Lenore at 1 Month

Lenore is a month old! She and I celebrated with a wide-eyed party in her room from 1:30-3am this morning...I had to wake up Kevin to take over at 3, and she went right to sleep for him (of course!).

One Month Old

Her stats (from the doctor's office):
Weight: 12 pounds 8.5 ounces (98th percentile)
Length: 22 inches (81st percentile)
Head Size: 15 inches (99th percentile)

What she is doing this month:

• She does NOT like to be swaddled. From the start, I could tell that she didn't like having her feet confined (she would kick and kick until they were free), so we would leave her feet out and just wrap her arms. About a week ago, she started getting angry when we'd even do that, so I tried to just put her down in her pajamas one night, and voila. She slept just as well (or maybe better), so no swaddling for her. [Lewis was the opposite and loved it and stayed swaddled until he started rolling over.]
• She and I have had a rough go at nursing so far. We've been to the lactation consultant at our hospital for an appointment and have talked to her on the phone numerous times (she is wonderful), and we are still working on a few issues. She is gaining weight just fine, but it is terribly painful for me, still. I could write a whole post about it, and I just might.
• She nurses only on one side at each feeding, which is different from Lewis. The LC had me feed that way when I met with her, so I've stuck with it. She was eating every 2-3 hours at first, but now she's usually closer to the 3 hour mark. If she is really hungry, she will let me know it by turning beet red and crying hysterically, so we try not to get to that point. It has only happened a handful of times, but it is scary.
• She is a pretty sleepy baby. She has a few times during the day when she's more awake/alert, but she sleeps most of the day. Nights have been pretty good, considering, too. She goes down between 9:30 and 10pm and has been waking up around 3am and 6:30 or 7am (on a typical night). She has had a couple of nights with another awakening in there and a couple of nights with a nice 6 or 7 hour stretch, too. I try to go to bed by 10 or 10:30pm because I'm still afraid of how the night will go.
• She's usually pretty fussy in the evenings, from the time Kevin gets home, usually, until bedtime (so like 6:30 or 7 until 9:30ish). She cluster feeds during that time, too, usually, because that's the only thing that will appease her.
• She gets mad, usually, after I buckle her in her car seat, so we have to swing her around a little bit which quiets her right down. She's good with riding in the car, as long as we are moving. If she is awake, she doesn't like to sit still, at times (like in the drive-thru lane).
• She is strong! We probably haven't done tummy time as much yet as we did with Lewis, but she will lift and hold up her head well when we hold her on our chests. She also kicks a lot and tries to put weight on her legs.
• We went to my old Mom group once and are going again this coming week. One of my friends I met there when Lewis was a baby now has another one, and she has been going regularly and invited me back. It was a little strange being there as a second-timer, but good to be with other moms and babies. I'm going back this week because it is my friend's last week before returning to work, and I'm looking forward to it.
• She smiles a lot as she nurses, sleeps, and/or has awake time, and it is beautiful. I look forward to when she knowingly and regularly does it.
• She loves bath time, especially having warm water poured on her head.
• We thought she had a growth spurt last week, but I think she started one yesterday into today (she is suddenly eating every two hours). She is wearing 3 month clothes now, but it seems even some of those are suddenly a bit snug. Our growing girl!

Overall, she is a very sweet baby. She doesn't ask for much so far, just to be fed. :) Lewis is a very good big brother--he sometimes needs to be reminded to not be too loud around her when she is napping, but he is very sweet and loving towards her. He says, 'I love you, girls' or 'I love you, Lenore' and gives her hugs and kisses.

One last note...
I would not have made it through the past few weeks without Kevin. He is the best husband and dad. He has helped me get Lewis ready for school, fed bottles while I pumped, listened and been supportive as I cried (again and again) about breastfeeding and other things through the hormonal tidal surge, let me nap/sleep in at times, taken Lewis for some one-on-one time, etc. I go could on, but I just want to make sure to acknowledge how great he has been and how much he is appreciated.

