daphne {week 20}

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{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // onesie: Carter’s (old) // shorts: Old Navy // moccasins: Freshly Picked // Sophie the Giraffe}

{week 20} Wow, 20 weeks, huh? This past week feels like it has been a big one, so here we go!

Daphne had her 4 month check-up (2 weeks late, poor second child!) last Friday right after we got home from Boise. Her ped was really happy with Baby D’s growth (details below) and was pleasantly surprised to hear she was rolling! She did have to get her second set of vaccines, which she did fairly well with. The first vaccine was oral and she took that pretty well, the second vaccine was an injection that she missed entirely, and she was crying for the next two. Luckily, she calmed down almost immediately but it is still so hard to see!

The ped offered for us to start solids (rice cereal) since it has been shown that starting solids early helps (prevent) food allergies. I was surprised that he was so straight-forward (and encouraging) with starting solids now since it hasn’t been that long since we were doing this with Eloise, and Eloise’s ped really cautioned us against starting solids too early and encouraged us to wait until she was 6 months. Aaron and I are on the same page and are planning on waiting to start solids until Daphne is at least 5 months, but probably 5.5. I know a lot of parents are so eager to start solids, but we really aren’t. It is more work (I plan on making all of Daphne’s purees like I did with Eloise, plus prepping all of the food for baby-led weaning), requires way more planning, and makes diapers really stinky!

Sleep. I won’t talk much about it since I don’t want to jinx anything, but we have started making some big sleep changes. Mostly, the big change this week has been that we moved Baby D to her crib for sleeping. Last week when we were in Boise, we went ahead and let Daphne sleep in her Rock N’ Play for all naps and nights since we knew it was where she slept best (and she slept really well!). But somewhat impulsively over the weekend, I put Daphne down for her first nap in her crib, and she did well, so we just kept her sleeping in her crib all day and over night. She is still adjusting to being in her crib and we are still needing to go in and soothe and give her her paci, but it feels like progress. We haven’t totally committed to “sleep training” yet, but Daphne is a pretty good self-soother, so we are hoping we won’t have to do too much (formally, at least).

Since Aaron headed back to work this week, it was time for me to put Daphne on a bit more of a scheduled routine, as compared to a routine based on whatever time she woke up in the morning. Though we have more than a month before school starts for Eloise, I feel like I need to get Daphne on a schedule that would allow us to do pre-school drop-off and pick-up without interfering too much with Daphne’s (sleep) schedule. With her current wake-up time (of 6 or 7 am), I would have to wake her up mid-nap (twice) in order to get Eloise to and from school… no Bueno. Luckily, I found a good schedule/routine that works for everyone and lets us move between a 3 or 3.5 hour schedule based on what Daphne needs. We started on Monday and so far, so good!

Daphne, just this week, has grown out of her first pair of (gold) Freshly Picked moccasins. Sad day. At least we have plenty for her to grow into! She seems to be growing a bit more all of the sudden with clothes seeming smaller and smaller too.

And here are Daphne’s 4 month stats:

  • weight: 15 lbs, 4 oz (75%)
  • length: 25 inches (50.75%)
  • head circumference: 41.7 cm (50.75%)

As compared to Eloise, Daphne is one pound less, the same length, and a much smaller head! I suspect though that Daphne is actually longer from shoulder to crotch than Eloise was (given how she fits in her clothes).

Happy 20 weeks Daphne!

M

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my weekend in pictures.

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{Tummy time for Baby D!}

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{This sweet dog is always by my side, even when I am downstairs pumping and the rest of the family is upstairs eating breakfast.}

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{Daphne had at least 6 fingers in her mouth. At one time. She’s obsessed with her hands.}

Sorry for the complete lack of pictures! We had a really mellow weekend just getting back into the swing of things after a week away in Boise (which I will share about soon). It was great to be with family and friends, but we are thankful for the almost 30 degree temperature difference! This was Aaron’s last few days of his paternity leave (well, the first half) and we are back to the usual grind starting tomorrow morning! Wish us luck this week.

How was your weekend?

M

daphne {week 19}

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{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // onesie: Carter’s // shorts: Carter’s // blanket: Aden and Anais}

{week 19} This has been a big week for Daphne since it’s her first trip to Boise! She usually does pretty well in the car when we drive around town, but a long road trip is a totally different game! But, she did SO well. We kept on our usual schedule of 3 hour feedings and ended up making three stops to nurse/eat/get out wiggles, and then stretched the last feeding of the trip a bit so we didn’t have to stop just 20 or 30 minutes away from my parents’ house. Obviously there was so much time spent in the car seat, but Daphne did well playing right after a feeding, and then putting herself down for a nap so long as she had a paci (or her thumb) and her lovie! Only at the very end of the trip did she fuss – and we were stretching her feeding time so it was risky!

