2 Months!

I honestly cannot believe our little Perri girl is already two months. She turned two months on Monday and we celebrated with, what else, but her two month doctor visit haha. Everything is going great with her- still on reflux meds and will be until atleast 6 months he said, booo. It is helping though so that's what matters. She still spits up but it is NOTHING like it was, and it hasn't come out her nose since we started the medicine. That was gross/scary. She is still a little shrimp, weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs. 13 1/2 oz and 22 1/2 inches. So in a month she gained one lb. and grew an inch and a half. Itty bitty head too haha, 10th-25th percentile. Craig's glad about that one though because he was so worried before she was born that she would get his on-the-larger-side head. So for weight she's in the 25th-50th percentile and 50th percentile on height. Pretty small!

Usually at two months they give babies a whole slew of shots, which is ridiculous I think at that young, and babies are getting over 50 percent more shots than we received as kids. Anyhow, we are vaccinating her, don't worry, but we are following an alternative schedule, giving her only two at a time. Her Dr. has been great about this and while letting us know due to medical studies, blah blah that it's safe, that he respects our wishes and will work with us. The nurse, however, couldnt believe we were doing this and willing to her her "so many shots!" Well, we feel its better to be on the safe side, and she's a tough little girl. She cried for hardly any time at her one shot and the other was oral. So not bad at all. The downside to this is we have to go almost every month and get shots since she's only doing two at a time. Not a big deal, though, since we have to go check in about her reflux monthly right now too.

Other than that, not a lot to update on! She's been going to the gym some with me and staying in child watch. As they like to tell me "she prefers to be held." Uhm yeah, she'd "prefer" to be held all day long but that's not gonna happen or I would get nothing done. The only thing is she will not nap there and gets pretty fussy when it comes time for her nap and she's not sleeping. At home, though, she's a bubbly, very happy little girl and smiling and cooing like crazy! Perri, Emma and I are making the trek back to Arkansas on Saturday so please pray for a safe trip for us. Of course I'm not driving, that'd be quite a difficult drive to do alone. If I didn't have to stop and feed her, that'd be another story. But doing that and dealing with a dog isn't easy, so Craig is driving us half way and meeting my dad. I can't wait to be there again! I hate to leave Craig but it's really for the best since he is working so dang much and going to have to work weekends this month in addition to staying late on the week days. Thankfully it's only for this month. So, please keep us in your prayers and for those of you in Arkansas, we hope to see you!!

ps- I'll try and post new pics soon... sorry, theyre on my other computer and phone!!

Smiles

Perri has become quite the happy baby. She smiles and coos at us all the time, especially when she's getting her diaper changed. For some reason she loves getting her diaper changed. Probably because she knows she's getting another cute, soft, cloth diaper on. Or it could be that she is hyper sensitive to being wet... haha

Its hard to believe she is already 8 weeks and will be two months old on Monday! Wow how times has flown. Her little personality is starting to come out now and she cracks us up every day. She's super ticklish and will smile and throw her arms up and jerk her whole body when we tickle her. I love it!!

We go to the doctor Monday for her two month check up and I'll try and remember to update next week to see how much she's grown!!

Here are some pictures of Perri smiling. But first, let me explain that God-awful bouncer chair she's in. My mom got that at a consignment sale to keep at their house for Perri. Well, she LOVES this thing and will sit in it forever. It vibrates the crap out of her and plays horrible music and is quite the eyesore, but she loves it. So guess what came home with us from Arkansas? You betcha, the creepy clown chair.

Finally a new one

Okay so I am officially awful at blogging. There are plenty of times I think about it, but carrying it out is quite the task for me. There are so many other worthwhile things I could be doing instead of blogging, such as drinking coffee while searching the internet for new diapers for Perri. Yes, it is still something I do. I just ordered her 6 new customs that should be here soon and I can't wait to get them!! She's super sensitive to being wet and these have velour inners so that should be oh so soft and wonderful on her little bum.

We went to Arkansas for a week for Christmas and it was so wonderful to be around all the family and have everyone meet our little girl. We werent able to do much, as the little one got a cold, which she's still fighting, but it was nice to relax and have others around who would gladly watch Perri and give Craig and I a little break every once in a while.

The trip to Arkansas was quite interesting, usually lasting about 7 hours with stops for me to go the bathroom. Add in a dog, a baby and rain, and it took us over 10 hours. I had such a good time though and miss my family so much, Perri, Emma and I are going back next weekend to stay the week with my parents. Craig is extremely busy at work this month and having to work late and some weekends so I figured it would be a great time for me to go back and visit, have someone else cook for me and get free childcare!! Yay!!! I can't wait!

Here are a few pictures of our trip


Here's Perri meeting her great grandma. She's 92 can you believe it!! She and my grandpa are such wonderful people and I am so very thankful that Perri has been able to meet them! Perri doesn't look so tiny compared to my grandma! haha


Craig and Eli relaxing at my parents' house


Craig, Sarah, me and dad decorating cookies. This is a tradition for us. We decorate all sorts of cookies but always have our own gingerbread cookie to decorate as ourselves.


4 generations and Perri in her onesie gown her Lu Lu made for her and got monogrammed for Christmas!


Perri and her cousin Caroline. I love this girl to death and hate being so far away from her. We grew up together and were quite the pair when together haha.

