Life With Lottie | One Month Update

Today's "Thoughts on Thursday" are all about Lottie...per usual! If it's not about fashion, it's about my two little nuggets. Anyways, Lottie is 5 weeks old today but I have yet to do a one month update on her AND I finally got back the photos from our family session, so here we go...

Weight: She weighed 7 lbs 4 ounces at birth, left the hospital at 6 lbs 14oz and is now...9 lbs. 1 oz. She likes to eat! A LOT!

Clothes: She is in 3 months clothing because I refuse to buy newborn clothes. Newborn clothes run 5 - 8lbs, so babies (unless they're preemies) grow out of them within a week of birth. I'd rather have something be big on her then little. However...I did get two Lilly outfits that are 3 - 6 month in size (way too big right now) that I can't wait to put her in.

Sleep: Ugh! It's been a rough go. The first 3+ weeks she was either up every 2 hours OR would sleep from 9:30 - 1ish and then was awake and fussy until 5am. It was super miserable. She would fall asleep on the boob, but the second I moved her to her crib she would start fussing again. Plus she was spitting up and super gassy which was obviously contributing to the issue. She also doesn't nap very well which is annoying since Wake is a great napper.

Feeding: She eats 4-5 oz every 2 - 3 hours. I'm only making about 3 oz via boob and since I apparently have a starving child (just like Wake) we have to supplement her feedings with a 1-2 oz bottle of pumped breast milk or formula. I usually breastfeed her and then if she's still hungry 30 mins later (which is about 1/2 of the time) I offer her a bottle.

Schedule: We did haven't her on much of a schedule at first...I fed her when hungry OR every 3 hours. At two weeks (on Cinco De Mayo), my friend told me about the "Moms on Call" app (which wasn't around when Wake was a baby) and I figured it was worth the try since I wasn't sleeping and was willing to do anything. The first week using it was okay...took awhile to get her following the schedule especially while juggling W's schedule. But I can say that in just the past week (week 4 - 5) we have seen a drastic improvement in her sleeping patterns. The past two nights she has slept from 9/9:30 - 4am. I think this is also due in part to her meds...see below.

Health: The lack of sleep, fussiness, terrible gas and spit-up lead me to believe that Lottie has acid reflux...and I was right. I tried eliminating dairy and gluten from my diet for a week to see if that helped, but it didn't so the doctor prescribed a medicine for the reflux AND gave us some really expensive/crazy formula to use when we supplement.

Crying: She cries and is fussy a lot in the afternoon/evenings unfortunately. I can tell her belly hurts from the reflux and gas, and the only place she is comfortable is upright in my arms. I burp her a lot. I only dose her with the meds twice a day (when she wakes up and before bed) so I think by 2/3pm it's starting to wear off and she begins feeling crummy again. She is fussy on and off from 3 to about 8/8:30pm.

Likes: Being burped, the bath (I'll put her in there to calm her at night when she's upset), her mobile.

Dislikes: Being hungry, gas, needing to burp, being held the wrong way.

Milestones: Sleeping comfortably and for upwards of 6+ hours at a time.

Places You’ve Gone: Nowhere out of town but she's been to the pool multiple times, the yacht club, grandma & grandpas, restaurants, shopping, etc...

Visitors: A ton! Last weekend was her "Sip & See" so we had lots of friends in town and before that we had people stop by almost every other day and on the weekends.

Postpartum: I feel great...luckily. I haven't had any "baby blues" but I am very tired and a little burnt out. Being tired is expected and isn't bothering me as much with Wake because I think I knew what to expect. The thing that is killing me the most is juggling the two kids and their differing needs/schedules. I literally can't take a poop (I know, T.M.I., but whatever) without one of my children screaming for me or in the bathroom with me. The neediness from both of them is overwhelming and has me a little frazzled every once in a awhile. Wake wants to be moving, running, playing outside ALL DAY. He gets easily frustrated when we have to be inside feeding Lottie (which is often if you read her feeding needs) or when she's napping. Plus I don't want him to feel neglected or "second-fiddle" but it's very hard. See more on this under "life with two".

I haven't had my follow up appointment yet...it's next week...but I'm actually looking forward to working out again. I was losing the weight and bouncing back really quick the first couple weeks (breast feeding perks) but am sitting stagnant recently with the last 10 lbs just chilling on my gut & butt. Looking in the mirror is hard but I have to remind myself of what my body just accomplished and give myself a little grace. However, I'm really ready to lose it!

Life with Two: Thank goodness for family. My In-laws have been amazing. MIL takes Wake for the day every Friday, which gives both him and I a nice reprieve. My sister in law has also been great coming to the pool and playing with W. Plus, every night when Joe gets home he focuses ALL his attention on Wake which is so sweet, and again, much needed by my first little buddy. They play baseball or basketball outside, do puzzles, go to the park, or do yard work. I think it's Wake's most favorite time of day.

With all that being said, Wake is doing amazing at being a big brother and has been as helpful as possible. He loves on and kisses Lottie all the time and constantly asks to hold her. Also, even with all the changes from 1 baby to 2, I feel good. My labor was super easy and I was up and back at "life" within 2 days. I love having a little girl and feel like I'm managing things pretty good because I knew what to expect - sort of. We'll see how I feel about things in another month ;-).