Rose-2 Months!

Date: April 20, 2020

Height: 23 inches (as of her appointment today)

Weight: 12 lbs. 14 oz. (^as of today)

Sleeping Pattern: We've gotten on a good schedule (eats every 2-3 hours and is awake for about 50 minutes before naps) and the little lady has started giving me some super good night sleep! The night of her 2 month birthday she slept 9 hours (8pm-5am) and it was glorious. I usually just sing to her while I get her in her sleepsack, then we just sit until she starts to doze off and then I put her in her crib. Naps are hit or miss, she frequently wakes up and needs soothed and put back down, but then for bedtime (which I nurse before putting her down) she sleeps really well. I'll get into more specifics in the schedule, but overall she's a good little sleeper.

Eating Habits: Still a really good eater! During the day she eats every 2-3 hours still. She enjoys eating but isn't nearly as intense about it as James, haha. She's taken 3 bottles so far and has done well with those too (and doesn't even care if I'm near her so that's good).

Development & Firsts: As mentioned above, Rose had her first bottle. She's also rolled over from her front to her back 5 times so far (WHAT?) and frequently scoots herself forward during tummy time too. She is crazy strong. Really holds herself up well, and she's so alert and attentive now. First walk in the stroller (going outside helps combat going stir crazy during this quarantine business). First Easter (very low key, due to aforementioned quarantine). She is starting to show interest in toys, she loves the things that hang above the activity gym. And...I don't know she mostly just chills and smiles at us when we look at her. Not much going on developmentally to report on-oh except that she may have started teething? She's gotten quite drooly and gets fussy sometimes and chews on her hand or your finger like craaazy. Which-ugh. SO early.

Mischief: Still not big on the mischief, aside from getting her little hand out of her sleepsack to suck on lol. Or getting her hands in the way when nursing.

Cuteness: SHE IS SO CUTE. Her tiny button nose and pretty little lips. Her big old chubby cheeks (which might have a dimple in the right one but they're so chubby it's super faint lol). Her big pretty eyes of a yet to be determined color. ALL OF HER HAIR! Her chunky baby thighs and belly and delicate little fingers and toes. *sigh* She's also ticklish and is so close to laughing. I can feel it. She'll do what we call a "proto-laugh" which for her sounds like a little hiccup (James' sounded like a loud inhale lol). Rose is just so sweet and happy, honestly. She is rarely cranky and even when she is she is obviously trying her best to be calm. She's such a good sport while that crazy brother of her gets all in her face and climbs all over her she just stares at him and somehow still lights up when she sees him and gives him smiles. There is nothing like the feeling when she locks eyes on you and immediately bursts into so many HAPPY happy sweet grins. Her eyes immediately crinkle and a giant smile takes over her face-sometimes her little shoulders and hands will even come up for maximum glee. It's irresistibly adorable. And then she starts talking and cooing, especially if you give her kisses, which makes the cute smiles somehow even cuter. She's started doing this thing where I'll hold her by my head and she just starts aggressively giving me kisses and grinning and loudly exclaiming between kisses (I translate that she's saying "more! more!" when she goes "GAH! GAHHHHH!") Somehow this baby also likes tummy time (I mean...until she gets fed up about how long it's been since she was held/cuddled/kissed). She'll just sit there, pushing herself up, looking around, totally content and then she'll straight up smile! I'm so pleasantly surprised (James despised tummy time). When she's on her back on the gym she gets so excited to see the elephant and lion that hang above her and she gets very playful as she swats at them and swings her head around with a smirking open mouth. She still acts like "Oh what a treat!" when she gets to eat and has recently decided she quite likes being naked so is now pretty darn pleased about diaper changes. I also think she enjoys it when I dress her up in outfits (which she usually wears for like 5 minutes so I can take pictures and then she's back in a sleeper *sigh*) because she'll just smile and act so excited as I put the clothes on her-and she never does that for sleepers. I'm pretty stoked about it. She's so pure and wonderful and made of cute.