My brother and his fiance Lauren were down from Reno and met Perri for the first time! Here's Zach hanging out with Perri



Craig, Perri and I at my parents' house


Perri stretching in her Pop's arms (my dad)


Craig's brother Jonathan and his wife Patty with me, Craig and Perri.


Perri in her Auntie Sarah's lap


Perri showing off her sweet boots my great friend Cortney got for her when she found out we were having a girl. They don't match the outfit but we had to get a picture of them!!


My mom made Perri a tutu and we were trying to get pictures of her in it. Clearly she loves it, can you tell?


We finally got a picture of her in her tutu where she's not wailing!

The Longest Day Ever

Leah and I are on our way home. Eight hours into it and we aren't even in Arkansas yet. The entire trip should take seven to seven and a half hours. The little one slows us down. Here are some travel pics.

5 weeks!

Well, little girl is now 5 weeks. I can't say enough how fast time has gone since she's been born. It's crazy.
We went to her one month check up on Friday and she's doing great and is now 8 lbs. 11 oz and 21 inches. Little runt. She's still wearing newborn clothes and some of them are still HUGE on her, like those pink pants in the picture, those are newborn and the waistband doesn't even touch her little belly. Everyone told me babies rarely wear newborn clothes and I only needed 0-3 months so that's pretty much all we have and they swallow her. So, she wears the same newborn clothes over and over. Doesn't matter too much though because we are pretty much at the house all day. Dr. Razak does think she may have reflux so she's now on medicine for that 3x a day. The bad thing is, she has to take her medicine 30 minutes to an hour BEFORE she eats.. which means while she's sleeping.. grr.

Oh yeah!! Perri also is now rolling over!! She did it the first time last week. I was in the laundry room and she was laying on her playmat in her room (right by each over) and I had her on her belly in there. I heard her crying and went in and she was on her back! So I rolled her back over and sure enough she flipped herself right back over again. She's done is several more times since and today did probably 5 or 6 times. Though, she hates it and cries the whole time. Poor thing.

Anyhow, here are some new pics of our little girl. The outfit, hat and blanket are all made by her Lu Lu, and the headband is one of the firsts that I made.

4 weeks old!

I can hardly believe our little girl is 4 weeks old today. It honestly feels like we've had her maybe a week or so? Time flies!!

We're pretty boring people so I don't have much to report on except that she's starting to become much more alert and focusing in on our faces and even smiled huge at me yesterday!! yayy!!! Its nice to get a response to all the hard work you do! And, last night she slept a 5 hour stretch!! I fed her at 10:30 and put her down then she woke at 1:30 and I fed her, and put her down, then she didn't wake again until around 6:30 this morning! woo hoo!!!

The cloth diapering is actually going well and I much prefer it to disposables. So much softer and cuter!! The first week or so I didn't use it because I was way too overwhelmed and it was HUGE on her but now its not quite as big. So, hopefully, we will continue to use it. You can see pics of her in one of her diapers below, when she's having a little 'tummy time' ( I hate thats what its called) with Emma. She HATES being on her belly, by the way, and usually screams, but I got her to lay on her belly for about 10 minutes yesterday and she was quite pleasant.

Anyhow, in celebration of her being 4 weeks, Im posting more pictures!

3 weeks!

I can hardly believe our little girl is now already 3 weeks old (as of Wednesday). Time has literally flown by! Everyone always says how fast time goes and how quick your children grow but I never thought anything of it until now. We are learning so much about her every day and its amazing how much she's changing and growing. We haven't been to the doctor since her last visit but go again next Friday for her one month, but I know Perri is getting some weight on her. Those cheeks keep getting bigger and bigger and she's becoming a little chunk! Her appetite has revved up as well, she definitely likes to eat!

When I was in college and worked at Montessori School in Fayetteville, a parent of a baby I had told me about the book "On Becoming Babywise" and I knew from then on I had to get that book when we had a baby. Her baby was the happiest, best baby ever and you could just lie him down and he wouldnt make a peep but would put himself to sleep. When we found out we were pregnant I immediately bought the book and read it, but once Perri was here, I kindof forgot the tips in it and the importance of having her feed, then wake, then sleep instead of the normal feed, sleep, then wake that people usually do. It's tough to try and keep her awake while she's eating so I had just been letting her fall asleep and then lie her down. This ended in her constantly waking and being fussy and us having to console her nonstop. WELL, after the night before last, I'd had it, re read the main points of the book and put it into practice last night. It's hard because it is a lot of crying at first, because you put her down while she's still awake, allowing her to learn to put herself to sleep. Last night went great, though and she only woke once to eat!! And then today, though the morning there was a lot of crying, the rest of the day has been amazing. I'll feed her, then make her stay awake for a bit to "play" and talk and sing to her, etc, then it's time for a nap. She'll wimper for a bit but then she's learned to coax herself to sleep and she's been sleeping through her whole nap! This has been SO great for me because breastfeeding had started to wear me out and the lack of sleep, and let me tell you, though I'm still tired (who isnt when you dont get a constant sleep at night and having a new baby??) but I am actually having my time to myself during the day, eating when I'm hungry and not having to shuffle between consoling her and eating, etc. It's great!!! Let's hope it keeps going this way. Anyhow, I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone expecting or if you have a new baby.

Other than working on this new schedule with her, there hasn't been much going on here, so I'll post some pictures of her! We realized we hardly have any pics with Perri, they're just of her, so we'll try and work harder on getting pictures with us in them!
Oh yeah, the one of her hair, that is after waking up from a nap. Pretty nice huh?