Emilya - 5 Months

Eating: We are still breastfeeding and things are continuing to go well! A few days before turning 5 months, we decided to introduce rice cereal. She has been eyeing up our food when we eat and it is next to impossible to nurse her while eating anything anymore. Of course she has tried ice cream and sorbet and her brother even shared his mango Popsicle with her in the stroller the one afternoon. She does pretty well with the rice cereal and it didn't take her long to figure it out! She gets about a tablespoon a day at this point. I am still getting up to pump between 2-3 AM.

Sleeping: Emilya is a great sleeper. Although with her teething, getting her to sleep has been tricky lately and by tricky I mean it's taking us longer. We have moved her bedtime up to 8 PM and she sleeps until usually 6 AM or 7 AM on a normal night, but with teething she was waking up sometimes once or twice a night. 

Clothing: Emilya is wearing size 3-6 months in most of the clothes. Shorts are still 3 months, as 6 months are too big in the waste. We have put away just about everything that is 3 months now but 6 month pants are just a bit long, so 3-6 month is the best. She is wearing 3-6 month sleepers or 6 month sleepers! Emilya is wearing size 2 pampers swaddlers, but we are on the last box and will move up to size 3. 

Features: Emilya is growing lots of hair, but man is it ever light on top, yet still soo dark in the back! Her eyes are still blue, although I am not sure if they will end up as bright as Noah's. Emilya decided she would get not one tooth before turning 5 months, but 2!! Her 2 bottom front teeth have broken through and man was this not a fun process!  I was quite shocked to find them soo early since Noah didn't get teeth until 9 months! 

 

Weight: 5 Months: 16 lbs 5 oz

We haven't remeasured her,  but I'm guessing maybe 26.5 inches

               

 

What The Doctor Had To Say: Emilya is healthy and doing great! We saw the ENT this past month and she basically just ordered more tests to rule out any further issues, as ear issues can run in pairs with with kidneys, heart and eyes. So she will see an eye doctor, have a urine test done and an ECG. She also ordered some genetic testing to see if can find out why she has the hearing loss. 

We have hummed and hawed over what to do with the hearing loss and have decided that getting a hearing aid is best for her. This was obviously not an easy decision to make, as it seem crazy to have a hearing aid soo young, but this is the most critical time for her learning and development. In a running conversation, she may only pick up half of what it said. 

We also saw Emilya's speech therapist. Obviously there isn't much we need to be doing right now, but it was great to meet her and know who I will be communicating with in the future. 

I will say that as overwhelming as this all is, it is great having an awesome team working with us and supporting us. We are working with a social worker, who will continue to aid us in communication between all doctors and workers helping us with Emilya. We have a great team working with us so far! 

 

Nicknames: Emma, Em, Emy, Baby, Little Miss, Littlest Squish, Baby girl, Baby Bunny, Emilya Hope, Sis

 

Big Brother Update: Noah amazes me every single day with how great he is with her. You always hear about horrible sibling stories, but so far Noah is the opposite and just genuinely loves his sister and having her around. He loves introducing her to people and showing her off, he will share ice cream and Popsicles with her without us asking him to and so far he just looks out for her and I hope that continues! 

 

Likes: rolling around, Nemo, her play mat, her Muslin blankets, her lovey, her brother, being read to, being outside, bathes, toys, being carried in the baby bjorn, the jumper, standing, and dogs. 

 

Dislikes: the car, or sitting still. I will say car rides are slightly better, but slightly being the key word. Sometimes she doesn't scream and gag, other times she does. Her puking has cut back big time,so I am glad she has outgrown that part! She also dislikes teething!! But who doesn't!! 

Personality: Even when Emilya is miserable, she is very tolerable. With teething, she hasn't been as happy as usual, which is obviously understandable and baby girl can fight sleep like a champ when miserable. She loves being around people and finds them entertaining to watch, she will flash a smile to pretty much anyone who looks at her. We managed to get a few summer trips in this month like to storybook gardens, Brantford zoo and African lion safari and she loved people watching, being baby worn or sleeping through it all. We still have yet to start napping her up in her room, as we haven't quite made time to deal with the nursery, but it is coming along. We are hoping by the end of September that she will be napping up there. 

