Wednesday, May 18, 2011

2 Month Check up

Stella had her 2 month checkup this morning and here are her stats:

Weight @ Birth: 7lbs 8oz
Current 2 month weight: 13lbs even!!!
Gain? 5lbs 5oz... our little chunk. She's in the 92nd percentile for weight, my girl likes to eat.

Height @ Birth: 21.5 inches... but 20.5 inches in the Dr's office at 5 days old...
Current 2 month height: 23 3/4
Gain? 3 1/4 inches... she's in the 76th percentile for height, and she's all torso.

Stella was all smiles for Dr. Archibald, her pediatrician. He was very impressed with her head control, her reaction to things, including the blood pressure meter mounted at the wall, at which she kept smiling the whole time, and her overall appearance. She is a SUPER healthy girl! yay!

We talked a lot about sleep. I guess i'm not doing the whole sleep thing right... She doesn't go down until about 11, and sleeps til about 4-5am, then nurses and sleeps for about 3 more hours. Apparently she's supposed to be going to be between 7 and 8pm... I don't know how I feel about this really. She's usually wide awake from 6pm til 10ish, so I have a really hard time believing she should be asleep and in bed by 8pm. I'd love it, really, if she was asleep by then, but she really doesn't follow that schedule. I'm sure when she's a bit older, say around 7 months, she'll hopefully be on more of a early schedule and will be sleeping through the night, but right now while were nursing, i'm not going to push the sleeping all night thing. She gets several wonderful naps during the day, and I know she's getting plenty of sleep, so I'm just going to follow her sleep cues and do what works for her. I am curious though, if you have a young baby (or remember your child's sleep patterns when they were 2 months old), do they sleep from 8pm til morning? I'd love to hear your sleep experiences.

Now for the part that scared me a little. Stella's left side of her head is flat. Really Flat. Like hold a book against it and it's perfectly flat. I hadn't noticed it, although I had noticed she likes to favor laying on that side. Dr. Archibald noticed right away, and wasn't super concerned, he just said we really need to start laying her on her right side to get the plates to even out, it's making her right side bulge into more of an oval rather than a circle like it's supposed to be. If it is worse or not any better at her 4 month appointment, we may end up having to get her a sweet helmet to wear that will even it out with built in plates. So we'll be doing some neck stretches and propping her on her right side to get things evened out, hopefully.

A little on Vaccines


Vaccines are something that I have been doing my research on since before Stella was born. We knew at birth we did not want to give her any of the shots, so we signed wavers against the Hep B shot, the erythromycin, and Vitamin K shot. No biggie. Now comes the big ones, her childhood vaccinations.

We've decided to wait until her 4 month appointment to start her vaccinations. Her pedi is very adamant about vaccinating, so I did a ton of research and was very prepared when he wanted to know why we're waiting. He's really only adamant about 3 of the required vaccines, HIB, DTaP, and Pc, the others he's not so pushy about, thankfully. I'm ok with the HIB (a strain of meningitis), it's essentially Glucose water, with a little bit of saline, and the dead virus/bacterium complex, and depending on the brand it has some tetanus or diphtheria virus in it. It's the least invasive of all the vaccines. DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussus) is the biggie that we want to avoid. I wish they made just the pertussus vaccine, it would be so much better to give it alone than to have it with two other vaccines that are meant to protect adults. The DTaP vaccine has aluminum, formaldehyde and/or mercury in it... depending on the brand/maker/mix. yes they are small amounts, but why even chance it? Pc (Pneumococcus/ Pneumococcal Disease) is supposed to protect kids from the common cold turning into Pneumonia, a blood stream infection, or meningitis. This one is a bit more scary, because it deals with lung diseases, which are much more transmittable than most of the other diseases there are vaccines for. I had bronchitis last year, which could easily have turned into Pneumonia, but i'm thankful it didn't, but it made me realize that it is very easy to get to the scary point that could land you in the hospital for treatment. I don't ever want to go through that with a baby, so we'll probably get this vaccine at the 4 month check up. Unfortunately, this shot also contains aluminum, so we'll be staggering the Pc and DTaP vaccines to be sure Stella does not get too much aluminum in her system at once, it's just not safe, and the side affects far outweigh the benefits for us at this point. We are healthy, i'm breastfeeding, she has no older siblings, she does not go to daycare, or really have much contact with older children in general, and we just don't agree with overloading her body with a vaccination that is the same amount given to children as is given to adults. Of course this is all just our opinion, and I do hope that each and every parent will fully research the vaccines that their child will be receiving, and make their own, informed decision on what is best for their child.

After all that fun info, I thought I'd throw in some cute pics from this week,

Hangin' out with daddy before he left for a week and a half for work. Shirt? 6 months, Pants? Newborn... yep, daddy dressed her :) 

Napping in the moby, her new daily napping spot. She will only sleep about a half hour laying on her own, so the moby is  where she will sleep for a good 2+ hours in the middle of the day, a much needed break for mommy to get some things done around the house.

