Time flies!

Pretty crazy that my lil punkin is 3 months today! She is growing smarter by the day also! In the last week she has decided her hands were pretty awesome. They are not only great for chewing and sucking on, they are also fantastic for pulling Mommy's hair, grabbing Mommy and Daddy's face to pull them in for kisses and even for putting every toy possible in her mouth.

Last night I introduced bath toys! I'm pretty sure she thought bath time couldn't get more fun than splashing, until she met her new bath time seahorse...

It was love at first sight


And now for the taste test...


Mmmm. Definitely passed the taste test. Luckily Mommy had my back and didnt let it touch the soapy bath water!


Ive also started Christmas shopping- like a mad woman. We found a few great sales on baby toys in the last month so Ive bought her a few things here and there. Everything is so adorable though and I picture her playing with it in her playroom (that we haven't even started renovation on). Like I said, a mad woman. I'm pretty sure Ill have her done in two weeks at the rate I'm going. :o)

We also picked out her Halloween costume! The original plan was for my Mom to make an adorable Panda costume. However, my cousin told me about a SUPER cute giraffe costume from Old Navy. Now, I know no one will believe me but I really didn't have any intention of her being a giraffe. The costume was way too cute though and only $16!



And, another buy that I'm excited for is this awesome leaf (shown in the picture below) from Ikea. Mom and I hit up Ikea over the weekend in search of awesome accessories for the nursery and we both fell in love and thought it would look adorable over her crib since we will have the whole jungle theme going on...



Her nursery is still a work in progress though. Since we have the funky ceiling upstairs, we decided to do built in storage in the walls (similar to the built ins in the picture below). So far we have the wall demoed and the carpet ripped up but since the walls(like everything in this house) are plaster and lathe, its more involved than we planned and will take longer especially with Mr. Jersey doing side jobs. Ill be sure to post pics when its done though!



Lastly, I'm super excited about this weekend. We are heading up to CT to my Grandfathers church so he can christen Makenna. He actually isn't doing well and we talked about canceling the christening and just doing a visit but he insists we go with the plan. He cant wait to christen his Great Granddaughter. I'm still worried it will be a lot on him but a lot of my family will be up there to help out and we wont let him push himself too far. It really means a lot to us to have him be the one to christen her. It makes it that much more special and also she will be wearing the same christening dress that my Nana (his wife) made and that all my cousins and I wore. My Nana wasn't able to finish putting everyones initials in the dress though so my Mom took it to have everyones initials (including my munchkins) embroidered in it. Its a really special family tradition that I'm honored my daughter could be part of. Also my cousin (her godmother) will be flying up from Florida! I;m really excited to have that much needed family time with my Grandfather and some of the family we dont get to see often.

I'm sure I will have pictures to post after this weekend!

I figured its about time for an update on our lil pumpkin. She is doing well, getting big so fast! She is looking more and more like me when I was a baby (but she is much cuter!).

The first four weeks
For the first month she was a major fusser. If she wasn't sleeping or eating...she wasn't happy. During our visits at the pediatrician they couldn't believe how fast she was growing. She came home from the hospital weight 8.9 and a week later she weighed a whole lb more. At the 3 week appointment she was another 2 lbs heavier so she was gaining about a 1 lb a week. The doctors said they usually like to see them grow an ounce a day, our princess was growing 2 ounces a day! Im curious to see what her weight is at the 2 month appointment in a few weeks!

Mommy hood took a bit getting use to and the first month wasn't so easy, especially since she was fussy. She threw us for a loop and started screaming and spitting up a lot during some feedings at about 4 weeks also. After a visit to the doctor, we thought it was acid reflux so she was put on medication. After a few weeks of meds things were still the same and I figured out she gets very gassy from the way she breathes while nursing and even the smallest bubble was bothering her. So I took her off the meds and it has gotten better with burping her multiple times during a feeding.

During the first month she was having a hard time falling asleep during the day and would scream from being over tired. We tried everything. She didn't like the swing at all, wouldn't lay down in her crib, I had doc orders (because of the c-section) that I could not to go for walks or drive for 6 weeks and it would take me forever to calm her down by holding her. It was a very frustrating and upsetting feeling of not being able to calm your own baby down. Sometimes we both rocked in the chair, crying. Of course she sleeps light like me so once she fell asleep I couldn't put her down without her waking up screaming again.

We did do some traveling with her in the first 4 weeks though. I had to, I was going stir crazy being in the house and it seemed she was too. She has always been an alert baby. Loves to look around, has held her head up since day 1. So I had a feeling she was just as bored in the house as I was. We took a few day trips to see family on the weekends and she fell in love with the sky. She would stare at it in amazement.

Into the second month
Six weeks seemed to be the point where things smoothed out some. She became less fussy as she learned to sleep during the day. We also started a bed time with her which is probably one of the best things we have done as parents. Her bedtime is 9:30 but more times than not she shows signs that she is ready for bed sooner. I really have to say we are blessed when it comes to bedtime sleep. We put her in her pjs, kiss her goodnight and lay her down in the pack and play in our room. After about 10 minutes of her talking and kicking around, shes out. This continues all night after feedings. We also learned in the 2nd month that she didn't like being held. Go figure. I think we had the only newborn in the world that didn't like being held- by anyone. The bouncer and her playmat were my saviors.

Around the time that she turned two months, she discovered her hands. She has always kept her hands in tight fists, since the day she was born. Once she realized she had control of those little fists, she would hold them up and stair at them in amazement, sometimes moving her hand with her wrist. We would joke because she totally looked like a stoner! Within a few days she realized she could concentrate and move those fists into her mouth- when she wanted to, not just by accident. Then began fist sucking. There never was a particular finger that ended up in her mouth, just any part of the fist. She had a new love.

Into the third month
As she gets older, it gets more exciting to watch her interact with things and learn. Last week (at 10 weeks) she started to grab the giraffe on her bouncer. The crazy mother I am was SO excited for her. I even called Mr.Jersey and told him to get home soon so he could see his little girl learning. He was equally excited.
Our little girl was growing up so fast! We had a doctors appointment the next day and learned she was growing faster than we thought. Our 10 week old was now 15lbs, 24 inches and already started to show signs of her teeth growing in. The doctor said usually their teeth start to grow in between 5-7 months, so it looked like she was gonna be early with the teeth. He also said that trying to grab for things was early. I personally think she is trying to catch up to her older cousins. She has always had this frustration about her that you could tell she just wanted to get up and go but couldnt. I think she is stubborn and determined to do what she can to catch up. Her younger cousin Lia was the same way, with 3 older boy cousins running around, she learned to move faster also. There is no denying that stubborness runs in both our families!

Our next big steps are the christening and her bedroom!

Im excited for the christening in the begining of October since my brother and cousin will be her godparents and we will be traveling up to my grandfather's in CT so he can christen her. We are also having her christened in the family gown which is really special to me since my grandmother made it and I also wore it.

We should be getting her bedroom started within the next week or so also. We picked up her crib at Target last week and Mr. Jersey is going to install build in shelves in the wall and also install new flooring. Then its paint and decorating!

Hopefully I will be able to keep up with the blog more often so I dont have these crazy long posts!