2 months new

I can hardly believe that Eleanor is 2 months old already. It has been such a whirlwind since the day she was born. Even this far in, we still feel like we are in survival mode. For a little bit, she was going 3 hours start to start between feedings, and we were able to actually leave the house and go somewhere besides the doctor, like Barnes & Noble or a restaurant. Or, if we were really lucky, both! Sleep is still elusive, but we are learning to live on less. Most days we are lucky to eat 3 meals and get showers. Seriously. I wonder, is it like this for everyone or are we doing something wrong?

So that's how we are doing. But what everyone really wants to know is, how's Eleanor doing?

She is doing great! She is slowly getting into a routine, where she has a feeding, then some awake time, then goes down for a nap. We don't always get in the awake time or the nap. Sometimes it's either/or. But on a good day, this is the routine. She is nursing every 2 hours, start to start, for about an hour each time. This only leaves an hour for her awake time/nap. When we do give her a bottle of my expressed milk, she takes about 3.5 oz. We typically do this at night, so that I can get a little more rest. I still have to pump, but that doesn't require as much time or attention as when I'm nursing her.

All of this is about to change though. At her last doctor visit, she weighed 8 lbs, 12 oz and was 21 inches long. She is still not gaining weight like she should, which is why we went back to nursing every 2 hours. So the current plan is to nurse her as often as she wants and then give her a bottle of expressed milk (between 2-2.5 oz). This means I am nursing her for about 30 minutes and then pumping whatever I can to be given at the next feeding. It is exhausting, but will be worth it, if it works! We have a feeling that she may go longer between feedings, since she will be more satisfied and full. This was true yesterday, when she did a couple of 2.5-3 hour stretches. Nursing is still her favorite thing to do. I think she feels very comforted and secure, which is why she often falls asleep on me! Probably also why she isn't gaining good. We are hoping for a big weight gain when we go for another weight check on Monday. The last time we gave her a bottle supplement after each feeding, she gained 8 0z in 4 days!

During her awake time, she enjoys looking at the fan. Seriously, she just stares at it and smiles. She even tries to talk to it a little. It is the cutest thing! She also enjoys looking at our faces and smiling at us. She isn't very big into toys yet, but she has a stuffed owl toy that makes a tinkling sound that she enjoys. She likes to look at herself in the mirror as well. From early on, she has enjoyed looking at the prints of London that are framed on the wall above our couch. These are a sepia tone in a gallery style frame (white mat, dark frame). She loves to stare at these. She doesn't smile at then, just looks. There are also some pictures of our trip to Ireland hanging above her crib in a gallery style frame, and she likes to look at these, too. We like to think it's because she will be a world traveler one day!

She still enjoys going outside, even in this hot, humid Mississippi weather. We have taken her for a stroller ride around the neighborhood a few times, and she seems to enjoy this. She also enjoys sucking on her paci and moving her arms and legs around. She is so strong! Practically since birth, she has been pushing off of us with her legs and trying to hold her head up. She is getting a little more coordinated with this and seems to be able to bring her head back down more gently than before. She does this most often when we are holding her. Perhaps she is just trying to see our faces. Soon she will be ready for tummy time! She's not too crazy about it yet. We have caught her a few times trying to watch tv. It must be a combination of the sound, lights, and movement. We try to redirect her attention to something else (the fan?). Too much stimulation makes for a fussy baby!

And when she starts yawning or getting fussy, we know that it is time for a nap! She really loves to sleep on our chests or in our arms, and as much as we love this time of cuddling, we are trying to get her to sleep independently in her crib. She likes to have her horror music (as Brad calls it) playing during nap time. This is a track of womb sounds, basically white noise, that we play on her ipod. It helps to calm her down and keep her from waking too much. She does okay for her day time naps. Sometimes she will sleep for 30 minutes or longer. Other times, she doesn't really sleep at all. She typically goes longer stretches at night. Last night was her best sleep yet! She went down around 9 and slept until midnight, then went back down around 1 and slept until 5, both times without either of us having to go in the room after she went down. This is unprecedented! Hope she can do it again tonight. We were both able to get a lot more sleep than usual (and at the same time!).

For now she is sleeping in her bouncy seat which is in her crib, because she has pretty bad reflux. This helps to elevate her head, so she is awakened by the reflux in the night. She is now taking Prevacid once per day, which has helped a lot. Before starting this med, it seemed that if she wasn't eating or sleeping, she was fussy and crying. Now, she actually has happy awake time and is able to interact with us in a more positive way. We just LOVE our pediatrician, Dr Myers. She is wonderful. She takes time at Eleanor's appointments to really listen and figure out what is going on. She doesn't just examine Eleanor and give her back, but she holds her and cuddles her. When we went yesterday for her weight check and discovered she hadn't gained any weight, Dr M came in to talk to us about it, even though we didn't have an appointment. And we weren't charged for the visit either. I am so happy to have found such a wonderful doctor for Eleanor!

As exhausting as the past 2 months have been, we couldn't be more in love with our little girl! I'm looking forward to what the next month brings. I hear things get really good around 3 months...