9 Months with Ellie

9 Months?  Is my baby really 9 months old?  I really can't wrap my head around that.  The idea that she will be 1 in 3 short months is completely mind boggling. 

Changes/Developments
No crawling yet, but Ellie likes to sit and spin around.  She can push herself backwards while on her tummy, so she can move places, but can't move herself forward so she ends up backing herself into corners a lot!

She has 2 teeth coming in!  The bottom two in front.  I was surprised one day when I felt them in her mouth because she hadn't been acting fussier than usual - I figured when her first teeth started to cut through that she would be a teething mess, but she has been quite good!  Fingers crossed she stays that way while the rest come in!

She has been babbling a ton recently and she has made some sounds that sound like "dada" although she doesn't refer to Brian when she says "dada" so it is up for some debate whether this is just babbling or her first word. 

She is very curious, loves to look around at people and when she is in the mood she gives people big smiles.  No sign of stranger danger yet - it takes her about 30 seconds to warm to people and give out a smile.  


Sleep
We realized that at 8 months Ellie should be able to sleep through the night (she had been waking up once per night for the last few months) so we let her cry it out one night (which was not fun or easy) but from that point forward she has slept through almost every night.  It is amazing.  People tell you how their baby sleeps from 7 pm to 7 am and you don't quite believe it when your baby is say, 3 months old, but then your baby gets the hang of this sleep thing and it is the best thing ever.  Most nights she sleeps from 7 pm until 6:30 am or 7 am.  

Naps are decent depending on the day.  Today she took a 2 hour nap in the morning and a 1 hour nap in the afternoon, which is much better than she normally does - i think she is still tired from our vacation this past week where she napped terribly!  Most days she will do a 45-60 min morning nap and a 1-2 hour afternoon nap.  

Feeding
We are still breastfeeding as her predominant method of food, but she gets 2-3 solids in a day.  She is eating more solids now, including some finger foods like cut up peaches, puffs and baby mum moms.  She has a 50% average on getting finger foods into her mouth and Winnie knows just where to stand when Ellie is in her high chair. 

Mama Stuff

The runs with Ellie in the jogging stroller are going well, although I average about 1 minute per mile slower when jogging with the stroller.  I consider running with the stroller my "strength training" to make me faster when I run without it!  I have loved being able to run 4 times a week and I hope to sign up for some road races in the fall.  

I had been stressing pretty badly with work for the past month or so, luckily having last week off has allowed me to completely disconnect from work and not think about it.  I often stress myself out and end up not being able to sleep at night.  I wish I could find a good way to clear my mind of work stuff while I sleep, but so far nothing seems to work.  

With Labor Day approaching I am starting to get sad about the New England weather starting to change.  I have loved being able to take Ellie and Winnie for walks most days and I am nervous what indoor life will be like come winter time.  I need to start writing down different activities that we can do over the winter!

First Family Vacation

We just got back from our first official family vacation!  

We rented a small house on a lake for a week up in New Hampshire for just Brian, Ellie, Winnie and I.  We were a little late in booking the place, but we were lucky to find something that allowed us to bring our dog and was in our price range.  I think we packed up our entire house (just to give you an idea of how much we packed: we had to take 2 cars.  Yup that is right....I drove up 1 car and Brian drove up another car and they were both PACKED to the brim.) Luckily the house was only about an hour and a half drive from our home!

The house was on Sunrise Lake, which is a small and quiet lake.  The house had a nice little beach where we could sit out in the sand and play in the water. 

 We spent most days hanging out at the house.  Brian and I would take turns either going for runs or biking in the mornings and then when the weather warmed up we would sit out on the beach.  

I must say that while the vacation was fun and relaxing, vacationing with a baby is MUCH different than vacationing with just Brian.  There was much less down time and we were a bit limited in activities.  That being said, I think this type of vacation was ideal for our first extended time away from home. We were able to do things at a slow pace and bring whatever we wanted with us. 

 Winnie had a lot of fun playing fetch in the water

 Enjoying my favorite beer and some wings!

 Ellie and Winnie enjoying the beach

 Ellie and Me

 Ellie feeling the sand in her toes!

 

Brian preparing the fire

8 Months with Ellie!

Changes/Developments
Ellie has mastered sitting on her own.  The nice thing about this is now she can be in a regular stroller without her infant seat, which gives her more space and allows us to adjust the incline.  I have had her in the front of a shopping cart now and that makes doing errands a lot easier than putting her in a carrier or using the click n go type stroller with limited basket space.  She loves to look at everything going on in the supermarket and smile at people.  

