3 month pictures

Here's a glimpse of Yorlee at 3 months:



Hello!




Trying to grab the remote.




Caught ya!!

 Currently, Yorlee is 13 weeks old.  She loves to babble and coo.  It's so cute, we hold little "conversations" all the time.  She smiles, and can even giggle.  She loves to grab things and now when she is nursing she reaches up to touch my face.  She's learning that she has feet, and tries to grab them.  She drinks 4-6 ounces every four hours and still nurses for comfort.  She doesn't mind her car seat as much since I took the infant head support out.  I think it was too tight for her.  She is wearing 3 month and 3-6 month clothes and size 1 diapers.

Naps

When I was on maternity leave, the only way I could get Yorlee to take a nap was to hold her in my arms.  So it became a habit.  A bad one, at that.

I knew that she would go through some changes once she started going to daycare.  I noticed on several occasions that when I would come to pick her up, she'd be sleep in her rocker, BY HERSELF.  I just thought that maybe the new surroundings caused her to be okay sleeping alone.  Finally, it was bugging me because I was needing some "me time" on the weekends.  I inquired about it on Friday, and the daycare provider told me that after Yorlee is fed and her diaper is changed, she swaddles her up and puts her down.  I thought, "No way can it be that simple."  She told me that she does cry for a minute and then she falls asleep.  When I arrived home from work on Friday, I informed my husband and he said that we should try it.  So on Saturday, when Yorlee was cranky and due for a nap, my husband changed her diaper, gave her a bottle, swaddled her, and put her in her swing.  She started crying, so I went over and sat next to her (without picking her up), she stopped crying and was babbling and staring at me.  Her eyes started to get heavier and heavier, until finally, she went to sleep.  I couldn't believe it!!  She was napping on her own!

She was sleep for FOUR HOURS!!!  My husband and I didn't know what to do with ourselves!  We watched a movie, took a nap, and finally it was killing me so I went and picked her up.  She did the same thing yesterday as well!  It feels so good to know that I can get things done now.  Before I felt as though I had to hold her all day to keep her content.  Now I know she's okay if I put her down.

Now if I can only get her to sleep on her own at night.  It would be amazing!

A day in the life...

Here's what my day typically looks like during the work week:

5:00AM - Jump out of the bed to grab my phone to stop my alarm before it wakes Yorlee up. (Sometimes I hit the snooze button and wake up at 5:15AM.)  If she didn't wake up, I'll sneak out of bed and head for the bathroom to get myself together.

5:20AM - Pump. I usually get about 5 ounces in the morning.  I try to only pump from one side so I can nurse Yorlee from the other before we leave the house.

5:35AM - Wake Yorlee up (if she isn't up already), and wash her up and get her dressed.  She hates getting washed up, but I'm not a fan of the "stinky neck".  LOL!  Even if I she had a bath the night before, I always wash her neck because she has turned into a drooler and milk loves to collect in her cute little neck fat folds.

5:50AM - Nurse Yorlee.  Usually this is a MUST because she is having tantrum because she had to get washed up and dressed.

6:00AM - Load up the car.  I pack Yorlee's bottles, some receiving blankets/bibs, and a change of clothes for her.  I also have to lug my Medela pump around.

6:45AM - Arrive at daycare to drop Yorlee off.  I always take her out of her carseat and give her hugs and kisses before I leave.  Even if she's sleep.

7:20AM - Arrive at work.  When I arrive I usually make a cup of Mother's Milk tea, and oatmeal to help give my supply a boost.
9:00AM - Pump.  I usually get between 3-5 ounces total (from pumping both sides.)
12:00PM - Pump again and read blogs.  I usually get between 2-4 ounces total.
12:30PM - Go to lunch.

3:00PM - Pump again.  I usually get around 2-3 ounces total.
4:00PM - Off work, head to go pick up Yorlee.

4:30PM - Arrive at daycare.  Play with Yorlee for a little while, and nurse her if she starts rooting.

5:10PM - Arrive at home.  Put the milk in the fridge that I pumped at work and play with Yorlee.  She usually likes to nurse frequently, so I usually lay in bed and catch up on my DVR while feeding her.

6:30PM - Figure out what to eat for dinner.  Usually it's something quick, like baked chicken.  Or my hubby cooks.  He loves to cook and I don't, so it works for me.
(The next part varies depending on if it's a meeting night or not.  If not, we do the following:)

8:00PM - Wash bottles and my pump parts to prepare for the next day.  Give Yorlee a bath if it's bath night, and prepare her for bed.

