7 Weeks

How is it possible that Rose is over 7 weeks old already!? Even though most days blend together and we're usually hanging out in the family room at home, it is amazing how quickly each week is flying by.

The day after Rose turned one month old we moved her up to size 1 diapers. It really made a difference in the poop-up-the-back incidents. They were huge on her at first but now they seem to fit just right. She's also outgrown most of her newborn clothes. :( I love that she is growing but sad that our tiny girl isn't so tiny anymore. She's wearing 0-3 month clothes but they are kind of baggy on her. She's so long though, so her legs & feet have more room to stretch.

Until last night (more on that below), Rose still slept in her bassinet next to our bed all warm & cozy in her sleep sack & night shirt. No matter how I place her in the bassinet she manages to move herself over to one side. It must feel safer for her, like she's snuggled up in my arm. It's kind of cute but at the same time, it makes me worry.  I move her but in less than 5 minutes she's right back to her favorite spot again. The bassinet has some mesh material on the sides that is breathable. When she isn't in the bassinet you can see an indention where she pushes up against it.

Second day at home in bassinet with the incline:

From Our Rainbow

Napping & growing- removable incline in bassinet; this was just before we removed that part:

From Our Rainbow

Daytime nap without the incline:

From Our Rainbow

Morning, just before waking:

From Our Rainbow

Good morning baby girl!

From Our Rainbow

So far I've had 3 times away from Rose. The first was for my 6 month dentist appointment which lasted approximately 1.5 hours. My mom came over to watch her and the dentist is close to our home. The hard part was leaving because she was awake and slightly fussy. I thought of her the entire time! She slept the whole time so that was good.

The next time was a quick one hour trip to Michael's craft store. Tim watched her after work so I could get out & buy a few things without taking baby. She slept the entire time.

The most recent outing for me was a week ago last Saturday for Mom Prom. A group of us got together and dressed up, went out for dinner and headed to the prom for a night of GIRLS ONLY dancing & fun all for a good cause. It was a blast! Although not down to the size I'd like to be, I was happy to fit in a nice fitted dress and not feel like a cow. The proceeds of the prom went to Ted E Bear Hollow, an organization that helps children & teens cope with loss of loved ones.  Before I left to start out the night, I fed Rose. She was awake when I left and a little fussy so I felt bad but Tim told me to just go & have fun. That was around 5:45 pm. We had dinner at a restaurant at 6:00 pm and the dance started at 7:00 pm at a local hotel. There was a DJ who played all sorts of dance songs that ranged from Girls Just Wanna Have Fun to I'm Sexy and I know it to Livin' on a Prayer. There was a table of cupcakes & snacks and a free photo booth to take goofy pics. They had some photographers on hand to take group photos and cardboard cutouts of a few famous men to pose with. It was silly & fun! I even had a couple glasses of wine for the first time in ages!!!

At approx. 11:30 pm I was still dancing (and getting quite the workout- the most I've exerted myself in a LONG time!!) when I received a text from Tim asking when I was coming home. The dance was to end at midnight but he said she had slept from 5:45 - 7:45 pm but had been crying ever since she woke up. He changed 6 diapers and gave her several bottles of pumped milk. She was not having it! As soon as I saw the text I was out the door and the whole drive home felt tremendous guilt come over me. My baby needed me & I wasn't there! I still think it was good for me to go for the girls night out since I'm inside all day/night every day, and for the past two years I've either been pregnant or grieving hard. I needed it. But I still felt horrible. When I got home I opened the door & could hear her screaming. I had to pump & dump but still had some good milk in the fridge so I made her a bottle and held her. She immediately stopped crying and fell asleep. She just needed her momma I guess! Oh boy, that was tough...

From Our Rainbow

Coincidentally (or maybe not!) ever since that night she has had gas issues and I've had a hard time keeping up with her feeding (growth spurt) in the afternoons/evenings. It has been a frustrating past week while we try to figure out how to help her. She also has some baby acne that we're trying to take care of. Poor girl is a hot mess! I had to start supplementing feedings with some formula and I'm in the midst of deciding whether or not to stop breast feeding soon or not. I go back to work April 13th and not sure I want to pump then...and if my supply is low now it will likely be lower then. Ugh. For her gas issues we've tried many remedies. Warm baths, bicycle legs, massage, gas drops, Colic Calm drops, gripe water... Poor thing is clearly in pain trying to get out the gas. We're pretty sure that is the problem because she will be calm & happy one minute then start crying out, followed by a loud fart (or several), then back to calm. The gas issue started before formula was introduced so it isn't that (although that could be not helping the matter). Hopefully we get this taken care of soon for her sake & ours. She had just started socially smiling and the gas has put a damper on her mood.

We decided to move Rose to her crib last night. It was hard to do- the crib doesn't have a 'vibrate' mode; nor does it have a rocking option for me to lightly lull her back to sleep. We have a video monitor for the crib and we talked about getting a motion sensor monitor when the time comes to move her in her room, just for peace of mind. The daughter of a friend of my mom's shipped hers to us to borrow which is so nice! If you're reading this, thank you!! I brought in the little lamb that makes sounds- her favorite seems to be the ocean. There was the added bonus- we got to listen to the ocean too, via the sound monitor. ;)

So we changed up our bedtime routine just a bit and I have to say it went very well! Rose had her bath at approx. 8:30 pm, diaper & PJ's (night shirt & sleep sack), feeding, rocking, then I put her in her crib, turned on the monitors and turned off the lights. Then I went in our room and watched the video monitor for like a 1/2 hour! Haha. Every noise I heard I had to look to see what she was doing. She fell asleep & I even saw a smile when I went to pick her up for her middle of the night feeding. She looks so little in that great big crib compared to her bassinet. I'm so glad she slept well. I did OK too, but it was sad at the same time.  I told Tim it was the first night I've been that far away from her. She was in my belly for so long then with us the whole time in the hospital and in her first 7 weeks has been in the bassinet by my side of the bed. Even though she is in the closest spare bedroom to us and is safe, it felt so far away! It was probably good for both of us that we started this habit now, rather than later. It was hard on me last night but she didn't know any different. It saves many nights of tantrums later in her life- or so I hope. ;) The monitors both worked well. I could see her in the dark thanks to the awesome night vision and the motion sensor alarm didn't go off (we tested it a few different ways before putting her to bed just to make sure it would work in the event the unthinkable were to happen).  She slept a total of 6.5 hours with one diaper change & feeding around 1:00 am.

Sleep video monitor:

From Our Rainbow

Little girl, big crib- her first night was a success!

From Our Rainbow

She woke up around 5:00 am with a poopy diaper so I changed her and fed her then headed downstairs. I put her in her swing and got a couple more hours of sleep! She was a well rested baby and gave me some smiles this morning before playtime on her bug mat.

Happy well-rested baby:

From Our Rainbow

We're loving our little Rosebud and can't believe how fast time is flying. I took advantage of Walgreen's great deal of 55% off prints to actually PRINT some photos (aside from the professional newborn prints I took of her).  I like to make Picaboo books and plan to do that for her, but I'd also like to have good old fashioned photo albums with photos to flip through.  In this digital age I admit I'm terrible about printing images, so with Rose I plan to make a point of printing them so we can look through them and so she has something to take with her some day when she grows up.  Looking through the photos I was amazed at all the changes in her so far.  She was such a tiny peanut when we brought her home. It's sad but fun to see what she will do next. :)