may2002

May 30, 2002

Natalie is definately starting to teeth. (teethe?) She's been chewing on just about anything that goes into her mouth, including her trusty spit up rags. Fortunately she has yet to use me as a chew toy when she nurses; I hope it continues that way. At her doctor's appointment at the beginning of this month, Dr. Kern told us he felt teeth getting close to coming through, which didn't surprise us because she was drooling a lot more, but within the last week it's gotten even more so. So now she has constant drip coming out of her mouth. You can tell she's just not been feeling well. We've given her Tylenol a couple times and it seems to help .She's been spitting up and vomiting a lot more the last few days too, I don't know if it's related to teething or not. All I know for sure is that it's been pretty tiring because she can't seem to be put down for a nap at all. As soon as I try putting her down in her Pack N Play or her crib for a nap, both places that she lays flat (as opposed to being held in my arms) she starts to spit up so she doesn't stay asleep. So mostly I've been holding her a lot the last few days, at least that way she is able to sleep for a little while. She's still sleeping at night, though it's in her little bassinet in our bedroom still, because we have the mattress angled up on one end to keep her head up. She's already way too big for that bassinet though, when she stretches out she can touch all four sides.

This week's cute thing that Natalie is doing: when we change her diaper, she's now bringing her legs up for us as we get ready to put on the new diaper, and she does the same thing with putting on pants too. Of course to Phil and I we just think this shows her natural genius coming through. Which of course she is. :-)

May 23, 2002

Well, so much for what I thought was a new and improved sleeping schedule. Apparently last week was just a temporary thing. She's now back to going to sleep somewhere between 10:30 and 2 am and then sleeping for around 6 hours. I wouldn't mind this schedule at all if she were more likely to go to bed closer to the 10:30 side and not the 2 am side! Last night was pretty good; I think we got to bed at around 11:30, but the night before that she was completely WIRED until around 1:30 when she finally zonked out. I think she's also started to get into a bad habit of needing to nurse to fall asleep. She fights me about it all night because I'm trying to get her down to an eating schedule of no more than 40 minutes at a time (20 minutes each side) but she's not taking well to that. She's taken a pacifier in the past and still will pretty well for other people, but when it's me who is trying to get her to use that instead of me, she spits it right out. Sometimes she not only spits it out but makes gagging noises too. :-) Okay, okay, I get the picture, you don't want that! She's also recently started to find her thumb (as opposed to sucking on her whole fist or wrist) but it too usually makes her gag because she sticks it too far in. Of course it's obvious she has my family's overactive gag reflex so pretty much anything put more than halfway into her mouth is bound to make her gag. :-)

Today's main topic of discussion: hair. Specifically, mine and Natalie's. I think Natalie is starting to get curly hair. And potentially not just curly but REALLY curly, like my mom's. I've noticed the last few days that right after I give her a bath, her hair on the top of her head, where it is really growing, kind of fuzzes up. And then yesterday (when I hadn't washed her hair in a couple of days so it was really doing its own thing) I noticed all that hair going into just a couple small little curlies right on the top of her hair. We'll known for sure once she starts growing more hair, but I don't think she has Phil or my poker straight hair, that's for sure. Hopefully it will just be little ringlets and not QUITE as tight curly as my mom's. If it is though, at least we'll know how to deal with it since mom spent most of her life figuring it out already! Natalie's hair is still a light, sort of strawberry blonde though, like Phil's sister Julie. (We noticed about a month ago while looking at Phil's family baby pictures that Natalie looks JUST like Julie as a baby. One picture I wouldn't have even guessed it wasn't Natalie.)

