Two months Feb 15 - Mar 15 2013

Two Months!

Dear Harper,

I have loved watching you grow this month.  With Maddie, I didn't want her to grow.  I wanted her to stay small forever and to live in the moments of her littleness.  With you, I'm enjoying your littleness but I can't wait for you to grow so I can experience you and Maddie enjoying each other as sisters.  I've already experienced it a little.  She makes you smile.  She can be smothering you in your swing or sitting on the table tormenting you while you are in your lamb seat and you just smile at her sweetly.  You have the best smile.  Your eyes scrunch up and sparkle and your cheeks get big and your lips curve to create the sweetest face.   I live for your smiles.  Another thing I love that you do is you smile suddenly in the middle of taking your bottle.  The nipple will be in your mouth and your mouth will be full of formula and you'll just look up and me and smile!  Lately, you have started smiling after you cry which cracks me up.  You'll scream bloody murder for minutes on end and then I will put you on your changing table and it's like you know you're about to get what you wanted, either a diaper change or a swaddle and you just light up!

I've been thinking a lot lately about my relationship with you and Maddie and the relationship between you and Maddie and I hope very much that we all grow together and that you and Maddie grow up happy.  I make every decision with both of you in mind.  Being in a new city has been challenging and I've had to make a lot of decisions about each of you lately.  We're going to be moving into a new apartment in a couple of months and although I am sad to be moving again and fear the confusion you (not so much at your young age) and Maddie may experience I have to remind myself that what matters most is family.  As long as we have each other we will endure anything.

BABY STATS:

SLEEP: 

You are an amazing sleeper.  You slept through the night for the first time.  It was nice for Mommy to get a full nights sleep!  We have been using a sound app on the ipad to produce white noise and I think that helps a lot.  We took the pack n'play you were sleeping in when you came home from the hospital out of our room and brought your crib in.  It was in Maddies room but there is no way you two are sleeping together yet.  Maddie still wakes up frequently at night because of the "people walking" above us and with you waking up to feed once a night I don't want her to wake up, so your crib in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom is the best option.  I don't know that I would be ready for you to sleep in another room yet anyway.  I put the mobile on the crib and you love it.  You kick your legs and look at the characters on the mobile with bright wide eyes, your mouth open in awe.  I put you in there sometimes just to change things up and give you something new to look at since you are normally asleep when we lay you in your crib.  You've never cried for us to come get you.  You love your crib and your mobile.

Daily Routine:

A routine is slowly starting to come together.  You usually wake up around 6 or 6:30.  I feed you while Daddy gets ready and Maddie eats breakfast.  If it's a Monday, Wednesday or Friday I get Maddie dressed after feeding you.  We head to school, drop her off and then head back home.  You are usually asleep in your car seat and I wait for you to wake up.  If we don't take Maddie to school you will take your first morning power nap (short nap).  You then take a bottle.  Play and have tummy time, take another bottle and then nap again in the morning.  We repeat  this in the afternoon and then after Daddy comes home and we all have dinner while you sit in your lamb seat.  You never sleep there.  After dinner one of us will feed you and then you will usually cry and that's our signal to swaddle you and put you in the swing.  

We usually change your sleepers and let you lounge all day in your jammies.  Very rarely do we dress you up because we are new and don't know many people there's no reason to.  Sometimes Mommy gives you a bath if you need one on weekdays.  On weekends, Daddy will help.  You tend to have days where you sleep a lot and then days where you sleep very little.  I never know what day we have sleepy Harper and wakey Harper!  

Feedings:

You are eating 3.5 to 4 ounces every 2.5 hours or so.  You are still passionate about eating!

Weight:  
2 months: 13 lbs 14 ozs (91st percentile)

Length: 
2 months:  24.5 inches (100th percentile)

 Diaper Size:

 Size ones.

Sleep:

You are very much like your sister, for some reason you sleep just fine at nights in your crib but you will not sleep in it for day time naps.  I wish you would!   You still sleep with your eyes fluttering and opening at times.  Here you are sleeping with your eyes fluttering and smiling!

Clothes Size:
You are in 3 month clothes and have almost outgrown your 3 month sleepers.

Hair Color:
Currently: light brown.  Your bald spot has disappeared and you now have a full head of sprouting hair.  You still have the six or so strands of long hair on the crown of your head.  They are about 2.5 inches.  Still haven't cut them! 

Eye color:
2 months: blue

Funniest moment :
I laughed this past week at the Doctor's office when you decided to poop in the exam room.  You only poop every three days so to choose that exact moment while you were undressed and we were waiting on the Doctor was pretty funny.  I thought you were done and I changed your diaper and you pooped again!  The Doctor walked in and I apologized.  I changed your diaper once more while talking with the Doctor and you pee'd on the exam table soaking the paper covering the table and I had to a third diaper on you!  

