Olivia {4 Months Old}

Oh, Livvie Lou.

We love you.

And sometimes, I just have to say that over and over.

Because this girl has been the worst.sleeper.ever this month.

Seriously, awful.

So, so awful.

And of course it all started about a week before I went back to work.

Livvie has never been a good sleeper - not more than 2-4 hours at night, and she has always been a cat-napper (about 45 min or so).

The cat naps have stayed the same, but the sleeping at night turned into the cat-nap length.

Up every 45 min or so.

I am beyond tired.

It all started right at the 3 month mark. I thought it was 4 month sleep regression, not 3??

I even took her to the doctor about two weeks into it, pleading with the pediatrician to help me somehow.

I mean, can we drug her or something.

I kid...

But, I really thought she might have some sort of acid reflux because she had started waking up with a cough every morning that lasted an hour or two. I read that coughing was one of the main symptoms of acid reflux.

But, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Then, last week, my sister mentioned to me that my niece Kate had similar sleep patterns and that it was called the 45 minute intruder.

After some googling, I realized that this is 100% what is going on with Livvie.

A baby's sleep cycle is 45-50 minutes, and it's not uncommon for them to wake as they transition to the next one.

Except baby girl cannot self-soothe for the life of her and goes absolutely balistic.

I read that if you go in around the time that they usually wake and heavily lay your hands on them, they often will transition to the next cycle without waking because of feeling your presence.

I've started doing that with her naps and her first cycle at night right when we put her down, and it's definitely helped.

I don't always get there in time because sometimes she stirs earlier than expected, but more times than not, she has stayed asleep.

She has started doing some 3-4 hour chunks at night the past few days (nothing more), but I will take that over every 45 minutes.

I didn't opt for the cry it out because she just isn't ready.

And I'm so tired that I just don't think I can do the Ferber method.

Hopefully she starts to outgrow some of this, and we can start sleep training in the next month or two if she still isn't sleeping more than a few hours at a time.

We've tried to start a bedtime routine to try and improve nighttime sleeping.

It's seemed to help.

We do a bath around 6:30 and then I usually nurse her around 6:45.

She usually falls asleep while nursing or if she doesn't, I sing to her for a little bit until she starts to drift off.

She's starting to get more into a routine in terms of napping, which is nice.

She usually takes 3 naps/day (one around 8:30, then noon, and again about 3).

It all depends on how long she naps and if the 45 minute intruder wins out or not.

Probably not the 'oh, my baby is the sweetest' way to start off a monthly post, but no sleep can pretty much sum up this past month.

Onto some positives.

Livvie is still the most smiley baby, and people are always commenting on all the smiles she so freely gives out.

Nobody believes me that she can be fussy and an absolute terror at night because she really does put on quite a show when we are out and about.

She wants to be a part of all the action and loves looking around at what's going on (which is probably why she sleeps so awful - she probably overstimulates herself).

Some of her favorite activities are her floor mat and we recently started putting her in the exersaucer.

All she wants to do is stand when you try and hold her in your lap. And often times when she is on her back, she is doing crunches in an attempt to sit up.

As soon as you put her on her stomach, she immediately rolls onto her back.

At 3.5 months, she rolled from back to stomach for the first time. She has done it about 5-10 times since that over the past two weeks, but not as frequently as the stomach to back roll.

Livvie has become quite fond of her big brother, and she often gives him some of her biggest smiles and the most laughs.

Brings me so much joy to see them starting to interact.

He has also become very into her, in a very positive way, and the hitting has dwindled quite a bit.

She has also discovered her voice and loves hearing herself talk.

Cracks herself up.

And the noises she makes sound like animal sounds - she's got a good growl going and a pterodactyl screech.

I think she is going to be our vocal one.

The car continues to make her scream, but we put a rolled towel underneath to make it less angled, and that has seemed to help - not all the time, but it's better.

