3 is the magic number

I can't believe Christmas is a week away. Time flies!

Speaking of time flying, Elizabeth is 6 weeks old on Tuesday! I had two weeks at home alone while dad went back to work and besides a few small hiccups, it went pretty well. We are well into a routine that could change at any time, but for the time being it's working for us.

Last weekend, we put up two Christmas trees. A 7 footer and a 4 footer. The 7 footer will be big enough for the mountain of gifts that Ellie is sure to receive, and 4 footer will be for her parents (haha). Last night, we took a family photo in front of the tree:
Over the past few weeks, I've contacted some of our friends that have recently had babies. One of my questions was "when does it get easier?" and a lot of them said "3 months". Other questions like "When does full support of the head happen?" and "When do they sleeping through the night without a night feeding?" were also answered by "3 months". So technically, on Tuesday, she'll be halfway there!!!

Other things I've discovered in the last few weeks:

-test your bottle warmer before you use it, otherwise dad may have a crying baby while you are out at the dentist and he's trying to cool down a scorching hot bottle

-almost 6 week old babies actually look AT you and smile AT you. So cute.
-Get that baby down for a nap at the 1st or 2nd yawn, otherwise she'll get her second wind and really make you pay
-At this point, she's actually grabbing things....maybe my shirt while feeding, but it's a milestone nonetheless (don't have a picture for this one!)

-Using a sling sometimes helps you get some stuff done
-Babies clearly have a 'poop-face'
So if we've discovered all this at 6 weeks, what craziness will be happening at 3 months??
Merry Christmas from the 3 of us.....3 really is a magic number!

Wakey, wakey, sleepy-head!

(I really need to change the title of this blog....but eventually, we shall travel again!)

Elizabeth enjoys her zzz's.

In the hospital, she got a little jaundiced and slept heavily as a result. The nurses and doctors kept telling us to wake her up to feed her, but she looked sooooo peaceful! Haven't you ever heard that you shouldn't wake a sleeping baby? I remember that episode of Friends where Rachel has just had Emma. Emma is sleeping in her bassinet and Rachel says something like "oooh! She's so cute!!! I have to wake her up and hold her!" and Phoebe says "No! Don't you know you should NEVER wake a sleeping baby?". Rachel can't resist and then Emma proceeds to cry for about 3 hours straight. Well I'll tell you right now. After 3 weeks of subscribing to this way of thinking: IT'S ALL A MYTH. Wake up that baby and feed her, otherwise you'll pay for it at night.

It's really hard to wake a baby from a deep sleep. Their limbs are all limp and their faces are all relaxed and no matter what we did, Elizabeth wouldn't wake up. This lead to lots of frustration as when we finally woke her she'd just fall asleep again while feeding.

Luckily, after about 12 days, she regained her birthweight and the Public Health Nurse that came for a home visit said we no longer have to wake her at night to feed. She can sleep as much as she wants since she's gaining weight well. Only problem now was that we had problems with the night sleep because we had subscribed to the 'Never wake a sleeping baby' myth and let her sleep so much during the day. All three of us were tired because we weren't getting any long stretches of sleep at night.

Anyways, long story short, we've fixed this 'day-for-night' switcharoo just by reducing her sleep during the day. We still have to work hard to wake her up when she gets into a deep sleep, but at night, after a good evening feeding, she'll sleep for 5 hours. I feed her again and she sleeps for another 3. Not too shabby.

Here are some pictures to show the sequence of events during the day (and this is really what most of my days consist of, at the moment):
1. I bring her down from her nap so that I can change her diaper.

2. Gradually, I try to wake her up. I talk to her, flash the camera in her face, blow on her belly...

3. Nothing is working.
4. I eventually strip her down completely so that she gets cold and then she gives me one of these looks. Bingo. She's awake and I can proceed with feeding her.
5. Then, she thanks me for it with one of these looks which says "Thank you, Mommy, for waking me up. I know I was grumpy earlier and I told you that I didn't want to wake up and that I wanted 5 more minutes, but you were right. I needed to eat something and I know that we will all appreciate it tonight when we go beddy-bye."

Dunwell, Done Well!

I just wanted to post a little shout out to Kelly Dunwell, who's blog 'Done Well' was featured as CityLine's blog of the week!!! I will also add that Kelly's love of pun's rivals my own. Dunwell? Done Well? Awesome.

Kelly, I've loved reading your blog ever since I started last year. You are so crafty and are not afraid to start projects that may last a while. I always tend to get discouraged if things are taking too long, but you stick it out....and it's good you do because the things you've created are amazing. Quilts, cookies, dinners, dresses, purses...WOW!

I bow down to your creativity! You are the master.

www.done-well.blogspot.com.. Go read it!

Happy Birthday, Darling!

J's birthday was this weekend and he got some great gifts!

1. Ellie started her 3 week growth spurt on Thursday night and it lasted a few days.....oh the horror....the horror....

1a. giving us 45 minutes here and there to sleep throughout the whole night, definitely not enough for a REM cycle!

1b. feeding for 3 hours at a time, just switching from side to side. Ouch.

2. Ellie decided to use J's hand as a diaper and lovingly gave him a pee AND a poop.

However, there have been another milestone like the cooing noises! When she's alert (and fed and her diaper has been changed), we put her on the Baby Einstein and she makes such cute little noises like 'goo!' or 'gaa!' or 'blah!'....and she's never upset, she's just verbalizing. It's awesome to hear.

So along with the her sleep deprivation torture techniques, there are many other things that make up for it. Unfortunately, J's birthday was right in the middle of one torturous time, but the next moment she was making eye contact with him and yelling 'a goo!', so that obviously meant "I'm sorry that I'm not letting you get any sleep, and I'm sorry I keep pooping in your hands, but I really do love you and appreciate all the hard work that is going into keeping me happy".

Happy Birthday, J!

Elizabeth Niles...giving us smiles.

Here is the new addition to the family!

Elizabeth Katherine Niles: Born 6:34 am on November 8th, 2011. She weighed in a 8 lbs and 8 oz and measured 20.5 inches. She so adorable we could stare at her for hours!!!

Still with child.

Had a doctor's appointment yesterday....on the drive there I realized that I hadn't been out of the house (other than the odd limp to the mailbox) in a week. Crazy. I had one of those moments from The Simpsons when the children discover the outdoors again and they are all rubbing their eyes thinking "what is this place??"

We are on day 5 of being overdue.

Routine non-stress test today and Monday/Tuesday we shall have her out at the latest....unless I go into labour all by myself. Come oooon, self-started labour.

J says she must be just like him and is just too lazy to come out!

Let's DO this, already.

I'm officially overdue. Only by about 1-2 days, but overdue nonetheless. You spend all your time thinking about the 'd-day' that the doctors give you, but the little one has its own agenda. I will think of it this way: I must have created such a comfortable, enjoyable environment in there that she just doesn't feel like coming out. I mean, it's cold these days, fall is here and winter is around the corner. Wouldn't YOU want to stay in your nice little temperature-controlled studio apartment?

So for all of you looking for an update, this is it. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis. And maybe once I publish this post I will instantly go into labour.....but probably not.