Once we got into Boise, she transitioned to the time change right away; I kept her on Pacific time thru bedtime and then we switched to Mountain time by the next morning. Daphne has kept to her regular feeding intervals which has been nice and predictable. And with sleep, she has been in our bedroom in the Rock N’ Play. The past few mornings she has slept in (wahoo!) until 7 or 7:30 am (as opposed to her usual 6 am) and only been up once or twice in the night.

It has been SO hot here (into the triple digits every single day!) so Daphne and I have spent all of our time inside in the A/C. And when we do get in the car to go out, we have this little fan that we clip near her car seat since our car vents don’t go anywhere near her! {We got this fan a few weeks ago when we noticed that she was getting pretty hot driving around Seattle once the weather was warm.}

We have been introducing Daphne to my family and Boise friends which has been a delight! She met her Aunt Yaya (my sister), Aunt Dollie (my sister) and Uncle Lance and cousin Dawson, Uncle Jason (my brother) and Aunt Kelly, and her Great Uncle Gary (my dad’s brother) and Great Aunt Gail, and some of my closest girlfriends and their families.

Daphne also had her first haircut this week! We took a family trip down to my hair appointment (since I only get my hair cut in Boise) because we were planning on having Eloise get her hair cut for the first time. Plans changed on that and Eloise didn’t get a hair cut (a very opinionated toddler!) but Daphne did! She had this one small section in the back behind her ear that was almost an inch longer than the rest of her hair, so I had it trimmed up and it can grow out with the rest of her hair. She did so well (Aaron just held her) and I don’t think even realized what was going on!

And lastly, I forgot to bring the Bumbo seat for Daphne in our rush to get out the door last week. Not a huge deal, but she loves to be upright and sitting during at least some of her awake time, but is nowhere near sitting up on her own. We were at a friend’s house for dinner and she offered us a jumperoo that both of her boys had outgrown and they were looking to get rid of. And let me tell you, Daphne is obsessed! She squeals with delight when she is in it, and even though it is enormous (!) it will be great to occupy Daphne and is pretty temporary (in the whole scheme of things, right?).

Happy 19 weeks Daphne!

M

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my weekend in pictures.

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{I finally got a chance to refinish our coffee table. We love this table (it was my late grandmother’s) but it was just really dark. So I stripped it down and stained it, and it looks amazing! I will share “after” pictures soon.}

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{Oh, sleeping babies are the best. So sweet. But also sleeping!}

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{We hit up another birthday party on Saturday morning. Eloise had so much fun playing with her friends. Happy Birthday Amelie!}

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{We had Uncle Ben, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Stan and Aunt Kathi (in this weekend from Indiana!) over for dinner on Saturday evening. Eloise was very excited to pick some lettuce and beets from the garden.}

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{Sadie girl got a much-needed summer haircut and is very festive in her bandana!}

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{We ventured out to the Ballard Farmer’s Market this morning with Ben, Sarah, Stan, and Kathi. We hardly ever hit this farmer’s market (or any farmer’s market for that matter, sad) but it was so fun!}

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{Eloise and I came across a typewriting poet and requested a poem about sisters. It was so sweet and I am going to frame it for Eloise’s room!}

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{We enjoyed pho for lunch!}

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{Stan, Eloise, Kathi, Aaron, me, and Baby D. Such a fun time!}

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{This is one happy baby!}

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{Did my final body scan for the end of the Summer Challenge today after my usual Sunday afternoon barre class. Really pleased with my results – I am much stronger! I didn’t do the Whole30 part of the Challenge because I am nursing and didn’t want to restrict my diet too much, but it was still a great 6 weeks!}

As you can see we had Uncle Stan and Aunt Kathi in town! It was great to see them and show them around the Emerald City. We had amazing (read: sunny) weather and it finally feels like summer!

How was your weekend?

M

daphne {month four}

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{alligator: Jellycat // onesie: Crewcuts (old) // shorts: babyGap (similar) // moccasins: Freshly Picked}

{month four} In re-reading Eloise’s month four update (linked below) we apparently have had two of the happiest babies on Earth! This girl Daphne is so smiley and happy during her awake time, and even if she is fussing will often stop crying and get the biggest grin on her face. Aaron and I both joke that one of the issue we have in the middle of the night (or the middle of a nap) is that when we go in to help Daphne go back to sleep, she has such a big smile on her face that her paci won’t stay in!

Sleep has been THE theme this month (though to be fair, it is probably the theme and what every parent worries about for the first couple years, right?) as we hit the four month sleep regression pretty hard in the past few weeks! All of the sudden we had a terrible (nighttime) sleeper. Grr. As I have mentioned in the past few weeks’ updates, we were planning on making some big sleep changes that are now being mostly put on hold. However, the unswaddling of Daphne has helped tremendously and is still going well. Nighttime sleep seems to be getting much better (knock on wood!) with the past week having good solid sleep with only one middle-of-the-night wake-up (usually between midnight and 1 am) and maybe one early morning wake-up (around 4:30 or 5 am) that I send Aaron in for (so I can sleep until 6). As with Eloise, I think Daphne sleeps more soundly (as do we) when she is in her own room because she doesn’t hear us sleeping and I don’t jump at every single sound (which I don’t during the day, but I do at night). And, being the second child, I can’t always get to Daphne right away if she starts fussing during naptime, so often by the time I get down to her nursery, she has found a way to self-soothe. I am hoping this is a good omen for fast (formal) sleep training which we are planning on doing sometime around the end of July.