Today we had her 4-month check up, so here are her stats at 4 months:

Weight: 13 lb 3 oz (this is what Jack weighed at 2 months!) -30th %

Height: 24.5 in - 50th%

Head: 15.8 in - 30th%

Clothing Size: 3 month; 6 month for sleepers

Diaper Size: 2

Firsts: Rolling from back to stomach

I will try one day to blog more than just these updates, but right now...this is all I've got in me...

Olivia {3 Months Old}

Baby girl!

3 months old!

Love it and so excited for the next few months.

I remember loving months 3, 4, and 5 with Jack.

So much personality and no movement :)

  As I thought, Livvie is getting much easier. 

She is content to chill in the swing, bouncer, or her play mat for quite some time. It's nice to be able to set her down for a chunk of time and do something more than pee without having her scream.

But...she still screams every time we put her in the car?

It's like she knows as soon as we put her in her seat that she's going in the car because she starts to get mad. Then she's fine while I carry her to the car and set her down and get Jack buckled in.

But, as soon as I put the seat in the base, it's a matter of minutes before the screaming begins. And it doesn't stop.

I thought we were on the upswing for awhile there around the 2 month mark because she was starting to go some car trips without screaming.

We're back with the regular screaming now. When we went to Tahoe last week, I pretty much sat in the backseat the whole time, squished between the two carseats, so I could keep her calm. The paci seems to help.

Speaking of the paci, baby girl still loves it! Works magic with her.

Especially when trying to get her to fall asleep.

She fights sleep like none other (so different from Jack who fell asleep so easily).

This girl just doesn't seem to want to miss a thing. She will start getting fussy, so I will work on getting her to sleep, and she just gets angrier and angrier. When I finally give up and let her look around - happy as can be.

Rarely does she fall asleep without a fussy fit. Alas.

Livvie has discovered her hands and loves them!

She is always chomping on them.

She has also started grabbing onto toys while on her floor mat.

Oh, and the TV. Obsessed. She could stare at it all day if we let her.

And, we hit another milestone! 

Livvie rolled over from stomach to back for the first time on July 29th, a little before 11 weeks (right at 2.5 months). 

I was definitely surprised to see her do that, and thought it might have been a random accident.

But, she continues to roll almost every time she is placed on her stomach.

Cannot wait for her to roll back to stomach so I can let her sleep on her stomach because I think she will sleep so much better that way.

 

 

 

Sleep.

Ugh.

So rough.

She is still sleeping awful at night.

Every once in a while I get maybe 4-5 hours, but I feel like we are mostly on the 2-3 hour stretch stint.

To be honest, the nights are such a blur that I hardly remember them come morning...

I moved her into her own room and crib a few nights ago, hoping that she might sleep better there (because Jack started sleeping through the night once I moved him to his room - but I think that's because he also learned to roll to his stomach at that time).

But, her own room has not seemed to make a difference...wah.

 

She's still a super smiley baby - her face just explodes. 

I love just looking over at her, without saying anything, and she is just beaming.

Such a sweet addition to our family.

Jack loves her most of the time, and she is really starting to notice him.

He definitely makes her smile when he 'talks' to her or tries to play with her.

So cute to see them begin to interact. 

Livvie had her 3 month appointment to get her shots today (we are on an irregular shot timeline because we started them earlier than normal - 7 weeks instead of 2 months- because of the whooping cough outbreak going around here).

So...All About Livvie at 3 Months:

Weight: 11 lb, 15 oz (30th percentile)

Height: 23.5 in (40th percentile)

Head: 15.5 in (20th percentile)

Clothing Size: 0-3 Month/3 Month

Diaper Size: 1 or 2 - both fit

Eating: Every 2-3 hours

Napping: 3-4 'cat naps'/day (30-40 min) and usually one long one (1-2 hours)

Likes: Paci, bouncer, floor mat, hands, rolling, bath

Dislikes: The car, sleeping?

Firsts: Rolled at 11 weeks

Love you, sweet girl!