Milestones: 
You bring your hands up to your mouth and suck on them when you are hungry.  You move your eyes and head to find where a noise is coming from.  You have started making noises when you smile.  I can't wait until you laugh.  I am really looking forward to that.  You are kicking your legs when you are happy or enjoying yourself.  Your first smile was early in your second month.  I absolutely love it when you smile and encourage Maddie to make you smile so that you two can connect.  You can grab onto a toy but I don't think it's on purpose quite yet.

Favorite Toy:

You like your activity mat, and you have started batting at the things hanging off of it.  We also put a mirror above the mat so you could see yourself and you love looking at yourself.

We also tried out your bumbo briefly.  You are too young for it but we had to give it a quick try!

Firsts:

First real smile 
First coo while smiling 
First music class 
First walk outdoors in stroller

Fun Moments:

Thank you again baby for being you. We cherish every memory with you and are so so proud of you already.

One month. Jan 15 - Feb 15 2013

Dear Harper,

Welcome to your baby journal. I documented how you came to be and I want to continue to document your life so that you can look back one day. You are one month old. I can't believe it.   I wasn't sure how having a second child would change my life but it's been for the better.  You've expanded my heart beyond what I thought it was capable of.  Now that you are here I can't imagine life without you. We are a perfect foursome and you fit just like a puzzle piece.  You are the perfect addition to our lives and we can't wait to watch you grow.

 The first month has been interesting.  I failed to realize that though I had had a baby before you, that you would be a different individual and therefore what I had done with Maddie may not work with you.  For instance I brought one of Maddie's old pacifiers to the hospital with me to give you.  Maddie just loved her paci's and I thought for sure you would as well.  Nope.  I spent the first three weeks of your life buying and trying every pacifier I could get my hands on.  I finally found one obscure brand of pacifier that you like but you can't keep it in your mouth for long and so I have to basically hold it in your mouth with a blanket while you are in your swing.  It's frowned down upon by every doctor and not recommended by anyone except for maybe other busy Mother's chasing a toddler but it makes you happy and I make sure I'm close.  I meticulously roll a certain blanket up and wrap it around your shoulders to where it barely holds your paci in to keep you happy.  I feel good that I found a paci you like and figured out how to keep it in to keep you happy.

So much has happened in your first month of life. I don't want to forget anything.  

You entered the world with the fastest, loudest cry!  I was trying to soothe you but couldn't help you and was frightened for a few minutes when all you did was cry angrily.  I feared I had a fussy baby on my hands.    You were simply reacting to all you had gone through in those few hours.  Hey, it's hard work being born!  You were an easy baby in the hospital from that moment on.  The nurses would bring you back from sleeping in the nursery and tell me how you would only wake up to eat while I heard other babies screaming relentlessly down the hall.  I think the room next to us had twins or one really fussy baby because I heard non-stop screaming from that room all night long and pitied the poor parents.  The baby or babies were so loud I had to download a sound masking application on my phone in order to sleep.  You really only got fussy in the hospital when it was time to eat...and boy, do you love to eat!

I was trying to breastfeed you so you would get some colostrum but I quickly learned that it wasn't colostrum you were after, you wanted milk and STAT!  I switched to formula so I could fill your belly and the nurses all marveled at how much you would eat!  You were eating three ounces by the time we left the hospital.  Maddie hardly finished a 2 ounce bottle when we left the hospital with her!   You've loved eating ever since.

I did a lot of staring in the hospital.  I stared at you for three days.  I couldn't believe you didn't look at all like your sister, myself or your Daddy.  You were absolutely beautiful, but I didn't see a single recognizable feature! But each feature was perfect and I was so proud.

January 17, 2013 - We brought you home around noon. I will never forget pulling up and seeing sweet little Maddie's face in the window.  She would finally have her Mommy and Daddy back home and FINALLY get to meet her baby sister for the very first time.  We made it in the door with hugs and loves, gave her some special gifts like a baby doll, a Mrs. Potato Head and a Big Sister Book and about five minutes after arriving home you let out a cry from underneath the winter hood on your car seat.  We looked at Maddie to get her reaction and she was beside herself when she looked in the corner and there was a baby seat.  She had forgotten about the baby.  She was so excited when Daddy lifted the pink fuzzy hood off of the seat and there lied her baby sister, Harper.  She wanted to touch you and poke you and hug you.  She was so excited.  My heart overflowed with such joy.  This was my first time seeing my girls together.  Such a treat for me.  

The day after you came home from the hospital we celebrated Maddie's second birthday with a pink cake and presents.  There were five of us in attendance around the kitchen table.  

Mimi stayed for a week after you were born and Daddy took that week off of work.  I was grateful for the help.  Daddy was his usual self, doing laundry, organizing, doing this and that.  He's amazing in situations like this.

Your Daddy wanted a nick name for you so badly since he had called Maddie sweet pea since she was born.  He was trying to come up with one in the hospital and I assured him one would come naturally.   Well, the day after we brought you home, one came.  "Mouse".  You made a lot of noises and while Mimi rocked you Maddie was looking over you and was surprised by the little peeps you made.  Mimi said that you sounded like a mouse and you've been mouse ever since.

