Caldwell Expansion: August 2012

I am so sorry for the big delay with updating our blog. Life has been crazy. I am only able to update this now because Brynn is taking a nap in her swing. For the last 2 months she will only nap in my arms and only for about 30 minutes at a time. But, thankfully we are trying to transition out of that stage of her life and putting her down a lot more!! She is starting to show signs of improvement and also being a lot more independent...which is sad for mommy. Brynn used to sleep on my chest the majority of the day and also the night and now wont do that anymore unless she is very tired. I know that is a good thing but I am already starting to miss my lil cuddle bug.

Since I have no idea where I left off last time, I will give you an update of the last couple of months.

At her 2 month check up with her pediatrician she weighed in at a whole 11 lbs 2 oz. We have a tiny one on our hands. That was only the 50th percentile so I have been working extra hard on boosting my milk supply and really trying to get her to eat more. But I think she is just a petite lil girl as doc says she is fine and eating enough. At that checkup she got her 2 month shots. Those were absolutely horrible. She did great getting her shots but the 3-5 days following were miserable! She spiked a fever for a couple days and was straight up fussy 24-7. We could tell she was just not feeling good at all. The only thing that helped her was being in mommy's arms 24-7 and baby tylenol. But we got past that week and she is great now.

Throughout the last 2 months we have really started to put her on a strict schedule at night to try and help her sleep better and for a longer period of time. I read the book "The No Cry Sleep Solution" and I got a lot of tips from it. We are really big believers in never letting her just "cry it out". To us that just seems cruel so we have never done that. With this new schedule it taught us to really just be there for her no matter what. It shows her that her mommy and daddy will never just leave her to struggle. It showed an amazing transformation for us. We started giving her a bath every night, which she loves!!! Bath time is 7:00pm on the dot. Right after, I give her a full body massage with lavender lotion and talk to her about how its night night time. :) I know it sounds pathetic but it helps. After that we start the process of feeding her then rocking to her while singing. She loves this new schedule. It really helps show her that now its time for bed for the night and has helped her sleep for a longer period of time. Yes...this takes up a lot of time on mommy's part but it is sooooo worth it. I look forward to this time every night. She takes a good 1 hour nap after that and wakes up around 9pm for a snack then falls right back asleep till around 3-4am. So needless to say, thats a big improvement for us. She will wake up at that time and simply eat and go right back to sleep till 7-8am. Some of you out there might think that this is still crazy that she wakes up to eat still but we have learned from reading and talking to our doctor that this is needed. Most babies do need to wake up and eat during the night...especially breast-fed babies!

So, all in all our life has been all about our princess....which it very well should be :). The only other big event that has happened is our first out of town road trip with Brynn. We went to California this last weekend and enjoyed much needed time with my family to celebrate my Grandma Barnes's 90th birthday. It was an amazing weekend and Brynn did great!!

Here are some updated pictures! Enjoy! xoxo