Lake Tahoe {2014}

Every summer for the past eight years, my family has been going up to Tahoe together. For about five years, we stayed at an awesome house in South Lake Tahoe that my dad's boss owned. They started renting it out full time though, so the past two summers we stayed at my sister and brother-in-laws cabin in Tahoe Donner. Last year was a little crazy with six adults and four kids (two which were under one) and only 3 bedrooms. So this year we decided we needed to do separate trips.

Jason and I usually do Tahoe plus an additional trip during the summer, but with a 2 month baby and 22 month toddler, this was all we were willing to take on. Even though we were only going up to Tahoe for a couple of days, Jason still took the whole week off as part of his paid family leave.

We started the weekend off by going to Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

On Monday we went to Capitola Beach.

  These two - all week. Love.

 

And I love this fun, colorful hotel that lines the beachfront.

 

On Wednesday we headed up to Tahoe. 

Traveling with two babies in no joke. 

So much stuff. 

Two pack-n-plays.

Two strollers (one double and one umbrella)

A bouncer.

A pump.

Lots of beach toys (plus, chairs, tent, umbrella)

And all the normal stuff you would bring on vacation.

We stayed in Squaw at Squaw Valley Lodge and it was great. 

We knew we needed a separate bedroom for Jack since he goes to bed so early and we also didn't want him waking in the middle of the night when Livvie woke.

We got a one-bedroom, which included a full kitchen and living room - about 700 sq. feet. It was perfect. Nothing fancy, but definitely nice, and a pretty good deal.

Plus, the location is so central to everything - 10 miles from Truckee/Tahoe Donner, 6 miles to Tahoe City, and about 15 miles to Kings Beach.

The Truckee River was just two miles from our place, and since we couldn't check in until 4, we walked the kids in the stroller along the river when we got into town.

So pretty. 

 

On Thursday we went to Tahoe Commons Beach. 

Crazy how little water there is in the Lake.

 

 

 While the kids napped, I enjoyed some alone time at the pool.

Jason brought the kids down after they woke so Jack could do some swimming.

He kept giving him and Jack matching mohawks.

That night we went to Tahoe City and walked along the lake.

A thunderstorm was about to start rolling in.

 

On Friday, we drove to King's Beach.

Jack had so much fun playing in the lake here since it was a little deeper.

He kept bending over and dunking his head in the water. So cute. 

 

Baby girl having a blast. Ha.
 

And a much needed family picture!

 

We left around noon and drove to Jason's grandparents, where we spent the rest of the weekend. They live about halfway between us and Tahoe, so we thought it would be a good way to break up the drive home (especially since baby girl screams whenever in the car). Plus, we wanted some of Jason's extended family to meet Olivia.

All in all, it was a great little family vacation. Traveling with 2 under 2 is definitely not easy, but so worth it. We had to come back in the middle of the day for nap time, order dinner in each night, and you still have to deal with a crying baby and tired toddler. But, I so needed to get out of town and have a change of scenery, and I'm glad we did it.

Olivia {2 Months Old}

I usually dread writing the monthly posts, but I have to say, I'm happy to have this last month behind us.

Two under 2 has had it's challenges, especially with this sweet baby girl of ours.

Livvie is definitely a screamer and wants to be held all.the.time.

Weeks 4-6 were especially tough, but we are finally starting to see the light.

Initially I could not put her down to do anything. 

Try to go pee: she screamed.

Try to make Jack lunch: she screamed.

The swing, the bouncer, the floor mat - scream.

The only place she seemed content to be (besides my arms) was on her changing table looking out the window. 

The last two weeks have brought some relief, as I can put her in the bouncer or swing for 10-20 minutes (or more), and she is content.

She has even started falling asleep on her own in the swing, whereas before she had to fuss herself to sleep while I bounced her up and down.

The carseat has been one of her least favorite places to be, so car rides have been quite brutal. But, like with everything else, she is getting better, and we have had a lot of drives now where she hasn't screamed at all. 

But, when Livvie isn't fussing, she is actually really happy. We like to say that her highs are high and her lows are low. She isn't a constant screamer/fusser like some babies. She just really wants to be held a lot. And when she gets angry, she's angry! But, when she's happy, she's very happy. She gives lots of smiles, and we don't even have to work for them. I can just look over at her and they start coming, without even having to talk to her.