Okay, so now on to my hair. I'm finally losing all my thick pregnancy hair, and it's coming out with a vengence. Right about the start of my third trimester I had noticed that my hair was getting much thicker. Finally the really thin spot that I had acquired from the stress of when my mom had cancer was starting to be covered up. Up until around a month ago, none of that hair had fallen out, and since I'm nursing I'm still taking my prenatals vitamins so thought maybe the hair would stay. Well, I was wrong. It's now coming out by the handfulls. The bottom of the tub looks disgusting after every shower and if that wasn't enough, when I then run the comb through my hair before I blow dry it, it falls out all over my comb and on the counter, the floor, my shoulders...Ick. I hope it just finishes falling out soon. Not only do I not have time to do much with myself as far as putting on makeup and such these days, what makes me feel worse about the way I look is that every time I try to do my hair it just looks awful. The one thing that does make me feel good right now is that I've lost 40 pounds since I had the baby, so I'm actually weighing less than I did when I got pregnant! Though some things I used to wear STILL don't fit me because my whole body has changed shape. I did manage to finally fit back into my jeans about a week ago, though it's still a little tight around the belly but at least I could get them over my hips which wasn't possible post-partum. My feet still haven't gone back to their previous size though. I may just give up soon and have to get a bunch of new shoes; I've heard that shoe size could change permanently after having a baby.

Wow. This was GOING to be a short entry. So much for that!

May 20, 2002

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of when my pregnancy officially started. That is, at least as far as due dating and doctor's office records go. May 19th was the "LMP" date; the date of my last menstrual period, which is how pregnancies are dated. Natalie wouldn't be conceived for a couple more weeks still, but one year ago yesterday was the date the little egg that would become the little bean called Natalie was picked out and starting to grow! And now look what we've got! How could I have known how much things would change just one year later?

One of her latest things she likes to do is punch me in the chest while she's nursing. Which really is quite uncomfortable especially first thing in the morning when I'm feeling engorged. She must think doing that will help her get the milk out or something, because after she latches on her little arm and fist start going I'm still trying to figure out a way to discourage her from doing this. Holding on to her hand usually only helps for a few seconds! :)

This weekend Phil got her laughing so hard that she started to cry. When he was changing her, he played a game of "daddy loves your toes, and daddy loves your feet," etc etc all the way up to her head, and he said by the time he got to her face she was laughing so hard that tears came down. That little girl really loves her daddy. He can always get her to give him really big smiles!

May 16, 2002

Yay, I'm finally back online. Things are going really well. Like I said on Sunday, she's getting really big. And strong. She can sit up with support now, and sometimes she kicks her little legs out when she's on our laps and just stands right up against us. Before I know it she is going to be crawling, then walking, then... well, let's not rush it. As you can see from the new picture I posted above, she is just so very adorable. I know I'm biased, but still. :-) This is the first of two pictures we had taken at Sears for her 3-month pictures. We'll get the other one on the 30th. And if I can get my scanner hooked up to this computer soon, I'll post some more pictures too, including pictures from her first Easter, and the baby dedication at our church, which was in the middle of April. She's smiling and often laughing all the time now. The first time she laughed was the Sunday following Easter Sunday (I've lost track of all dates - the only reason why I knew today's so readily is because Star Wars opens today, sad I know.). I was out in the lobby feeding her, and while I was burping her, one of my friends came out and said hello, and asked to hold Natalie. Within seconds she gave her a big smile and the next thing I knew she was giggling. I tell you, nothing warms my heart more these days than seeing her whole face grin and hearing that giggle. Speaking of feeding, the last time I posted we were still having some feeding difficulties. RIght after that week, Natalie decided she didn't like the breast shield anymore. Hurray! She gave it up as decidedly as she had been demanding that I use it before. She screwed up her little nose and turned her head away. So, I took it off and she actually breastfed normally, and that's how it's been ever since. Now she can't stop eating. It's her favorite thing to do, that's for sure. She still has the reflux which is still causing her to want to eat (for soothing) all the time, and she still spits up and vomits quite a lot, but I know she's getting food down because she's definately growing!

The other really good area right now is that she is regularly sleeping through the night now. At about 6 weeks she started going to bed anywhere between 11 and 2, sleeping between 5 to 6 hours a night, then getting up for a couple hours and then going back to sleep for a few hours more. It got to be a good pattern. We'd all get up for the early morning feeding, then I'd put her back to bed and could get some things done or go back to bed myself. Now, ever since this Sunday night, she's been usually falling asleep earlier and sleeping until around 8 or 8:30. It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for a new mom! I didn't think feeling so normal would be possible there that first month or so! Natalie typically then takes only little catnaps all day long, usually not longer than 15 or 20 minutes. So our days usually consist of lots of feedings, changing diapers, playing on the floor and reading books, and an exciting afternoon excursion out to the mailbox. I didn't think I'd like staying home with her as much as I do. Even thinking back 6 months I probably would have thought it al sounded so incredibly boring, and it is at times, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love being with her. I secretly even like diaper changes because she's always really alert and talkative during those times. It's definately been a change of lifestyle for us, for me to stay home, but I feel so blessed. I had no idea just how much I would love our baby. I knew I would love her, but it's so much more than I could have imagined.

