Day 6... How we're doing

Well, today my girl is 13 weeks old. She'll be 3 months tomorrow, and we have survived 6 working days so far!

Baby girl is doing great with her two aunties. Mama on the other hand is still having a hard time coping. I'm shedding a few tears every morning and race home to get her every evening. I'm told this is perfectly normal ;)

Sleep is even harder to come by, but I'm doing ok up until about 5 PM. That's when I start to really crash. On the bright side, I'm getting to work much earlier than before. I mean, when you get up at 5 AM to feed, pump and make bottles, there's no real reason to fall back asleep!

Everyone at the office has been amazing and supportive. I've only pumped in my car twice so far. I even have access to a lovely cubbie at the client's office to pump when I'm in Plano!

Caroline is taking the bottle ok. The first bottle feeding of the day seems to be the most challenging. Her first morning with my aunt, she only took 1 ounce of milk before napping, which triggered me to call Children's. They indicated that 1 ounce is the minimum that she should take in every 4 hours. Whew! Glad we know that now!!

Looking forward to the long weekend and more time with my girl. Daddy doesn't have any fishing plans this weekend either - so we should have plenty of family bonding time! Yeah!!

P.S, Here's a picture of her first day with aunt Lori another of her at her aunt kim's. I love that everyone has iPhones!

A new day... a new era

Well, the time has come. I have to return to work after 12 amazing weeks with the most beautiful, precious baby girl (and I'm not partial ;-)). How I choose to deal with this separation is a battle that I must wage between my rational and irrational self. The rational side of me knows that she is in VERY good hands. She will be loved unconditionally by two of the best people I know. The irrational side just wants to be near her all of the time. While I have been mentally preparing myself for this day for a long time (even before I was pregnant), nothing can really prepare you for the connection that you feel with your child. It's pretty much the most amazing, awe-inspiring relationship. She needs me and I need her. What a beautiful thing.


Enough of the heavy. On a positive note, I get to spend more time with my sister and my friends at work. If you have to work, it's nice to have your sister a few offices down the hall, along with a great group of wonderful friends to support you! I'm also lucky to work on an account with great clients who just so happen to office in Plano -- which on a good day, gets me that much closer to my girl!

Wish us luck :)

P.S. Check out Caroline's snazzy shoes from her aunt Heather! Still a little big. We can't wait to wear them one day!!

xoxo

my little honey badger

For those of you who are close to our family, you may know that we have referred to Caroline as our "little honey badger" since she was just a couple weeks old. The reference stems from a youtube video narrating the activities of a very hungry "don't care" honey badger. And our baby has been the same way. She wants to eat - doesn't care where, why or when... And, her momma has been acutely aware of her schedule due to the MCAD - so between the two of us, we managed to bring her from the 50% percentile for weight at 2 weeks to the 97% at 2 months. This, apparently is a huge jump. So much so, that the doctor told me to back off on the feedings. I was so offended! My girl needs to go on a diet???

While I don't want an overweight child, EVERYTHING I've read indicates that breastfed infants can not be overfed and that they typically gain weight faster at first. So, I'm listening to my gut and the ONLY change I'm making is my alarm (which is used as an FYI)to every 3 hours instead of 2. If she makes it to 3, great... If she wants to eat sooner, that's fine too.

On a similar note, I did get a little more clarity on the "3-4" hours between feedings until 5 months. The metabolic counselor said that they want parents to be actively feeding their child at 4 hours - instead of just starting the process of making the bottle at 4 hours. That clarification has been such a relief!! If we go 3 1/2 hours during the night, I don't have to feel guilty :) Every little bit helps, right?

So, in light of both of these changes, I feel like a free woman... Today was the first day that I let her go 3 hours and I got so much more accomplished!

For fun, click here for the honey badger video... fair warning - profanity is used (which we think makes it a funnier video) - but probably not safe to watch around your kids.