4 Month Update

Can it seriously be time for the 4 month 16 week update already?!  I hate to see her get bigger by the day, but as time passes, she gets much more fun (and cuter, if that was possible!) and life gets a little easier.

Length: 24.25 inches 

Weight:  13 lbs, 8 oz

Clothing size:  0-3 month things right now... We are dabbling in 3-6 months right now.  I just got Miss Thang some new onesies from J. Crew Kids in the 3-6 month size and they fit quite nicely.  J. Crew Kids has the cutest stuff!

Favorite food:  Milk!  She's still eating about every 3 hours, between 4-5 ounces these days!  he just attempted solids for the first time this week!  

Favorite song:  Hands down, that would be "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."  There is nothing that soothes that child more than this song.  If you only knew how often we sang that song the last couple weeks....

Favorite toy:  Her aquatic themed playmat, Sophie the teething giraffe and her jumperoo!

Favorite book: Room on the Broom, 10 Little Rubber Ducks.

Favorite time of day:  Morning baby, for sure!  (Even at 2:00am)  She smiles, and giggles and laughs like you wouldn't believe.  I love seeing her at all times of the day... but I really love the mornings!

Mom and Dad's observations/milestones:  Stella rolls over front to back, and even started doing barrel rolls across the living room!   She continues to expand her sound inventory, and lately has developed a gorgeous little high pitched squeal/shriek.  Oy vey.  She's certainly not afraid to let you know how she feels.  I never knew a4 month old baby could be so vocal. She holds her head up extremely well and tries to lift her head up when lying down or being propped up (like she is doing a stomach crunch.)   She is grabbing things and holding on to them.... And then promptly putting them in her mouth.  She also puts her feet on the ground and lifts her little body up so she can scoot around the floor.  She is a mega wiggle worm when you are holding her... Trying to climb up you, wiggle away from you... She sure feels a lot older than 4 months, sometimes. 

Sleeping:  Stella is really working on settling into a night time routine, where we do her last feeding at about 8.  We start with diaper change, pajamas, nurse, read a book, sing a song (or two) and then lights out.  She will sleep from about 8:30(ish) until 2 or 3am for another feeding.  Then typically it's lights out again until about 6 or so when we wake her up to feed and get ready for daycare.

Eating:  Still eating about every three hours, 4-5 ounces!  She has weaned herself, 100%, completely off of using a shield while nursing during any feeding, at any point in time during a feeding!  She also started solids after her 4 month appointment!  First up was pears, and she loved it!  Next was sweet potato, which was enjoyed equally as well!  She is able to try this between milk feedings once per day, every other day.

Stella's favorite things:  Mom's hair.  Mom's glasses.  Shirts.  Noses.  Dad's mouth.  Chins.  Faces in general.  Rolling from her back to her tummy, crying to be flipped over, being flipped to her back, and then promptly rolling back on to her tummy.  And repeat.... For 20 minutes.  She loves when people talk and sing to her. She also loves big hand gestures.  And mirrors.  The kid still.loves.mirrors.  If I were that cute though, I would love looking in mirrors, as well.

Three month notes:  Stella is a movin' and a grovin' more and more each day!  Her personality and attitude are as big as her smile.  Every day, we are impressed with her new physical developments...  I often wish she would slow her roll (literally) however, it would be nice if she would learn to roll from her tummy to her back relatively soon. ;-)





Big Weekend

Stella recently had a very big weekend!  Not only did she get to meet more of her family members, she also was baptized!

First up, meeting her aunt, uncle, and cousins!  She was so excited to finally meet them!  Sorry in advance for picture overload!

We had so much fun with them and were terribly sad to see them go.  Stella started working on trying to get them to move to Kansas City... No such luck yet, but we will continue to work on it! ;-)

Stella also experienced her first Iowa football weekend!  She made it through the first five minutes, at least! ;-)

Next up that weekend, was Stella's baptism!  Little missy decided that she wanted to make mommy and daddy work... Sooo... We had to stand and bounce her throughout the entire ceremony!

She did, however, love having the water poured over her head!  She may be a water baby after all!

Missy's godparents are my brother, and Bryce's sister.  We couldn't ask for more perfect role models for our little lady.  Stella is awfully lucky!

Even though she may not look so happy in the above picture....

Stella and her proud grandparents.

Eventually, it was time to leave.  90% of the pictures we took on Sunday and Monday of that weekend, Stella is crying.  Missy was not feeling picture time.  So, in the picture below, we decided to do "the Stella."  We all turned our faces into our best cry... and naturally, little miss thang stopped crying.  Seriously.  Standard Stella.

Just like that, the weekend was gone.  It was so wonderful having everyone together, but just like it always does, it went by too fast.