9:00PM - Get in bed and cuddle with Yorlee while watching TV.  Usually we sing, play and read books before I start winding her down.

10:00PM - 5:00AM - Sleep.  Yorlee sleeps in the bed with me, and she sleeps through the night.  Sometimes she roots around wanting to nurse and I latch her on without either of us really waking up.  We nurse side-lying and both go back to sleep.

Notice anything missing?  I don't really get to spend any quality time with my hubby when I get home.  Sometimes we cook together, or go out to eat as a family, but since Yorlee isn't sleeping on her own, we really don't see each other much.  I'm currently working on transitioning her out of our bed and into her own.  If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to let me know.  Any advice is greatly appreciated.  My goal is to get her down by 8PM so my husband and I have a few hours to relax before going to bed.

Nursing and pumping

I have a love-hate relationship with pumping.  I love the results, but I hate the action.  Before Yorlee was born, I had this nagging suspicion that I wouldn't be able to breastfeed.  Why?  Who knows?  But I really didn't expect for it to work out.

When she was born and latched on for the first time, I was so thrilled.  When they announced that she had jaundice I felt defeated.  I thought, "Here it goes, I'm going to have to supplement with formula and she'll never latch again."  My wonderful nurse came into the room and told me to nurse her as frequently as she wanted for as long as she wanted, and they'd retest her bilirubin levels again the next day.  Determination had set in on my part, I was going to feed my baby, and I was going to help her flush the jaundice out of her system.  My milk started to come in that day, and I fed her all day and night.  I didn't stop with visitors cameo to the hospital to visit her, I didn't stop when the cleaning lady came to mop the floor of my hospital room, I didn't even stop to eat.  It paid off, the next day her levels were down and we were told to follow up with her pediatrician after we got home.  All was well, she had even surpassed her birth weight!

I went through it all the first few weeks.  Engorgement, cracked/bleeding nipples, pain, etc.  It even got to the point where I desperately called a lactation consultant at the crack of dawn to seek help because every time Yorlee latched it felt like hot needles were stabbing my nipples.  Her response was "Stop breastfeeding her."  I was shocked!  Then she said, "Well, you can pump if you'd like, but don't give her a bottle because that could lead to nipple confusion."  Great help, huh?  Needless to say, I didn't listen to her advice.  Armed with Lanolin cream and cool gel breast pads, I fought through it.  My husband was/is so supportive.  He kept thanking me for what I was doing, and encouraging me that I could do it.  He did waiver at one point though.  I was nursing Yorlee at her pediatrician's office after she had to get some additional blood work done.  She unlatched and when she did a layer of skin came off of my nipple.  The look on my husband's face startled me more than the pain I felt.  He looked like he was going to faint.  Mind you, this man had just witnessed childbirth three days prior.  I'll never forget what he said, "What do we DO?  What do you DO?  Are you okay?  Was that SKIN?!?!?"  He was freaking out!  It's funny looking back, but boy was it scary at the time.

When Yorlee hit her first growth spurt, again, a little voice in the back of my head said, "Now THIS is it.  You aren't going to be able to keep up with her demand."  But I just kept nursing her whenever she wanted, and after about a week, she was back to normal.

I really thought it would be over once I went back to work.  Having to pump during the day scared me.  Sure, I pumped while I was on maternity leave.  But only when I wanted to.  It was never a must.  My first day back I was freaking out, I didn't know how often to pump, where I would pump, or if I could go through with it.

I'm writing this to show myself that I can do it, I AM doing it!  And also to show new moms, or moms-to-be that even though it's not aways easy, it is possible.  I've already reached one of my goals, which was 3 months, and now I'm on to my next one, which is 6 months.

Nursing Yorlee has been such a great bonding experience.  It calms her down instantly when she's fussy, and after she's done eating she gives me the biggest smiles.

I never decided to breastfeed because I was against formula.  I've always known that I would at least try to breastfeed my children, because I wanted to.  If I have to give her some formula one day, it won't be the end of the world.  I'm so happy that I was able to overcome all of our nursing obstacles.

Big hugs to all the nursing moms, as well as the formula feeding moms.  We should all be proud that we're taking such good care of our babies and helping them grow big and strong.  No matter how they're fed.

New favorite food blog

My sister recently started a food blog, and I have to say, it's amazing!  It is still a work in progress, but the recipes and restaurant reviews that she mentioned in such a short time are all incredible.  I can't wait to see what else she decides to add.

For those of you in the Metro Detroit area, you HAVE to check out the restaurant recommendations.  I can attest to the fact that they are divine.

