yesterday we celebrated one month with you. one month as a family of three. your daddy and i can’t decide whether this month has been the longest or the shortest time of our lives, but the days do fly by when everything fits into three hour increments. eat, poop, sleep. (i’d like to see julia roberts star in that movie!)
sylvie, it is an honor to be your mother. i love watching you take in the world around you. your eyes are beginning to focus on our faces, your hands and the pages of the books we read. speaking of those eyes, we are still trying to decide what color they will be. they are getting lighter and looking bluer everyday. i was so sure they would be brown in the days after your birth. your dad always insisted they would turn blue. daddy won that round!
this first month together has been all about taking life one day at a time. we are learning as we go along, and i apologize for any mistakes we’ve made so far. try not to hold those against us, okay? the colic has been particularly trying, but we’ll get through it together. we’re slowly figuring out what works to soothe you. white noise+your pacifier+holding you tummy to tummy seems to be the magic equation. i have also cut out dairy as an attempt to keep your sweet little tummy from bloating. i think it’s helping.
you are our sunshine, sweet girl. you are the tiny being that contains all of my hopes and dreams. you have transformed us from a couple to a family. you have increased the love in this tiny apartment exponentially. you are the piece that was missing all along. we just didn’t know it until now. we love you so much and we can’t wait to see what the next month will bring.
really, sylvie? that’s all it takes for you to sleep more, nurse better, and stop fussing? my old white noise machine? REALLY?
this white noise machine deserves a medal of honor for its tour of duty. when i lived in baltimore it drowned out the drunk college kids, the adolescent dirt bike gangs, and the occasional gun shot or two. now it calms my colicky baby. talk about range!
this morning sylvie nursed for twenty minutes without grunting and pushing me away. she hasn’t nursed this well in almost a week. travis turned the white noise machine off for a second during this nursing session. she immediately began to fuss, grunt, and push my breast away. he turned it back on and she calmed down and ate normally. i guess we’ll be listening to a rain storm for a little while around here.
in addition to this gift from god (or bed bath and beyond), we also purchased a maya wrap ring sling yesterday. she LOVES this carrier. she slept in it for almost two hours yesterday while i used both of my hands (what a novelty!) to do some dishes and make myself dinner. i can’t wait to take her for a walk in it! the maya wrap brings her carrier total up to THREE. she is still a little small and lacks the head control for the baby bjorn. i’ve tried to use the moby wrap several times, but i can never seem to get it right. it doesn’t feel tight enough or something. any advice on that? for now this sling seems to be what works. plus, look at all of those colors!
she loves the tummy to tummy position it in. i love the nursing position and that it doubles as a nursing cover. i sense many walks around the park in our immediate future.
that’s right. cheeks is currently experiencing a bout with the dreaded C. after 4 consecutive days of non-stop fussing, we took her to the pediatrician. he said everything we had described from the difficulty breast feeding to the clinginess is classic colic. we left with a prescription for some tummy drops. i just gave sylvie her first dose, and i hope that it helps.
poor girl. last night was terrible for her. i could tell she was in so much pain, but travis and i were powerless to help. she is not a screamer. she is a back-arching über grunter. this little girl will writhe and grunt until her face is tortured and beet red. she won’t take the breast very well at the moment. as soon as she latches she will push off and commence with the aforementioned über grunting. as a result we’ve had to pump and bottle feed her a few times a day. i hate doing it (breast feeding is my favorite thing ever), but girl needs to eat! she will take down over 4 ounces from a bottle, but only feed directly from me for 10-15 minutes at a time. luckily, at almost 4 weeks, breast feeding was well established. she has not had any nipple confusion and will switch back and forth with ease.
on the positive side, she has gained over a pound since her 2 week check-up. that’s 17 ounces in 10 days for a grand total of 7 pounds 5 ounces.
i had better run. cheeks is beginning to fuss for her dinner. any advice and wisdom on colic would be much appreciated!
travis’ grandparents stopped into town today as part of their annual cross-country RV tour. here is a video of pop-pop singing her a little song. never mind the shoddy camera work. travis momentarily forgot that turning the camera sideways doesn’t translate well in video. oops! it is a sweet moment, nonetheless.
and a picture with her great grandmother, meme:
we’re off shortly to a little cookout at a friend’s house. go go gadget porta-baby!
today we went on our first real family outing to the park. by real outing i mean that i had to change and breast-feed her in public for the first time. we had a great time lounging under the trees, reading aloud to each other, and just being there together.
sylvie slept most of the time:
look at those lips!
after she woke up we got her changed. she peed all over herself. being the novice parent that i am, i forgot to pack a change of clothes. no matter. with her belly full, we laid her in the sun to dry out.
our first public feeding:
tummy time/tush drying time:
shortly after tummy time it started to get a little warm for her. we packed everything up and headed home. she is still napping in her car seat.
we started doing tummy time just a few days ago. this is a video of her first time. she picked up her head and turned it over no less than 3 times her very first go at it! it may be silly to get so excited about such a small thing, but i think it’s pretty impressive. i can’t believe that her original due date is still 6 days away. she’s grown so much already.
the song in the video is “tick eats the olives” by devendra banhart.
today we went to sylvie’s 2 week pediatrician appointment. her weight gain was a little touch and go at the beginning, but i’m happy to report that she is back up to her birth weight. that’s 9 ounces gained in one week! she’s eating like a champ around the clock, which means almost no sleep on our end. it’s all so worth it.
dearest sylvie,
i can’t believe we’ve already been a family of three for two weeks. where has the time gone? you are growing bigger everyday, feeding like crazy, and sleeping when you feel like it. we’re living our lives on your terms and we couldn’t be happier, greasy hair and all. we fall more in love with you every single day, cheeks.
today we took our first family outing. we went to the bookstore where i used to work and showed you off to some of my former co-workers. you slept peacefully the entire time as we drank our coffees and read our magazines. you are so content no matter whose arms you wake up in.
in the last few days you’ve become much more alert. you spend whole chunks of time with your eyes open, taking in the world around you. your daddy and i try to seize these moments to read you stories. you’re beginning to really focus on the pictures as we read.
your daddy and i are simply over the moon for you. we can’t wait to watch you grow and change. we love you so very much.
