I can’t believe it’s only been two months! I wonder when I’ll stop saying that. I feel like we’ve known Alexis for years.
So much has changed in two months. I will try and catch this blog up on it all, starting from first bath to videos and walks, all the way to our breastfeeding journey, beach trips and loving talks.
But today….well today is exactly 2 months since Alexis made her arrival and turned our world upside down.
I won’t be writing this update in any coherent manner, because you can’t make sense when you have a baby. Babies don’t make sense (more on that in a different post). {All the photos below are taken in the past month}
Table of Contents
Personality
She has grown so much. Both in weight/height and mentally. From day 1 she’s always been a very aware, serious, alert baby. But this month it has taken on a new meaning. She wants nothing else but to be propped on your shoulder and carried around like in the picture above. She looks around like it’s her job. She’s so incredibly serious all the time. She has a face that says “I am thinking about the solution to the world’s problems”. It’s calm and collected and serious and curious. I can almost see her little brain taking it all in and processing the information. Her favorite are pictures of mommy and daddy. She can stare at those for hours. Well, no, not hours, because she gets bored of one thing too soon. But she will smile and laugh and coo at them and it’s amazing to watch. Sometimes after a feeding, she will fall away like a little monkey and I’ll put her on my lap facing me and after a few smiley faces she’ll redirect her attention to a picture of me wearing a red dress and my husband on a cruise hanging over the glider. She will laugh and smile and coo at it like it’s nobody’s business.
She also LOVES to smile. Her smiles come from two things and two things alone: interaction with people (preferably ones she know) and pictures of people. And when she smiles the whole world lights up. She transforms from this serious little baby to an adorably silly girly girl. There isn’t an time when she sees me that she doesn’t break into a big toothless gummy smile. She loves her mommy (or mommy’s boobie). Oh the smiles she gives me. Every morning, at every nap time, any time I lock my eyes with hers and smile, she laughs right back 🙂 She’s starting to respond to “I’m gonna get ya!” type of games. I almost got a belly laugh ( it lasted all of 2 seconds) from her playing the game today.
Daddy and grandma have to work a bit harder to get her affection, but when they do, she loves them right back. Alexis has even smiled at strangers. We went to my 6 week OB appointment and she smiled and cooed at my doctor who delivered her ( and proceeded to fuss right after that).
She doesn’t really cry for no reason, which I am grateful for. She has all her needs catered to and if we’re not prompt enough in reading her cues, she lets us know with a little short yell “Ah!” and then again “Ah!” And if that doesn’t get our attention, the fuss train arrives. She fusses/cries for 4 reasons only: diaper needs to be changed, it’s time to eat, she’s sleepy and sometimes she needs an activity change. She has started not digging clothing and a few times would really get upset at it, but she quickly calms down when we are done.
She likes her gym but only a few minutes at a time, same with tummy time, though she hasn’t been too big of a fan so we do tummy time on my chest. She holds her head up sooo well that we almost don’t need to support it when we carry her (but still do just in case). She adores looking at clothing catalogs ( taking after her mama), especially if the model is blonde and is wearing a red dress. She talks at them like they’re real people.
Sleep
Because her nap routine has been so random up until now, it was hard to tell when she was fussy because she was overtired. I think I got it now that she’s been napping more consistently and boy is it much easier, but I am sorry it took me 8 weeks to nail that down. Her naps are hit or miss nowadays. She gets fussy/tired every 1.5 hours or so and some days she’ll only nap on us and will wake up the second you put her down and other days (more rarely) she’ll go down for a 1 hour nap.
The nights are geting so much better. Just this week she started sleeping an initial 4 hour stretch. It started with a 2 hour stretch which was amazing, then a week later we got a 3 hour stretch, a week after that we got 3 hours and 2 hours stretches, and now this week she’s been sleeping 4 hours when she’s first put down and then wake up every hour from then to eat like before. For some reason she won’t go down until 10 pm. Her bedtime used to be 8 pm before the time change, but now she wakes up every half an hour if we force her to sleep at 8 or 9pm and won’t go for her nightly sleep till 10.
So our night looks like this:
10pm-2am- sleep
2am-2:45am- nurse, change, nurse, rock back to sleep
This sometimes proves to be difficult, as she tends to be wide awake around 3 am
3am-4am sleep
4am-4:20am- nurse
4:20am-5:20 am sleep
5:20-5:40 am nurse
5:40-6:40 sleep
6:40-7:00-nurse
7:00-7:30 sleep
7:30- she’s up for the day.
This is a welcome change for us, because before we had to get up every hour and now we at least get a decent 4 hour stretch. So now we’re down to 3-4 wakings or less sometimes. Our little girl is growing and I can foresee her sleep getting longer and longer.