To those of you that are not in the Metro Detroit area, you HAVE to check out her recipes.

Here's the link: Lynn- Food Loving Diva

Have a great day!!

Two weeks

Wow, seriously?  I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've last posted.  Like many others, I've written endless blog posts in my head, but they never made it out.  LOL!

Yorlee has changed so much!  She's cooing and laughing, smiling at everything, grabbing things, and drooling up a storm.  I just adore her!

I'm starting to get more acclimated with being back at work, it still isn't what I prefer, I'm looking for a part time job, but haven't received any bites yet.  My resume is on nearly every internet job search website available.  It's been so long since I've job hunted, I hope that I haven't lost my "touch".  I used to be able to find a job in a snap.

Anyways, back to the baby.  She's currently going through her 3 month growth spurt.  I'm having a hard time keeping up with her demand.  I nurse her whenever she wants, but lately when I pump, I end up having to give her every ounce that I got in a bottle after she nurses.  It's especially hard on the weekends, when I'm trying to get the one up on my stash, but I can't seem to nurse her and save any milk simultaneously.  It's hard not to get down about it.  I find that I worry about my supply more often than not, especially when I'm at work.  I try not to watch when I'm pumping, but it's difficult.  I must admit, I count ounces as I pump.  I have to send 18 ounces to daycare for Yorlee, and I usually get about 13 of those when I'm at work.  Once I get home, I try to keep her satisfied, and pump the other 5 along the way.  She's very sensitive to Mother's Milk Tea.  It hurts her little tummy.  So I only drink it occasionally, and then I put some gripe water in her bottles so it can help ease the pain.  If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know!

I've also been drinking at least 64 ounces of water a day, and eating oatmeal.  I even added an additional pumping session while I'm at the office.  But I haven't noticed a difference.

Does anyone else have a child who hates their car seat?  Yorlee begins to cry as soon as her little bottom touches the seat.  And she no longer falls asleep once we get to rolling.  She'll scream all the way until we reach our destination.  Which can be stressful when I'm driving in rush hour traffic at 6AM dropping her off at daycare.  I've tried singing to her, talking to her, playing music, playing an audio book.  NOTHING works!  Once we stop and I open the back door to take her out, she's all smiles.

Here are a few pictures of my pumpkin:

Finally gave up and fell asleep

Get me outta here!!!

Pretty girl in my dress and tights

Pillow talk with Mommy.

She's kinda funny...

Sleepy in my car seat.

Sitting in my Bebo chair.

I love to make facial expressions!!

Much thanks to Kerri for emailing and asking how I'm doing.  That was so nice!  I had a rough week last week, but I'm trying to get back on track.

I hope everyone is doing okay!!

I survived!!

My first week back at work, that is.

To be honest, it really wasn't what I thought it would be.  I was prepared to miss Yorlee, and I was prepared to feel out of the loop and want to go back home with my baby.  But I wasn't really prepared for the GUILT that I felt for leaving her behind.  I kept thinking, 'what if she cries and they can't console her?', or, 'what if she still doesn't take the bottle?'.  Come to find out, it was harder for me than it was for her.

Today marks the start of my second week back, and I can tell that working full time isn't something that I want to do anyways.  I'm starting to seriously look for a part time job, and now the fire is under my butt because my job did their two year credit checks and decided to question me about a delinquent account that showed up on my credit report FIVE years ago.  Which was before I even started working there, so now I have to plead my case, or I'll get fired.  I know that my credit has to remain in good standing in order for me to keep my job, and I've been paying everything on time.  I didn't think it would come down to one super old account that I disputed and thought I settled, but they are stating that I still owe them money.

Great....

I don't get how it was okay to have it on there when I was hired, but now it's a problem.  But, you can't control some things.  And it just reaffirms the fact that I wanted to quit so that I could work part time and stay home with my daughter.

Anyways, here's a recap of my first week back.

* I didn't cry!!  I was so surprised, but I guess I did a good job in preparing myself.
* She refused the bottle at first, but it was because I put the wrong nipple on it.  She is VERY particular.  Now she takes them like a pro.
* My milk supply has been up and down, but I'm still able to pump enough at work to fill her bottles for the next day.
* I look at her picture a million times a day.
* I worry about her WAY more than I used to.
* I'm stressed.  If it's not one thing, it's another.


But, all it takes is one look at my baby girl, and I know that things will be okay.  Pictures to come, this Mama is tired, Yorlee was up all night last night, and I get up at 5AM in order for us to be out the door by 6AM.