Mckenna Monday: Back in a Groove

Well it's been awhile since I've written, so I figured I'd chime in and let you know what's been happening with me, now that I'm a big, bad 4.5 month old.

I got into a bit of a rut while daddy was in the hospital. I think I was overstimulated during the day since I was in a fun place with lots of new things to look at and tons of new faces smiling at me, so I didn't nap well, and then at night, sleeping at grandma's, I just couldn't sleep. It was hot, and then cold and then REALLY hot, and then REALLY cold all night. There were different sounds. The pack 'n play just isn't as comfy as my crib at home and my routine all day had been thrown off, so I slept horribly. I was up every hour or so, and would only really sleep if I was in mom's arms. She was nice and let me nurse pretty much all night, which I loved because that was the one thing that felt familiar and comfortable so that's all I wanted all night long. Anywhoo, after dad got out of that fun place with all the cool things, I think they called it a hospital, I was still just out of my groove for another 4 or 5 nights. And then, like magic, I was able to sleep again like before. I swear mom loves me a little more those nights. She doesn't know I can tell, but she sure is happy to see me when I get up in the morning. Now I go to bed between 8:30 and 9, wake up to eat once and then get up for the day between 7:30 and 8:15. Ah I feel good when I sleep well.

And all this sleep is making me one big baby. They were a bit worried at my 4 month checkup that I dropped from between the 25th and 50th percentile to between the 10th to the 25th. Mom wasn't worried. She could see all my rolls and that I was happy, so she brushed it off as if the doctors didn't know what they were talking about (it probably helped ease her mind that I was in the 5th percentile when born, and just happened to shoot up because of her oversupply issue, so she felt like I was finally where I should be). Anyways, to just be sure I didn't keep dropping in percentiles, I went back last Friday for a weight check. Wouldn't you know it, I gained a pound - putting me at 12lbs 11oz like a big girl. They were happy with that and mom said "I told you so" with her eyes...I already recognize her "I told you so" face...which I'm not sure is a good thing because I think I may be in for a lot of those when I hit high school.

Lastly, I want to tell you about all my tricks. I roll tummy to back, sit up when holding myself with my arms for added support, play with toys hanging in front of me while I'm on my belly, skootch around my playmat to get to different toys I want to play with (although sometimes I skootch off the mat so I can get a better view of the TV), and I love talking to my mom and dad! The new trick I'm working on is rolling back to front. I'm getting close, but mom says it'll be another month...I'll show her and then give her MY "I told you so" face!!

That's it from me. Oh, one more thing, I'm still swaddled at night...any tips for how to get my out of it AND me still be able to sleep?

Reality Check!

Another week has come and gone. Somehow life post-Mckenna goes faster. It's like days are shorter now! Mckenna is now 12 weeks old...and I have NO clue where these 12 weeks went - one week and a day and she'll be 3 months old already. CRAZY!

This week was my first week back at work. Back to reality for this momma. Luckily I'm only back at work 20 hours a week. That helps big time. I'm able to get in 2 hours during her morning nap (what's funny is she only takes a long nap (longer than an hour or so) when napping in her swing next to daddy doing his treatments. Ronnie's morning treatments are LONG now because he just continually restarts his vest so we both can get in a long stretch of work. Treatments may be my new favorite things on earth.) Anyway, so I do a 2 hour stretch in the morning, and then another 2 hours or so while Ronnie plays Mr. Mom. All in all it was an easier transition than I thought. But I am glad I'm part-time and that I'm still at home because I think I would die going 8 hours without seeing Mckenna and I still get jealous when I hear them playing and I can tell she's being cute...so I run in to see what she's doing. Maybe one day she'll get boring and I'll be less obsessed?

And come to think of it, Reality is slowly creeping back in in other ways too...one real world first at a time. First, work. Now we're discussing hospital stays. Ronnie won't be going in anytime too too soon, but he's getting closer, as he's been out since September, and he's pretty consistent on how long he can stay out. So as we started talking about a possible tune-up in the next month or so, I started putting together what the reality of a tune-up would be. And it's not pretty. As you may remember, we live in Phoenix and he gets treated in Tucson (2 hours away). I have an office in Tucson that I enjoy working from. We have family in both places. These are all of factors that play into the "where do Mckenna and I stay during a tune-up?" debate. Right now I'm thinking we'll spend 4 days a week at home, and 3 days a week down there - sleeping at his mom's or grandma's. I obviously want to be with him as much as possible. But I also don't want to inconvenience his family (read: keep them up all night with a crying baby) and I don't want to get her all out of wack by sleeping in a different place, etc. We knew that hospital stays would be a bit tricky, but I don't think I really knew just how tricky they'd be until she got here. Needless to say I'm a bit nervous about this new reality, but we'll get it all sorted out once we fumble through our first one. I will say that the biggest blessing is that my office is walking distance from the hospital AND they are ok with me bringing Mckenna to the office with me. Man I love my work - they're awesome! So that will provide some flexibility.

