I started this post over a week ago and just now am finding time to finish it! Babies!
Look at this beautiful lady:
Amazingly, all three children at our house are napping simultaneously! “Three?” you may ask. Lois and I are watching sweet little Jonah Atkins while his mama goes back to work for the next couple of months. Here’s a less than wonderful photo of the boys, AKA scallywags:
So…while the bebes nap, I’m on my second cup of coffee and decided to start this post I’ve been meaning to write…
Lucy Elanor is angelic. We are so in love with her. She is so calm, sweet, and lovely. We’ve actually been getting some sleep at night even if it’s very interrupted! Last night I think I got at least 5 or 6 hours which for week 2 really isn’t bad, even if they were in 1-3 hour segments. Sweet girl’s big brother only slept for 45 min. at a time until he was about 3 months old so I’m counting my blessings!
In general, she’s a very happy baby. She only fusses when I change her diaper with cold hands or when she has gas. Her main issue is spitting up…which…unfortunately, she does A LOT. Benjamin had some pretty serious reflux issues so I’m disappointed that we might have the same struggles with her. Any advice for helping a baby that spits up all the time? Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to have any trouble gaining weight even though she seems to spit up everything she eats. At her 5 day appointment, she had already surpassed her birth weight and was 7lbs 1oz. I’m trying to nurse her in a more upright position, burp her often, and keep her upright for at least 20 minutes after every meal. Because she’s spitting up so much, she seems to naturally like to “snack” rather than eat. She’ll nurse for 5-8 minutes and then take a break so it kind of feels like I’m nursing constantly but…I’m just thankful I have the luxury of staying home with her and nursing all day!
Her precious Baptism will be tomorrow. Our dear friend in Waco, Luke, has agreed to be her Godfather and our new wonderful friend at our parish, Colleen, has agreed to be Godmother. I can’t think of two better people to guide her in holiness!
We’ve already taken our precious one to Mass several times and I got to take her to my holy hour in the Adoration Chapel. Our friend Alan, who shares my holy hour, says that he doesn’t mind if she always comes with me which is a wonderful blessing because I’m trying to always have her with me and never have to pump. She has been a lamb during each Mass and only started fussing slightly during All Saints’ Mass but quieted immediately after I nursed her for 5 minutes. She is such a champ at nursing and stays latched (unlike Benjamin who would latch and unlatch a thousand times each feeding) so its far less challenging to nurse her in public.
A sweet little homeschooled friend of our family is going to ride up to GA with me every week when I teach my ballet classes and sit with Lucy while I teach. That way I won’t ever have to leave her and I can nurse before and after my classes! This time around, I’m trying to follow the principles of ecological breastfeeding. I’ll post some resources about that later.
Lucy is such a precious blessing. It’s hard to remember life without her! She continues to be bright-eyed, healthy, laid-back, and sweet. On Thursday night, Daniel and I even took her with us to attend the Bach Christmas Oratorio at Ruby Diamond (newly renovated! so pretty) and she just slept in the sling the whole time.
Benjamin is very gentle and loving with his baby sister and although he requests extra mama snuggles and has been pushing the boundaries slightly more than usual, he never seems to be upset that she’s here and part of our family. He alerts me at the tiniest baby whimper to tell me that she’s “crying and needs to eat some milk.” He seems to be very into doing things “as a family” these days. Last week Daniel was taking him on a special Daddy and Benjamin trip to the Jr. Museum and Benjamin requested that sometime he would like Mama and Baby Lucy to come, too, so that it would be a “special family trip.” But our sweet boy deserves his own post soon and when I get a chance to catch my breath, I’ll write one!
Thanks everybody for your prayers and well-wishes! People are spoiling us with food and treats. If you would, say a prayer for me, because I’m coming down with what seems to be a nasty cold and Lucy’s baptism is tomorrow. I hope I’m well enough to enjoy it!
She is so adorable and it sounds like I would try to pass her off as my own if I were close enough to get my hands on her!
well you can snuggle her to your heart’s content when we come visit in March!
Our really refluxy Ezra slept at an incline… If they are slipping down, you can use rolled up swaddling blankets under the butt and at each side to keep her in place since she is so small. She might sleep better that way. Also, I am sure you knw, but mule on helps a little sometimes.
Sorry, not mule on… Dumb auto correct… Mylecon.
our pediatrician mentioned the sleeping on an incline thing. right now the co-sleeper we have can’t do an incline, but we’ll do that when she moves to a crib eventually. good advice with the blankets! and i’ll try the mylecon. we haven’t don’t that yet!
The baby i care for now had acid reflux and its pretty common in little new guys(not that your baby has this, but i had to deal with similar issues of spitting up). In addition to his medication , the mom tried changing her diet in an attempt to to reduce the acidity of her breast milk (which doesn’t seem to apply to this situation). We also used soothing techniques to slow down when he was eating (rubbing the face and cheek), to slow down and regulate the sucking. He would eat too much too quickly (and was having trouble grasping the rhythmic dynamic) and spit it back up. It was hard for him to eat, because of the condition (and would seemingly be anxious during feedings, which didn’t help the spitting up issue). I would stroke his face from the base of the eye to his chin (in a C motion) at a steady pace. It calmed him and helped with his sucking. She seems to be pretty calm already, but she might be adjusting to the sucking and swallowing and could benefit from it as well. SHE IS SO CUTE I CAN’T WAIT TO HOLD HER AND PLAY WITH BENJAMIN!
…I wanted to make sure I wasn’t sounding crazy. This stroking advice was given to us by the ‘Fussy Baby Network’ developmental therapist and endorsed by her doctor. I did look it up and many sites were saying not to stroke the cheek. I don’t want to give bad advice! But that is what recommended for Teddy by professionals and seemed to help. It may have been because he was uniquely soothed this way. Most likely, his spitting-up issues and Lucy’s are unrelated. 🙂 Aaaaanyways–Congrats on the Baptism! The pictures are gorgeous.
She doesn’t seem to have as much trouble as Benjamin, thank goodness (or at least the spitting up doesn’t seem to bug her as much as it did him). Great advice! Can’t wait to see you soon!