Preferences
She still won’t take a pacifier, but LOVES to suck on her hands or MY knuckles for that matter. It almost makes me think she’s teething, because of all the drool and the gusto that she gums my knuckle with if I only get my hand near her mouth. But I know it’s way too early for that.
She’s also trying to sit up. Whenever she grabs a hold of my fingers, she tries to pull up and succeeds. She loves looking around in a sitting position and starts fussing as soon as you put her down. My mom gets really mad at me for letting her pull up, because older generation/Russian people have this thing about sitting babies up before 4-6 months. I couldn’t find any information about that, except for to encourage babies to sit up to get their muscles working and get them sued to the feeling, so I am going to ask our pediatrician about it next week.
She’s finally liking her stroller walks and starting to not mind carriers (though those can be hit or miss). I still can’t get her to do any one activity for longer than 20 minutes and I don’t like leaving her to her own devices, so there’s always someone interacting with her (mostly me), with occasional bouts of bouncy chair (when I need to pee or eat) and toys, but even then I try to talk to her about the toys she’s looking at (Did you know to maximize language development you need to say 30,000 words directed at the baby A DAY? Isn’t that insane?)
Health
Speaking of development, I also make sure to take at least 3 grams of DHA ( or eat 3 grams of DHA in fatty fish) a day, since that has been found to be extremely beneficial in nursing mothers (for baby’s brain development). When it comes to dietary restrictions, I don’t do dairy due to cow’s milk proteins and their negative effects on digestive system and allergic reactions (which is possibly why she hasn’t had ANY problems with lower intestinal pain and/or gas). I have also excluded tomatoes, citrus, onion to improve her reflux ( I didn’t realize how hard it is to NOT eat tomatoes or onions)
Speaking of reflux, it doesn’t seem to bother her much, except for on occasion when she really needs to burp. She does spit up, but it’s not of a big concern unless she’s lying on her back. So at night she sleeps on her side and during the day naps in bouncy chairs. I wonder how common mild spit up/reflux issues are… Is there anyone out there who ISN’T dealing with it to an extent? It’d be super awesome to just lay her on her back and not worry about food coming back up her throat. We both cannot wait until it eases up at 3 months (if it does), so that she’s more comfortable.
Eating
She still eats very frequently. During the day it’s pretty much every hour. Though for the past two days she’s gone more like every 1.5 to 2 hours between feedings most of the time, but it is not something I can rely on yet. One thing is clear. She’s growing and her eating and sleeping habits are changing for the better and all we had to do is wait for her to grow up a little bit. She does this adorable thing now when she eats: she runs her hand up and down my boob and when it’s well moisturized you can see the deliberation in it- she loves the feeling of her fingers sliding back and forth.
{Lexi is up from her 30 minute nap, so I’m going to give her some smiles and feed her and hope I can still get back to this post today (…) Daddy took her for a stroller walk so I’m back}
She’s has grown physically as well. Hourly feedings are definitely showing in her chins and cheeks and rolls and folds. She is a BIG BIG breastfed baby. She’s pretty much grown out of 0-3 months clothing and fits right into most 3-6 months. As a matter of fact, I got this adorable 3-6 bamboo romper from an organic Chinese company via Zulily and it was too small (see picture below)
Appearance
Her baby acne is starting to disappear, her angel kiss (the forehead mark) is fading a bit, though both come out full strength when she is fussy, crying, or trying to poop, as well as at some other random times. Her diaper rash is gone, thanks to Lavanila and her body rash has cleared up. All her dry skin is gone and slowly her skin and body are adjusting to the life outside of the womb. I think her hair WILL lighten up (or fall out) and become blonde, because her eyebrows are super blonde like mine and her skin is fair ( I almost lost her nipples on one picture, I couldn’t differentiate her acne from her nipple). Her hair get sweaty so fast, because she’s constantly in our arms and when it’s wet, it gets this cute curl to it.
All in all, she’s a happy girl, who gifts us lots of smiles, a few fussy periods so that we’d treasure those smiles and a hell of a lot of personality! I am just dying to see how it develops over the years and months and cannot wait to go on adventures with my little girl!
HAPPY 2 MONTHS, baby girl! We love you!
To celebrate her 2 monthaversary, I’m going to run a BIG giveaway from organic baby clothing companies (1 clothing item each). I am going to try to get it out by tomorrow, but not sure if that’s going to happen. So look for it in the next couple of days.
My daughter had terrible reflux, but she actually never spit up. My older daughter spit up constantly but didn’t have diagnosed reflux. It is definitely difficult. My little one cried from month 2 until month six for hours a day without us being able to do anything really. She had to go on meds and we had to switch formulas twice. She did sleep pretty good, but only in the bouncy seat. Reflux is definitely difficult to deal with.