Nicknames: Rosie, Cozy Rosie, Rosie Posy, Baby Rose, Baby girl, Lady, Ladybug, Fuzzy Head, Chunk/Chunk-a-munk, "Little Chub/Chubby" (James calls her that), Sweetling, Sweetie-girl, Cutie-girl, Honey girl, Honey bun, Little miss, Missy, Ma'am, Sweetness, Love, combinations of all of the above...

Talking: She's a little baby chatterbox already. Rose loves to just stare at you and smile and coo, especially if you kiss her. It's like *kiss* "Goooo" *kiss* "Ah goo gahhhh" *kiss* "Ooooohahhhhh *gurgle*"

Favorites: Mommy, daddy, and big brother. Smiling and being smiled at/attention in general. Kisses! Being held and snuggled. Eating. Sleeping. Tummy time and the activity gym. Flowers, particularly the painting of them above the couch. Being dressed up (seriously, she smiles as I'm putting outfits on her...it's so weird and cute.)

Dislikes:  Being left alone or away from mommy for too long and coldness. Being overly sleepy. And...that's like it.

Concerns: Just worrying that she may be teething and then the COVID-19 general worry but I feel like that's unlikely so....yeah mostly not much to be concerned about!

A Day in the Life: Rose usually wakes up around 6:30, give or take a half hour. Depending on the time, I may go get James before nursing Rose, or I'll wait until after. We play for a tiny bit, change her diaper and then she has a nap after about 45-50 minutes of being awake. The morning nap is usually the longest one and she typically sleeps until about 9:30-10am. Feed her, play, diaper change, down for nap. Then she wakes between 12 and 12:30 (generally right after I've put James down for his nap) feed, play (without crazy brother distracting me!), diaper change, down for nap again. Then wake up around 2:30, I get James from his nap, feed Rose, play, diaper change, nap again. Wake and eat at 4:30 then play, diaper change, and one more nap. Around 6:30 she's up and eating then we play until about 7:30ish (James is in the midst of his bedtime routine at this point) and it's Rose's bedtime. I nurse her to sleep and then lay her down in her crib (usually falls asleep around 8ish). Since she's currently sleeping in the cradle in our room at night time and Michael stays up later than I do, he'll bring her to our room either if she wakes up or when he's going to bed and then I feed her whenever she wakes up in the night.

Rose's Newborn Photos

My amazing friend Amanda (who also did James' 6 month and 1 year sessions) of Amanda Ellis Photography completely blew me away with all the gorgeous pictures she took of Rose and our family when my little sweetie was only 11 days old. I mean...seriously...can you handle it??!

Rose-1 Month!

Date: March 20, 2020

Height: 21.26 inches (as of her appointment on Monday)

Weight: 10 lbs. 8 oz. (^as of Monday)

Sleeping Pattern: We're doing a loose Babywise schedule again. She eats (hopefully) every 2-3 hours during the day, could go longer at night (rarely does) and then has very little awake time. She mostly sleeps lol. We've been working on napping in her crib but she also will happily nap when held or put in the rock 'n play (only under close supervision does she do that). Night's are somewhat variable, she usually gives me one stretch where it's 3-4 hours between a feed, maybe another 2.5-3 hours then until the next one. Sometimes she has trouble after that before morning.

Eating Habits: Rose is a super good eater! And, luckily, much better at not overeating than her brother was. She usually nurses on just 1 side for approximately 10 minutes (with the occasional exception of like 20-30 minutes) every 2-3 hours, longer if I'm lucky during the night. She's got a great latch and is always delighted when it's feeding time (really, her face lights up with delight lol).

Development & Firsts: She held her head up for the first time within her first day of life (my babies have good head control, probably because they have tiny heads haha) and can push up onto her arms sometimes. When she's awake she just stares and will track with her eyes (she's started becoming more alert recently!). She also has figured out that her hands affect change-namely by grabbing at me and my hair and hitting the elephant on the activity gym. She also has tears :(. And of course everything is a first when you're a month old. She slept in her crib for the first time when she was a couple weeks old. She had her first smile, her first tummy time, first bath in her infant tub...lots of firsts! First pandemic too, ha ha....ha. Ugh.

