Pippa is still thriving! She's doing so great. Last night she went to bed about 8:30 and woke up briefly for a "binkie check" around 9:30 then slept until 3:30 for food. She woke up to eat again at 6:30 and was down an hour later for her first nap. Things are good.
Liam starts the 5th grade tomorrow! We are prepping around the house and getting ready for "meet your teacher" night at school tonight. It's been a whirlwind couple of days but once school starts everyone can get back into their routine.
On another note, Pippa made it one more round in the Portland's Cutest Baby contest. This is the final round of voting before they reveal the top 10! I'm not sure of her chances for winning but if she could make the top 10, we would be so overjoyed! Here is her personal voting link. If you've already signed up you just need to enter your e-mail and cast your vote. Every single vote counts and you can vote once per day. Thanks in advance to all who are voting/or have voted on her behalf.
Sorry to make this so short. It's going to be a crazy day with work, PTA obligations, school meetings and getting ready for tomorrow...all with a four month old in tow. Have a great week everyone!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Much Better
I don't know how she eats so much!!
The food has worked. On top of nursing, she gets another two ounces (or more) of formula to top her off. She is LOVING this. We also gave her a bit of rice cereal the other day but not since. I only wanted to start one thing at a time. She slept from 9pm - 6am last night. I fed her at 6 and she still sleeping (7am). I know she was probably just as exhausted as we were but it's been a really fun couple of days.
She is definitely thriving on the additional food. She's playing more, laughing a lot more and has more patience when things are quiet. Looking back, she's been kind of whiney for a few weeks but I just chalked it up to growth or changes but now I wonder if it was a sign that she wasn't getting enough food even back then. She is definitely a different baby...but she eats a lot. Sometimes we are feeding her every 1.5 hours and sometimes it's every 4 hours. I think it will start to even out once she has enough and her hunger is more in control.
Thank you all for thinking of us. It was a rough few days but I'm confident that's the issue and now we can move forward. Pictures to come soon...
The food has worked. On top of nursing, she gets another two ounces (or more) of formula to top her off. She is LOVING this. We also gave her a bit of rice cereal the other day but not since. I only wanted to start one thing at a time. She slept from 9pm - 6am last night. I fed her at 6 and she still sleeping (7am). I know she was probably just as exhausted as we were but it's been a really fun couple of days.
She is definitely thriving on the additional food. She's playing more, laughing a lot more and has more patience when things are quiet. Looking back, she's been kind of whiney for a few weeks but I just chalked it up to growth or changes but now I wonder if it was a sign that she wasn't getting enough food even back then. She is definitely a different baby...but she eats a lot. Sometimes we are feeding her every 1.5 hours and sometimes it's every 4 hours. I think it will start to even out once she has enough and her hunger is more in control.
Thank you all for thinking of us. It was a rough few days but I'm confident that's the issue and now we can move forward. Pictures to come soon...
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Four Month Appointment
Today we had Pippa's four month appointment. I was anxious to meet with the doctor today because the last couple of weeks have been pretty rough. The last few days have been worse. Pippa has been crying (colic-like screaming) and inconsolable. Last night she went to bed at 8pm and woke up screaming at 10pm. She was up until 1am then down for about an hour and up about an hour over and over. I am exhausted. It's even worse when Dan is gone working because we can't trade off. Anyway, she has been nursing more at night so my first instinct is that she may be ready for solids.
We got to the doctor and the normal measurements were done. Head is still 97th percentile (17.24"). Height is down a bit only 91st percentile (25.75") but the shocker was her weight. She was only 14#7oz. that is the 64th percentile! Normally I could care less about that stuff but she has gained less than a pound in two months. Needless to say, we were concerned and wondering what the doctor has to say.
His thoughts are two-fold. The crying could be caused by a bladder infection or extreme hunger. To rule out a bladder infection, we would have to catheterize her. Ouch. So he wants us to practice the "Freedom to Eat Act" for the next couple of days. He believes that her hunger has outgrown my milk supply. I cried. I was devastated. We have done so well (I thought) in feeding and still having milk to store that I never realized I could be underfeeding my baby. So here's the plan: for the next couple of days I will nurse her on both sides until she is done then offer a bottle (we are choosing formula for the time being) of extra milk to see if she takes it. He believes this will solve all the problems. He thinks that she was getting just enough through nursing to satisfy her at that moment then she was hungry within an hour or so and by three hours she was starving. This would prevent her from sleeping through the night and also proper growth. If this is the issue, she will be fine tonight and from now on. He also said that we could start some rice cereal if we want, this would allow us to minimize the amount of formula calories she receives. However, if by Friday, she still has hour+ bouts of inconsolable crying, he wants her back in his office for the catheter. She doesn't have any other signs of a bladder infection (fever, refusing to eat etc.) so we think this might just do it.