Bath time! We bought Stella a baby bathtub last week so I wouldn't have trouble bathing her while Brent is gone. She loves it! She is so calm, and just hangs out and kicks her legs in the water.

She started crying when I pulled her out of the tub... I see a battle coming at bath time when she's older.

Baby Legs!! I love her face and hand placement! Stell has several pairs of babylegs that she has yet to be able to wear, they now fit her chubby little thighs, but are still too long. I just bunched them up and she loves them.

She's such a happy girl hangin' out in her fluff!!! her legs are blurry because she wouldn't stop kicking her legs! She's so cute!

This was part of a series of smiles that I was trying to catch, but kept getting sorta smiles, she's still adorable though.

Friday, May 13, 2011

2 Months and Growing!

Stella Jean,

Yesterday you turned 2 months. 2 MONTHS baby girl!!! It boggles my mind how much you've changed in the past 8 and a half weeks. You now love to smile at random times, sometimes all it takes is meeting a new friend, mommy or daddy smiling at you with a big bright face, getting kisses from auntie, or your favorite, most happiest time, nakey time. Oh how you love to be naked! You are perfectly content just hangin' out on your changing table, wearing nothin' but the safetly belt. You cry when we have to get you dressed again, so we usually try to allow at least half hour of nakey time a couple times a day.

You have become so much more alert over the past month baby girl. You wake up ready to take in all the day has to offer you, which lately has been a lot of sunshine. The past few days we've slept in, woken up to birds chirping and heading straight out to the back deck for some fun in the sun. You're always plopped right under the umbrella, but you're happy as a clam to feel the breeze on your legs and face, and see the bright green grass. So many thing catch your attention now, birds flying by, Abby giving you kisses (they don't bother you thankfully, you actually seem to smirk a little now), daddy spinning the umbrella, reflections of light off the windows. You'll move your head back and forth to take it all in, I cant wait until you can crawl around to start putting feelings and touch together with the things you love to look at.

We've caught you starting to look at your hands, your eyes get big, and you move them around your face a few times, then it's over and they are just another thing you don't quite realize exist. You've also been getting into more of a regular pattern for sleeping and alertness. Last night you slept for a full 6+ hours!! Mommy was extremely thankful for that, even if you didn't go down until almost midnight. You are much more happy in the morning after a good nights sleep, and then you get a good nap from about 1 til 3ish, then head into the rough part of the day. Were guessing you're a little colicky, you like to fuss pretty loudly for several hours every evening. If only we could figure out a good routine that would make you happy all day... but for now, fussing a little at night isnt a bad thing, as long as you sleep well afterwards.

Another big first you did this month!? You took your first BIG road trip!!! Grandma, mommy and you drove from Boise to Auburn last week so you could meet your grandpa Kelly and a lot of other family members. You actually did a great job on the way there, only really fussing when you were hungry or needed changing, and we made it almost to Ellensburg without really having to keep you occupied with the paci, Thankfully grandma sacrificed her left arm to reach back and keep you content, she had back pain and bruises all week to prove it. You met so many people on this trip Stella, Grandpa Kelly, Uncle Dane, Great Grandma Grisham, and several friends of ours! It was a wonderful trip, daddy even came to celebrate mommy's first Mothers Day with us, which was extra special because of you, and because mommy spent the day with her mommy and Brent's mommy. I couldn't have asked for a better trip. Even with the not so great drive home... Thankfully daddy flew back over to drive us, and he was more than patient with stops. We stopped 6 times! you did NOT like being in the car for so long this time... and our trip ended up being 11+ hours instead of the normal 7. I'm thinking next time we drive to visit family, it should be at night time.

I don't have any current stats to share with you right now baby girl, but I'll be sure to post them when we go in for your 2 month check up in the next week or two. If I had to guess i'd say you were between 12 and 13 lbs... and about 24-25 inches long. You're our little chunk, and we adore you and your little rolls.

We love you baby girl, you have brought so much happiness into mommy and daddy's lives, and we love watching you grow.

(I'll post her 2 month picture tonight when we get a good shot, it's been a bit sunny here this week and it's too bright out to take pictures during the day.)

A little of our month so far

Sorry for being MIA this month, Stella and I spent the past week visiting family and friends in Seattle. Heres a little of what went on there

Stella fell asleep while daddy was holding her like this...


So daddy decided to try to eat her... she's too big though :)

Auntie and grandma hangin' out with the little

Nap time with Auntie


Wide awake with Auntie

Meeting her great-grandma for the first time

Stella was one snuggly, happy baby with great grandma Grisham

A little bit of smiles...

Because she was getting some face time with grandma

My yummy birthday cake, I turned 28 on May 5th!

More cuddles with Auntie


Nappin' on the couch

Snugglin' with Grandpa

Brent, Pammy and Dane made us a wonderful Mothers day breakfast


Stella met my cousin Stacey and adored him 

More snuggles with grandma

One very happy baby

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