She is definitely a happy baby.  She loves when we give her raspberries on her tummy and can make the raspberry sound herself. Several times a day we get great coos and belly laughs which are amazing. She is rarely in a bad mood and usually only cries when we put her in her car seat and she doesn't want to be in it.  She will whimper if we put her down on her mat and she wants to be carried instead.  She has taken up whimpering when she is unhappy about what is going on. 

She can sit and play on her own for a bit on her mat with her toys, but she prefers to be with people playing or being carried around facing out.  

She loves to play on the grass and tries to stick the grass in her mouth.  She is drooling a lot now, but still no teeth poking through.  Her babbling has increased and now she makes sounds like "mamamama" but it isn't the "true" mama that i am looking for, because she isn't referring to me when she makes these sounds. She still loves making loud noises just because she can/wants to see how loud her voice can get.  

Sleep
She is still waking up once per night to eat, usually between 3-4:30 am.  Occasionally she goes until 5:30 am, but not usually.   It isn't too terrible, because usually I just nurse her and she goes back to sleep and I go back to sleep, but sometimes I can't get back to sleep and that kind of stinks.

Feeding
We are still breastfeeding as her predominant method of food, but she gets 2-3 solids in a day.  We have started giving her puffs and mum-mum crackers as well and she is doing good getting things into her mouth.  She is eating a lot more of the pureed foods than the first few weeks when she was just starting out with solids.   Her pop has changed over from being that nice not too smelly breastfed only poop to being solid older baby type poop. 

Mama Stuff

Now that Ellie is sitting up on her own I have started taking her on runs in the jogging stroller.  This is great because previously I could only go for runs when Brian was around to watch her.  Now I can just take her with me, so I am getting in a lot more runs.  It is a lot of work to push her uphill in the jogging stroller, but it makes for a good workout!

We haven't been on any far away trips lately, but we did a few fun things this month:

Cape Cod for the 4th of July


Watched daddy's triathlon and wore my track suit
 
Picnic in the park
 
Fire truck day in town

 
Day trip to Boston



And this one is just plain cute

Breastfeeding Update

I have been meaning to write a post about breastfeeding for a while now.  I wanted to write down my experience for others because this was something that I read a lot about before giving birth, but didn't really know what to expect.  

Leading up to Birth
I knew that breastfeeding was important to me and I wanted to learn as much as I could about it so that I would have the knowledge to address any issues once Ellie was here. I read a few books on breastfeeding.  The Nursing Mother's companion was one of my favorites for reference both before and after having Ellie.  



The books discussed different hold techniques for the baby (and it is funny to admit now, but I would practice with a stuffed animal).  They also discussed how to get your baby to properly latch on and what a proper latch looks like.  

I am glad I did a lot of ready ahead of time, but once Ellie came it was clear that breastfeeding with a real baby is a lot different than with a stuffed animal :) .  

Before she was here I also asked some family members, who were new mothers, advice about breastfeeding.  Specifically pumping, what breastfeeding supplies to get, etc.  I will write up some breastfeeding supplies at the end of this post. 

Right After Birth
I had read that allowing the new baby to breastfeed right after birth was a good thing since it allowed skin to skin contact, helped contract my uterus and allow the placenta to be delivered easily, establish early breastfeeding.

I was lucky that I was able to hold Ellie right after she came out and she was able to latch on and nurse right in the delivery room.  I remember her little head bopping over to my breast, like she knew where she was going! 

I remember in the first few days, weeks, it was tricky to get her to latch on correctly, she didn't want to open her mouth very big, which resulted in some pain on my end.  Every time I nursed the first week I would feel contractions in my uterus, they weren't terribly painful (nothing like real contractions) but they weren't super comfortable either.  At this point Ellie was eating pretty frequently - probably every 2 hours or so.  I was able to have the lactation consultant watch Ellie latch and give me some pointers, and that was very helpful.  

While in the hospital Ellie was nursing on the colostrum that my body produced.  I think maybe 3 days after having her my milk came in and my breasts got giant and engorged.  This went away after maybe a day or two, but they were pretty rock hard and full for that day or so and it was pretty uncomfortable.  I didn't know whether they would stay like that forever!  Fortunately that is just what happens when your milk first comes in. 

