Week 5 – Sept 17 – Sept 23
Alec was sent to California for work at the last minute, so we hired a baby night nurse for the week to help me take care of E. While it was really odd to have a stranger in the house taking care of my baby, it was AMAZING to get 8 hours sleep. I felt like a new person, had more energy, and was able to deal with E’s fussiness during the day with much more patience. In return, E was a more relaxed baby. Win!
On the Sunday before Alec flew out, we had a lovely day out to the Brooklyn Book Fair and Brooklyn Heights Association dog show. Living in Brooklyn can be so much fun, there’s always so much going on all the time.
Held her head up on her own for the first time! (19/9). Having more awake time, taking in her surroundings, looking cuter and cuter every day.
E still won’t sleep on her back in the crib. Even the night nurse can’t get her to do it, which makes me feel a lot better!
At her 1 month check up, E weighed in at 4.25kg (8 pounds 6 oz), measured 21 inches (length) and 37cm (head circumference). The doctor was very pleased with her weight gain and progress. She has to have a repeat sonogram of the hips next week, and if it still shows problems, she will have to go to a specialist.
I’ve been making more of an effort to get out with E now during the day, such as meeting friends for lunch or afternoon tea and taking long walks to get some exercise. When I walk with E in the sling, she’ll get in a good 3 hour sleep. Winner for everyone!
I’m happy to notice as the weeks go by that E still isn’t a vomiter. Praise be. She may not sleep on anything other than me and be the gassiest baby alive, but at least she’s not a vomiter as well 🙂
I have been reading a lot lately about silent reflux (thanks Katia for sending me the link!) and E has all of the symptoms. I went back to see the pediatrician and thankfully he agreed with me that she has silent reflux and prescribed her medication to help with it. We have to give it 10 days to see if it works.
I had a great mother’s group meet-up this week where we all had a mini-facial. I also managed to get out for a few hours with my friend Carly to have lunch and get a much needed pedicure. It’s amazing how much better that made me feel!
One more big milestone for E this week – her first real smile! On Friday (23/9/11) she had several big smiles for Mum and Grandma.
She’s also getting so much more aware of the world. After her doctor appointment (23/9), she refused to have her head in the sling on the way home, insisting on having her tiny head sticking out to check out the world around her the entire way home.
Week 6 – Sept 24 – Sept 30
Last week with Grandma in town.
We had another sonogram of her hips and the results were completely clear. So relieved. E also was in a great mood and hardly made a peep the whole time.
We had another check up with the pediatrician regarding her reflux – not much improvement so far, so we are seeing a specialist next week.
I had my 6 wk check up as well, and was given the go-ahead to exercise. Super excited – if only I was getting enough sleep to actually go and exercise …
This week E and I started a 6 week Mom and Me Movement Class at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn. E made it through about half the class before cracking it – not too bad!
Developmentally, E has started sucking on her hands. Her favourite thing to do is lie on her change table and stare at the window.
Week 7 – Oct 1 – Oct 7
This week was tough. E stopped wanting to feed and started screaming more, in five hour blocks.
We took her to see the gastro pediatric specialist this week, and she gave us some great tips on managing reflux in babies, like making her take breaks while feeding and putting her in chairs/swings that don’t crunch her tummy by being at a 90 degree angle. After the specialist we had E’s first walk through Central Park and midtown. She was really great, sleeping through most of it.
After the specialist visit, we tried her advice and put E to sleep in her Fisher Price Rainforest vibrating bouncer. She slept for 2.5 solid hours. Breakthrough!! We repeated this the next few nights, but sadly also had a night where she woke up every time we tried to put her down, bothered by the reflux.
Alec worked from home this week, and it was great for us to bond as a family. Sleep deprivation also made us snappy at each other however.
We had a great mothers group meet up this week in Cobble Hill Park. E loved sitting on my lap, checking out the light in the trees.
Week 8 – Oct 8 – Oct 14
Special visitors this week! Shelley, Eric and Isla spent Columbus weekend with us. We had a fantastic day in Prospect Park and Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, where E was an angel. No screaming, taking long peaceful feeds. Some kind of miracle occurred …
We also took E for her first trip to Tiffany & Co. She loved it and can’t wait to pick out her first diamonds at a later stage …
I had a killer stomach virus this week that totally floored me. Thank God for Alec helping me out or I couldn’t have gotten through the week.
A highlight for the week was Eloise laughing for the first time at a black and white canvas print of her and Alec that we have hanging on our wall. She loves the picture, laughing at it for a about 10 minutes. (13/10/11)
Eloise spends a lot more time awake now. We have a good 2 – 3 hour morning play time where we read her books, play on the activity mat, look at the Wimmer-Ferguson Stim-Mobile on her change table and stare at the fan. She is so alert and gets bored really quickly. The mobile over the change table is such a blessing – I can strap her down on it for up to 30 minutes at a time and she will smile at it like it’s her best friend.
The reflux doesn’t seem as bad this week in general. A few bad days, but not anywhere near as bad it was a few weeks ago. We’re not sure if this is due to the medication, the extra things we’re doing to try and help it cause her less discomfort, or just growing out of it.
Eloise has been growing like crazy this week. She has been feeding non-stop, and every day she looks bigger. She has outgrown socks that I’m pretty sure she fit into only last weekend.
The big event of the week was Eloise’s 2 month check up and immunisations. The check up went great. She now weighs 11 pounds, 1 ounce/5kgs, 22.5 inches in length, 38cm head circumference. She has put on 1.75kg, grown 2.5 inches and her head has grown 2 cm. The shots were not so much fun. She had three needles and while initially sleepy when we got home, she was cranky all afternoon and evening. Not fun at all!
Week 9 – Oct 15 – 21
Eloise had a bad few days after her shots. She was grisly and whiney and generally irritating to be around. Thankfully, on my first day home alone with her, she woke up a happy smiley baby. As the week progressed however, she became more and more difficult to be home alone with. On Friday, she refused to take naps during the day, leaving her one very cranky, exhausted little person by the time evening came around – and leaving me completely shattered. We also had an embarrassing moment at out baby movement class. I took E out of the pram, ready for class, and she opened her mouth and started wailing like she was being stabbed. Her face turned bright red and tears were streaming down her face. I was unable to calm her, so had to turn around and go straight back home again. Not fun!
I did however manage to make my first trip without Alec into the city, to meet Meg, Laura and their little babies for lunch at Madison Square Park. E was great on the subway, but had a bit of a howl in the park which resulted in me doing a few laps around the park with my screaming baby. Thankfully she did calm down, and was great for the rest of the trip, plus the subway home. Success!
We had a sleep coach come visit us on Friday night to help us get some kind of sleep with the little terror. She gave us some really great tips, and we saw a vast improvement even on the first night. Hopefully this means things might start to improve in the sleep department, and we might have a less cranky baby when she is awake as a result!
Eloise is so much more alert and wake now. She loves her activity mat and is starting to notice the little animals swinging over her head. She has the cutest little blue eyes that open as wide as saucers when we are outside, trying to take in every single detail of the world around her.