The Eleanor update: 32 weeks

Feeding:
Latch issues again this week.  I've tried different positions and it still hurts sometimes. I'm finding that I have to nurse more in other positions because the football hold doesn't work as well because she pushes against the back of the chair. She's getting to big for that.

We tried yogurt and she wasn't to much of a fan (although the picture below might show otherwise).  It's to thick I think for her. 

We also tried a peach banana rice blend which she ate, but was also thick.  I did give her some bell pepper slices and she loved those!



Sleeping:  
We've had a few rough nights where she has been waking up several times a night.  I can bring her into bed with me - and I do sometimes - but she is squirmy and kicks me so that's not really restful for me.

I let her sleep on me because she never does that anymore and I wanted all the cuddles!

Misc:  

Since the time I was pregnant I've been chatting with a group of other mom's with October 2013 babies and this weekend Eleanor and I went to the zoo in Lansing (about an hour and a half away) and met some of them.  She slept the entire way there, and while she didn't sleep all the way back she was happy.  It was so nice to finally meet in person and I'm so glad I went.  Rob was a little leery at first about it, but we met in a public place and it was completely fine.

Getting into the dvds!

And she figured this out....

Playtime with grandpa U.

The Eleanor Update: Week 30

Every week I take her picture with this bear; but she rarely shows interest in it. 

Feeding: I've been working on some introducing some new foods lately.  I've been trying not to do to many fruits yet because I want her to love vegetables.  Most have been successful though.  She liked peas (puree) and even though she tried broccoli (as a whole piece) most of it wound up in her high chair.  I also have her puffs which she didn't eat (I don't think she could pick them up very well), but she liked the Mum-Mums.  I only give her a half of one once or twice a day.  She could and probably would eat the whole one, but they are kind of expensive so I don't. 

She's still nursing on demand - it's closer to 3 hours now.  Yesterday she went a 4 hour stretch and when I realized it (by looking at the app I use when I sat down for her next feeding) I felt awful.  Rob said she wasn't crying and she would have if she had been hungry and I know but I felt like I starved her anyway.





Sleep:
Yesterday I put a soft blanket in her crib and laid her on it.  She napped for an hour and half.  I had to wake her up to get her dressed and fed before church.  I don't know if it was just a coincidence and I want to try it again, but I'm nervous to.  I kept checking that monitor.

She also slept from 9 pm Saturday night to 5:30 am Sunday, I nursed her and she slept in until 7 am.

I write these posts throughout the week so I write how it's been going and then the night before I publish it she switches it up just to make me re-write it.  Like this morning she slept in until.......wait for it.....8 am!  I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened ever.  She woke up at 1:30 and 5:30 to nurse though, but I don't care.  8 am is a lot easier to get up at than 6:30.



Misc:  
We didn't get out much this week.  It rained a lot this week so we were stuck inside a lot.

She's become an expert at scooting backwards and has been getting up on all fours a lot lately.

Pictures:

A new garage sale puzzle

Visiting nana at work; she really loved that binder clip.

Exhausted after visiting Nana

She loves that vacuum.

The Eleanor Update: Week 29

Food:
We tried avocado this week as a puree and she seemed to like it.  I think avocado is boring and bland (sorry if you like it), but I've heard it is a good first food so I bought some when they were on sale and we mashed it up and froze it for her.

I've also tried baby led weaning a few times.  The first attempt with a banana she just mushed it in her hands but didn't try to eat it and the second she figured it out
(see video)  I gave her a sugar snap pea also and she put it in her mouth but didn't eat any.

I think it's cute when she nurses like this. Hand behind her head holding onto my finger. 

She fell asleep at breakfast for the first time last week.

I try to do oatmeal mixed with breast milk every morning.  She only gets an ounce or so of that and then later in the day she usually gets an ounce or so of veggies.  I'm nervous about giving her to much solids (although I know she doesn't even eat all of what she gets) because I'm worried that she won't want to nurse and my milk production will drop.

I pumped a few times last week because I've been having to dump milk a lot lately.  I have been using milk from November for church bottles -which she never takes - and once I warm them I can't reuse them.  Or I'll give her some in her oatmeal and try a sippy cup but she won't always take it.

Luckily I only freeze in 2-3 ounces so it's not a ton, but I still hate it being dumped.  I did freeze some from this last week in an ice cube tray to use for mixing with oatmeal.


Sleep: 
This week was better.  Not great but better.  At least for bedtime.  Not all the time but more often than not she goes to bed okay.  It might be at 8pm on night and 10pm the next but she's usually okay once she's down.  She'll sleep 6-8 hours before waking up, she'll nurse and then sleep a few more.

She's really become a belly sleeper this week.  I don't love it (because of the 'put your baby back to sleep' and 'back is best' campaigns), but the one time I tried to flip her over she woke up angry at me, and the flipped back over crying.  Sometimes on the monitor it looks like her face is straight into the mattress and that makes me go check on her.

On Friday night I was trying to nurse her to sleep and she kept latching for a second, then pulling off and yelling.  I was paranoid that I wasn't having a letdown (I've mentioned before that I've never felt it).  I took her in the bedroom to nurse her and laid her on my chest for a minute and she kept lifting her head up and down like she was tired; I set her on the bed next to me and she was almost out immediately.  So I put her in the crib, she cried for a minute but then fell back asleep.

Misc:  
My best friend was in town for the first time since Thanksgiving and it was great to see her and have her see Eleanor again!



I feel like Eleanor has great fine motor skills, but I might just be a proud mom.  :) She can hold a good size plastic ball in one hand very well.  I don't know if that's normal though.

She's become an expert at scooting backwards.

She found her thumb!

The Eleanor Update: Week 22

Breastfeeding:  She has been getting really distracted lately.  She's constantly latching and unlatching herself.  Her feeding times have also gotten shorter.  She was never really a long nurser (more than 15 minutes was unusual), but now it's like 7-8 minutes.  I usually stop her then, because of the latching and unlatching.

She'll nurse a 'normal' 10-12 minutes in the middle of the night though.

Sleep:  I know I posted this on facebook (more than once), but seriously this last week has been horrid.  She won't nap.  I am losing my sanity.  I need some me time.  I need some sleep.  I spend an hour plus listening to her cry and trying to calm her just for her to nap 15 minutes.  It's exhausting.

I've resorted to car rides on more than one occasion to get to her to sleep.  Actually she does nap.  But only when she's in the car seat.

Yesterday, despite it being 20*, we took a short (like 5 minutes) walk in the k'tan.  I knew the fresh air would help both of us, and honestly, before I had even walked past then neighbors house she was snoring. Then she slept an hour and half in that thing on me.  I couldn't do much, but I didn't care.  She was sleeping!

She did start sleeping in the crib over the weekend.  Once she finally settles down for the night she does alright.  She still wakes up once or twice in the middle of the night, but she has done okay with it.  I just need her to nap in it.

Misc:
She's been sticking out her tongue for a while, but the last few days have been super charged.

We were out to eat on Saturday with my sister, brother in law and nephew.  When the waitress came over she set the bill in front of me.  I was smiling at my nephew and didn't see Ellie grab the pen and color on her face.  I should have gotten a picture (she had a line down her cheek and by her nose), but I felt horrible because she could have poked her eye.

Shortly before that happened, I was nursing her covered and when the couple (late 60's/early 70's) sitting next to us left the lady stopped by our table and said she thought it was really cool that I was nursing her.  It was the first time someone has said something to me, and thankfully it was positive.  It made me feel really good. 

Yeah for fresh air!

Eleanor is 2 days older, but she looks huge!

Trying out a new k'tan hold.