And the last reality that has crept in in the last few weeks is the realization that this is forever. Some of you I'm sure just let out a laugh. I'm sure many of your blurted out a "DUHHH!!". And I know, this statement sounds really dumb. It's so obvious. Yes, a baby is forever. I, of course, knew that. However, I didn't quite know the REALITY of it. What I mean, for example, is I knew that I'd have less sleep with a baby...I didn't grasp that I'd never have the chance to catch up on sleep...because a kid creating sleepless nights is (what feels like) forever. It's not like a little blip where you don't get sleep for a week, and then you can catch up. Or I knew I'd be tethered to her day and night because I'm breastfeeding, but I didn't realize what that looked like in terms of my days. I didn't realize what it means to only have 2 hours away from the house on my own, max..."forever" (I get this isn't forever, but right now, it kinda feels like it! ha!). The permanent-ness (yes, I didn't just say permanent-ness) of having a baby is a no-brainer, but the reality of the permanent-ness didn't quite sink in until the last couple of weeks.

The theme of life the last couple of weeks has been "reality check" for me. It has been both fun and scary to come back to real life after 11 weeks of "baby bliss" on maternity leave. It's been fun and scary to realize what our new life looks like - certainly not bad, just different and a little scary trying to navigate through it all. But man, when I see her smile or feel her little hand on my skin, it makes me so thrilled to be in this reality!!

Have you ever had this happen to you though? Where you know something, but you don't quite grasp it until you're in the thick of things?

Mckenna Monday: New Discoveries, New Year

Happy new year, everyone. I'm not sure what that means, but I keep hearing mommy and daddy saying that to everyone...and they yelled it the other night while I was in bed?

This last week has been a busy one for me. I feel like I've grown up a lot. This week's development? I FOUND MY HANDS. I mean, I knew I had hands. When I was in mom's belly I'd suck on them, they were my best friends. But then there was a time I could only find them by accident. Sometimes mom and dad would shove them in my mouth, but last week was the first time I could find them consistently, all by my own self. They are so fun to suck on. The only draw-back is that I've started drooling, so I leak like a running faucet, so I tend to get a bit wet, and drip all over whatever I'm laying on. Mom doesn't care though, she keeps saying, "it's ok, I'd rather the drool than the spit up!" As you can tell by her statement, I have a bit of spit up problem too. A burp rag is a permanent fixture on my mom and dad's shoulders. Sometimes they even drape it on or around my neck as my "spit up catcher" or "spit up collar" as they call it.

And now that I've found my hands, I LOVE touching things. I did keep my hands in fists, but now, much to mom's delight, I'll open my hands and touch things. Soft things are my favorite, but I'll give anything a feel once or twice. My new favorite game is playing with kitchen objects (don't worry, we keep the knives in the knife block...I just get to play with the safe ones). Mom and I pick out a bunch of fun kitchen gadgets and then we sit and talk about them, she rubs them on my cheeks and hands. We even sing songs about them (mom can't sing and I can tell she's making up the words as she goes along, but I don't let on...I just smile to humor her). So far a wisk is my favorite. I can really grab it with all the openings in the top...plus I like that mom tickles me with it by "stirring my belly" (as she says)...silly mom, you can't stir a belly!

My sleeping has been a bit crazy. I can't bare the thought of missing any action, so I only nap for 45 minutes to an hour most times (unless I'm held or really snuggly, then I can't bare the thought of missing out on snuggles, so I open my eyes for a second, but go right back to sleep). I was sleeping like a champ at night. But last week I would sleep a long 5-6 hour stretch and then wake up every hour, on the hour after that. On those nights I could swear mom wasn't as happy to see me each time I woke up. The last 3 nights I've gotten it together a little better. I sleep from 9 or 10 to 3-4:30ish and then I eat and go back to bed until morning. Mom seems to be happier with me on those nights. Although last night I couldn't fall back asleep after I ate, and mom finally just brought me to their bed to finish the night. I know she hates doing it, but I could tell she was just too tired. Sometimes they bring me to their bed, but normally it's in the morning just to snuggle me and smile at me after I wake up for the day. Hopefully, I can be more consistent, I know mom would really appreciate that.

Well that's all I've got for ya. This is going to be a big year for me; full of change. My new year's resolution is to learn to sit, roll over, crawl and MAYBE walk...if I decide to get crazy! What's yours?