After we got home, I hunted down a formula coupon and bought a canister along with some brown rice cereal. Her first feeding she nursed both sides then took one additional ounce of bottle breas tmilk. She slept for an hour after her playtime and woke up happy for the first time in weeks. Our last feeding I tried some formula after nursing and she was NOT having it. So we did more expressed breast milk (2 ounces)...good thing I have a stock pile. I will try to do some formula/expressed milk mix for our next feeding. Since we've been home she's been in a great mood; she's talkative and playful and is sleeping well. I hope it continues into the night.
Interesting enough, with Liam, I dried up at four months and now with Pippa we are having issues as well. Although my supply is good, she just wants more than I have. I wonder too if maybe I'm just not eating enough calories. If I've been so concerned about getting back into shape that I denied my body what it needed to make enough milk. I know that I can go around and around on this but it doesn't matter. We are going to do what it takes to feed and nourish our little girl; formula, breast milk, cereal...whatever it takes.
We would appreciate some positive thoughts our way as well all try and rest a little better this week and hope this helps our little girl get on the growing track again. This is a very tough thing for me to actually talk about so writing it out has really helped. Thanks everyone for your support and well wishes. We will keep you posted by Friday.
Also...gotta get my plug in there, VOTE for Pippa as Portland's Cutest Baby, the link is in the below post.
We got to the doctor and the normal measurements were done. Head is still 97th percentile (17.24"). Height is down a bit only 91st percentile (25.75") but the shocker was her weight. She was only 14#7oz. that is the 64th percentile! Normally I could care less about that stuff but she has gained less than a pound in two months. Needless to say, we were concerned and wondering what the doctor has to say.
His thoughts are two-fold. The crying could be caused by a bladder infection or extreme hunger. To rule out a bladder infection, we would have to catheterize her. Ouch. So he wants us to practice the "Freedom to Eat Act" for the next couple of days. He believes that her hunger has outgrown my milk supply. I cried. I was devastated. We have done so well (I thought) in feeding and still having milk to store that I never realized I could be underfeeding my baby. So here's the plan: for the next couple of days I will nurse her on both sides until she is done then offer a bottle (we are choosing formula for the time being) of extra milk to see if she takes it. He believes this will solve all the problems. He thinks that she was getting just enough through nursing to satisfy her at that moment then she was hungry within an hour or so and by three hours she was starving. This would prevent her from sleeping through the night and also proper growth. If this is the issue, she will be fine tonight and from now on. He also said that we could start some rice cereal if we want, this would allow us to minimize the amount of formula calories she receives. However, if by Friday, she still has hour+ bouts of inconsolable crying, he wants her back in his office for the catheter. She doesn't have any other signs of a bladder infection (fever, refusing to eat etc.) so we think this might just do it.
After we got home, I hunted down a formula coupon and bought a canister along with some brown rice cereal. Her first feeding she nursed both sides then took one additional ounce of bottle breas tmilk. She slept for an hour after her playtime and woke up happy for the first time in weeks. Our last feeding I tried some formula after nursing and she was NOT having it. So we did more expressed breast milk (2 ounces)...good thing I have a stock pile. I will try to do some formula/expressed milk mix for our next feeding. Since we've been home she's been in a great mood; she's talkative and playful and is sleeping well. I hope it continues into the night.
Interesting enough, with Liam, I dried up at four months and now with Pippa we are having issues as well. Although my supply is good, she just wants more than I have. I wonder too if maybe I'm just not eating enough calories. If I've been so concerned about getting back into shape that I denied my body what it needed to make enough milk. I know that I can go around and around on this but it doesn't matter. We are going to do what it takes to feed and nourish our little girl; formula, breast milk, cereal...whatever it takes.
