2 Months!

 Shelby is two months old. I love getting to know these new babies more and more as time passes. The more I have the more it is really obvious that they all come with their own little personality. I have also gotten a little better at soaking in the sweet moments and the amazing miracle each new life is, and I can't get enough of this girl.

- 12 lbs. 9 oz. (70th %) 22.6 inches (50%). Head circumference - 15.75 inches (jumped to 80th percentile which I was expecting)

- She is strictly a formula baby now. When I tried pumping one time and only got a couple drops, I determined it wasn't worth the hastle or stress anymore. I decided to be done and cried. She didn't really seem to care though. :)

- She has a pretty strict routine that she does not like to deviate from. When she wakes up she eats. Then I lay her on a blanket and change her diaper. Then I sit and talk to her and she smiles and babbles and looks around. I let her be alone there a little here and there, but sometimes I like to just stay and talk to her because I love the smiles. She lays there for 5-15 minutes and then starts to fuss. I pick her up and walk around with her until she starts to fuss again. Then I swaddle her, pop her binky in and bounce her until her eyes start to droop. Then I lay her down and she sleeps.

- She is very happy and smiley during her happy floor time, but when something is off she lets us know very adamantly. When she wakes up she is immediately screaming her head off until we get her and then she is still fussy until we get the bottle in her mouth.

- She is easily startled.

- She loves bath time and seems to know what's happening as soon as I lay her down on the floor in the bathroom. I have to move quickly once I get her out of the bathtub though because she only lasts a couple minutes before she is mad and wants to be held. I love holding her then because she smells delicious.

- She is getting better at handling the kids in her face, but she almost never accepts any of them holding her.

- She is still waking up once in the night. We are trying to adjust her eating and naps so that we can get rid of that night feeding. Sleeping through the night is my favorite.

- Thankfully, she is getting a little better in her car seat. Not quite so much screaming there anymore. It was freaking me out to have to go anywhere for a while there, because I knew she would scream the whole time. The other day we were in the car for about 20 minutes when she was awake and she never even cried which seemed miraculous.

- In the past couple weeks she has had a couple funny sounds make her really sad. One day Darcy was playing the piano and when she moved to the high notes Shelby's bottom lip went out and then she started crying. We tested it a couple times and every time she did the same thing for the high notes. Then the other day Ezra was doing an animal puzzle that made noise and when he did the cow she did the same lip/cry thing. We tested that one three times, and it took forever to console her the third time. No cows or high notes for that girl!

I loved these smiley pictures.

 Full body shot, and also one of the first times she ever wore an outfit that wasn't jammies on a non-church day. I loved those little leggings on her!

 Is it terrible that I think crying pictures are cute?

These three babies were born within six days of each other. Hayden, Henry, and Shelby. Hayden and Henry are Drew's cousins' babies. They are the 14th, 15th, and 16th great-grandchildren of Bill and Donna Rexius (Drew's grandparents).

1 Month!

Shelby is almost two months old now so I had to get this one month post in before we got there. We did take these pictures on her one month day though. Those first few weeks of her life were quite the adjustment period for all of us, and it was around her one month mark that we started to get things figured out a little better. We love this precious baby.

Things we want to remember about Shelby at one month.

- 10 lbs. 5 oz. 50th percentile. After struggling to gain weight the first couple weeks, the doctor was pleasantly surprised by that number.

- We could not get nursing to work once again. I believe it's because she has a pretty serious upper lip tie, but I took her to two different ENT doctors and they would not clip that lip. I am frustrated and sad about it. I am pumping for now and supplementing with formula because my body is not making enough. Bummer.

- I am pretty sure she purposefully smiled at me a couple times around four weeks.

- The first few nights home were pretty brutal since she had her days and nights confused, but honestly she got it straightened out pretty fast. I think around the time she was a week old. After those first couple weeks she has only woken up once at night for the most part.

- She is a noisy pooper. Ha!

- She screams pretty much every time we put her in her car seat which makes going anywhere a little stressful.

- She seems to be pretty particular and opinionated. She really is sweet and smiley a lot, but if things aren't just so she sure lets us know! She cries a lot when other people hold her because it's not just exactly what she's used to or what she wants (I'm assuming that's what's up anyway.)

- She has a very adamant cry that kind of makes her lose her voice if it goes on for too long. This helps her get what she wants quickly. :)

- She is so loved by her sister and brothers. They all want to hold her and feed her her bottle and talk to her and put their hands on her face, and hold her hands, and shake a rattle for her, etc., etc., etc. Sometimes she is so happy to see and talk to them, but she lets us know if it's not working out for her.

- After she lost her umbilical cord she was very happy to have a real bath. 

I'm realized a lot of that info. was more about her now than it was in her first month, but I'm having a hard time sorting out what happened when so I'm just going with it.

Over the shoulder pictures are my favorite at this age.

 

Ezra begged me to take this picture, but he just can not handle bright light so he could barely open his eyes.