Back to Work Blues

Going back to work after 12 weeks of maternity leave was probably the most difficult thing I have ever had to do.  For multiple reasons.  After spending 24 hours per day, 7 days a week with Stella, leaving her seriously broke my heart.  Yes, it can be a tough job, but it is honestly the best one I have ever had.  Period.  When I went back to work, she had just developed such a fun little personality and definite likes/dislikes.  I thoroughly enjoyed figuring out what made her giggle with delight!  There is absolutely nothing more beautiful and more rewarding than seeing her smile.  Best.thing.ever.  So yeah.  That sucked.

When she sleeps, this is how she likes to do it...

I also hated having someone other than her father and me care for her.  Or anyone outside of our family for that matter.  It still sort of makes me sick to my stomach when I think of someone else feeding her and changing her diapers (although I have changed one poop diaper in the last week... So I guess there's one upside.)  At least when I pick her up I do feel like she is well-cared for, and the smile she gives when she sees me makes me forget about everything.  I also take solace in knowing that most days, she doesn't make her way to daycare until the afternoon, so she's not spending 40+ hours per week under the care and supervision of someone else.

Then, there is the fatigue.  Holy smokes.  I thought I was tired when I was pregnant.  I also thought I was tired right after Stella was born.  But this is a whole new ball of wax - working 8+ hours per day running all over the hospital, then picking Stella up from daycare and keeping her entertained until bed time, and then attempting to keep up with housework after she goes to bed (ie washing bottles/pump parts, doing laundry so we all have clean shirts to wear, and hopefully transferring dinner dishes from the sink to the dishwasher if we are lucky.... and yes, if you're thinking that "la casa de Hawk must be a pigsty," you would be correct.) is tough stuff.  If I'm lucky, I'm in bed by 11:00pm.  This week, Stella has been waking up around 2:00am to eat.  And then staying up.  When she stays up, Mom stays up.  By 5:00am, it's time to feed again.  After, I hop in the shower, get ready (I've yet to have adequate time to blowdry and straighten my hair - air dry it is!), pump, and then I'm out the door for work.  Annnnd hit the repeat button.  Life is even a little more challenging when Bryce works the evening shift.  So, if I haven't been good at returning texts/e-mails/phonecalls the last couple weeks, please forgive me. I'm still trying to adjust to my new schedule.  And I'm tired.

A common site at 5:00am... Highly variable in whether it's Mom or Dad with her...

However, two weeks in (seriously, I've been back to work for two weeks?!) and things are getting better every day.  I'm functioning better on little sleep, I don't cry when I think about her being at daycare, we organically developed a nice little routine for our days, I don't have to change nearly as many blowout diapers, and, no matter how good or bad my day at work is, I get to return home to little Miss Stella and her sweet little smile.  So yeah.  That's pretty awesome. :)

3 Month Update

Length: ?

Weight:  ~11 lbs

Clothing size:  0-3 month things right now, although on her 11 week birthday, I put her in the shirt that she came home from the hospital in, and it fit perfectly!

Favorite food:  If you guessed milk, you would be correct!

Favorite song:  Bingo, The Eentsy Weentsy Spider, Anything Mom and Dad make up to keep her entertained.

Favorite toy:  Mirrors!  She loves looking into them and smiling.  She also continues to enjoy her kick-and-play mat.

Favorite book: Room on the Broom, Going on a Bear Hunt and Dr. Seuss anything

Favorite time of day:  Still a morning baby!

Mom and Dad's observations/milestones:  Stella continues to expand her sound inventory, making new sounds each day, and is now making more two syllable sounds.  Bryce and I are pretty sure she is on the verge of laughing.  She desperately continues to try and roll over (back to front and front to back) - she is thisclose.  She now prefers to sleep on her left side - Even if I try to again put her on her back, she rolls to her side.

Sleeping:  Stella continues to cat nap throughout the day, and sleep really well at night.  Her longer stretches of sleep have been about 6-7 hours, going about 8 hours between feedings.  It's always questionable how easily  she will fall back asleep.

Eating:  Little missy still eats about every three hours, taking in approximately 4 ounces.  Occasionally she will need 5 ounces if she goes 8+ hours without feeding.

Stella's favorite things:  Smiling!  Smiling is her favorite!  Looking at herself and us in the mirror.  Blowing saliva bubbles

Three month notes:  Stella picks up on the emotions of others extremely well and models her own behaviors and actions based on yours, so we are very cautious not to be sad or upset around her.  She has also really started to enjoy her baths!  If you were around our house for bath time during Stella's first two months, you would know that she really, really didn't like baths.  Believe it or not, she will now sometimes smile and coo as you wash her.  It feels like a miracle.

Here are some outtakes from week 10 photos that were too cute not to share.