Zoe Louise | Two Months

Such a happy baby!!

Little Girl, how am I already writing this post (a few days late)?  Some days, time seems to just drag by, but then I think that you are already 2 months old, and over 9 weeks.  That is just crazy to me.  I know I'll be saying that probably on every post.

Stats:  Baby girl is 22 3/4 inches and 11 lbs 6 oz.  Still in the 50th percentile.  

Likes:  Still love being swaddled.  You are getting better and better at napping in your pack and play in the bedroom.  You still love eating.  And now that mommy has a different routine down for breastfeeding and formula feeding, this is going much better for us.  White noise CD.  Bath time.  Being bounced and moved from side to side (still a mover).  Mornings are your happiest time of day.  I think the other day, I caught you trying to giggle.  Cutest.thing.ever.

Beeba and Grandpa got you this rocker for Christmas.  You were
very interested!  It's a pretty plush ride.  I know you'll
love it soon enough!

Dislikes:  Being burped during/after your bottle.  Basically, you act like the world is ending.  Being done with your bottle even though we are giving you 4 oz now at each feeding.  Based on how much you spit up, I know you can't be hungry.  Thankfully, you calm down after 5 minutes or so.  But those are excruciating for mommy.  I hate hearing you so upset.  Being overtired.  Early evening until bed time can still be rough but you are definitely getting better.

Biggest Achievement This Month:  You are starting to sleep in until 5 or 6 am.  New Year's Day you even made it to 6:45 am.  Mommy is loving this!  Yay!  One day, you even made it to 7:45 am.  That was awesome!  However, it was the morning after you had what we think was the flu bug so I think it had more to do with that.

Biggest Challenge of the Month:  Still nursing.  We have our routine down now though.  And mommy has come to terms with giving you formula for a few feedings.  Minus you thinking burping is the end of the world, things are working out much better for us.  As everyone has said, I can only do so much.  And you will be ok even if you aren't exclusively breast fed until 6 months.

Secret Tricks:  You love to bounce and rock side to side simultaneously when you are overtired or cranky.  That always seems to work when you are done eating too to give you a minute to realize you actually are full.  Tickling your chin seems to do the trick to get you to smile for us :)  Which we could see a million times and still not get tired of it.

Sleep:  You also are sleeping from about 11 or 11:30pm to anywhere from 4ish am to 6 am.  We give you the same amount of bottle every night, so I know that doesn't have anything to do with the length of your sleep.  We'll see if you keep stretching the time.  Mommy is loving her sleep :)  Depending on when you wake up, you go back to bed for 3-4 hours.  Then you eat every 2.5-4 hours throughout the day.  You usually are awake for about an hour after each feeding before you get cranky and need to sleep again.

Recently one night, you would not go to sleep for daddy.  You would fall asleep and wake up 15 minutes later.  I wonder if something was bothering your tummy.  This continued until about 1 am when I got up with you since daddy had to work.  I rocked you for 30 minutes while you slept and moved you to the pack and play.  Then...drum roll...you slept until almost 8am!  So you had your bottle at 10:30pm and then didn't need to eat again until that 8 am feeding.  So I know you can do it little girl.  Let's see if you keep that long stretch up!  Although, you do need to go to bed earlier without all of those wake ups.  Baby steps :)

Temperament/Personality:  While you definitely still have your fussy times, you have gotten so much better this month.  You are definitely happy more of the time which makes mommy so happy.  I love seeing you more content, smiling more often, and even starting to try to laugh and coo.  I know it will only get better from here on out.

Uncle Andrew calls you a Diva...we'll see how you actually turn out :)

Eating:  You are waking to eat around 4-6ish am, and then 2.5-4 hours throughout the day.  Repeat the cycle.  Daddy still feeds you your last bottle between 10:30-11:30pm.  I'm currently nursing during the early morning feeding, and the next feeding.  I then pump 3 times before bed.  So far, this is working great for us.  I haven't touched the freezer stash yet, and you get 2 formula bottles a day.  I'm trying to extend the breast milk as long as possible which is why I'm throwing in a few formula feedings a day.  And, I want to make sure your tummy can tolerate it.  So far, you are doing great.

Randoms: Your 3 month outfits are just fitting you now.  Very soon, I think you'll be out of those as well.  Sad.  You got a lot of 6 month clothes for Christmas and I scoured the clearance items at Target, so you should be all set once you get to that size.  No rush though.  

Your hair seems to be getting a slight red tint to it.  Yay!  I don't know if it will last though.  

You are still fitting into size 1 diapers.  They seem to fit perfectly now, so I may need to exchange our jumbo box at Target for size 2.  Seriously girl, you are growing up way too fast!!

Milestones: You are awesome at holding your head up.  You still bobble sometimes, but you are definitely getting stronger.

Daddy and Beeba apparently saw you roll from your tummy to your back one day.  I missed it, but then you performed again at your two month checkup.  So yes, they really did see it!  Dr. Butry said you are doing awesome.  You are holding your chest and your head up during tummy time, you can roll from stomach to back, and you are starting to scoot a little when you are doing tummy time.  All one month ahead of schedule per Dr. Butry :)  Here I was worried we were behind since we haven't done much because we were so busy from the holidays.

You are definitely more interested in what is going on around you.  You are content to sit on my lap facing out for quite a while and just look at everything around you.

You have also discovered your hands.  And you suck on them constantly.

Outings: You've definitely been out and about a lot lately with the holidays.  We also visited my work friends a few weeks ago.  I'm trying to limit things for a little while now since you seem to be stuffy again.  Being born around winter is just no fun little miss!  I can't wait for warmer weather when we can just go outside in the backyard or go for a walk.  But at the same time, I don't want to even think about you being that old.

Favorite Baby Gear:  Everything seems to hold your attention for different lengths of time.  Some days, you love the swing Kate let us borrow.  Some days you love your bouncy more.  I really need to remember to bring out your play mat more often now that you are more interested in things around you.

Minus all of the parts to wash, mommy LOVES the Dr. Brown's bottles.  They really eliminate a lot of the air.  And the swaddle sleep sack still.  I don't even want to know how sleep is going to go when we have to stop using these.  Mommy needs to go get bigger sizes since you are pretty much busting out of the ones we have.

Look at the chub on those thighs.  Love :)

And now, comparison shots.  I knew you had grown, but girlie, you are way bigger!!  The outfit you wore in your one month photo barely fits you now.

Love you my pretty, little girl!