Mischief: She's not terribly mischievous yet, just getting her little hands out of her swaddle is the biggest thing!

Cuteness: She is just so sweet and cute. Rose sleeps most of the time and I adore the way her little mouth will hang open (just like James did when he was a newborn). And almost every time she falls asleep she smiles. But then when she's awake her eyes are so wide open and pretty (and might go blue. Still too early to say) and she makes the cutest faces. She has a ton of hair (it's everyone's first thing they comment on...literally starting with the midwife when she was crowning lol) and it's so soft! After she's had a bath it's especially fuzzy and adorable. Rose LOOOVES kisses. Like...she smiles when you kiss her. She will literally move her head and press it into your mouth (or move it so if you just kissed her cheek now you're kissing her mouth). Her favorite kisses are from daddy, I'm saying it's because his beard must be tickly but he also just might be the favorite *harumph* She loves to stare at him, and James, and me, and outside, and the elephant on her activity gym...And she gets a cute little coy expression that is almost flirty, it's insanely cute. Unsurprisingly she also loves cuddles and if you've been holding her and then put her down her arms will be reaching up like she's hugging the air and just waiting for you to fill in the space. And the way she reacts to getting to eat is so funny, she gets all lit up and excited and her sweet little hands will come up almost like "oh my oh gosh little old me gets to eat??!" I can't take her. She's just the sweetest cutest little cutie girl.

Nicknames: Rosie, Cozy Rosie, Rosie Posy, Baby Rose, Baby girl, Lady, Ladybug, Squeaks (Michael calls her this), Fuzzy Head, Sweetling, Sweetie-girl, Cutie-girl, Honey girl, Little miss, Sweetness, Love, combinations of all of the above...

Talking: Just an occasional coo/gurgle (which are SO CUTE), some Abu (from Aladdin)-like sounds, crying, and gassy grunting lol.

Favorites: Sleeping, being warm and cozy, being held, being kissed, eating, activity gym and tummy time, her brother, daddy (like-a lot), and mommy.

Dislikes: Being cold (especially if it's a cold wet thing touching her...so baths must be quite warm or she is displeased), being taken from daddy (seriously she usually frowns or gives me an angry look), diaper changes, and generally having her coziness messed up in any way.

Concerns: Honestly...not much. My biggest concern is that I'm not able to give her as much attention and focus as I'd like since I'm not also dealing with her very demanding toddler brother. I also feel bad that she has that painful newborn gassy-ness but I know it should hopefully pass soon. Having done this before helps with all the worry, I feel much more calm about stuff than when James was new. I'm concerned about the COVID-19 stuff but honestly more in a big picture way and how it will affect the world.

A Day in the Life: 6:30 is the preferable wake up time for Rose, anywhere from 6-7 is possible, though. I nurse her, change her diaper, say hi to James (who wakes up around 7) and daddy, then I put her down for her 1st nap. Then somewhere around 9:30 she nurses again, has a bit of awake time and back down for a nap. Eats again around 12:30 (after big brother has been put down for his nap, hopefully), then I usually keep her downstairs with me/Michael to avoid messing up James' nap and she sleeps while held or in the rock 'n' play. Eats again at like 2:30/3ish, has awake time (usually some tummy time with an enthusiastic James) then nap again. Nurses at like 5:30/5:45ish (hopefully after I've eaten dinner) then she's awake for a little bit before we do her short bedtime routine (mostly just putting her in her sleepsack and then singing a song while I nurse her again). I then hold her for a bit to make sure she burps/is really asleep and then I put her in her crib. She then hopefully sleeps until about 9:30-10 and I change her into her overnight diaper then nurse her in our bedroom and put her down to sleep in the cradle next to our bed and I go to sleep too. She usually wakes up twice in the night to nurse and then right back to the cradle after being held for a bit to help with her tummy (12:30ish and 3:30ish). Sometimes after the 2nd night waking she has trouble and is up a lot until her wake time but every day is a little different!