9 Week Growth Spurt

I wasn't expecting another growth spurt until three months but she sure is in the midst of another one this week. I realized this yesterday when she started eating every two hours in the morning. The night before that she was eating nearly every hour starting at 3:00. I thought that was due to the fact that she was sleeping so much later and needed to tank up. It may be a combination of the two. Either way, she has all the signs: increased appetite, sleepiness, and some crankiness. I hope this is a short one because she is wearing me out. It zaps a lot of my energy to feed her so much. I think I've lost another pound this week.

In other news, I had to let go of my job yesterday. Tim and I have had some discussion recently regarding my going back to work and him working from home and we both realized that it just wouldn't work. Claire requires a lot more attention than he can give her while he is working.

I went to Samford yesterday to buy a used exersaucer for Claire and stopped in at the library for a visit. My boss was very understanding. In fact, she actually said before I did that I probably wouldn't be returning to work. She was so understanding. She has a daughter of her own and knows how much work babies are at this age and how much they need their mothers. I appreciated that.

Big Girl Move

So this week Claire has decided to change her routine now that I finally posted it. I'm not complaining, though. This is a big step. She slept in Monday morning until 6:30 and this morning until 7:30. I believe that she may have slept longer this morning because we had her in her pack n' play under the ceiling fan which she loves to stare at. We had her in the pack n' play to see how well she would handle it for upcoming trips. Apparently, it won't be a problem. As a result of her sleeping in, she now wants to nurse every hour from 5:00 until bed time. It took a while for me to figure out last night why she was so fussy. Well, she was trying to tank up so she could sleep in. Yesterday morning, she did not go back to sleep very well after eating at 6:30 but this morning she had no trouble and I think she may be getting ready to wake up in a minute.

Have a great week!

Claire at 8 Weeks

The biggest development this week is that Claire is continuing to sleep through the night. I am stunned and amazed that we reached this milestone with no effort on our part. She is such a great baby. Not only does she sleep through the night but she also goes to sleep on her own. I nurse her, change her diaper, rock her a little (this is mostly for me), and lay her down. I'll hear her on the monitor for a little while but she doesn't fuss or cry. Her only real sleep issue is that she will not nap in her crib. I can not figure this one out but I've read that a lot of babies do this. The only places she'll nap is in someone's arms, in her swing, and in the car. Yes, we'll be taking the swing with us when we visit our families.

Claire has also developed a routine for herself that is working well for me. Here is a quick breakdown of her day (the times are estimates, give or take 30 minutes):

5:00 Wake up to eat and get a fresh diaper
5:30 Back to sleep
9:00 Wake up to eat and get a fresh diaper
9:30 Play time! I'll play with her in my lap for a little while to give her food a chance to stay down. I'll then put her in her tunnel to play for about 15-30 minutes while I eat breakfast. When she grows tired of that I may put her on her blanket or she may just be ready for a nap.
10:30 Nap time
12:00 Wake up to eat and get a fresh diaper
12:30 Play time! We usually do the same things we did in the morning
1:30 Nap time
3:00 Wake up to eat and get a fresh diaper
3:30 Play time! I might take her outside on the deck at this point to get some fresh air.
4:00 Daddy's home! She may play with him for a little bit but by this point her fussy time starts so she'll probably nap or fuss.
6:00 Dinner time. Her evenings are a little erratic. She tends to be a bit fussy and she catnaps a lot.
9:00 Bedtime feeding. She gets fed, gets a fresh diaper, and is dressed in her pjs. Once she's done eating, I put her to bed. If she's not quite ready, I'll keep her up but she's usually in bed by 10:30.

This weekend saw her first road trip. We went up to Rome, GA to visit our alma mater, Berry College. We also got to visit with my college friend, Vivienne. That was a real treat. I enjoyed the visit. Vivienne is expecting her first baby, a boy, in December. She looked fantastic and silly me, I didn't even get a picture. Tim and I enjoyed walking around the campus and reminiscing. We're hoping to go back for Mountain Day so we can see everything we didn't get to see during this trip and hopefully, we'll get to see more of our classmates. Claire slept most of the time. She traveled very well in the morning but she did not like the trip home. We got going around the time when she is usually fussy at home so that was poor planning on our part. She also spent a lot of time in her carrier during the day which I think just made her mad by the end of the day. After I got home and fed her, she was a very happy baby. She stayed up and played with Tim until 10:30. I went to bed at 9:30. I was exhausted.

As far as her development goes, this week saw her, once again, gaining greater head control. Now that she can move so much more freely, she has become quite a squirmy baby. She loves standing in your lap and bouncing around. I started pulling her up by her hands from a laying position to a sitting position and she really loves that and will initiate the action on her own so you better be ready to play along. She also loves it when we make silly noises. We've noticed that when we make the raspberry sound where she can see our toungues sticking out she sticks her tongue out too. It is really cute. Her other favorite activities are staring at ceiling fans (moving or still), staring at lamps, and staring at mirrors. Who needs toys!

Here are pictures from our week:

This one is for Grandma Thomas. Aren't those pjs adorable!
I am now dressing her in her regular pjs since she is sleeping through the night.

Look at how high she can lift that head!

Looking sweet!

First visit to a restaurant.

Berry College. Tim's dormitory is in the background.

The spot where Tim gave me my engagement ring.


Aren't sleep smiles beautiful?!

Yet Another Milestone

CLAIRE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!

I laid her down at 9:30 and she didn't call me until 5:30. She was then only up for twenty minutes and went back to sleep until 8:30. Woo hoo! The other great part was that when I laid her down at 9:30 she was still awake so she went to sleep all on her own. I am one lucky mama!

Have a great Monday!

Claire at 7 Weeks

Our little girl has become so much more active and independent this week. Before, when we would put her down so that we could fix breakfast or go to the bathroom, she would cry and fuss. Now, we can put her down in her swing or play tunnel to free ourselves to do other things. As many of you know, this is huge! She is also sleeping very well. She will go five hours from her bedtime feeding to the next feeding and last night, she went five hours from her middle of the night feeding to her first morning feeding. I did have a hard time getting her back to sleep after her middle of the night feeding but then she did something new. I laid her down in her crib when she drifted off only to have her wake right back up. She was bright eyed and giggly. I stood there for a little while watching her because she was so gosh darn cute but it was 2:00 am and I was rather tired so I laid down on the bed that we have in her room and fell asleep for about ten minutes. I went over to her crib and she was still awake and happy so I turned off the light and went to bed. In the past, she would have started crying but not last night. I didn't hear a word out of her until 6:00 am. Also, this week her head control has improved greatly and her hand-eye coordination is improving as well. She is now bringing her fingers to her mouth without much effort. She is also making the most wonderful cooing noises! We have had a fun week!

This week also saw a mommy-daughter first. We finally ventured out on our own. We went and met Tim for lunch at his work on Thursday. It went very well. So far, she has done very well in her carseat and traveling around town. We may take a short trip to our alma mater, Berry College, soon as a trial run for upcoming longer trips.

I took a lot of pictures this week which I have posted below. Enjoy!

Baby Bits

Claire in Action

Hanging out with Dad!
She is standing and jumping for longer periods now.

She wore herself out jumping around so then she settled down to snuggle with Daddy.
Isn't that the sweetest look?!

Floor time!

This weekend it has become easier for her to bring her hands to her mouth.
Those fingers must be tasty!

Dad is so much fun!

Tunnel time! We have an activity tunnel she has really started to enjoy this week.