Someone Loves Her Daddy

Smiles, Giggles, and Thumb Sucking

Looks like it's been a few days since I posted anything! We're moving along in babyhood way faster then I would like. Colette is certainly filling out those little 0-3 fitted pajamas these days.



She has hair on her head, she smiles like crazy, and just today, she giggled. Can't believe how quickly things change. She loves her swing and watching the sheep spin above her, and she loves when you stick your tongue out and make mouth noises.

Last night she slept from about 11:30pm til 6am. I think it was a fluke as she pretty much slept all day yesterday, probably just a growth spurt!

As for me and dear husband, we stay pretty busy! We actually left the babe with her Grama on Saturday and had a date night. It was excellent. We went to dinner at a place we'd never been before, 1885. It's a very small little place with local cuisine and it was very delicious. Even had carrot cake with a salted caramel cream cheese frosting for dessert. Nom nom nom.. If you're ever in Chattanooga, I definitely recommend it!

I also spent most of Saturday taking down Christmas decorations. If you know me, you know this usually doesn't happen til late March. I was surprised at how quickly it all came down. Now I'm just going to focus on getting the house scrubbed down now that I can get on my hands and knees and move around without a giant belly in the way!

We're having some family photos taken this weekend by our friend and excellent photographer Ashley Hodges. You should check her out, she's fantastic. Hopefully we'll have sessions every few months so when Colette grows up there will actually be photos of me and her together!

Nana and Aunt Katy are also coming down this weekend for a visit. We're pretty excited about that since they haven't seen the baby in a few weeks!

And that's about it for now. I'll try to come up with something more substantial for you read soon!

I'll leave you with this photo of the dinner I currently have simmering on the stove:

Interesting Percentages

I spend a lot of my time nursing. It feels like most of the day is actually spent doing this.. So I find myself browsing the internet a lot. A few days ago I came across the CDC's 2013 Breastfeeding Report Card. (http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/reportcard.htm)

I was shocked when I looked at the percentages for my state (Tennessee). We're dead last in the percent of babies that are exclusively breastfed until 6 months (4%) and second to last in percent of babies exclusively breastfed until 3 months (17.9%... Behind Mississippi at 17%). The South in general has fairly low numbers.

I know there's a decent sized margin of error, but still. Those numbers are crazy for something that's so good for both a mom and a babe.

Don't get me wrong, I have absolutely no issues with anyone who chooses to use formula for their baby for whatever reason. As I've experienced over the last five weeks, breast feeding is no walk in the park with sunshine and butterflies. You read and hear all the stories about breastfeeding being "a learning experience" and that it "isn't easy" and sometimes "it hurts." For some reason I guess I didn't really read too much into those phrases. Maybe I would have understood better if it said something like, "If you take a cheese grater and rub that on your nips ten times a day, you'll be more prepared for a life of breastfeeding." Those first weeks were hard. Cursing, crying, screaming, and wanting to give it up hard. But I persevered and can finally say we're in good place.

Ahhh, life. Anyway... This was all just to say I was shocked at the numbers and definitely not to judge anyone on their decisions.

[caption id="attachment_724" align="aligncenter" width="560"] The Stats[/caption]

Holidays

[caption id="attachment_709" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Christmas Eve[/caption]

Time is zooming by. Christmas has come and gone and now we're about to ring in a new year. Colette is already 5 weeks old. Where is the Tardis when you need it?

I need to update more. I knew there are a million things I wanted to write about, but now I can't remember any of them.

The holidays have been great. I'm sad they're coming to a close. My little babe has already grown so much, it amazes me. We had a scare on Christmas day. Well, sort of. She spit up a little blood and I calmly freaked out. Luckily the blood was mine. I noticed a little in some of the pumped milk I had from a day or so before. Whew.

She doesn't really have any issues other than that! A little cradle cap, but nothing to worry about! She's on more of a schedule now, with the occasional "I want to nurse every hour on the hour" days. Unfortunately the schedule include staying up most of the day.. and most of the night. The girl just doesn't sleep. I've found myself sleeping in the glider in the nursery a couple of time... did wonders for the neck.

Well, I take it back .The holidays haven't been all great. We lost my Papaw on the 17th. As much sadness as I feel, I can be happy and rejoice in the fact that he's found his real home now. Like I told my sister, I don't know what my granny is gonna do without that old man to nag her all the time. He will be truly missed, and like those that have gone before, (My Granny Jo, Cory's Grandma Clara Nell, and most definitely Cory's father...) I wish Colette would have had the opportunity to meet them as they were all extraordinary people. Again, where is that Tardis?

Now that Christmas is over, I''m ready to start planning 2014 vacations. Actually there's not a whole lot of planning left to do. We're going to beach in August to the beach house that Cory vacationed at with his family nearly every year since he was a baby and to Disney World in October with my family. LET'S GET EXCITED.

I'm looking forward to all the incredible things that are going to happen in 2014.