First Few Weeks
This is the real tricky part.  You have probably read that babies eat every 2-3 hours at first, but sometimes people don't know that you count from the beginning of the feeding (not at the end) so in the first month Ellie would wake up at 11 pm, feed for 45 minutes, go back to sleep at 11:45pm and then be back up at 1 am to eat again.  Luckily this stage only lasted about 6 weeks and then she stretched out her night time feedings quite a bit.  I just remember breastfeeding taking FOREVER at the beginning.  She would often fall asleep while feeding and I would have to wake her up and urge her to keep going.  Luckily she quickly got the hang of things and now feeds maybe 5-10 minutes and is done!  We have come a long way from the 45 minute feedings!

During this time I mostly stayed in what we dubbed "the nest" which was a corner of our sofa with the chaise where I had pillows, my phone, the remote control and a notebook. I spent hours in "the nest" the first few weeks of Ellie's life since it felt like i was almost always nursing her or she was sleeping on me in this cozy space.  I made it so everything I needed (drinks, snacks, etc) was within reach.  


Going Back to Work
I used my breast pump maybe once a day while on maternity leave, but once I went back to work I started using it a lot!  I pump 2-3 times per day at work and I would have to say it is the thing I like least about breastfeeding.  I stresses me out at some points knowing that I have to carve out time from work to go pump and that if I don't pump enough during the day that I will have to dip into my limited frozen stash to get Ellie enough milk to eat while I am at work.  

Despite the annoyance of pumping at work, I am glad I was able to keep up with breastfeeding once I returned to work.  Ellie has been a healthy baby since she was born and I think part of that is due to breastfeeding.  

Starting Solids
I thought that once Ellie started solids at 6 months that she wouldn't be drinking as much milk, but she is pretty much drinking about the same amount.  Since she only has 2-3 solid meals a day and they are vegetables and fruits at this point, she isn't getting much additional calorie intake from them, and still needs a lot of milk. 

The Benefits
Breastfeeding at the beginning was tiring, and a bit stressful, but I am glad I stuck with it long enough to reap the benefits of it.  Now I really enjoy our "alone" time together where I can bond with her in a way that only I can.  It is a good "forced cuddling" time where we can have a quiet moment together during the day/night.  

Another main benefit is that breastfeeding burns a ton of calories, it is great for losing baby weight. 

So that is my breastfeeding plug!  Compared to the breastfeeding stories I have heard from others, I consider myself very lucky that I haven't had to deal with issues like latch issues, supply issues, etc.  I give major props to the women who pushed through these things to keep breastfeeding. 


Some good advice I received was to get the following:

*Bottles that are the same brand as your pump so you know they will fit (I got a Medela pump)

*Buy a few of the 5 oz bottles first because babies don't really drink all that much milk at a time when they are young

*Buy storage bags you can freeze milk in

*Some sort of breastfeeding pillow can be helpful, I have the boppy, but honestly I think I used normal pillows/blankets more than the boppy

*Get a nursing cover you are comfortable with if you will be feeding in public a lot and want to cover up.  I haven't fed in public all that often, but having something with me gave me the confidence to do so if I needed to.  I purchsed this from etsy:

It looks like a normal infinity scarf (and you can use it as one) but you can also tuck the baby under their and nurse her and it doesn't have the tell tale "nursing cover" look that most covers have.  





*Nursing pads - at first I bought the disposable ones, but I was using them nightly so I wanted something that I could reuse.  I ended up getting some cloth ones that I can put through the wash, and those are fine, but move around a lot inside my nursing night bras, so I am still not 100% happy with them.  

*Nursing tanks.  Target has great ones.  They aren't expensive (I think $20 each), have solid straps and are durable. I would recommend these over the motherhood maternity ones I bought. 

*Night bras - these are soft material bras that are good to keep the nursing pads in place. If I didn't wear nursing pads at night I probably wouldn't need night bras. 

*Nursing bras for the day - I got mine at motherhood maternity and they work well - I have some that are lacy and aren't too "old woman" looking.  

My goal has always been to nurse Ellie until she reaches 12 months.  I am not sure if I will stop after that, but I want to at least go until that point. 

I think that about does it!  Hopefully this was helpful!

7 Months with Ellie!

Talking changes/development
 It is like Ellie has discovered that she has a voice this month, and she can make that voice sound as loud as she would like!  She has taken to letting out big yells (not in a sad or unhappy way, just a "here I am world" way).  She also enjoys talking to herself in her crib before and after her naps. 

She has started to sit by herself.  She can stay sitting by herself for a while if she is on a flat surface. Usually she ends up toppling over when Winnie decides this is a good opportunity to lick her face.  

