2 months young

Miss Halli Ann turned 2 months on the ninth.

At her two month appt here were her stats:
Length: 22 in. 33%
Weight: 8 lbs 13 oz. 4%
Head: 37.75  38%

For those of you who aren't percentile savy, i'll make it easier for you. Halli being not yet 9 lbs at 2 months means that out of 100 babies in the U.S. her same age, 96% of them weigh more than her. She only weighs more than 4% of babies. She is a tiny thing!
The concern is, at 2 weeks she was 7 lbs 2 oz which is 17% so the fact that she dropped to 4% concerns my pediatrician. And concerns me!

Breastfeeding has been one long challenging ordeal that i have shed many tears over. We have officially tossed the nip shield but Halli still doesn't eat well from me!! Feedings can take up to an hour trying to get her content but then she eventually has a full blown meltdown and then either falls asleep or is calmed and satisfied once i give her the bottle. I love breast feeding and the closeness of it but not when Halli isn't getting enough and is just so fussy and sad after every feeding! =(

So we've(me, Tyler, our ped) decided that the most important thing is the breast milk and since Halli takes a bottle like a champ, well we're mostly just giving her a bottle now and i'm a pumping machine. We invested in a Medela double breast pump which has been amazing. I cut nipple holes in an old camisole with a built in bra and voila! I have hands free pumping!

Halli has been much better since we've started mostly a bottle feeding and she even sleeps better. Still really inconsistent though. She goes from sleeping 3 hour stretches to sleeping 6! Can't figure out why but we've started trying to get a night routine going. Any suggestions for a good night routine? We're trying to figure out how to more easily give her baths at night as part of a routine. I've also got her on a pretty good eat every 3-1/2 hours, then play then sleep routine. Sometimes she deviates though and falls asleep right after a feed.

I still usually breastfeed Halli maybe once a day but it's always after a bottle if she still seems a little hungry. To be honest it's kind of a relief to see and control how much milk she's getting. Here's some helpful info to other mommy's out there: take however many months they are and add 2. So Halli is two months plus two is 4 oz. She can get a total of 4 oz. My ped says she needs 2-4 oz every 3-4 hours. Halli usually takes 2.5 or 3. If we go over 3 we're pushing it for spit up and if we go under 2 we're pushin' it for a meltdown induced by hunger. That always seems to be the case.

Tyler's sister and brother in-law watched Halli on my birthday a few weeks ago and clipped her nails for us! They have two kids with one on the way so they are experienced nail clippers. I was very thankful! Because I am terrified to do it. Rightly so too. I decided to face my fears and clip them the other week and totally clipped her. It was the.saddest.thing.ever. There was blood. I bawled like a baby with her. I didn't expect to cry if I clipped her skin. But it was just so sad and I hated that i'd caused her so much pain and even bloodshed!

After the incident with the finger nail clippers, I didn't trust myself watching her get shots. So when the nurse at my ped office asked if I wanted to stay or leave the room I opted for leaving. Suprisingly the nurse brought her to me in her car seat already, NOT crying and almost asleep! Totally content! Wha? Didn't she just get her shots? Halli hates her car seat! It was a nice relief. And the nurse said she only cried for a second and then once she got picked up she stopped. Thank goodness =) She wasn't inconsolably fussy until the next day. It was BAD. We bought tylenol.

Halli Ann tid bits:
-The carseat and Halli just don't get along 80% of the time. As soon as the carseat clicks into the base she starts whimpering and it eventually turns into an all out cry for help. Poor girl. We think she hates being alone back there because as soon as one of us sits back there with her she calms down. It's impossible i've decided to drive the speed limit with a screaming babe in the back seat. I'm sure if I was pulled over the officer would hear the lungs on my child and let me off with a warning ;)

-Loves her swing. It saves me during the day. Gives me anywhere from an hour to three hours to get stuff done!

-Still despises her bassinet. Can't get her to sleep more than 2 hours in it. She sleeps in her swing or bouncer.

-Started smiling at us on my birthday! July 27th =) They're still kind of rare but oh when she smiles it brightens my world and makes the dark circles under the eyes and oily hair so worth it! Haha.

-Still in newborn onesies and clothes =) But they're starting to get harder to snap under her diaper.

-Halli loves baths AND showers! =) We don't do the shower with her too much because it's too scary holding a wiggly slippery little babe. But occasionally when she just needs a rinse from a blow out diaper we'll do that.

-Dairy doesn't bother her but raw cabbage does. Oh man. we've been paying for it these last few days for eating it on Sunday. I just know it was the cabbage because she had been sleeping wonderfully. 5-6 hours a night three nights in a row! Awesome! Then Sunday night BAM! Up every 2 hours! Not a happy mama come Monday. Same with Tuesday night. She finally slept 5 hours last night.

-She has recently found her hands and loves sucking on them when she's hungry or bored or whatever =) So cute!

cute little Band-Aids from her shots. She was just fine right after the shots.

 grump face

 love this face! =)

 love her little "shoe socks" as Tyler calls them.

When she has been fussing for a while in her car seat and i finally go back to calm her/give her the binky this is what I see. It's quite impressive to say the least.

If she's had a good meal, good sleep and is not gassy she is such a sweet baby and will chill on the couch with you and watch TV. If the TV is on that's where her attention goes. Just like her daddy =) haha


Okay that's all time for bed =) Never know how well Halli is going to sleep!