Emilya - 2 Months

Eating: Nursing is continuing to go well! Emilya would love it if I would allow her to nurse a little bit every hour in the day, but I try to stretch them to 2 hours instead! In the evening she does tend to nurse every hour, which makes doing a solo bedtime with both kiddies tricky. I am still getting up to pump in the middle of the night around 2:30/3 AM and Emilya tends to wake up between 4:30 and 5:30 and she will get a 4 oz bottle at that time and then go back down until 7/8 AM.

Sleeping: Miss Emilya rocks this department! She sleeps like a dream - literally. I'm actually jealous that M typically does not have to get up to give her bottle, yet I am still getting up to pump. As much as this is a pain in the butt, it makes the most sense for us as far as building up a freezer stash. I just don't have the time to pump in the day! I love being able to have a bottle on hand when we go out, especially when shopping. Emilya naps in the mamaroo daily. She will sometimes take a short 30 minute morning nap, but will take a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon and maybe a cat nap around the dinner hour if she is in her bouncy chair. She will literally only sleep until it stops vibrating. She goes to bed around 9/9:30 at night and sleeps until 4:30-5:30 typically. 

Clothing: Emilya is on the verge of outgrowing her 3 month sleepers. The 3 month outfits are good, but baby girl is one long baby! I'm looking forward to finding out her length soon! We are definitely not getting as much use out of the clothes as we did with Noah! Luckily I haven't had to spend a ton on her clothes, as I bought most second hand or paid 1/2 price. 

Bathes: Emilya is loving her baths. Her skin has started to clear up after I started using the Aveeno soap instead. I'm not sure that the other soap was causing the baby acne, but the Aveeno helped clear it up quicker, as it was a bit more gentle I think. But her face has cleared right up now! 

Skin and Hair: Her hair appears to be lightening up like crazy. The new hair that is growing in on top where she lost almost all of her hair is very light, yet her hair is all dark and long in the back! Let's just say Emma rocks a headband quite often and luckily doesn't seem to mind them, except the really big ones - she is not a fan! As mentioned above, her skin has cleared right up! Emilya's eyes are looking more blue everyday, so I am pretty sure she will have her Daddy's blue eyes! 

Weight: Week 5: 10 lbs 6 oz 

             Week 6: 10 lbs 12 oz 

             Week 7: 11 lbs 3 oz

             Week 8: 11 lbs 10 oz

             2 Months: 12lbs 

Her Length is already 25 inches!! She is soo tall!!

What The Doctor Had To Say: Emilya saw the audiologist shortly after she turned 2 months. Unfortunately they found that Emilya does have some mild hearing loss in her left ear and we will continue to look into that. The good news is that she can hear, but she has a hard time hearing quiet, low pitched sounds. Obviously this was upsetting for me, but I think I will feel better once we look into it further and I can begin to process and understand it a bit better. 

Nicknames: Emma, Em, Emy, Baby, Little Miss, Littlest Squish, Baby girl, Baby Bunny

Big Brother Update: Noah is an awesome big brother and can get the most smiles out of his sister with ease. He will sing to her, bring her toys and blankets, heck he will even share his lovey with her! We even catch him trying to share food with her or his milk, but have to remind him that she is too small! He is very eager to help with bath time or diaper changes and usually asks to hold her at least once a day! He literally melts my heart when he wakes up in the morning and asks where Emma is (if she is still sleeping) and when he goes to bed, he insists on hugging and kissing her! 

Personality: Emilya is still pretty laid back, but she will let you know when she is not happy. She doesn't like dirty diapers, car rides, her car seat or burping. But she is loving tummy time, her play mat, the bouncer or any bouncing, she will instantly calm down if you take her outside, she likes the mamaroo, her blankets and her lovey. She will not take a soother still, which leaves this mama nursing more often than I prefer, but we are working on that. Emilya is one happy baby and loves flashing her smile in anyone's direction. 