Mckenna Monday: Making the Butter

Have you noticed the trend yet? Mandi Monday's come so late that they practically get posted on Tuesday! I used to write my Mandi Monday's on Sunday and have them automatically post Sunday night/Monday morning (shhh don't tell). But days just come and go and then all of a sudden it's Monday morning and I realize I've been a slacker for another week. So since I'm terrible, I'll send in my replacement...Mckenna. Sooo without further ado: Mckenna Monday:

Things are going pretty well for me. I'm getting bigger by the second. Mom says I'm a tank, but they still call me Peanut, so I'm not sure how that all fits together...maybe I'm a small tank? I had my 2-month check-up last Monday. I came in at 10 pounds 2 ounces and 22 inches long. If you're keeping track, that's exactly 4lbs and 5 inches since I was born. I'm growing like a weed! At that appointment I also got some shots. OUCHY!! I let out a huge wail once I realized what happened and that it didn't feel the greatest. Mom looked sad for me and like she was going to be sick, dad smiled with delight and kept saying "oh my goodness your face is so cute when you cry like that."

I'm pretty sure my name is Mckenna because they say it all the time (although they don't know I know because I don't respond to my own name yet). However, they call me lots of other names too. They call me Peanut a lot, which I've heard all along...I didn't hear Mckenna until much later in my life. But they also call me Goosey, short for Silly Goosey, which they call me some.

If there's one thing I'm good at it's making the butter. "Huh?" you probably thought to yourself. Yeah that's what I wondered too at first. My parents just kept asking "are you making the butter baby?" I finally realized that they're talking about going poo poo. Because everytime I dirty my diaper they say, "oh my goodness, did you make the butter? You're so good at making the butter, baby!" I didn't get it at first until I heard my mom explaining it to someone. Apparently mom thinks my poo poo smells like movie theater popcorn butter (you'll never look at it the same again I'm sure)...and it's yellow in color (I guess theirs is something different?) And because I drink milk and it churns in my tummy and then there's butter. So there you have it, mom and dad think I'm a butter factory.

Hm what else? Oh yeah, I've started sleeping like a champ. Bedtime is fun. I know what's coming because we do the same thing every night. I eat, we play a bit, I take a bath, eat again and then it's straight to bed. I go to bed around 9:30-10:30 and I wake up at 7ish. I either eat once around 4 or I just sleep all the way through. On the nights I sleep all the way through I could swear my mom looks like a different person and man is she thrilled to see me. She comes in and sings about what a good sleeper I am. I mean she's happy to see me every morning, but those mornings you'd think I had been out of town for the last week and she missed me like crazy. So maybe I'll start sleeping through the night every night? I'll try my best.

So, that's it. Life is good!

Momma's a Slacker

Ok, so you don't need me to tell you, but I'm a total slacker!! Truth be told, since I'm not working, I only know it's Sunday because we go to church, but all the other days run together. And even when I know it's Sunday, Mandi Monday still slips my mind until my loving husband wakes up Monday morning and jokingly says, "what did you do Mandi Monday about," knowing full well I spaced it. Anyway...enough with the excuses...here I am.

Things are going well. I had my 6 week postpartum check up today (can you believe it's been 6 weeks already? Where does the time go?) I got a gold star (not actually, although that would be kind of fun and motivating for a type A like myself). I got the go ahead to resume activities as normal...but as I've mentioned, I gave myself the go ahead weeks ago. I'm back running again. I took it a little easy, wanting to wait into I got the official clearance before going full throttle. So I was only running 2 times a week and walking the other days. I did manage to get my mileage up to 3.5 miles though....so hopefully I can just build on that quickly. All in all I feel great. I could go for slightly more sleep, but truthfully I get a lot, just not all in a row. And mornings are always fun because Mckenna is adorable in the morning, grunting, groaning, stretching, etc. So it makes a bad night's sleep feel so worth it.

Mckenna is doing great. Growing like a beast. She's up around 9.5 lbs these days and adding more and more rolls to her collection. I love them!! Why can't rolls be so desirable on EVERYONE? Mckenna's big update this week is that she's officially smiling, a lot and on purpose!! She started occasionally doing it about 10 days ago, but now she definitely smiles intentionally. It melts my heart! We sit for what feels like hours with HUGE smiles on our faces because we can't get enough (and you still have to work at it a bit). By the time you get a smile you feel a bit like a clown who's face is going to fall off...but it's sooo worth it. You can see her gummy grin in the picture above. We're still working to get a good photo...but this is the best one yet.