 

[caption id="attachment_710" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Proud Mommy and Daddy[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_711" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Our Christmas Party Dress[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_712" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Our First Christmas[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_713" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Four Generations of Love[/caption]

Feeling a Little Like Superwoman

Of course now that I've typed the title I can slowly feel the fatigue coming over me. And hunger.

I spoke a little too soon on that last post, because the following night was terrible. I had a bit of a breakdown. But here we are a few days later and I'm feeling like I can get through anything (except maybe the TV shows that have been stockpiling on the DVR). I have to say I would probably be in a closet crying somewhere if it weren't for that husband of mine keeping his cool and keeping me sane. Love that guy.

We had her two week check up on Monday. Sweet little thing is doing very well, has grown from 20" to 21.75".. and from 7lb 13oz to 8lb 10oz. At least now I understand why she wants to nurse ALL THE TIME.

Last night we put little baby Colette in her crib when it was time for us to go to bed. It went surprisingly well. Of course, I'm not sure I slept a whole lot for staring into the baby monitor making sure she was still alive. She wasn't too fussy.. maybe a little gassy, but not upset. And we may have tried to overeat at one of our nightly feedings which resulted in a catapult of spit up. But we both survived! Today we went for a stroll around the neighborhood, did some laundry and general cleaning around the house, and now she's sleeping peacefully while I think of something I'd like to have for dinner. Scratch that. Dinner plans taken care of.

Nursing is getting better everyday. We have the occasional off moment, but now that I'm starting to heal up, things go much more smoothly.

As far as postpartum healing is concerned, I think we're in a great place. I don't have any irritation or pain and feel pretty great getting up and down constantly. I've also dropped a lot more weight than I thought I would have. Pre-pregnancy I was around 160, got up to around 183, and now I'm down in the 150's. I'm pretty sure that just means I lost a ton of muscle, but I'll take it for now.

And with that, I hear a baby stirring.

A Good Night's Sleep

Amazing. Our little one did so well last night. No crying or whining. I got up twice to feed her and she went right back to sleep both times. Mom and dad both got sleep.

In light of this new found sleep, I feel like I left a few things out of my last post that I did want to mention.

Pets.

We have two dogs, a beagle/terrier mix and a Weimaraner. One of the big stressors for me in the first couple of days home came from my poor little (90lb) weim, Max. With all the excitement and stimulation we brought home with the new baby we also brought home a feeling of dread for Max. He immediately started acting off. I know I mentioned in an earlier post about him having a seizure while I was home alone, and I knew from his actions that another one was coming on. I was extremely stressed out about it. It's the most terrible thing to witness and know you can't do anything about it. His symptoms lasted a little while before he actually started seizing. My sister and Cory took him outside right before it happened. I stayed far away. When the episode was over he ended up running away. The temperature was near freezing with rain and the two of them searched all over the neighborhood for him. Cory finally found him at a dead end, in a confused state, but he got into the car and came home. The effects from this seizure, unlike the last, lasted for a couple of days. I was certain I was spending my last hours with him and I had to find some way to cope with that and having a new baby. It didn't go so well.

I am happy to report that Max is doing better now, but he's still pretty afraid of the baby. He warms up a little tiny bit each day. We went from Max not being able to be around Colette at all, to him coming up and sniffing her on Friday. I somehow caught that one on my phone:

[caption id="attachment_694" align="aligncenter" width="560"] The First Sniff[/caption]

 

Note the terrified eyes. Poor guy. Our other dog, Ace is completely fine with the baby. He generally comes up and licks her once then just stares at her. He'll follow us all over the house, protecting us from evil, no doubt.

We also took our first trip out of the house yesterday (for something other than a doctor's appointment). A Target trip, in fact, to get baby girl a Christmas dress. It was interesting to see how strategically we managed that. We woke up I fed her, handed her off to Cory, took a shower, got her back from Cory and while he got ready I fed her again, got her dressed while Cory fixed the carseat and loaded up, then we were off. We got to the (completely-overpacked-Christmas-rush) Target, picked out a dress and a couple of button up onesies (whoever decided babies should have clothes that can't be zipped or buttoned all the way up should be put in time out..), grabbed a couple things from the grocery section and headed out the door. We got home just in time to feed again. And nap. It worked out incredibly well.

Thus far today has gone pretty well too! Cory went out and got us breakfast, and we've been able to get some cleaning (and another blog!) done.

I ordered a continuous light boom kit last night so I can take some better newborn pictures of our dear daughter. As soon as that comes in you can expect those pictures I promised. My goal is to not go overboard with the pictures on the internet. He whole life from conception to now is documented in this blog, so I'm going to try and keep the photos to a minimum. The internet is forever. Eventually, my plan for the blog is to turn all my posts into yearly books. One for the pregnancy and so on, always ending with a birthday. Hopefully I'll remember that.

I was able to take some Christmas photos for the Christmas cards I designed a few weeks ago and send those off on Friday. They should be arriving tomorrow, so I'll stuff them into the envelopes I already addressed, stamp them and send them off on Tuesday! I'm excited for everyone to see them!

Well I think that's all for now. Might be time to sneak in a little nap before little one wakes up and decided it's time to feast again.