2 Month Check

Eliza and I are spending our afternoon recovering from this morning's two month appointment. Everything looked great with our little girl. She is still on her mission to be THE biggest baby - weighing in at 13lbs 11oz, which is the 97th percentile. Only 3 more to go! Lengthwise she is 23 inches long at the 70th percentile, which explains her buddha-esque figure :)

This was also our big shot appointment. Because we opted to have her birth immunizations delayed, today she had three pokes and one oral dose. Poor booger hated the oral immunization - I guess because all she's ever had is breastmilk it was pretty yucky - also a lot more than I would have thought for such a little booger. The nurse who gave her the shots was a pro and did them very quickly but it was still pretty rough. I don't know who was more traumatized - her or me! It's been a couple of hours now and we've spent most of the time snuggling and nursing, trying to get back on track. After our last nurse she gave me lots of big smiles so I think she's on her way to forgiving me for letting them poke her :)

This last week Eliza has had a lot of changes. She's been smiling a lot more - usually in the mornings. It's been so much fun and now we're eager for the giggles to start. She also started moving her head back and forth. She still has a hematoma (bruise) on her skull from birth that has made her only want to turn to the left, but she's been moving to the right on her own this week which is awesome - that should keep her from developing a flat spot opposite the hematoma. She found her hands this week and has been sucking on them like mad. It's super cute, even if she does get a little frustrated and fussy when she can't quite get her thumb out of her fist. Lastly, she has been focusing and tracking a lot. You can move back and forth in front of her or move a toy around and she will follow it with her eyes like a pro. She's more and more interactive and "talkative" and we're loving it.

We've spent the past two weeks trying to get her into a bedtime routine. She had been staying up with Jeremy until he comes to bed at 2am. It was working great, but with work trips coming up we decided we needed to start putting her down earlier so I don't have to stay up while he's gone. It was a rough few nights getting her to go down between 9 and 10, but now she's pretty much got it. Jeremy wakes her up to change her when he comes to bed and I nurse her. The other night he fell asleep in his office and didn't come get her and I woke up at 5am - she had slept for 7 hours and was still going strong! Of course since my body is used to nursing her at least every 4 hours I had to wake her up and get some relief - but I do wonder how long she would have gone! Looks like the only thing keeping her from sleeping through the night is me. I'm not quite ready for that yet, though.

I think we're going to try to offer her a bottle with my pumped milk this weekend. I'm having a hard time letting go and doing this just because I love our nursing soooo much - but it will be good for me to be able to leave her on occasion. Wish us luck!

Hanging with Daddy at Qdoba

Big smiles!

So serious!

Cute little crossed feetsies

Hanging with Grandpa

In the waiting room at the doctor, sound asleep

Sleeping again in the exam room, waiting for the dreaded pokes

Home recovering with some Momma snuggles

Sleeping away the pain

Finally happy again - that wasn't so bad! :)

Smiling girl

I finally caught a smile on video - they don't happen when she's wide awake very often so it's always a surprise! The camera angle is funny because she's looking at her monster on the wall :)

The Modern Woman's Dilemma

As most of you know, this week I handed in my resignation at Columbia. This is a decision which I have agonized over and while it was hard to bite the bullet it's a huge relief to have it over and done with.

There was definitely a part of me that wished that I hadn't found such a good fit with my first librarian job so the decision would have been easier. Jeremy and I spent a lot of time weighing the pros and cons of staying at home versus going back to work. Columbia is an adorable little school and I absolutely loved it. I worked with a principal who was very hands off and let me do what I wanted as long as it worked. This gave me the freedom to create a library program exactly how I wanted to. I loved the kiddos and it was so fun to help them connect with literature. In addition to loving my job, we really did have the perfect setup for childcare. Rather than sending Eliza to daycare, we had planned on paying my mom to watch her. What better option than having someone we trust so implicitly watch our baby during the day?? I'm not going to lie, though - thinking of coming home after a long day at work and hearing about how much fun mom and Eliza had made me more than a little jealous.

Since I spent the last couple of years before we moved in graduate school, Jeremy and I learned how to live on just his salary, so financially it's not much of a stretch for us to have me at home. (I know it's shocking, but school librarians don't exactly rake in the dough :-p ) Now instead of making monthly grad school payments, we get to buy diapers and cute little outfits instead :-) I think the biggest decision maker for us (aside from me wanting to spend as much time as possible with Eliza), was that our lives will be much less hectic with me at home. Trying to imagine both of us working 40-50 hour weeks and then trying to spend quality time with the baby, as well as keep up with laundry, groceries, chores, etc. on the weekends and evenings just sounds like it would be really intense. Jeremy and I are both such laid-back people, we really liked the sound of me being able to take care of a lot of that stuff during the week so that we can have more relaxing weekends as a family. We are also looking forward to travel flexibility. Only traveling during the summer can be a drag. Plans to spend a couple of weeks in Austin this fall are already in the making!

The hardest part of all of this was going in to tell my bosses that I would not be returning. I could not have asked for a better reception, though. My principal said she respected my decision, even though she was very disappointed. She reminded me that my position at Columbia is one that tends to open up every few years because there are no library aides so it tends to be more stressful than most, and said to keep my eye out. My boss at district told me that whenever I want to come back all I have to do is walk in the door and I will have a job. This is such a relief as I was very concerned about leaving the district that I would want to work with in the future. In the meantime I am going to get certified to sub in libraries across the district and also start working on my murals more. I'd like to build up a portfolio - so if anyone knows someone in the Springs who would like a kids mural for cost, let me know :-)

I really appreciate everyone's support in our decision - I'm very excited to enjoy every moment while we can!

And now, just for fun . . .

