5 1/2 Weeks

Alexis is growing fast! It seems like we see her cheeks getting chubbier every day, and she's starting to be able to wear clothes that before would have swallowed her whole. Her feet pajamas all still are way too big for her. She tends to stick one leg in with the other leg, or occasionally we'll even see one leg dangling out from where there aren't any snaps. She's healthy and (mostly) happy, though.

She has been using her pacifier some, but not a ton. There is so much advice and instruction out there about how to do this thing called raising a child, and I think I've come to the conclusion that you end up just trying to do what works. All of this information was saying your kid is supposed to eat at certain times, but no one ever says what to do when she doesn't! So while she isn't exactly too chaotic, she's not on a schedule. And that's okay. My friend Shannon gave me some really good resources and shared her experiences. Alexis is doing something called cluster feeding quite frequently. This usually occurs in the morning and means that she likes to eat on the hour, every hour, for 3-4 hours. Yikes, right? I'm getting used to it, though, and she usually does a great job during the night about eating and then going back to sleep or just putting herself to sleep if she's awake. I can usually get about six hours of sleep in a night, although it's very broken up and means I'm going to bed early and getting up late. I can't imagine doing constant nighttime feedings and having a real job, though. Most of the time we have to hold her up for a while after she eats so that she doesn't spit up as much. This can get kind of old, but it tends to work well. She's still spitting up some stuff that is kind of creamy and yellow, but that's because of medicine, and it's gotten better since she's been off of all but one.

She is also getting incredibly strong. Alexis grabs hold of things very tightly when she wants to, especially when it's her recent favorite thing - hair. And pulling hair hurts, as both Jason and I can attest to. She'll also grab my shirt most of the time when she's eating, and she never willingly gives up her left sleeve, meaning that I can usually get her right arm out of her right sleeve with no problem, but she clamps up and will grab hold of her clothing with the left. It's a little strange and very funny. She sleeps all sprawled out now, which is incredibly cute, and sometimes when she cries (if she's especially upset), her little chin trembles, which always breaks my heart. She went through a brief period for a few days when sometimes she would get so upset about wanting food that she couldn't latch on, and it is just the saddest thing in the world to watch. At other times, though, when she's not upset but is having difficulty latching on, she has got to be the most determined baby of all time. She just keeps trying and trying and trying until she gets it right, because she knows when it's not right. And then her eyes will be open wide and look up at me as if to say, "Look ma - I can do this!"

She is still trying to figure out if she likes baths, and I'm trying to discover the best time to give her one. She also tends to be pretty squirmy and unhappy when I give her a baby massage. Who doesn't want a massage? Apparently her... She also usually has time with both of us in the mornings and in the evenings. In the mornings, usually sometime between 5:30-6:00, she'll either want food or cry some, and I'll bring her into our bedroom and feed her. Jason is usually getting up around this time, so we get to start our day with her. Before we got to bed we'll also bring her into the bedroom and hang out with her for a while, which is a great way to end the day. (However, last night Jason got the fun duty of her crying for about 1/2 hour before going to sleep.) She still doesn't "play" with toys or anything, but we put her wrist rattles on her (on her ankles because they don't fit her wrists yet) and we play with her musical cow that Nanny and Papaw sent to her. We probably get more enjoyment from them than she does, but all in the name of development, right? And we talk to her and sing to her and Jason tells her ridiculous stories and tries to convince her that if she can't articulate what's wrong when she's crying than there can't really be anything wrong. (Note to self: inserting logic into a conversation with a one month old does not work. Must remember for next child.)

I also had an appointment with my doctor today, and everything is great. I've healed very well and am actually back to the weight I was before pregnancy, although I definitely have some stomach flab that I have to work on, and I lost all muscle in my calves during the swelling, so I'm beginning to do some exercising, which feels great. Let's hear it for having normal clothes again, hooray!

The One Month Mark

Alexis Edgerton is now one month old! We just had our month check-up and Dr. Mora is very pleased with her development. She gained over 1 1/2 pounds and now weighs 7 pounds, 2 ounces. This is great because it's an indicator that everything is going well with her digestive system. We had to take all her clothes off so the doctor could weigh her, and when he gave her back to Jason she promptly proceeded to pee right on his hands. It was great. Jason tends to get peed on a lot, and I'm not quite sure why. However, it's inevitable that when he changes her diaper, she pees right as he's trying to get the new one on. The poor father...

