Once again, time is flying!

Little Leah is already 3 months old. Where the heck is all the time going? She's growing so fast. Stats from 2 month appointment:

11lbs7oz
22.5 inches

She jumped from 30th percentile to 75th percentile. She's got such chubby cheeks, I love it! She's getting heavy to carry around, too.

I don't write as much as I'd like to, or take enough pictures. Heck, in this picture, she's actually 3 months and 2 days, but I figure that's close enough to 3 months.

My parents will be visiting soon. My mom has seen her once since she was born, and my dad hasn't seen her since she was born. They're pretty excited.

She learned to laugh yesterday! She's sort of cooed when you tickled her for awhile. However, last night she laughed the most adorable laugh! It's a bit of a giggle/shriek. I am so in love. Also, we're pretty sure she has a dimple. :)

She's also started grabbing my hair recently. Uh oh! It might be enough to get me to cut my long hair short. Maybe. I do love having long hair. When I was younger, my mother always made me have short hair, so when I started being able to decide for myself, I decided to grow it much longer.

Breastfeeding is going well, I think. I've been at work for over a month and a half, and have pumped enough for her so far. In fact, we purchased a freezer recently to keep the stash. Otherwise, we were going to have to start throwing stuff out. I know that my supply could eventually dry up, so when we found a good deal, we jumped on it. Strangely enough, I like pumping at work, as it really breaks up the work day. Also, I love returning home and nursing her right away.

On more children

Last night, I was looking through pictures from Leah's birth, and I have to admit: I don't remember ever looking so pregnant. I always expected to get a lot bigger than I did, so I guess that's why I never noticed.

While looking at this picture, I missed pregnancy. I think about it more than I want to admit. And I can't wait to give our darling little girl a sibling or two. I've only known her for three months, but I bet she'd be a fantastic older sister. I'm torn. Part of me wants to give her a sibling close in age, while another part just wants time to enjoy her.

Almost 2 months!

In a few short days, my baby will be 2 months old. I can't believe it. It really does go by so quickly.

Work is still going well. Leah is sleeping through the night pretty consistently these days, so I'm not completely exhausted or anything. I have been pumping enough for her, plus a few ounces to freeze everyday. I like stocking up on milk in case I go through a period when my supply drops considerably or something.

Leah finally decided she liked the bouncer, which I'm glad about. I was starting to think it was a waste. She really enjoys the lights, and seems completely fascinated by them.

Her two month appointment is next week. I'm not looking forward to it, because she will be getting vaccinated. I don't know how I will handle it if she starts to sob inconsolably.

Returned to Work on Wednesday

Man, six weeks at home really flew by! Pregnancy goes by slowly, but time with a baby sure goes by quickly!

Returning to work wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I think the anticipation was worse than actually returning. I've been doing 2 pumping sessions. However, due to my husband's schedule, I'm going to be working 9 hour days 4 days a week, and will probably have to increase it to 3. So far, I've gotten enough for her, but I know that my supply might suffer after more weeks of pumping. We'll see.

Also, I had my postpartum appointment, and things have healed up nicely! Yay! :)

Things I never want to forget

Leah is growing up so quickly, and it has me thinking of what moments I want to remember when she's grown. So far I have:

• The feeling of her falling asleep on top of me as I sit reclined on the couch.
• The satisfied look on her face and the post-meal stretch she does after a feeding.
• I once heard my husband singing lullabies to her over the baby monitor when he didn't think I was listening. It made my heart swell.
• The cute noises she makes when she's waking up. I also love the look on my dog Popcorn's face when she hears this. She's not quite sure what to make of it.
• Leah staring me in the eye as she nurses. This is one of the reasons I love breastfeeding.
• The cute, crooked little yawn she has when she's sleepy.
  

I'm sure there will be more times like this, but I never want to forget these. I wish time would slow down a bit sometimes.

Leah is a month old!

I can't believe it's already been one month since my sweet daughter was born. Where the heck did the time go?

I'll be returning to work on August 24th. I will definitely miss my sweet girl. My current obsession is making sure I leave enough breast milk for her to eat while I'm gone. I'm nervous I'm going to fall behind. I'd really like to not supplement, though I know it's not the end of the world if that happens. My current plan is to pump before I go to work, pump twice at work, and pump once at night. Hopefully, that will give me enough. If not, I'll re-evaluate.

She's growing so fast! This week, she moved to size 1 diapers and is mainly in 0-3 clothes. A few of her newborn outfits fit, but not many. It makes me a little sad, honestly. However, I know it's a good thing that she's growing and gaining weight.

We took her to the drive-in twice this week. The first time, we saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Captain America, both great movies. She slept through both movies, waking up between them for a diaper change/feeding. In other words, couldn't have gone better. The second time, we saw Captain America again, as well as Cowboys and Aliens. She was a little fussier then, and cried a few times during the movies. Luckily, she calmed down fairly quickly.

And finally, some pictures of my little girl at one month old:


I'm also a huge fan of this one:


She does not look happy.

Things I Love

Taking care of a baby has been a learning process. We have quickly learned which products we can't live without.

Aden and Anais Blankets from Target
These are SO easy to swaddle with. I know a lot of people say the Target ones are inferior to the ones sold on the A&A website, but I love them. They are 4 for $30 as opposed to 4 for $50 for the regular ones. Leah only likes sleeping on a flat surface (like the crib) swaddled. In fact, after I got home and saw how well she slept in them, I went to Target and bought another pack.

Chicco Lullaby Pack n Play
We have a two story home, and during the day, like to keep her with us. We put this in the living room, and this is where she spends a lot of her time during the day. It also has a changing table that we use during the day. Love it!

Fisher Price Rainforest Swing
She loves the music that comes from it. Sometimes we just leave it playing all night. In addition, sometimes she won't go back to sleep after a night feeding, and we'll put her in the swing to rock her to sleep. Once she's nice and sleepy, we put her in the crib.

Diaper Genie II Elite
When Ray is changing the bag in this, I occasionally get a whiff of what's in that thing. It smells awful, but this diaper pail holds the smell really well. We actually have two! One downstairs and one in Leah's bedroom.