Let's see, things Natalie likes at 3 months old: she likes mirrors and some of her rattly toys (though I needent have worried about having enough toys coming home from the hospital - she's just now starting to actually pay any attention to them!) and lately she's started batting at the rollers and noisemakers on her activity boards. It makes me so proud of her to see her using her hands to move around dials and turn rattles! Natalie seems to enjoy worship time at church but then usually right when Pastor starts to preach she decides it's time to eat again so I've sat through very few whole sermons these past few months!

I know there was a lot more I wanted to write for this first entry in two months, but now sitting here I'm forgetting lots of things. Now that I have online access I'll be able to pop over and write things down much easier though! There are so many things, so many milestones, that happen every day and I've often thought, I really need to write this down so I don't forget! But then I have. I haven't even started Natalie's scrapbook yet, which pains me. Everything I want to put in it is all in a stack, together, but I really want to get it done before I forget lots more details.

May 12, 2002

I've been away for so long, I know. Phil moved into his office and took our computer with him, so I've been completely computer and Internet-less since then! We just got another one for home though, and as soon as we get it all connected I'll post a real update. (Right now I'm on my grandma's computer - we're over here for dinner for mother's day- my first! :-) ) We also just got Natalie's 3-month pictures taken yesterday and it is completely adorable, so I'll get that posted. She's 15 pounds now and 25 1/2 inches long. (That's 96% on weight and off the charts on height.) She's a big girl, and so very, very cute.

I promise I'll write more soon now that I have a computer again!!!