When we unswaddled Daphne, we also made the decision to give her a lovie despite many (many) recommendations that infants shouldn’t sleep with anything. We introduced a lovie to Eloise when we sleep trained her and her lovie (Ronnie) has been a source of comfort ever since. Daphne’s hands seemed to sort of flail around when we first unswaddled her and she didn’t know what to do with them, but now she holds her lovie and even rubs it on her face when she is tired. I know it isn’t right for everyone, but I think giving Daphne her lovie now was positive for her sleeping! The girls have the Angel Dear lovies; Eloise has this giraffe and Daphne has this duck (which Eloise picked out and gave her in the hospital).

Just in the past day or so Daphne has found out how to blow raspberries. And there is so. much. drool. She thinks it’s pretty fun and it keeps her entertained, though I have to have a bib on her during her awake time or else change her shirt or onesie between every nap!

And Daphne’s newest trick (as of early this afternoon!) is that she can roll! She has been able to roll from her tummy to her back for a while now, though it seems like she has forgotten that she can do that recently. And I knew Daphne rolling from her back to her tummy was soon coming since she has been rolling from her tummy to her side for the past few weeks. Daphne was on her playmat earlier today while I was eating lunch, and I turned around and she was on her tummy! I placed her on her back again, and sure enough, I turned around and she was on her tummy. She did it a few more times and I even got a video (which hasn’t happened with her rolling from her tummy since as soon as the camera comes out, she stops doing it).

{weight} 15ish pounds?*
{hair} blackish brown.
{teeth} none.
{eyes} dark grey/brown.
{clothes} some 3 months (Carter’s), 3 to 6 months, 6 months (Carter’s), 6 to 12 months.
{diapers} size 2 {from the honest company}. At home we are doing cloth (bumGenius and Grovia) and disposables when we go out and overnight (and add a cloth cover).
{feeding} nursing every 3 to 3.5 hours during the day, starting around 6 am. feeding sessions last around 30 minutes (15 per side). last feeding of the day is around 9:30 pm which is regular nursing plus a 2.5 oz bottle of pumped milk and no middle of the night feeding!
{likes} nursing, riding in the car (usually), her big sister Eloise, singing, lights, paci, being swaddled, being bounced, sucking on her hands, being tickled, talking (cooing).
{dislikes} baths, loud noises, having gas, lying down flat right after eating, being hungry.

{nicknames} Daph, Bug, Snorty, Baby D.

*Because of the long Fourth of July weekend and our upcoming trip to Boise, we couldn’t get Daphne in for her 4 month check-up until mid-month, so I will update with her stats in her weekly update following her check-up!

And here’s Eloise’s month four update!

Happy Four Months Daphne!

M

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daphne {week 17}

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{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // overalls: babyGap  // tee: Hanna Andersson // moccasins: Freshly Picked // socks: June and January }

{week 17} I know, same tee as last week. But I am obsessed. Plus, it was Pride Weekend!

Sleep (again) has been the theme of the week. And I think we are starting the dreaded four-month sleep regression… ahh! Daphne went from sleeping thru the night (and doing well with naps, even some in her crib) to waking between 5 and 6 times per night and crying thru her naps (if she wasn’t held).

So, I chatted with my sleep guru friend Stephanie about what her thoughts were and she was on-board with us trying to maintain the status quo. Not introducing any new sleep props, but focusing on sleep, even if it wasn’t totally ideal. One thing that she did suggest though was to try unswaddling. It is a step that we have been wanting to take, especially since I think Daphne is on the verge of rolling from back to tummy, but I was hesitant (particularly when she was sleeping so well)! But, we figured we had nothing to loose, so we tried it a few nights ago by unzipping the sleeves off of her swaddle and so far, so good! She is still getting used to having her hands out (and trying to figure out what to do with them) but she seems to have mostly outgrown her startle reflex. I have found that when she does fuss, if we give her a few minutes, she will almost always find her hand or her thumb and start self-soothing. It isn’t perfect yet and she still prefers a paci (which is normally all she needs to get back to sleep, though sometimes she wants to be picked up and cuddled) but it feels like progress!

I have also found that really being mindful of keeping her on a 3 to 3.5 hour schedule is ideal for sleeping, both naps and at night. Often in the earlier part of the day, Daphne can go for a 4 hour stretch between feedings, but she isn’t ready to be totally on a 4 hour feeding cycle and by the end of the day, she wants feedings every 2 hours.

Daphne loves her Bumbo seat and spends some time in it during her wake time (maybe  a few times per day) and has started reaching for toys that are on her tray. She also LOVES to lay on her playmat and stare at herself in the mirror or bat at the hanging toys.

Happy 17 weeks Daphne!

M

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