Changes

It's been tough to blog lately. I've found that every blog seems to be repeating the same thing... it's boring even me! But, lately we've had some changes, so I figured I'd come back to "blog land".

Nights have started to get better again. Aubrie's typically sleeping 8pm-3am, then up for a feed, then back to sleep till 7am. We've had 3 nights like this... and though I know it could change any day (and probably will), I've been enjoying it! It makes the days so much easier.

Naps are also getting better... particularly on days when we follow a usual routine. Aubrie's not a fan of change! Today, she's slept 2 naps in her crib (both about 45 minutes), plus her usual nap while on our walk. Definitely an improvement. She's so much happier between naps when she gets them in!

She's also starting to hold things more. She's always grasped fingers (and held on TIGHT), but now she's holding onto small toys with the same enthusiasm. She doesn't quite know that they are there, but it's a fun start!

And, she even rolled over the other night. May have been a fluke, but she was on her tummy after her bath (she's finally getting used to a little tummy time here and there), and boom... she was on her back!

That's all for now... she's calling me, so I'll have to keep this short! Hopefully I'll be back with more updates soon!

Magical pj's

I swear we have found ourselves some magical pj's. I didn't have any clean pj's to put Aubrie in last night that fit her well (tsk tsk), so I put her in the ones from the previous night, as they were still spill-free. Well, last night she slept 7 1/2 hours in a row, and woke up only once. The previous night it was 9 1/2 hours (yipee) 8 till 5:30 (then back to bed till about 8 or so). It has been fabulous. So what did I have to do tonight? I had to wash the pj's so she could wear them again. It's a sickness... it's like a play-off ritual. They aren't even cute pj's - they are polyester (which I hate, cuz they don't breathe well, I prefer to use cotton on her) and they are blue (my mom seems to think girls need colors other than pink), but hey - they work!!!

Days are still a little challenging, but I'm fighting through them and trying to get out more. After meeting several new moms in my area, we went out for a walk Friday and ended up being out for over 3 hours (stopped at a coffee shop and couldn't stop talking). It felt great to be out of the house, and the day FLEW by. Saturday I ended up feeling really cooped up in comparison, so today I took Aubrie to the mall. It wasn't entirely succesfull, but not terrifying either. I hope we can get out lots this week! Thanks so much everyone for all the positive thoughts and prayers. I'm not sure that her fussiness is decreasing much, but she does seem to be getting on more of a schedule (we're finding she can't be awake for more than about 45 minutes at a stretch), and we are coping well.

Ok, this was supposed to be a short post, as I should be heading to bed. Let's all cross our fingers for those pj's to do their trick!

It's not us!

For the last few weeks, I've struggled with lots of feelings that I'm just not cutting it very well as a mom. I knew motherhood would be tough, but hadn't quite expected what we've experienced thus far. Well, finally, yesterday... I got some "answers" as to why it is seeming so difficult. Here I thought that maybe I was just complaining too much... but no... apparently, Aubrie ranks up with only a "handful" of babies that a nurse of 35 years has ever witnessed. Meaning, only a few others have been as difficult as her! This nurse spent about an hour with Aubrie, while I was in the "mom's group" at the local Public Health Unit. It's just good to know that I'm not over-exaggerating things in my head, and that it's not just us - she's just a stubborn little strong-willed girl. And that, we love, even though it causes us hours and hours a day of angst and generally means that we can't take her out anywhere.

So, for now, we're working hard on forcing sleep on her (which seems to be the biggest problem - she just doesn't ever want to sleep, and she pushes herself past her limit and has melt-downs), trying to get a schedule (yikes, emphasis on word "TRYING") as the nurse felt that she would be the type of baby that would thrive on a schedule, and just basically coping day by day. It sucks that we have had to put so much on hold (I would love to go out shopping and what not, even run some errands), but hopefully it'll only be a few more months and things will improve. Oh, and that was the down-side of the chat with the nurse - she says that because it's not really typical colic, it won't get better at 3 months. Yay for us!

Her final check up with the midwife was good. She's up to 9 lbs 14 oz. We're also attemting chiropractic care for her, to ensure it's not a back strain issue (common with newborns).

Aaah, but the smiles are so worth it. Although we haven't yet gotten a picture of her "big" smiles (she tends to like to move a lot when she smiles, so none of the pics have turned out yet), we do have some little smiles to share...



Awww, how cute is she???

Mom worries...

Ok, I know I have officially become a mom when I lay WIDE awake at 2:30am because I can't figure out why my baby hasn't woken yet! Plus, it was the first 5 1/2 hour stretch of sleep I've gotten in about 3 months... and I felt like I had slept a year (and couldn't fall back asleep). She fed at 8pm, asleep by 8:30... slept past 2:30am. YAY! I actually had to go into her room to check on her cuz I was so worried. She was half awake at that point, and spotted me. She grinned, closed her eyes to go back to sleep, then opened them again, grinned, closed them, opened them and WAILED. Not sure if that was when she finally realized she was so stinkin hungry, or if she wasn't really awake the first two times, or if the whole process woke her up and she was mad. Doesn't matter! I fed her, she slept again till 5am, ate and went back to sleep, and now it's 7:30 and I still have a moment to blog before she's up for good. YIPEE.

So, I had started a blog yesterday about how horrible I'm feeling about her scream fests. I was coping so well, then I went to our "mom and me" class at the health centre, where they (being the nurses) really made me feel that it wasn't normal and that I should be having difficulties coping. The power of persuasion... yuck! So, I had a bit of a melt-down yesterday. But today I'm back to coping well. She screams sometimes... that's ok... she's a little high-strung. I've gotten about 10 different "analyses" as to why she's doing it and how to fix it (which really stressed me out, so please don't give me any more advice), but in the end, despite all the recommendations (many of which were totally unreasonable) I still know in my heart she's going to have really bad fussy times sometimes. I can accept that, and I love her anyways... so what does it matter!

Also, for those that think their baby is fussy... I heard on Tuesday what other mothers think fussiness is... I think I may need a new term for Aubrie's fussiness (cuz the other babies don't come close). I'm almost finding now that it's a bragging right - "you think your baby is fussy, listen to this!" (which shocked many other moms on Tuesday, as Aubrie screamed and screamed). It's kind of humourous. If you can think of a new, more violent term than fussy, do let me know. I'd love to use it!

Anyways, it looks like we're back on track for tough days and easy nights. I fully know that she will likely have more bad nights and stretches of bad nights, but I'm ok with that if I get the odd 6 hour stretch like last night! And here's hoping her excellent sleep will contribute to a happy baby today!