We would appreciate some positive thoughts our way as well all try and rest a little better this week and hope this helps our little girl get on the growing track again. This is a very tough thing for me to actually talk about so writing it out has really helped. Thanks everyone for your support and well wishes. We will keep you posted by Friday.
Also...gotta get my plug in there, VOTE for Pippa as Portland's Cutest Baby, the link is in the below post.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Round Two!
Thanks to everyone for the votes! Pippa made it to Round 2 of voting. There will be a total of 3 rounds then the finals. They cut the field in half each time. So she was one of the top 250 babies! Let's get her in the top 125, okay? The process has changed a bit. The link is HERE but you have to scroll through the pages. Pippa Grace is on page 12 about half way in the pack. It's easiest to go to the end (page 16) and work backward from there. We really appreciate your votes.
Pippa has her four month appointment tomorrow so we will update with more information then.
Pippa has her four month appointment tomorrow so we will update with more information then.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Vote for Pippa!
I have a fun opportunity for everyone! Pippa is in the “Portland
Right now there are over 500 babies that people are voting on. The first round of voting ends on Sunday August 21 and I’m not sure how they will proceed from there but until Sunday, we need to get Pippa as many votes as possible. Here’s how it works:
You will go to the website and you will need to register, it doesn’t matter if you live locally or not and you can opt out of all e-mails.
The website is here: Pippa’s photo is at the bottom of the page in the middle (Pippa Grace)
Voting PageOnce you register, they will send you a confirmation e-mail.
When your e-mail is confirmed, simply click on Pippa’s picture, type in your e-mail then vote! You can vote once per day! So if you sign up today, you can get four votes for Pippa in before the deadline.
If she makes it to the next round, I will definitely let you know. Pippa thanks you for the jump start on her college savings.
On a side note, things are going well. Pippa has her 4 month doctor appointment next Wednesday. I can’t wait to see how much she has grown. Here’s a picture from Monday.
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| Holding up the noggin! |
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Growing Up So Fast
Pippa is growing so fast! Other than the random fussy times, we are loving every minute of it. Yesterday we went to the fair and she did fabulous. We entered her in the "prettiest baby contest" but she didn't place. That's okay because we met a lot of really great people and babies. We did a lot of walking around, rides, food and all other fair things. Pippa did very little sleeping. She ended up sleeping for 14 hours last night and she was pretty fussy today except for a special laughing moment we caught on camera. The video should be in the post below.
Her four month appointment is coming up in a couple of weeks, I'm anxious to see how she's grown. I stepped on the scale with her the other day and she was about 16 pounds now.
This week, Liam is in day camp for cub scouts. It's his last year as a Webelos before he crosses over to boy scouts. He left this morning and I'm sure he's having a great time. We have been laying pretty low the last few weeks, Pippa's schedule has been odd and both of us are pretty tired. I'm back to work full time now. While my request for reduced hours was denied, my telecommute application was approved. So now I telecommute on Mondays, Tuesdays and the 2nd half of Wednesdays. I go to the office the 1st half of Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. It's working out well and I'm a much happier and more productive employee. I get more done at home with a baby in an hour than I get done at my job all day sometimes. There are few interruptions here but as soon as Pippa becomes more mobile I know that she will demand more attention. At that point we may switch to daycare but for now this is working well.
I'll leave you with a few recent pictures. Love you all!
Her four month appointment is coming up in a couple of weeks, I'm anxious to see how she's grown. I stepped on the scale with her the other day and she was about 16 pounds now.
This week, Liam is in day camp for cub scouts. It's his last year as a Webelos before he crosses over to boy scouts. He left this morning and I'm sure he's having a great time. We have been laying pretty low the last few weeks, Pippa's schedule has been odd and both of us are pretty tired. I'm back to work full time now. While my request for reduced hours was denied, my telecommute application was approved. So now I telecommute on Mondays, Tuesdays and the 2nd half of Wednesdays. I go to the office the 1st half of Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. It's working out well and I'm a much happier and more productive employee. I get more done at home with a baby in an hour than I get done at my job all day sometimes. There are few interruptions here but as soon as Pippa becomes more mobile I know that she will demand more attention. At that point we may switch to daycare but for now this is working well.
I'll leave you with a few recent pictures. Love you all!
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| Pippa at 15 weeks 08/01/11 |
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| "participant" in the Prettiest Baby Contest |
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| All dressed up for the beach |
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