	May 30, 2002 Natalie is definately starting to teeth. (teethe?) She's been chewing on just about anything that goes into her mouth, including her trusty spit up rags. Fortunately she has yet to use me as a chew toy when she nurses; I hope it continues that way. At her doctor's appointment at the beginning of this month, Dr. Kern told us he felt teeth getting close to coming through, which didn't surprise us because she was drooling a lot more, but within the last week it's gotten even more so. So now she has constant drip coming out of her mouth. You can tell she's just not been feeling well. We've given her Tylenol a couple times and it seems to help .She's been spitting up and vomiting a lot more the last few days too, I don't know if it's related to teething or not. All I know for sure is that it's been pretty tiring because she can't seem to be put down for a nap at all. As soon as I try putting her down in her Pack N Play or her crib for a nap, both places that she lays flat (as opposed to being held in my arms) she starts to spit up so she doesn't stay asleep. So mostly I've been holding her a lot the last few days, at least that way she is able to sleep for a little while. She's still sleeping at night, though it's in her little bassinet in our bedroom still, because we have the mattress angled up on one end to keep her head up. She's already way too big for that bassinet though, when she stretches out she can touch all four sides. This week's cute thing that Natalie is doing: when we change her diaper, she's now bringing her legs up for us as we get ready to put on the new diaper, and she does the same thing with putting on pants too. Of course to Phil and I we just think this shows her natural genius coming through. Which of course she is. :-) May 23, 2002 Well, so much for what I thought was a new and improved sleeping schedule. Apparently last week was just a temporary thing. She's now back to going to sleep somewhere between 10:30 and 2 am and then sleeping for around 6 hours. I wouldn't mind this schedule at all if she were more likely to go to bed closer to the 10:30 side and not the 2 am side! Last night was pretty good; I think we got to bed at around 11:30, but the night before that she was completely WIRED until around 1:30 when she finally zonked out. I think she's also started to get into a bad habit of needing to nurse to fall asleep. She fights me about it all night because I'm trying to get her down to an eating schedule of no more than 40 minutes at a time (20 minutes each side) but she's not taking well to that. She's taken a pacifier in the past and still will pretty well for other people, but when it's me who is trying to get her to use that instead of me, she spits it right out. Sometimes she not only spits it out but makes gagging noises too. :-) Okay, okay, I get the picture, you don't want that! She's also recently started to find her thumb (as opposed to sucking on her whole fist or wrist) but it too usually makes her gag because she sticks it too far in. Of course it's obvious she has my family's overactive gag reflex so pretty much anything put more than halfway into her mouth is bound to make her gag. :-) Today's main topic of discussion: hair. Specifically, mine and Natalie's. I think Natalie is starting to get curly hair. And potentially not just curly but REALLY curly, like my mom's. I've noticed the last few days that right after I give her a bath, her hair on the top of her head, where it is really growing, kind of fuzzes up. And then yesterday (when I hadn't washed her hair in a couple of days so it was really doing its own thing) I noticed all that hair going into just a couple small little curlies right on the top of her hair. We'll known for sure once she starts growing more hair, but I don't think she has Phil or my poker straight hair, that's for sure. Hopefully it will just be little ringlets and not QUITE as tight curly as my mom's. If it is though, at least we'll know how to deal with it since mom spent most of her life figuring it out already! Natalie's hair is still a light, sort of strawberry blonde though, like Phil's sister Julie. (We noticed about a month ago while looking at Phil's family baby pictures that Natalie looks JUST like Julie as a baby. One picture I wouldn't have even guessed it wasn't Natalie.) Okay, so now on to my hair. I'm finally losing all my thick pregnancy hair, and it's coming out with a vengence. Right about the start of my third trimester I had noticed that my hair was getting much thicker. Finally the really thin spot that I had acquired from the stress of when my mom had cancer was starting to be covered up. Up until around a month ago, none of that hair had fallen out, and since I'm nursing I'm still taking my prenatals vitamins so thought maybe the hair would stay. Well, I was wrong. It's now coming out by the handfulls. The bottom of the tub looks disgusting after every shower and if that wasn't enough, when I then run the comb through my hair before I blow dry it, it falls out all over my comb and on the counter, the floor, my shoulders...Ick. I hope it just finishes falling out soon. Not only do I not have time to do much with myself as far as putting on makeup and such these days, what makes me feel worse about the way I look is that every time I try to do my hair it just looks awful. The one thing that does make me feel good right now is that I've lost 40 pounds since I had the baby, so I'm actually weighing less than I did when I got pregnant! Though some things I used to wear STILL don't fit me because my whole body has changed shape. I did manage to finally fit back into my jeans about a week ago, though it's still a little tight around the belly but at least I could get them over my hips which wasn't possible post-partum. My feet still haven't gone back to their previous size though. I may just give up soon and have to get a bunch of new shoes; I've heard that shoe size could change permanently after having a baby. Wow. This was GOING to be a short entry. So much for that! May 20, 2002 Yesterday was the one year anniversary of when my pregnancy officially started. That is, at least as far as due dating and doctor's office records go. May 19th was the "LMP" date; the date of my last menstrual period, which is how pregnancies are dated. Natalie wouldn't be conceived for a couple more weeks still, but one year ago yesterday was the date the little egg that would become the little bean called Natalie was picked