She is rolling over more from tummy to back, but not the other way around yet. If I put her down on her play mat she will do some circles, but doesn't really move forward.  I have taken her to some music classes where there are other babies that are between 8-11 months old and are all crawling.  I can see Ellie watching the other babies and really wants to get up and go with them, but just isn't there yet.  She loves to kick her legs all day long - she never stops!


Mama Stuff
Working reduced hours is going well, although I find I can't be as social at work because when I am in the office I have to be all business in order to get my work done.  I really enjoy the weeks where I am home on Tuesdays and Fridays with Ellie.  This mix seems to be working out well for me - I have my work time and my Ellie time. 

I usually get in 2 runs a week now in addition to almost daily walks around the neighborhood with Winnie. I still feel like I should be doing more fitness wise, but there just seems to be so much other stuff to do instead.  

Sleep
Ever since 4.5 months Ellie has started waking up a bit earlier for the first time.  She usually wakes up between 3-4:30 for the first time.  I feed her, change her and then she falls back asleep quickly, which is good.  The problem is that I often have a tough time going back to sleep after this wake up.  Her typical night is now going to sleep around 6:45/7pm then waking up once between 3-4:30 am then waking up for good at 7-7:30 am.   

Her naps have definitely become more predictable.  She usually takes her first nap at 9 am for about an hour.  Then a quick nap at noon time for maybe 30-45 minutes and another nap around 3pm for maybe an hour.  I can see her dropping the midday nap in the coming month, but she needs it now to quickly recharge for the afternoon.

Feeding
We started out solids a little before she turned 6 months old.  She wasn't really into rice cereal or bananas.  Recently I tried peas, carrots and sweet potatoes (baby food from whole foods) and she really likes these!  She will grab the spoon out of my hands and shove it into her mouth.  It gets quite messy but I love to see her covered in green or orange food - it is so cute!

Father's Day Weekend Trip
We met up with Brian's parents to visit Ellis Island in NYC for father's day weekend.  It was nice not having to drive all the way to PA to see them, but getting in and out of the city with a baby and a dog was quite challenging!  We had to drag Ellie's pack n play and Winnie's crate among other belongings into Queens to stay with Brian's friends one night, then back out and to my aunt and uncles house in NJ for the next night.  I think the moral of the story is to stay in one place when traveling! Ellie was a champ and took her first boat ride and was very well behaved.  

Here is Ellie and Daddy at Ellis Island

 

Feelings Thoughts
Ellie has come so far since she was first born.  She has started to develop a personality (and it is a great smiley one!) as well as preferences (yes to sweet potatoes, no to bananas).  I love the fun and adorable baby she has become, but I do also miss some of the earlier things that she has outgrown. 
I miss the way I used to hold her- when she used to love being cradled in my arms, she doesn't sleep on me anymore and she only wants to face out when I carry her.  She changes so much and so frequently it boggles my mind!

Father's Day Takes on New Meaning

Ever since my father passed away nearly 6 years ago I have dreaded Father's Day.  The day seemed to get even more upsetting once we were dealing with infertility.  I had to look at pictures of my friends and family on social media celebrating what 1) I had lost and 2) what my husband and I couldn't make.  

Of course I would put on a happy face for the day and attend our family cookout.  And I do consider myself quite lucky that my 91 year old grandfather is still with us and I celebrated him.  

This was the first year that seemed to turn the corner for Father's Day.  Of course I still wish that my own father was still with us, but being able to celebrate Brian as a father this year definitely made it a day to look forward to.  

I pray that all of my blog followers that are struggling with IF get to feel this same joy in celebrating father's day when this day rolls around next year.  

6 Months with Ellie!

Talking changes/development Ellie continues to get stronger each week.  She loves to stand on her legs when you hold onto her.  She also doesn't like to face in while you carry her, she likes to face out so she can see what is going on.  She is very much more aware of the world around her now, and can sometimes get distracted when I nurse her. 

She is still rolling over from her tummy to her back, but not the other way around.  I signed us up for some music classes that we will attend on Tuesdays.  It is a bunch of other kids her age and the teachers sing songs, etc. I am interested in seeing if Ellie participates in it at all or if she is too young just now.

She likes to babble to herself when she has woken up in the morning and is still in her crib and it is really funny to listen to her "talk" to herself. 