Things are going great. We just got her to finally calm down for the evening, thanks to my wonderful husband. We have a few pacifiers, and we had tried to offer her one type throughout the day because she was so incredibly fussy and upset virtually all day. She didn't want the pacifier, though, until Jason got the one she used in the hospital, and now she is sucking away contentedly. We are going to try and be careful so that she doesn't become dependent on it for sleep, but I'm going to try it out during teh day tomorrow. What we DON'T want is for her to wake up in the middle of the night whenever her pacifier falls out. What we DO want is for her not to eat every hour on the hour like she's been wanting to do yesterday and today for about half of the day. While we don't yet know if this is going to work,I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow. There's every possibility that she's eating just to satisfy her sucking need, and if that's the case, we should be able to get her on a more regular eating schedule than she's been wanting to put herself on.

What else in Alexis' world? She is definitely smiling sometimes, although we can never quite capture it on film. We'll keep trying, though. She has quite a little grip and has recently discovered my hair, which she likes to pull. Or she'll grab hold of my shirt, or our skin, or something while she's being burped. She can definitely spit up as well, but we're trying to keep her upright for longer periods of time after feeding her so that she doesn't do it as often, and so far it seems to work well. She LOVES to be rocked, and she loves the car as well, both of which are very baby-like characteristics. She also recognizes both of our voices and will just stare at us sometimes. She does this to me a lot especially after she's had a bath. She is okay with the bath; she doesn't exactly enjoy it yet, but she doesn't hate it. If she's in there for too long she gets cranky, probably because the water is cooling, so I'm learning to be a bit quicker about it. Of course she cries when she's lifted out, but then I wrap her up in one of her hooded towels and take her over to the rocking chair and talk to her or sing, and that's something that is "our time" together. That's when she just stares up at me. And I learned a very valuable lesson after her first real bath - put the diaper on BEFORE wrapping her up in the towel. This girl can definitely poop...

And spit up. We went to TGIFriday's with my parents one night when she was here. It was her second outing. The first was to Pizza Hut, during which I spent about half the time in the bathroom feeding her. We got smart for Friday's and brought food. She ate about three ounces, I was burping her, and was just getting ready to move the cloth diaper I was using to protect myself when - yes, you guessed it. Lots of milk. From her. Direct shot down my tank top. It wasn't exactly a pretty sight, but it was very funny.

While it's a lot of work to get adjusted to, Jason and I are both just in love with our daughter. And this is how it should be! It was amazing to have my parents here for a week to help out. (I'm still discovering little things my mom did, like opening up the cabinets below our sink and having all of our trash bags in the same place! YOU ROCK, MOM!) Jason comes home every day wanting to see and hold his daughter immediately, and she adores it. Today she was in her "Little Slugger" onesie that dad got her, and she is adorable in it! What's even more amazing is that she's been in it all day. Considering that for the first week she was going through about 5 outfits a day, this is a huge improvement on our laundry needs.

What's been interesting is to realize how much stuff we can do without when it comes to having a baby. Jason and I both make sacrifices to make this work, and it is teaching both of us greater patience and appreciation for what each of us does to help run our home. We've learned that you don't need things like an elaborate nursery. Actually, we have a pack and play that serves as a crib AND a changing table, we have her clothes and blankets and things in cardboard boxes, her dirty diapers currently go into a plastic grocery bag that we keep on the doorknob behind the door, we don't own a stroller, and we didn't have to buy a car seat because one was given to us. Being down here is a good experience in those regards. (Sometimes, though, all I want is to be in the states, especially when I'm feeding her in the middle of an incredibly hot day when the power is out for eight hours. and there is no break from the heat. We're having blackouts for about eight hours a day right now. They've gradually been increasing our time...) Dealing with all of these things is teaching us faith and values in a way that having our child in the states could never do in the same way. (Not BAD, just different.)

Other little details? She purses her lips up tight and sticks them out if I try to feed her and she's not having any of it, her feet were the size of Jason's pinky when she was first born and now has grown at least one centimeter, her hair is a mid-golden brown color but could totally change, her eyes are dark grey blueberries and absolutely HUGE when she's focused on something, her little fingers have gotten pudgier and pudgier, and she hates country music. (Okay, that last one isn't real.) She's getting stronger by the day and is just the most beautiful child ever. Pictures just don't do her justice. Everyone here seems to be split as to who she looks like, although almost everyone seems to think she has my nose. She doesn't seem to mind being held by different people. OH, and she was on a pretty taxing medicine schedule for a while (two medicines every six hours and one every eight hours), but she is now only on the one every eight hours. This is medicine that is only sold in one pharmacy in the country. That's something you'll never be overly happy about...

Okay, that's it for now. This is a little sporadic because I've been trying to get it our for so long. However, I'm hoping that this will be a good way for people to keep up with Alex and how she's doing.