out and starting to grow! And now look what we've got! How could I have known how much things would change just one year later? One of her latest things she likes to do is punch me in the chest while she's nursing. Which really is quite uncomfortable especially first thing in the morning when I'm feeling engorged. She must think doing that will help her get the milk out or something, because after she latches on her little arm and fist start going I'm still trying to figure out a way to discourage her from doing this. Holding on to her hand usually only helps for a few seconds! :) This weekend Phil got her laughing so hard that she started to cry. When he was changing her, he played a game of "daddy loves your toes, and daddy loves your feet," etc etc all the way up to her head, and he said by the time he got to her face she was laughing so hard that tears came down. That little girl really loves her daddy. He can always get her to give him really big smiles! May 16, 2002 Yay, I'm finally back online. Things are going really well. Like I said on Sunday, she's getting really big. And strong. She can sit up with support now, and sometimes she kicks her little legs out when she's on our laps and just stands right up against us. Before I know it she is going to be crawling, then walking, then... well, let's not rush it. As you can see from the new picture I posted above, she is just so very adorable. I know I'm biased, but still. :-) This is the first of two pictures we had taken at Sears for her 3-month pictures. We'll get the other one on the 30th. And if I can get my scanner hooked up to this computer soon, I'll post some more pictures too, including pictures from her first Easter, and the baby dedication at our church, which was in the middle of April. She's smiling and often laughing all the time now. The first time she laughed was the Sunday following Easter Sunday (I've lost track of all dates - the only reason why I knew today's so readily is because Star Wars opens today, sad I know.). I was out in the lobby feeding her, and while I was burping her, one of my friends came out and said hello, and asked to hold Natalie. Within seconds she gave her a big smile and the next thing I knew she was giggling. I tell you, nothing warms my heart more these days than seeing her whole face grin and hearing that giggle. Speaking of feeding, the last time I posted we were still having some feeding difficulties. RIght after that week, Natalie decided she didn't like the breast shield anymore. Hurray! She gave it up as decidedly as she had been demanding that I use it before. She screwed up her little nose and turned her head away. So, I took it off and she actually breastfed normally, and that's how it's been ever since. Now she can't stop eating. It's her favorite thing to do, that's for sure. She still has the reflux which is still causing her to want to eat (for soothing) all the time, and she still spits up and vomits quite a lot, but I know she's getting food down because she's definately growing! The other really good area right now is that she is regularly sleeping through the night now. At about 6 weeks she started going to bed anywhere between 11 and 2, sleeping between 5 to 6 hours a night, then getting up for a couple hours and then going back to sleep for a few hours more. It got to be a good pattern. We'd all get up for the early morning feeding, then I'd put her back to bed and could get some things done or go back to bed myself. Now, ever since this Sunday night, she's been usually falling asleep earlier and sleeping until around 8 or 8:30. It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for a new mom! I didn't think feeling so normal would be possible there that first month or so! Natalie typically then takes only little catnaps all day long, usually not longer than 15 or 20 minutes. So our days usually consist of lots of feedings, changing diapers, playing on the floor and reading books, and an exciting afternoon excursion out to the mailbox. I didn't think I'd like staying home with her as much as I do. Even thinking back 6 months I probably would have thought it al sounded so incredibly boring, and it is at times, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love being with her. I secretly even like diaper changes because she's always really alert and talkative during those times. It's definately been a change of lifestyle for us, for me to stay home, but I feel so blessed. I had no idea just how much I would love our baby. I knew I would love her, but it's so much more than I could have imagined. Let's see, things Natalie likes at 3 months old: she likes mirrors and some of her rattly toys (though I needent have worried about having enough toys coming home from the hospital - she's just now starting to actually pay any attention to them!) and lately she's started batting at the rollers and noisemakers on her activity boards. It makes me so proud of her to see her using her hands to move around dials and turn rattles! Natalie seems to enjoy worship time at church but then usually right when Pastor starts to preach she decides it's time to eat again so I've sat through very few whole sermons these past few months! I know there was a lot more I wanted to write for this first entry in two months, but now sitting here I'm forgetting lots of things. Now that I have online access I'll be able to pop over and write things down much easier though! There are so many things, so many milestones, that happen every day and I've often thought, I really need to write this down so I don't forget! But then I have. I haven't even started Natalie's scrapbook yet, which pains me. Everything I want to put in it is all in a stack, together, but I really want to get it done before I forget lots more details. May 12, 2002 I've been away for so long, I know. Phil moved into his office and took our computer with him, so I've been completely computer and Internet-less since then! We just got another one for home though, and as soon as we get it all connected I'll post a real update. (Right now I'm on my grandma's computer - we're over here for dinner for mother's day- my first! :-) ) We also just got Natalie's 3-month pictures taken yesterday and it is completely adorable, so I'll get that posted. She's 15 pounds now and 25 1/2 inches long. (That's 96% on weight and off the charts on height.) She's a big girl, and so very, very cute. I promise I'll write more soon now that I have a computer again!!!