Alexis is adorable and very alert and happy 🙂 Happy 2 months to your Little One. Mine are 2.5 and a little over one. I miss those squishy newborn babies.
I love your blog, your simplicity, and your desire for perfection. Don’t worry about her crossed eyes. My DS2 had them too at this age and they are just fine now (age2). Good luck and keep posting!
The eyes are fine now. Those were earlier pics.
That’s great. She looks exactly like your hubby! She is such a beautiful girl.
My newborn’s eyes are crossed too! I heard it’s perfectly normal. 🙂
still a ton of awesome hair! And SO beautiful! I love how she’s just bursting at the seams!!! A healthy baby and so so so freaking beautiful!!!
She’s too cute 🙂 Love the pictures and good job, mama!
Happy 2 month Alexis! She’s so cute!
My baby spits up a lot but her doctor said that it’s okay since she has been gaining weight. He also said that it shouldn’t really bother her. We don’t think she has reflux, though. At night she sleeps in a “nap nanny” in our bed, which props her up at an angle. it has helped immensely. We can’t lay her on her back or even on her side for about 30 minutes after she finishes eating or she spits up.
She is absolutely precious:) Those blue eyes are so HUGE! And yep, I bet she winds up being much fairer haired. I had milk-white skin as a baby, too, with light eyebrows and blue eyes, but I had coal black hair; I wound up with black brows/lashes, green eyes, and strawberry-blonde hair. Funny how those changes can be so dramatic!
She DOES look serious at some pics!! And chubby and cute at the same time 🙂 So many different looks at one baby!
If you dig up sth about sitting & holding straight up please share, cause in Poland (and nowadays) there is the same pattern: no sitting up until the baby sits himself / on his own (therefore, no carriers until 6mo old). So it’s not only your Mom 😉
Happy 2 months!!
Actually its not too soon to be getting her teeth in, some babies do get them in early (though its not super common. Even rarer, some babies are born with teeth). But babies are usually so fussy and upset about their teeth coming in (who can blame them) that I’m pretty sure you would know (I can’t say myself yet, Lily is only a day shy of 8 weeks. But I have been warned about teeth coming in and the tears that ensue.)
Alexis is such a cutie, though, and I wish her a Happy two months. (Time really does creep up on you, I can’t believe my little girl with be 2 months on the 6th)
such BLUE eyes! She’s beautiful.
so….am I going to have to buy a red dress so that she’ll like me when I come to visit? 😉
The owl onesie fits her! Are you still missing your matching shirt? She’s so adorable!
Sh is so adorable. In regard to tie reflux we didn’t deal with it at all in our house. My son is 20 months now and has spit up ONE time in his life when he was about 3 months old. Also, at 2 months he started chewing my fingers and drooling so much and I swore it was too early for teeth, but at 3.5 months the first little one popped through and they kept coming. He had 14 teeth on his first birthday.
I love the pictures of her, but my favorite is the one of her sleeping. Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?
I just love her! She’s changing and growing so fast! 🙂
Love the adorable hand-gliding on the boob lol
Our pediatrician says all babies have reflux because of their immature esophagus. Some just have it in mild form while others is severe.
aww, she’s soooo cute!! and those eyes are DEFINITELY full of curiousity and wonder!!! the picture of her in her too-small onesie is pretty hilarious
Happy 2 Months to Alexis! She is such a beautiful baby! Every time I read your updates I am thinking how much I want another newborn! Every stage is so fun, but I sure do miss that wonderful closeness of my babies being so tiny! I’m so excited about your upcoming giveaways, it looks like there are some awesome ones on the way!!
Oh she is just so adorable! Elena, she reminds me so much of my first baby girl, very observant and thoughtful, loved to nurse, loved to look around, loved to be held and also retained all the goodness from breastmilk and had big chubby cheeks! She also had tons of dark hair (it did lighten up). Anyways, i wanted to congratulate you again! She’s perfect, i hope you are enjoying everything (it looks like you are). Also, i was wondering if you still swaddle Alexis? When my first was about a 1.5 months we got the Miracle Blanket and started swaddling…it helped A LOT with stretching out her sleep habits. With my 2nd girl we started swaddling right away, but she really seemed to dislike it, until about 2 months i pulled it out in mere desperation to get more sleep and she loved it-started sleeping longer too! Must of changed her mind 🙂 anyways…maybe you do swaddle? just a thought-i always encourage swaddling and then trying again later if your baby doesn’t seem to like it. Ok…enough advice from me… 😉 Looking forward to more post!
Thank you Sarah!
We do swaddle on and off. She liked it at first, then started hating, now she doesn’t seem to mind it if we swaddle while she’s asleep but HATES it when she wakes up. So we are doing just that: trying again after some time to see of she changed her mind with everything we do 🙂
FWIW, it is not too early for her to be teething. Babies can teethe for MONTHS before an actual tooth pops through. And they have been known to have teeth break through at 3 months are so, although it is usually later than that.