Working Mom

I am officially on my reduced hours schedule now.  I really enjoying not having to log into my computer and do work during the days I am home with Ellie (most tuesdays and fridays).  We can do errands, take walks, etc I am really enjoying it.   

It is a bit challenging at work missing two days - i end up walking in to a lot of emails when I am working and I have to be super productive/efficient when I am in the office, but it is worth it. 

Sleep

Ellie is now fully transitioned to her crib.  She sleeps in a Magic Merlin sleep suit at night.  We usually put her to sleep between 6:45-7pm.  She would probably go down earlier, but we are usually just getting home from work at 6 pm, so we spend a little time with her and put her to bed.  Then we eat dinner after she is asleep. 

We did a bit of 'crying it out' when we transitioned her to the crib and it worked pretty well.  It went kind of like how the books say - first night was the worst, then it got better each progressive night.  Now she doesn't really cry when we put her to sleep at night.  Some nights she will cry for 5-10 minutes, but then will fall asleep.  It is nice because we used to spend 30-50 minutes each night walking around with her and soothing her until she fell asleep in our arms then we would transition her to her rock n play.  now we zip her up in her merlin suit and put her into bed and she is asleep within 10 min for the most part.  We have a lot more of our nights back to ourselves!  I am actually able to watch movies and read books at night!  

She went through a period of waking up once per night when we were transitioning her to the crib.  She would wake up between 2-4 usually and then again at 5:30 am.  This seems to be lessening now, and usually she won't wake for the first time until 5 am and I feed her and put her back to sleep and she will wake up around 7-7:30 am for the day. 

Naps are definitely more predictable than they used to be.  I count 1.5 hours from when she first wakes up and put her down for her morning nap at that time - usually between 8:30-9 am.  She will sleep anywhere form 30 minutes to 2 hours. She usually takes this nap in her crib.   Then she usually takes a midday nap around 11:30/12 pm.  This nap is most likely taken in her car seat either while we run errands or while we are on a walk. It is usually between 30 min to 1 hour.  The afternoon nap is also usually in her car seat on errands or a walk.  I find the later in the day the hard it is to get her to nap in her crib.  I will keep working on it though!  I usually take Winnie on the walks with me so she gets some good exercise and Ellie naps and I get fresh air!

Feeding

We started with some rice cereal this month as well as some bananas.  Ellie doesn't quite know what to make of it but I am sure she will start to enjoy solids more as we introduce different things.  I am really enjoying breastfeeding at this point.  It is so effortless.  I remember the first few months were tough - worrying about her latch and my supply, etc.  But now I just pop her on, she drinks quickly and we are done!  I still hope to breastfeed her until she is at least 1 year old. 

Body

Still feeling good.  I brought down my summer clothes from the attic this month and it was fun to try things on that fit again (I was mostly in maternity clothes last summer).  I feel a bit guilty that I don't exercise much (I go for a decent amount of walks and usually 1 run per week) I feel like I should be going on more runs or taking classes or something. 

Feelings/thoughts
I feel quite lucky that things are going so well with Ellie.  She hasn't been sick or had feeding issues, etc and I am very thankful for that.  She sleeps well and is a very smiley and happy baby when she is awake.  I think we hit the jackpot with her!  I feel like this is a fun age because she doesn't need to be held or soothed 24/7 and she can play with toys on her own on a limited basis. She is more interactive now. 

We were at a BBQ on Memorial day and two of the women are pregnant and asked me if we want more kids.  I quickly answered "yes" but then said "I hope so, but we had trouble having Ellie so I hope we can have more."
I have been thinking about this a lot more lately and Brian and I have been talking about it.  Whenever I put away some of Ellie's clothes because she has out grown them or a rock n play I think to myself "i really hope I get to use these again for another child"  

It may seem greedy to want another child and to start to think about it when we are already so lucky and blessed with Ellie, but I just love being a mom and I want Ellie to have a sibling.  I have this dream that I will breastfeed Ellie until she is 1 year old and then somehow my body will naturally go back to normal - I will get a period on my own and start to ovulate - none of which have happened for the last 10 years on my own, so I have no idea why I think this may actually occur after having her.  I think it is because now that we have Ellie, the whole infertility thing seems like it was a bad dream, but the truth is we will most likely have to go back to it to get her a sibling.  


And now some more pictures!

Eating her giraffe friend

 Winnie at the Memorial Day parade

 Ellie at the parade with her sweet shades pulled down

 

Ellie and Me at the parade

 

Ellie on mother's day

 

My mom, Ellie and I on mother's day