Katie is 7 and a half weeks old and already weighs 10 and a half pounds!  She has a bigger than average head at 39cm's and her length is a bit behind the average at 21 and a quarter inches.  We are ebf, she is a great eater and it is so funny how eagerly she latches when she's hungry.  I showed DH yesterday how if I'm an inch or so away from her head she launches herself forward to get to the milk, lol!  She makes little grunts and satisfied gulps. 

So far I feel lucky with her sleeping habits.  She'll usually sleep 5 sometimes 6 hours before fussing to be fed and changed, and then back to sleep for another 3 or 4 hours.  There are even mornings where we go back to sleep after that for a few more hours! 

Generally Katie is an easy baby, she is happy and smiling a lot of the time and easy to calm when she does get fussy.  There are days or nights where it is harder to console her cause she has an upset tummy or whatever and DH usually blames me and immediately asks what I ate....  It's actually kind of annoying cause he isn't very patient yet and I mean, babies cry sometimes!!!  He is very lucky Katie isn't colicky cause I'd hate to see him handle hours of crying!!  Anyways enough venting...

She is getting to be soo much fun and more cute everyday.  We take tons of pictures of her and video clips, her whole life so far has been documented.  she is also a very strong baby.  Very early on she could hold her head up and move it around, and she has very strong legs (not to mention very chubby little theighs!)she can support her weight already.  I'm thinking of getting her a jolly jumper soon cause she likes to push off of surfaces with her feet. 

Her 2 month apointment is next Friday(aww time goes so fast!)  And she'll get her first shots  As for me, I'm loving being a mommy!  It is still hard to believe I have a baby, but I really enjoy beng able to nurture and cuddle my little girl and calm her down when no one else can.  My baby weight came off pretty easily, I only have 3 pounds to go for pre-pregnancy weight.  I'd like to lose 13 though so I'm back to my wedding day weight by Christmas.  That certainly doesn't mean I'm in shape though...  I feel like I lost muscle tone in my legs so I'm going to need to start working out soon.

My work starts already on Nov 3rd and I think I'll do 1-2 days a week in November and 4-5 in December.  SIL is coming to stay for a few months starting Dec and she is able to watch Katie during the day.  It's going to be hard for me to be away from her so much, but financially it makes sense and it only goes till the end of April then I'll have the summer home with Katie.  We'll see how it goes though.  I might miss her way too much...

Well here is some quick pics of Katie this past week.  I love her soooo much!

Anyways I'd love to hear updates on all the pretty and handsome little babes.

I'll give a little update while Jaxon is sleeping.

Jaxi is 17 weeks old today, but b/c of his prematurity he is only considered 11 weeks developmentally.  He weighs 13lbs 7 oz and is just over 24".  He is incredible.  He has been holding his head up since we brought him home at 3 weeks.  He also rolls over from his tummy to his back, so traditional tummy time doesn't happen for long. 

B/c of his prematurity we have a baby team that we saw every week for the first month he was home and now we see them once a month.  The team is made up of a physiotherapist, speech and language therapist, occupational therapist and a lactation consultant.  We don't see the lactation consultant anymore as Jaxon will not breastfeed.  He tried when we first brought him home, but b/c he wasn't developmentally ready he would tucker out too easily so we would have to supliment each feed with a bottle.  I was pumping every 3 hours and had tons of milk, so by the time he was strong enough to nurse my milk came too fast for him, so another set back.  We kept trying and I still offer him the breast once a day, sometimes he takes it, sometimes not.  So I still pump every 3 - 4 hours.

He has been smiling as a response to us for about 3 weeks now and has been "talking" up a storm for about the last week.

In the beginning we had an awful time with Jaxon crying for over an hour around 5:00 each night.  then I got a book on healthy sleep habits and now he's fine.  For the last 3 night we have given him is night bottle at 8:30 and he has slept through the night until 5:00 or 5:30.  Then he has only 3.5 oz of milk and is back asleep until 8:00.  Then he is up for about an hour, sometimes 1.5 and back to sleep for 2 - 3 hours.  In the afternoon he usually sleeps 3 hours.

DH has been really good.  He still gets frustrated when Jaxon cries for no apparent reason, but he is figuring out what each cry means and can distinguish when he is getting over stimulated and needs to sleep, so that is helping his frustration level.  his one complaint is that when he gets home from work around 5:30 Jaxon is ready for a nap, then he is only awake for about an hour to eat and then in bed for the night so daddy doesn't get to play with him.  he makes up that missed time on weekends and will often take Jaxon out on a Saturday for 2 - 3 hours to give me a break.

Can't think of much else right now.  Oh yeah the weight issue.  I've been in my pre-pregnancy pants since 6 weeks post.  I still have about 5 lbs to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and then another 25 to get to where I want to be.  I swear that those last 5lbs is all in my boobs though

Here is a recent picture of Jaxon and one from when he was born to compair.

Just born

First day home

today

Wife - June 16, 2007

Mother - June 20, 2008

Champion of the world - coming

A.K.A. Princess Barbie-Jo

Glad to hear everyone's babies are doing great!!

Makayla is 10 weeks old and weighs approx. 10 and a half lbs. She was born 5 11 so she's gained quite a bit. She has not been as easy as the rest of your lo's LOL
She only really cries at night between a set hour and that is a sign of colic so I believe she has it. She fusses a little throughout the day but not much. The crying at night can be stressful because she only wants mommy and this hurt DH quite a bit at the beginning. He also didn't have the patience I thought he would and he would get frustrated easily. Now he understands and he puts her in the football hold and she calms down nicely! At the beginning she demanded to be held all day but now I can set her down for 15-20 minutes and she will happily play on her mat. She is unfortunately a terrible sleeper but she does eat quite a bit so I'm not worried that she wakes up to feed so often. For the past few days she has given us some 3-4 hour stretches which is nice!!

She is sort of a Diva and knows what she wants. She will scream bloody murder if she's hungry or needs a diaper change. On a better note she has been smiling since she was born. I attribute the smiles to gas but now she smiles just because!! Her hospital picture has a little smirk in it!!

Breastfeeding was very challenging at the beginning but around week 5 we both got the hang of things and now we have an excellent BF relationship. I do pump though just to have daddy or someone else feed!

Being a mom is both exhausting and rewarding and I'm so happy that I've been blessed with this experience!!

Happy motherhood ladies!

Our bambola joined us 08 08 08

...Proud Momma of Charlotte...