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| Look at that sweet smile! |
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| I think she might have dimples! |
Phoebe has found her voice this past month! She is such a little talker now and is experiementing with the different pitches and volumes of sound she can make! She talks the most at night; she even called and said goodnight to me at work on my first night back at Kennestone on Monday. She actually said a lot more than good night. I think she was telling me how much fun she was having hanging out with her daddy :)
And yes I have started back to work, which has actually been great! After 12 weeks I was ready for a bit of work outside the house. I'm working 1 8hr shift (7am-3pm) per week at Northside. And then 2 overnight shifts (7pm-7am) at Kennestone per month. Its enough to get me out the house but not so much that I feel like I'm having to leave Phoebe more than I would like. After my first day back at Northside I came home and told Chris I thought I could work 2 days/week! But then he reminded me that he could only watch her once/week, so oh well. Maybe I'll pick up a few extra shifts over the summer when his time is a bit more flexible. Right now Chris doesn't go to campus on Tuesdays until the evening for large group and he doesn't go to campus on Fridays because there are no classes. So I'll be working either Tuesdays, Fridays, or the weekend (or a Monday or Thursday night). Once Phoebe is a bit more mobile we might have to re-evalute how this is all going to work, but for now Chris can get his reading and studying done with her either at home or at his office space at the church.
If there is one thing I am insecure about it is how much to feed her! I know that might sound silly but I do worry she's not getting enough, she's too small etc. Its getting better now but during the first 2-2 1/2 months it is probably the one thing I worried about the most. She has started sleeping much longer at night so we are now feeding her 5 times/day or about every 3 hours. She takes an average of 4 1/2oz per feeding. We've had to play with this a little bit because a couple weeks ago for no apparent reason she would only take 3-4oz per feeding and I had no idea why! It drove me crazy because feeding time went from sweet and fun to a long fight to try to get her to eat! We ended up trying to feed her every 2 1/2hrs to try to get in an extra feeding (again because I was worried about her being small and not eating enough). That worked for about a week and then she started only taking 2 ounces at a couple of her feedings! So I went back to feeding her more "on demand" to see what kind of eating schedule she was wanting and we've gone back to 5 feedings; she is taking more at each feeding again, and its not a fight to feed her anymore. So who knows what was going on. Just another reminder that I'm not in as much control as I would like :)
Playtime: Phoebe still loves her play mat! This is probably her favorite toy. Around 12 weeks she started grabbing the toys that are hanging down from it. She still enjoys her swing too, but a new favorite is this musical lamb that is hanging above her changing table. She smiles and laughs and dances with it every time she gets her diaper changed. Its adorable!
Sleeping: Phoebe is a GREAT nighttime sleeper. By 9 weeks she was sleeping 9 hours and now she consistently sleeps 10 hours at night and only once has she woken up in the middle of the night and needed her paci back. It does make me a little nervous about having another child. There's only been one time we had to let her "cry it out" because she wouldn't go sleep after several attempts at soothing. We had to let her cry for about 10 minutes (which was hard for me) but then she fell asleep. So she goes to bed around 9:30 and sleeps till 8am.
Now naps are a different story... We're still doing the eat, play, sleep cycle so she is taking about 4 naps/day right now. She will pretty much fall asleep on her own after being awake for 1-2 hours if she's not overstimulated. The problem is staying asleep... Her morning naps seem to be longer between an hour to an hour and a half. But her afternoon naps are anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. And even then its not uncommon for her to wake up and cry in the middle because she loses her paci and needs someone to give it back to her. At some point it would be nice to have 3 longer set naps, but I'm not really sure how you make that transition.
We had moved her cradle from our room into her room when she was 5 weeks old, but I never moved her from her cradle into her crib! I was laughing the other day at the 2 sitting right next to each other and thinking we probably should go ahead and move her over and up the cradle back up in the attic. Maybe we'll do that in the next couple weeks.
Diapers: We're still rocking the cloth diapers and loving them! Since she has started eatting a little bit more we've had a few incidents of leaks on the outside of the leg of the diaper. Its not because she has saturated the entire absorbent layer, but because the absorbent layer is sewn in and does not go all the way to the edge of the diaper. Its sewn about 1/2cm from the edge. So if she pees just right (like if she is laying on her side) it doesn't catch the absorbant pad and we notice a small wet spot on her pants and end up changing diaper and clothes.
Personality: Phoebe is still a very laid back baby. She still has her serious look, but doesn't wear it as much now that she's smiling so much more. A bagger at Publix the other day looked at Phoebe and told her she had an "old soul".
Randoms: Phoebe sucks on her hands quite a bit. She hasn't found her thumb yet but she's just about gotten her entire fist in her mouth which is nothing short of impressive. She has also started putting whatever she grabs into her mouth as well. At this point that mostly consists of a few toys, the string of her paci holder, and blankets. She hasn't seemed to discover her feet yet either. She will look at them in when she's in her car seat, but hasn't reached for them yet.
Phoebe has become very socialized with college students. She comes with me to RUF large group every week and is always a favorite when we have students over to the house. Since (in my opinion) college dorms are full of germs and a breeding ground for bacteria and infections, I used to be very cautious before anyone would hold her making them use hand sanitizer and I would interview everyone "In the last 2 weeks have you been sick or have anyone you're living with been sick?" And now, right or wrong, she just gets passed around from student to student while try to keep an eye on where she is. I'm sure after the 1st time she gets sick I'll go back to being extra cautious. I am feeling pretty good that she didn't catch anything from sitting in the nasty urgent care waiting room a couple weeks ago. I will also say that it is very sweet to see these "macho" college guys swoon over Phoebe. They love her! We even had one male student accused of being a "baby hog" this week because he wouldn't give up the baby!
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| Student loving on Phoebe at our pumpkin carving party |
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Phoebe had been holding her head up so much better so we tried her in the Bumbo. I think it will be a couple more
weeks until she's sitting comfortably in it |
So excited to see mama!
Look at how I've grown:
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| 1 week |
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| 4 weeks |
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| 8 weeks |
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| 12 weeks |