The day I found out I was pregnant ------- 1 1/2 weeks before delivery

I got HUGE!!!

6 week cuteness

Things are still great here - Eliza is growing so quickly. At her one month appointment two weeks ago she was 10lbs 15oz and at the 95th percentile. We think she might have taken that as a challenge and is trying for the 100th percentile. She doesn't want any babies to be bigger than her! :-p

Eliza got to meet all kinds of new people this week. My friend Jac came in from Austin and our cousins Josh and Chandra with their daughter Izzy are here for a few weeks. She's just been soaking it all in. Recently she's been awake and happy more often, and practicing her cooing. So far we've gotten 3 or 4 big smiles while she's awake, versus the sleepy smiles she's been giving us since the beginning. Every day is more fun than the last and we're trying to enjoy every moment!

I've been bad about posting pictures so here are a ton!

Giving me the stink-eye

Sooooo tired

Hanging out with Cousin Izzy

Meeting our friends' baby Zachary who is a month and a half older than her - that's right, my daughter is a hoss! (I don't think she likes holding hands on the first date)

Conked out

Cousin Chandra has cozy arms

Playing on her sea-animal playmat which she loves

Zoning out with Grandma

One Month Old!

Today Eliza is one month old and dang it has flown by! She and I survived last week when Jeremy was out of town, with grandma here to help (thank goodness!) We had a few video chat sessions which were fun and made it go a little faster. This weekend we had lots of family in town, so Eliza got to meet a bunch of new people. In the past week or so she has really started focusing on things around her – it’s so cute to watch her take everything in! On Saturday we weighed her at our doula’s office and she was 10 ½ pounds! She’s growing like a champ :-)

Here are some shots from the last couple of weeks

Since the first day we brought Eliza home she will stare at the monster above her changing pad, fascinated. I think it must be the contrasting colors. Recently she has started to “talk” to the monster while she’s being changed – grunting, cooing, etc. It’s pretty much the cutest thing in the world!

Meeting Anton, her Great-Godfather

Cozy and ready for bed!

Her hair is wild these days

Grandma and Grandpa torturing our little girl by sticking her feet in clay – can’t wait to see the results!

Checking herself out in the mirror

Meeting Auntie Barbara

Chillin with Daddy

Winston has gotten over his jealousy of the baby and now chooses to pretend she’s not there and sit in my lap anyway :-p

Four generations of Sanderson women!

Doctor's visit and 1 week photo shoot

This Tuesday we took Eliza to her two week well-baby appointment and the doc said she looks great! Her jaundice is almost gone and her hematoma (a bruise on her skull) is on it's way down. Most importantly, she is growing like a champ! This made me very happy as mothers who exclusively breastfeed their babies are often told to supplement with formula if they are not making their growth targets. Little Eliza did not want to risk having that happen and showed the doctors by gaining twice as much as is "expected" for breastfed babies :) She weighed in at a hefty 8lbs 15oz and grew a full inch to 21" long. It's hard to believe that someone that little can increase their mass that quickly!

My cousin Erin came one week after Eliza was born and took some amazing photographs (as usual!) Below are some of my favorites. You wouldn't know it from the pictures but Eliza was a little fussy-britches for most of the shoot. Erin's pro skills make her look like she was an angel the whole time :-p (and yes, the bowl is one that Grandpa made - so sweet)

Thank you Erin for the gift of capturing our little love bug!

Sniff Sniff

Today is a bittersweet day as Eliza turns two weeks old. Two weeks already! I really can't wrap my head around it, everybody was right that time is going to fly from here on out. I know it's silly, but what makes me the saddest is that now when we go out and people ask how old she is I have to start referring to weeks instead of days :( Though Jeremy thinks I should just keep it up with the days - "she's 147 days old today!" :-p

Mom came back down and stayed with us for most of this week too. Poor Jeremy had strained his back so bad while I was laboring (just being tense, then crouching over my bed to coach me while I was pushing, followed by a night on a hard bench at the hospital), that he had to go to the doctor. He hadn't been taking it easy at all - since I was restricted from lifting more than 15lbs for two weeks he had been lugging around the carseat and doing any other lifting that was needed around the house. He has also been playing in a tennis league which didn't help at all. The doctor put him on restriction and said no more than 10lbs of lifting - so back grandma came to help us out!

We've been keeping pretty busy - a lot of that has to do with the fact that Jeremy and I get antsy staying in so we've gone out every day. The weather has been fairly gloomy so any time that sun peeks out we try to run outside and get a quick walk in. It should clear up by Tuesday this week so I'm looking forward to that.

Eliza goes in for her 2 week checkup on Tuesday - they doctor said breastfed babies need to get back to their original birth weight by two weeks and I think that little miss has well exceeded that goal - I could barely get her into one of her original onesies this morning!

Lastly, Jeremy has another couple of days off and then is back to work - time for me to figure out how to do this on my own! Of course I'm sure my mom will be down all the time to help out, but it will definitely be different. The biggest bummer is that Jeremy has to travel to New Jersey a week from Monday for five days. I don't know who it's going to be harder on - me not having him here or him having to be away from Eliza!

Alright, enough rambling - enjoy the pictures!

(My cousin Erin came and took some amazing photos of Eliza last week - will get those up shortly!)

The Woombie swaddle Jeremy's coworker got for Eliza - she loves it!

Having good dreams

Daddy trying to wake little miss up!

Okay, I know a lot of it has to do with the angle - but what a little chunker! Looks like a sumo wrestler! :-p

Awesome onesie grandma got her

Meeting cousin Natalie, who is enamored

Okay couldn't resist the cute butt picture - getting ready for bathtime

Passed out - check out the adorable converse socks

Chillin with daddy