Also, both my kiddos have/had reflux and it did not get better at 3 months. It took almost 8 months for my son and my DD is 3 and a half months now and still spitting up, so prepare yourself that it might be longer. You might want to check out the Fisher Price Rock N Play sleeper. It has been a godsend! It is perfect for reflux babies because they can sleep on their back (which is safest) but they are at an angle so it helps them get relief AND made my DD sleep a lot longer, which I’m sure would be appreciated, lol!
Last thing (sorry, lol). It might not hurt to give her a little “alone” time during the day. I know you said you interact with her when she’s awake all the time, but it’s ok for them to learn a little bit of independence. Nothing crazy, of course. A few minutes at a time maybe. I would just fear that having her near so much might make for a very clingy older baby/toddler later on.
She’s beautiful! What a beautiful smile she has =)
those cheeks! what a doll! and that picture of her too small outfit made me laugh, how funny.
Cute cute cute! And what a smartie. 🙂 Reminds me a lot of Lillian at 2 months, her alertness and strength and size. I swore Lillian was going to get teeth early (one of my nieces got teeth at 3 months) because she was doing all the signs of teething, including a lot of drool, but to my surprise she still has NOT ONE tooth yet! I can tell they’re close now though because her gums are getting lumpy! Lillian also has very blonde eyebrows…her lashes used to be super pale blonde too but have darkened to a coppery brownish blonde. I’m still so curious what color Lillian’s hair will settle on as it’s still going through so many changes!
Love the great update post…fun to read, great job! 🙂
Will you be disappointed if her hair doesn’t turn blond? My husband is a blond and I was blond as a kid, so I assumed our child would have blond hair, but he has light brown hair. He kept the same color hair he was born with even though his brows are very pale and he is VERY fair with blue eyes. Alexis looks exactly like your husband!!! She might keep the dark hair, but she is so adorable no matter what her hair color is!
I won’t be disappointed per se but I would love for her to be blonde since both me and hubby were straw blonde as kids.
I’m sure she’ll grow up gorgeous no matter what color hair she has. I just always thought our daughter would be blonde.
As I read through your blog, I think, thats just like my baby. Mine will be four months next week, but she only will sleep if she is being carried in her wrap, some days she likes the bjorn/cybex some days she doesnt. At 3 months, she started to like sleeping in the swing but only for her first nap. She has just learned to like sleeping in her bassinnett on a walk, but as soon as the walk stops she wakes up. Would much rather look around than sleep. And your nightime sounds alot like mine, but our baby sleeps with me in bed bc if not she would not sleep at all. Learning to lay on my side breastfeeding made night times a lot easier, for the first 8 weeks I slept propped up on pillows holding her. Its nice to know not every baby is a sleeper. And swaddling, no thank you, she only will handle her lower body at night time (and I do this bc if nt she spends her time kicking me. No interest in a pacifier but she has been sucking on her fingers/hands for the last couple of weeks, which gives my body a break. We bought her a baby hammock to see if that might help but she isnt interested at this age. one can only hope.
I love your Alexis updates! She is growing so quickly and is absolutely beautiful!
She looks so much like Daddy!
We were fortunate to not deal with reflux. I feel so bad for the babies and parents when the baby has reflux. You should consider getting something like the Fisher Price Rock n play sleeper as it allows her to sleep on an incline. Babies her age should always be put to sleep on their backs for SIDS prevention. The RNP has enough of an incline so she can safely be on her back even if she does spit up. My daughter slept in it until after 4 months and it was wonderful.
Elevating her doesn’t seem to help at all. We have a million of those seats around and they don’t seem to make a difference. My only concern with RNP is the flat head issue…. 🙁
I used the RNP exclusively for naps for months and months and my daughter does not have a flat head.
we used one of these for our little one throughout the day…design helps prevent flat head…
http://www.boppy.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/134
fortunately baby#2 loves tummy time, unlike our first, so we didn’t need to use it all the much. she’s almost four months now and she’s loving the bumbo seat…
the RNP was awesome for the first two months, but she grew out of it super-fast. poor thing’s knees looked crammed into her chest!!
Aww, she looks like she’s doing great! She looks so healthy and adorable!
My advice is if she’s not fussing, leave her to her own devices. If she can happily amuse herself as she grows, that’ll be great for her, and you!
She’s got some gorgeous blue eyes!
30,000 words a day seems impossible…. Where did you read that? I’ve got a lot of work to do!
Brain rules or Right start. Don’t remember which one… Or maybe some other brain book. Mind you, that’s for optimal development ( remember? perfectionist). Less than that will do just fine.