"You need to put that baby on a diet" said Dr. Campbell! :)
Haha! We have a VERY healthy little girl! She weighed in at her 6 week check up at
10 lbs 8 oz and 23 1/2 inches long (at birth she weighted 8 lbs 8 oz and 21 inches long). She is in the 75 percentile on the growth charts for both her height and weight.
For the time being, Layla will be our "measurement" on Addison's growth!She received her 2nd Hepatitis B shot which she cried for 2.5 seconds and then went right back to her happy self!
She goes back again for her 8 week check up and she will receive 5 additional vaccinations (it's going to be a rough appointment for both Mommy and Addibug!)
Milestone--holding her head up for 8-10 seconds at at time!So, here is a rundown of the most frequently asked questions I have received.
Q: How are you feeling?A: I am feeling great! I had my 6 week check up at my OBGYN yesterday and I got the clearing to resume life as we knew it. I can work out, go back to Weight Watchers, get on birth control and have S-E-X! I was back to
normal when Addison was about 3-4 weeks old. I feel like I am getting plenty of sleep which is good otherwise NASTY Nicole comes out! The hardest part of me feeling 100% normal is eating in a regular schedule. Seeing that we get up anywhere between 9-10am, that is late for breakfast. Now, once I go back to work, this will regulate itself and I will feel MUCH better!
Q: How is the baby?A: Lil Miss is A-MAZING! I think we have a perfect baby (of course I am her mother so I would think so regardless) but in all honesty, she is really great. She eats well, sleeps well, plays well, and loves well! There isn't ONE thing I would complain about her.
Q: How is the sleeping?A: Wonderful! We have had a few hard nights where Lil Miss wanted to be up and party instead of sleeping and that is hard when Mommy and Daddy want to be sleeping, especially at 3am. Those few nights occurred around the 4 week mark so we chalked it up to a growth spurt. Lately, in the past week or so, Addison has been giving us 5 hour stretches of sleep which is wonderful however usually it is 3-4 hours. We take shifts so each of us can
try to get 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep but with a baby monitor in your ear picking up every sound, that can be difficult.
Also, not sure if it is a coincidence or not, but as Addison has turned 6 weeks old, she has also started eating 4 ounces at each feeding instead of the 3 ounces which I am sure helps with the 5 hours stretches of sleep she is giving us! :)
The hardest part is anticipating when she will wake up. I think we both are on auto-pilot and automatically wake up when we
should be feeding her even though she is happily still sleeping. Getting past the fear that if we fall back asleep she will immediately wake up is the hardest but we are getting better and better at this.
After the first 3 nights at home where she slept in her pack and play, she has been in her crib since. We have had only ONE, yes ONE night where she has slept in the swing. We got the
Fisher Price Newborn Rock and Play which is the best MUST HAVE product out there! (Here's a back story. We registered for it and received it and returned it after 2 weeks of not using it. Because she was sleeping in her crib fine, I didn't think we needed it. CJ takes the morning (6-7am) feeding and he was putting her back in her crib. She would fuss each and every time. So eventually, I would get up and bring her back to bed with me. Of course, the paranoia of her being in my bed kept me up all morning even though she peacefully fell back to sleep. So, a few weeks later, I saw the Rock and Play at a consignment sale and told my friend, I want to get that and try it out. She said she had one that I could borrow since her son didn't like it. We borrowed it and let me tell you, LIFE SAVIOR!! Every morning CJ feeds her and puts her in the Rock and Play by my bedside and Addison continues to sleep from 6-7am until 9-10am.)
Q: Are you settling into a routine?A: Yes, I would say so. Every other night Addison gets a bath so that is routine one. Secondly, we begin the nightly routine around 9pm and try to get her down by 10pm. Ever since we started swaddling her with the Halo Swaddler, this has helped keep this routine up tremendously. It is our goal to have her asleep by 10pm however this is going to change soon because she is sleeping a little longer (approximately 5 hour stretches) so we will need to start putting her down sooner. Since I will be going back to work in the next few weeks, we need to work backwards from the time we get up and feed her in the morning.
Here's the schedule we will start tonight:
7:15 bath (on bath nights)
8-9pm feeding
1-2am feeding
6-7am feeding
This will take a few nights, but hopefully we will get right on schedule soon!
Q: What's your favorite thing about parenthood so far?A: I simply cannot believe the heart's capacity to love this much. The love I feel for Addison is so tremendous that words truly cannot accurately describe it. And the love I feel for CJ, which I didn't think could possibly be any greater, has doubled as I watch him interact with his daughter. We are a family, and the joy that brings is beyond words. Parenthood has taught me great responsibility as well. I love my life and I wouldn't change a thing! :)
Let me tell you, that ball is the devil. We did a variety of exercises, everything from squats, lunges, sit-ups, push-up, step-ups and running around it. It was 45 minutes of pure hell but I made it through it, even though I felt like I was going to pass out and die. My legs were SO wobbly by the time I left the gym that I couldn't wait to sit in my car to rest. I knew I was going to be sore, but I didn't prepare for not even being able to sit on the toilet seat. By Friday evening, my muscles felt semi-normal and I didn't cringe every time I got up off the couch, bent down to pick Addison up or even think about moving.
