Different Baby

I swear Petra is changing so quickly! When we were in OK, she slept swaddled in a crib just fine! Good girl, but as much as I wanted to push her out of her swing and get her to STTN, it makes me sad to see her grow up. I didn't sleep in the nursery last night as usual, and I missed her!

She did great in Oklahoma. Everyone loved seeing her and holding her. I was having oversupply issues when we were traveling, which makes her choke (scary!) I wasn't pumping in the morning and she just seems to be eating less frequently. I'm trying to get her to stretch to 3 hours, but it also makes me really full and sometimes I only give her one side. I think I'm regulating now...

There were 5 babies on our side at Mark's family reunion. It was so fun to see them all together, and I felt so happy that we have Petra.

Another change-- she took a pacifier on the way home and really seemed to like it! Daddy gave it to her, so maybe she just won't take it from me when she can have the real thing? That's okay, as long as she can be soothed!

Experiments in Sleep...

So from very early on Petra has been sleeping swaddled in her baby swing. And it works-- she goes to sleep ~7-2, 3-7, 8-9:30. But we're starting to feel like this can't go on forever, so we should probably transition her out of the swing. We were also thinking about not swaddling-- she's been sucking on her fingers lately, so she may even start soothing, which would be GREAT since she won't take a paci!

We tried to do it all last night-- what a disaster! Without being swaddled, it took her forever to fall asleep. When I tried putting her in the crib, her eyes popped right open! URG! I spent about 2 hours trying to get her down and then passed her off to Mark. He was with her until about midnight. I then fed her, swaddled, and put her in the swing. She slept 12:45-6:45! which is good, but what a nightmare getting her down, and she really needs a lot more sleep than that.

I think we need to do things one at a time. So, first goal is to get her out of the swing. I've been using the timer on the swing, so she swings for about 30 min, but then just sleeps in the swing not swinging. That has been going well, so hopefully we'll be able to move her out of the swing after a week.

We're visiting Mark's family in Oklahoma soon, which we're all really looking forward to, but I do worry about how the nights will go... His cousins have babies, so I'm hoping one of them will have a swing! But minimum, she'll be swaddled for sure!!

Car Seat Update-- she has suddenly taken to the car seat!! YAY!! We've been driving around without tears and even went in the stroller in a few stores and she fell asleep!! YAY!! She also fell asleep on the way home from Grandma's and took a nap in it for a few hours!

cabin fever!!

Ugh, I really want to get out of the house sometimes, but I feel like I can't. Petra really hates her car seat, which means she hates her stroller. She can't sit up yet, so her stroller is just a frame that the car seat fits into. I wish I had taken her more places in the first few weeks to get used to it, but with the weather and cold & flu season, it really wasn't a good idea. And maybe she would still hate it?

If I put her in her car seat to go someplace, she'll be fine when she's in the car, but as soon as we get out and go into the store, she screams! which is awful if we're in Target or a restaurant or anyplace.

To go on walks, I put her in her moby wrap because we usually can't even get to the end of the block in the car seat-stroller. :( She just falls asleep in the Moby. I like wearing her, and I'm find with it for now, but I would like the option of using our stroller! Plus it is going to get kinda hot sooner or later.

My Happy Girl

She's starting to smile!! (at the end of the slideshow)