15 Weeks Old

Today we have a 15 week old baby.  And this 15 week baby will be starting daycare on Monday, Grandma care on Tuesday, and I already miss her even though she's next to me right now.

I've always wanted to be a mom.  I'm so thankful that now I am a mom.  But, I'm even more thankful that I'm her mom. It's as if I ordered a product, and it arrived, and it took a little bit to get used to.  But now that I'm used to this product, it's as if I got something so much better, and so much more amazing, than I ever ordered.  How did I get so lucky to get this smiley, happy, chubby cheeked little girl?

Which begs the question, will she be her sweet, happy self next week?  When she is put in an all new environment with all kinds of bigger, louder kids?  Will she freak out and scream? (Gosh I hope not, but most likely, yes).

This week I have done what I can to help her prepare.  She has now slept in her crib for one full week, for all night time sleeps and most daytime naps.  This should have her ready to sleep on a flat surface crib at daycare.  We've practiced putting her down awake, so she learns to self-soothe and fall asleep on her own. We've done multiple bottles a day, every day, since last weekend. Some bottles were a fight, some weren't, but each day it got a little easier.  We visited daycare so she could look around a little.

Now, all that's left is for me to cherish this weekend with her and every single cuddle until Monday morning.

Here are some current Grace updates:

FOOD: Grace is still breastfeeding, although we are ready to add in formula at any point for daytime feedings if I'm unable to pump enough to keep up with her demand.  Good news, her stomach seems to have matured to the point where the gas drops aren't so necessary anymore.  I still give them a few times a day, but she isn't writhing in pain every time she passes gas anymore.

SIZE: Grace fits size 6 month clothes perfectly now (usually after they're washed).  Baby sizing is such a guess to me.  At 2 months old, she was a perfectly average baby size and yet was starting to fit in 6 month clothes, so bizarre. She is in size 2 diapers.  Based on me weighing myself, and weighing myself holding her, she weighs 14 pounds.  That is double the weight she was when we took her home from the hospital.

LIKES: She loves when people smile at her, and she smiles right back.  She loves to "talk", and will exercise her vocal chords (sometimes very loudly), when she is in a good mood.  It is absolutely precious and I love it.  She likes her "play gym", a mat where I lay her down and she bats at things above her.

She doesn't fall asleep on me as much
anymore.  It is the best ever when she
does though.

DISLIKES: She doesn't like being put into her "Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit".  She will fuss almost immediately.  But, once she's in it, she seems to calm down.
She doesn't like when people aren't looking at her.  She wants our attention!  She doesn't like drinking from a bottle, but she's adjusting to it.

SLEEP: Her naps are in her crib (which is great!), but they're just 30 minutes long on the dot.  I've read that babies start extending their naps to be longer by 6 months, so hopefully she'll start doing that. At night, her longest sleeping stretch is from about 11pm-4am.  I try to put her to sleep earlier every night, but she just wakes up and won't actually ever fall asleep until around 11.  Daylight Savings is this weekend, so I have no clue how that's going to impact us.  Our whole sleep schedule will be off anyway, once I start waking her up at 5:30 am to nurse before daycare.  Maybe it's actually a good thing we'll have daycare starting and daylight savings starting to get the sleep disruptions taken care of all at once.

I love this sweet face so much.

MILESTONES: She laughed!  She has been smiling for awhile now, but this week, she gave a true giggle to Brian a few times and me a few times. It was precious. Also, she actually is starting to like tummy time!  She can hold her head up for a good 5 minutes on her tummy before starting to fuss. I think she now actually notices/likes the view she gets from that perspective.  She is starting to use her hands more intentionally to grasp and hold onto things (like my hair or the strings on my hooded sweatshirt).

At 15 weeks, Grace is smiley, happy, vocal, and just the sweetest little thing I've ever been around in my life.