That's all I have for now. Off to Carters to buy a few pairs of pants for her. No, I'm not joking...it's a sick addiction ;-) I kid. We haven't bought THAT many clothes, she just "needs" some pants.

Mckenna Monday: Four Week Update

Welp, it's been 4 whole weeks...time sure flies. I thought I'd give you another update on how I'm doing and what's new in my world.

I'm growing like a weed! I was born at 6 lb 2 oz and I'm now around 8.5 lbs. The weight seemed to come on over night. I had my 2-3 week growth spurt, and I think most of my weight came on in just those few days...or seemed to judging by how quickly my clothes got tight. That being said I'm not sure if my clothes are getting tighter solely due to my increased size...I'm fairly certain mom needs to stop drying my clothes on HIGH heat!

I'm awake a lot more these days. When I'm awake I love to sit in my swing and look around, have mom and dad hold me so I can study their faces, and lay on my tummy. If I'm awake and I walk into a room with a ceiling fan, I don't care what else is going on, I can't help but admire it. They fascinate me! Oh and when I'm awake, I'm not a huge fan of my pack 'n play. Mom and dad lay me in there when they need to do something quickly and need both hands, but I'm hoping they start to realize I'm not a fan (you'd think the quick discontent would tip them off).

Mom put me in a wrap thing for the first time this week. What a way to take a nap. It holds me nice and close to her tummy and chest and I keeps me toasty warm. I try to stay awake so I can look around at everything she's doing, but I generally fall asleep within a few minutes of being snuggled in that thing.

Annnd I saved the biggest update for last: my feeding fiasco. Mom and I started having a little trouble over the last week. You see, she makes so much milk that when I start eating, I can't keep up and start coughing and gulping. Because I'm swallowing so much air and because of the kind of milk I'm getting (as a result of her oversupply) I get pretty gassy. If you've ever had a gas bubble you know, it is reallllllllly miserable. But after crying my eyes out and some serious burps and toots, I feel better. Luckily mom and I met with a nice lactation consultant who gave mom some tips on how to fix the issue (or at least make it better). So we'll keep you posted, but I think in 3-5 days we're supposed to be feeling better. Pray for us!!

So that's it. I should get going...it's been an hour and a half since I last ate which means I'm ready to eat. Gotta go put my game face on!

Mckenna Monday: My First Two Weeks

Mom's a little tired and can't think of what to write, so an easy solution was to just make Mandi Monday into Mckenna Monday. So I'll fill you guys in on what's new with me...just two weeks out of the womb.

Life has been good so far. I'm liking being home. My first few nights at home I had a bit of trouble sleeping. I got caught in this eating, pooping cycle, which didn't leave much time for sleep. But mom says I'm doing a really good job with feeding, I'm quick and have a good latch down. So we're cookin' with oil now!

Since coming home, I've been sleeping a ton. Each day I'm awake for longer and longer periods. But I still sleep away most the day. Sometimes I can muster up enough energy to open one eye, but then I'm out cold again. Although the last several days I've been up for 30 minute stretches, a few times a day. When I'm up I just take it all in. I study the face of the person who's holding me, we read books, we sing songs. I get a little over-stimulated sometimes, but for the most part I love when I wake up enough to play!

We have this dog that seems to follow me everywhere. If they leave me in my bassinet, I see her staring at me when I wake up. When it's time to eat, she sits next to mom and I. When I cry or make any sort of sound, she's right there staring at me again. I think we're going to be good playmates, if only I could figure out how to sit up or roll or something - I'm afraid just laying there isn't very fun for her.

I've really started to learn my hands. They did flop and jerk around, and I didn't have any real control of them. But now I totally get it. I can hold someone's finger when I want to, I can sit and run my hands and fingers on the skin of whoever's holding me, I even hold onto people's clothes from time to time. I think I'm going to like these things...now if only I could use these things to feed, bath or clothe myself.

And the last little tid-bit I'll share is that I'm growing by leaps and bounds. Mom and dad called me Peanut for 9 months, and I'm afraid they jinxed me. I was born a whopping 6 lb 2 oz and 17 inches. No biggy though, I was 2 weeks early, so I didn't have that extra two weeks to pack on the pounds. I'm making up for it now though. In the last day or so, I have been eating NON STOP. Mom, dad, Nana and Papi all have commented how much bigger I look. My eyes don't focus enough from a distance to check myself out in the mirror to confirm, but judging by how snug some of my outfits are fitting, I think they just might be right. Later newborn clothes, hello 0-3 month sizes!

Welp, that's it for now. I'll update you all next week. Oh, and one more thing, any advice for a girl with an over-protective daddy? All I hear him say is, "you're not leaving the house til you're 30"...30? Really dad?