Mama's Thoughts: We are definetly getting the hang of this whole parenting two children. The spring rush has just ended and now we can focus on routines and family time a lot easier. Our evenings this month were pretty hectic with M getting home late, Noah hyped up to hang out with Daddy, etc. But like I just mentioned, we should be able to get a better routine down soon. Just after Emilya turned two months, I attempted my first solo bedtime and it was not smooth,  but we did it and there is lots of room for improvement. I nap in the afternoon about twice a week, sometimes less, but generally both kids go down in the afternoon for 2 hours and this mama enjoys some quiet time. I will often try to tackle some things on my ever growing to-do list, but in all honesty, it's my break in the day and I need it! 

Recovery-wise I still have some stubborn swelling, but I feel great. I have started to increase my activity slowly and will start working out a few times a week as soon as we get a routine established on the home front. For now walking is working, along with cleaning the house. I am able to fit in most of my pre-maternity clothes, which is nice, but it will be nicer when it is a looser fit, which I imagine will happen when the swelling goes right down as well.  

24 Weeks with Baby V2

How Far Along: 

24 weeks

Size Of Baby?

Maternity Clothes?

Still mixing it up where I can, but mostly maternity clothes!! Finally found my maternity leggings, I had been wearing non-maternity ones that still worked but below the belly! 

Stretch Marks?

Nope

Gender?

We will find out in April!! 

Name?

We will share in April, our girl names are pretty much set, but boy names are very few, I will say we have two contenders and two middle names all picked out! 

Sleep?

Soo far so good! M really needs to work on using his alarm clock better. He did drop the baby monitor at 3 in the morning after Noah woke from a bad dream and startled me and apparently the baby, because s/he was kicking and moving like crazy afterwards! Headaches started at the end of week at 3 AM, which didn't make for a good nights sleep! 

Cravings/Aversions?

Loving Cran-grape juice, but otherwise nothing crazy this week! 

Movement?

This baby is a moving machine! Mike felt the baby kicking like crazy when we went to bed one night this week! He couldn't believe how strong the kicks were. Baby is still head up according to my 
appointment (and the movement I feel) this week and straight up the middle! 

Weight Gain:

Roughly 13 pounds. 

Feeling?

Great!! Headaches are still persisting! On Wednesday I had a headache from 3 AM until I went to bed and actually had a nap when M came home from work to try help get rid of the headache and I was just exhausted from our day! My nose has started running again as well. Feeling great otherwise, but definitely took advantage of some naps this past week! 

What I Miss?

Can't think of anything.

Items Bought for Baby:

A few little Christmas gifts! 

What the doctor had to say? 

I have graduated from 2 week appointments to 4 weeks for now! My blood pressure is still sitting around 130-135/80-85, so not too bad, but if I notice it climbing I'm to call and get a closer appointment. Fingers crossed we can just sail on by! So we go back in January, where I will have another ultrasound for growth and to check on my placenta for any signs of pre-eclampsia, I will have my sugar test and see the doctor. 

Highlights:

Graduating to 4 week follow ups instead of 2 weeks, especially around the holidays will make my life a bit easier! 
Officially 6 months pregnant!!

Noah saw Santa this week again and we got a smile! 

Mike feeling the baby was exciting as well and I loved his reaction! 

Hosting Christmas at our house with family! 

Belly Button?

In, but I will say it is getting shallower already!

Bump Pic:

And a bare belly pic:

Looking Forward to: 

Celebrating Christmas!! 

These posts will be a week behind, as I am now 25 weeks.

Noah's Got A Secret!!

Only child expiring April 2016!!

To say we were completely shocked and surprised is an understatement, but we are soo entirely happy and blessed with another miracle!! 

More details to come next week!!