummy hurts so much L

-You have terrible acid reflux and take zantac for that. It is not helping anymore, so we are going to see a GI specialist and will hopefully get a different medicine.

-You currently have a dialted left kidney, and doctors are trying to figure out what is wrong.

-You little heart valve is doing okay, and we see the cardiologist about every 2-4 weeks so they can keep an eye on it. We don’t know when your surgery will be, but pray that you we can hold off as long as possible.

-You are so strong! When you are having an acid reflux attack, you kick your legs and arch your back so hard that you would fly out of our hands if we are not careful!

-You are getting good at holding your head up and strengthening your neck muscles. During tummy time you would rather just lay there and not lift your head, but the last few days you have started to lift it and fly like superman! You always lift your head when you are up on our shoulders.

- You do not like medicine. Even if it tastes good, you scream and cry and try to spit it out.

-You LOVE your wubbanub monkey pacifier. You are pretty much addicted to it and it’s cute, but you have problems with your sucking reflex so you can’t suck hard enough or correctly to keep the paci in your mouth. We are always having to put it back in your mouth for you, but it is a good “plug” and soothes you so we like it. It sucks when I am driving in the car and it falls out though! That makes for a screaming car ride J.

-You are not that cuddly. You would sometimes rather just be left alone, and this makes momma sad! I have to get you to fall asleep, and THEN lay you on my chest because you will not cuddle like that on your own. Although last night you did lay your head on my shoulder when I was rocking you before bedtime so maybe you are coming around.

-You love the Moby wrap! I think it soothes you and makes you feel like you are in the womb again.

-You always curl your body up into a little ball and arch your back so your butt sticks out. This is how you were in the womb, and it reminds me of that J. You were most definitely not in the fetal position in the womb. You had your own modified version. I miss being pregnant with you sometimes!

-You love laying in the nook of our legs when they are bent with our feet resting on the coffee table. If we put you there and give you your paci, you will calm down in no time!

-You like your swing, and if we need you to go to sleep right away, we can usually put you in there and you will be out in 5 minutes. But you don’t like looking at the mobile on it.

-You like mirrors. I put one in your crib and I will put one in the car.

-You are such a wiggly baby. You wiggle wiggle wiggle all the time.

-You LOVE your changing table. You would lay there for hours if we let you.

-You hate having a wet diaper and will let us know if it is J

-You are the noisiest sleeper, and I am SO glad you sleep in your crib now. I never got any sleep when we tried out the cradle.

-Sometimes when you are in real pain but need to go to sleep, I will co sleep with you. We start off with me laying down and you in my arms. I love this!!

-On weekends you will get up and drink a bottle at 6:30am and then go back to sleep in our bed so we all can sleep in and I consider this your “morning nap”J. I love this and I am sure these will be some of my precious memories!

-You love being out and about and usually behave so good! I love taking you places!

-at your 2 month appointment you weighed 10.25 pounds and were in the 15^th percentile for weight. Your height was 22.5 inches but I am not sure of the percentile. You are our teeny little baby J

-You did great with your 2 month shots, you screamed of course but as soon as I picked you up your just clung to me and cuddled me and calmed down. I loved this cuddly moment, because they are few and far between!

-You love your bath, but hate getting out because you get so cold!

-We call you our little chipmunk, because you store milk in your cheeks and let it dribble out of your mouth.

-You are such a messy eater! Always dribbling milk out of your mouth and letting it drip on your clothes.

-You were 0-3 months size clothes (still a little big and roomy) and size 1 pampers!

-You are so good at focusing on things and making eye contact. You will just stare at us for hours on end and I love it.

Emma, despite all that we have been through in your short two months of life, we LOVE you SO much and are so thankful that you are healthy for the most part and thriving. You bring us joy on a daily basis. What was life like without you?! I can’t remember! I can’t wait to watch you learn and grow!