And some close-ups of Lenore, in parting:

 

Catching Up/Other Fall Fun

These are a potpourri of pictures, if you will, from the past week or two from my camera and Kevin's phone. (There was a potpourri category on Jeopardy the other night, so that is the only word I can currently think of to describe what I'm trying to say.)

 Hanging with Hattie

 Always has a watchful eye on Lewis and his actions. :)

Sweet basement snuggles with Dad

And more!

This was what I found on Sunday morning when I woke up--pure, snuggly, laidback-weekend goodness. :)

This is Lewis' photo wall in his room! 

I finished it a month ago, but just got around to taking a picture of it. The middle picture is him at one day old, and I ordered the fire truck and railroad crossing prints from art.com. I got the idea for the tractor and roadway initial from Pinterest--the tractor body is his footprint (with construction paper cutouts) and the roadway is just a painted 'L' with cars super-glued to it. I left it spaced out so that we can add to it as we find more pieces.

Yesterday after school, we got to work on our pumpkins. I'd picked up a sticker set for Lewis to use on his pumpkin, and he designed it her all by himself. She has a hairbow, 'like Minnie and Daisy wear,' and she has 5 teeth (he was very specific about the #). :)

I don't need to look at the camera! The pumpkin needs to look at the camera!

He seems very proud of his finished product.

After his was finished, I quickly carved a basic jack-o-lantern for the back porch. I think I spent more time gutting it and cleaning up the seeds to be roasted (yum!):

Lighting up the jack-o-lantern last evening before bed

It's back to the doctor for me tomorrow, so I'll update as we know more about when this baby will arrive!!

***Also, I just added a short video at Huber's of Lewis riding a tricycle--it's about 2/3 of the way down the (really long) post.

Weekend Adventures with Kevin and Lewis

Most weekends in September, Lewis and Kevin have gone on at least one special father-son outing, leaving me at home to work on my to-do-before-baby list. They've been to the zoo quite a few times, and today they went to the Science Center. Usually when you ask Lewis what he wants to do, his answers are, 'Is the zoo open?' or 'Is the bouncy house open?' :) A simple man.

Meanwhile, I've been working on getting the baby's room and stuff (e.g. clothing) together, small home improvement projects, painting the master bath (only 18+ months after buying the paint), etc. Important, nesting-type things because, heaven forbid, the baby would come into this world with a splotchy bathroom wall. :)

 Wait, I'm wearing a blue shirt...

 ...and you're wearing a blue shirt!

We are twins! :)

(heading to the zoo)

 Jaguar

Lewis has apparently warmed up to the idea. We were both so spooked one time by his roar, so we tend to just cruise by without slowing down to see him.

 One tired Lew on the carousel

Different day, different trip to the zoo:

 On the train

 Found the baby goat (again)

Different trip/different weekend...speaking of babies, this trip was the debut weekend for the baby boy hippo who was born last month:

 He is down in the water (in the shadow), to the right of his mama's hip. It's hard to see him, but you can kind of maybe see the size difference between mama and baby. I think he was 18 lbs. at birth, and I'm not sure what he's up to now.

 Here, he has moved back into the sun, while his mama is still in the shadow.

 I'm not sure where they are sitting here, but they sure are cute! :)

You're turning violet, Violet!

The big Halloween party is at the zoo all of October, so they were able to see some of the decorations (without having to deal with the crowds at the actual Halloween party).

Kevin says he plans to take Lewis and the new baby to the zoo, solo, sometime, so I'm curious to see how that goes! Not at first, of course--we'll have to see what kind of weather we have this winter.

Here's a picture from the Science Center this morning. I had plans with Kate for breakfast, so the guys went to play and to see a 3D movie about dinosaurs.

Lewis + popcorn = love

Touch a Truck

Kevin and Lewis went to Touch a Truck last weekend while I stayed home and worked on finishing Lewis' room. It was in the 90s and 1000% humidity, so I was very glad that Kevin wanted to take him. :)

 

 Big fan of the Fire Truck

 Big Rig

 

 A boat!