Everyone knows you as mouse.  Even Maddie's classmates and her teachers call you mouse.  One day when you and I showed up to Maddie's school to pick her up Maddie's teachers asked what your real name was.  Everyone called you mouse so much so that some didn't remember your real name!

BABY STATS:

WEIGHT: 
1/29/13 - 10 lbs 4 oz
2/15/13 - 12 lbs 4 oz

SLEEP:
You are just as great of a sleeper as your sister!  You typically wake up one time in the middle of the night.  Daddy usually feeds you late before he comes to bed and then I get up at 2:30ish or 4:30ish depending on when I would hear you stir.  I am so grateful you are an easy sleeper.  You usually start fussing around 6:00.  At first I just thought you were fussy and inconsolable.  You wouldn't take a bottle, you didn't want to be held.  Then I realized that you wanted to sleep!  I would swaddle you, give you your paci held in by a blanket and let you swing.  This became our routine each night.  As soon as you start fussing around that hour, in your swing you go.  How nice to have a baby tell me they want to sleep.  You will sleep there until Daddy gets you up to feed you before he goes to bed.  

EASY BABY!

DAILY ROUTINE: 
We don't really have a routine yet but our day usually consist of feeding you, changing diapers, watching you sleep and letting you lay on your play gym, oh, and keeping Maddie from smothering you!  She loves you so much.


FEEDINGS:

You are on formula only.   You love to eat more than any baby I have ever known.  I feed you every hour and a half to two hours.  Every time I go to make another bottle in the kitchen Daddy says "but she just ate".  I refer to him as the formula police.  The Dr. has been impressed with how much you have grown and how big you are.  She says you get a gold star.  I am looking forward to getting you on a three hour feeding schedule.

SIZES:  I thought it would be so great that you would wear your sisters old baby clothes but you are so much bigger than she was already at one month old, you have grown out of your newborn clothes and 0-3 month clothes and are now in 3 and 3-6 month clothes.  If you keep growing at this pace you're going to be wearing her spring and summer clothes while it's still cold outside!  We have a couple more months of cold weather here in Chicago, I hate to think you may have to wear tank tops and shorts because that's what Maddie wore at the size you are now!  I've already bought you more clothes.

HAIR COLOR: 

At birth: dark blonde
Currently: getting a little darker and you lost all of the hair on top of your head.  You have an old man's hair style with hair around your head but none on top!  Oh, and you have approximately 6 hairs on the very crown of your head that are 2 inches long!  It's so cute.  I can't bring myself to cut them and they are still growing strong!


EYE COLOR:

At birth: bright blue.  so blue they are almost indigo.

1 month: light blue/gray

MY FAVORITE MOMENTS: 

Watching you sleep.  You smile constantly when you sleep.  Your eyes also flutter when you sleep and you sleep sometimes with your eyes wide open.  It's so cute.  Maddie started school this month and I've really enjoyed having you to myself two days a week.

 

You don't like your car seat.  You screamed and cried on the way home from the hospital and you scream and cry anytime we put you in it and you hate it when we stop at red lights, stop signs, get stuck in stop and go traffic, etc.  You, my dear, like to be on the move.  I often have to shake your car seat when we are at a stop light!

My other favorite moment is watching you and Maddie together.  She is so fascinated by her new sister.  You're such a big joy to her.  When she wakes up she wants to know where mouse is and when she hears you cry from her room she yells "mouse" or "mouse crying" making a sad face.  She likes to push you in your swing and tries to lay on your swing.  She loves to feed you, sit in the large rocking chair while I feed you and hug or kiss you.   She also loves laying on the play gym with you.

Maddie got to hold you when you were four days old.  She was soooo excited!

A kiss

and a hug

 "Look at me!"

Maddie loves laying on your mat with you.

Spending my day with Harper.  

MILESTONES: 

You are very strong.  You were lifting your head for a couple of seconds the day you were born.  Your Aunt Nancy came to visit when you were three weeks old and was so impressed at how strong your neck is.

FIRSTS:

Your very first trip out of the hospital was to order Maddie's birthday cake.  We stopped on our way home and ordered a pink cake from Sweet Sensations on Southport.  Daddy was so proud that he kept mentioning you to the ladies that worked there.  He was also proud to be ordering Maddie's birthday cake and to select a design and color he thought she would like.

Your first birthday party!  Three days old!

 First bath. Maddie helped give you your first bath.  I think you really liked it!  You  loved the warm water and were such a sport.  

Your first photo shoot.  Our photographer came from St. Louis and set up in our living room to take your first pictures.  They turned out beautiful.

FIRST OUTINGS:

 First real outing and walk in your stroller.  We went to IKEA with Lilly and Nancy.

I can't believe you are one month old.   I look at you and know that you were always supposed to be here.  Even before I got pregnant with you, before I ever knew your gender or what you would look like, you were meant to be a part of us.  Your demeanor is so calm and beautiful.  I'm looking forward to next month and the next years.


I love you Harper.