She's also very vocal and a big coo-er.

Sleeping at night has been very inconsistent. I've been trying to put her down between 8 and 9. We'll get a few nights in a row where she'll give us a 5-6 hour stretch, and then she'll seem to revert back to the longest stretch being 3 hours. Her first stretch is 3-6 hours, but then it seems to go downhill from there, and I seem to be up every 2-3 hours after that. She's getting better at going back to sleep right after I nurse, whereas the fist month I seemed to be up with her for 1-2 hours sometimes. There are still nights where she has to sleep on my chest, which I don't like doing, but there really seems to be no other way for her to go back to sleep sometimes.

During the day she's a total cat-napper, usually only sleeping 30-40 minutes at a time. Some days she gives us one long nap around 2-3 hours, but I don't count on those to happen regularly.

In terms of eating, she's a snacker. I would say she eats every 1-3 hours. If she has a good nursing session, she can go 3 hours, but sometimes she doesn't eat very much, so she's wanting to eat again in an hour and half. I would say she averages eating about every 2 hours.

I really do think she is going to be a totally sweet and mellow girl once she gets past this fussy stage. I can already see her coming out of it, and I suspect my 3 month post will be much different.

All about Livvie at 2 months:

Weight: 10 lbs (40th percentile)

Length: 22 in (50th percentile)

Head: 14.75 in (50th percentile)

*measurements taken at 7 weeks (2 weeks before 2 months)

Clothing: 0-3 month/3 month starting at 6 weeks (still innewborn for some onesies)

Diapers: Size 1 (as of 6 weeks)

Eating: Averaging every 2 hours

Sleeping: All over the place: 2-6 hour chunks

First: Shots at 7 weeks

It's crazy to see how different Jack and Olivia are so far. 
First, they look nothing alike as babies. Jack was a total chunk, whereas Livvie is more average. Jack takes after Jason, whereas Olivia seems to be taking after my side of the family.
 Jack was not into the paci, Livvie chomps on that thing and when it falls out, all hell breaks loose.
 Jack was an awesome napper, Livvie not so much. 
Jack attacked the boob while nursing, Livvie just seems to nibble.  
Jack almost always fell asleep while nursing, Livvie almost never.
But like Jack, Olivia is an awful night sleeper and definitely seems to prefer sleeping on her tummy over her back. Hopefully, like Jack, once she rolls and can sleep on her back, she will become an awesome sleeper like he was. 
 
Here's to another month!

Olivia {1 Month Old}

I'm sure I will say this with every post...

But, I can't believe Olivia is 1 month old. 

I mostly call baby girl Livvie or Livvie Lou.
Or we call her squeakers because that's the sound she makes when she cries or fusses.

She is growing quickly and starting to get her own look.

Clearly she is not the most photogenic - she is much cuter in person - I think it is the bug eyes shes got going on.

 Baby girl loves to be held...all the time, especially chest to chest.

She is rarely happy in the bouncer, swing, carseat, or laying somewhere unless she is asleep. We are trying to get adjusted to the sling, as I need my hands to entertain and care for brother.

Livvie started off as a great sleeper the first 10 days or so (going 3-4 hour stretches). The last 3 weeks or so, she has dropped to 2 hour, sometimes 3, hour stretches, so I'm surviving off of coffee and diet coke.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Livvie's first month.

1 Week 

                                                 
        2 Weeks

                   
  3 Weeks

 

                                                  4 Weeks

 And all about Livvie at 1 month:

Weight: 8 lb, 8 oz (25th percentile)

Length: 20.5 inches (10th percentile)

Clothing: newborn

Diaper: newborn

Eating: every 2-3 hours

Sleeping: 2-3 hours

Firsts: smiled at 4 weeks (but they are VERY hard to come by); bottle at 2 weeks

Likes: being held, pacifier, walks in the stroller

Dislikes: laying on back, diaper changes, the carseat

Livvie Lou, we love you!