 Armored police vehicle

 Maybe an Army jeep?

 

 

 

Big fan of the gator/golf cart

BIG lawnmower

 

UPS Big Rig

 Looking very sweaty and hot on the trolley

 

 Kevin said Lewis was a fan of opening and closing the doors, over and over :)

 This might be on the ambulance? Or fire truck again?

Kevin texted me, saying 'It is hot' very early on, but Lewis had a great time. They were there just a little over an hour and got to see and do everything Lewis wanted to, so I'm glad they went.

Mother's Day Weekend

On Saturday morning, Lewis and I headed out to the forest where I used to work for a Woodland Tea Party. A former co-worker/friend had planned it, so I thought it would be fun for Lewis and I to have a special Mama/Lew date. It was pouring rain overnight and into the morning, but we headed on out (and the rain eventually did stop):

Ready for Tea (and moreso, cookies)

 Listening to instructions before the hike (in some light rain)

 A box turtle in the middle of the trail

 At first avoiding puddles, but that would soon change :)

I think the rain or the walking-while-taking-a-picture made this so crazy/trippy/blurry. You'll notice there's no sign of the rest of the group in front of us. About 5 minutes into the hike, I could tell it was going to be too much for Lew to handle. They stopped a lot and talked about wildflowers (which was great for mothers and other non-toddler types, of course), but I wanted to slip away and go back to the building. We stuck with it and made it out, pretty much unscathed (just a little frazzled for Mama).

Just as we were exiting the woods and heading back to the building, Lew found a pretty sweet puddle to do some stomping in:

 Have your fun, buddy.

We then detoured to the car to change into the back-up jeans I'd packed. :) In addition to the water here, he'd slipped a couple of times on the trail and gotten a muddy booty and muddy knees.

Ready for tea (he looks less than enthused, but I think it was because we were seated with strangers). I'd been trying to keep him away from the dessert table from the moment we arrived. The tables were pretty formal (read: lots of breakable items), so I had to clear away an area for him: 

Going in for a cookie.

He didn't end up eating most of the treats, unfortunately (he wanted to go and play). They were delicious--they were from a local, natural bakery (Cake Flour) and the tea was from Hillbilly Tea here in town.

While he was playing, Christa (my friend) found him and got him started on a little gift for the mothers. They made a photo mat with various leaves and other bits from the woods: 

It's drying up already, but it's a sweet little memento.

(They took our picture and printed it for us, too.)

After finishing his craft, I realized he'd had an accident, so I decided we would head out a little early. I was also having trouble getting him to stay in one place and walk carefully (again, lots of breakables!). He'd had some late nights leading up to that morning, so it all seemed to culminate in a very fussy Lewis by the end of it. Overall, though it was a nice event, and I'm glad we went.

Along with the late nights, he has been waking up earrrrly the past week or two (which has improved the last few mornings, thanks to some earlier bedtimes). This was my wake-up crew on Mother's Day at like 6:45am. :) The dogs were there all night--the child thought they could use some extra snuggles:

 The crazy iPhone flashes in the dark made Lew's eyes close.

Looks like Lewis and Kevin did some snuggling while I was away that day, too: 

 My two favorite boys :)

And one dirty foot

On Sunday morning, I got up and made a big breakfast for Kevin, Lewis, and me (because I wanted to...Kevin offered). Kevin took Lewis to see Grandma Sharon while I stayed at the house and almost finished the season of Sex and the City I've been binge-watching (for like the 3rd time). :) I then went and met Sharon and Kevin's aunt and cousins for lunch and a movie. When I got home, Kevin was starting dinner--he made steak, twice-baked potato casserole (one of my favorite foods ever), Caesar salad, and a peanut butter/Butterfinger pie. What a guy! It was such a nice day.  

[Sorry I didn't get to see you, Mom!! Of course the day would have been better if we'd been able to spend some time with you, but hopefully next year.]