evynn claire | one month

I can't believe Evynn is already one month old!! The weeks have flown by! 

How many months old? 1 month

Weight? 8lb 5oz

Length? I’m not sure.. but she seems so long! She was 20.5inches at birth, so surely more than that!

Doctor check-up? Everything looks good. Our main concern has been her weight, resulting in us going to get re-weighed every week. This past Friday her weight finally got past her birth weight. This has been after supplementing with breastmilk in a bottle after every feed. We’ll go again this Friday to make sure our weight didn’t pause again and hopefully we’ll be able to stop supplementing! Poor baby has baby acne to the max right now, hoping that clears soon. She also woke up this week with her eye matted shut with nasty, but it sounds like a clogged tear duct and it cleared up in a few hours.

Any teeth? no teeth

Sleep? That differs night to night.. we’ve had a consistent flow of family so Cody and I have handed off a very wide awake Evynn to family at 9/10 or so and head to bed and then our family brings her into us at about 11/12 or whenever she gets hungry. Then she miiiiight sleep until 3 or stay wide awake and fuss if you lay her down.. these are the not so fun nights ;) other nights I wake up on my own to a very peacefully sleeping baby and it’s time to eat. More recently we’ve been giving her a bath, nursing her about 8/9 and then rocking her to sleep… or just staying up if she’s wide awake. Then she’ll sleep good for a few hours until the next feed. Also, we put her bassinet on Cody’s side of the bed a few nights ago and she’s been sleeping better… sounds like we have a daddy’s girl on our hands

Feeding? This has been quite the struggle. I thought breastfeeding was going great from day 1. That is until her 2 day checkup.. then 2 week.. then 3 week… all the same weight, not gaining/not losing. I then worried about my supply and started pumping after every feed and taking fenugreek. Then her pediatrician instructed me to give a bottle of breastmilk after I nursed her to supplement. So it’s been exhausting, feedings take about an hour by the time we nurse, pump, give bottle and then clean everything for the next round in another hour. Whew. I do hope we can stop supplementing sometime soon. I look forward to a “normal” breastfeeding relationship with this girl.

 Eating anything? No no

Developmental milestones? This girl has been lifting her head way up from day 1! She continues to do so and (no lie) acts like she wants to roll over when we do tummy time. She will look at us for short periods of time before tracing her eyes onto the next best thing. She loves looking at the tv and lights. She’s starting cooing and making adorable girly sounds.

Favorite toy? Not into toys yet.. I guess I could include her swing though. I did lay out her play gym yesterday, I know she’s too young to grab at the toys but she wanted to lay and look around so I figured that would be a good place for her to enjoy. I did catch her making some (gassy?) smiles at the mirror though, haha

Speech and language? She makes the sweetest little baby noises and sighs

Loves? Walking around outside with dad, her paci, sleeping in (she sleeps SO good 6-9am!), laying on her changing table, warm baths, to pee right after changing her diaper3

Dislikes? Being cut off from eating sitting at the breastaurant, going to bed, wet diapers, having a blanket on her legs when she’s in her swing

We love: your stretches! My goodness you make the cutest faces and the loudest stretching noises! Your facial expressions, you’ve had bigger smiles and more pronounced frowns, they’re too funny.

newborn d a z e

8 pumping sessions a day

5 hours of sleep a night

4 pairs of yoga pants

multiple applications of stretch mark lotion on the daily

and then that one time I had an allergic reaction to stretch mark lotion #1 all over my body. Stretch marks-1000 stephanie-0

3 glasses of fenugreek a day

3-5oz of breastmilk pumped

3-5oz is my average, but I’ve pumped up to 8oz in a session. Whoever said the more you nurse/pump, the better the supply is very correct. That plus fenugreek changed my pumping from maybeee 1oz to filling the bottles.

2 seasons of one tree hill on netflix

1 cup of coffee…. Reheated.

between all of the above, it seems like I am in a daze at times! 

Some days it seems like the more sleep I get, the more tired I am. Yesterday Cody told me “I’ll watch Evynn, you take a nap. I’ll wake you up in two hours when she’s hungry”. Praise the Lord. It made me think of this article sexy things my husband says haha!

Some days I feel like I can barely get off the couch due to pure exhaustion. Other days I have a magical mommy energy and squeeze evynns little booty into my moby wrap while I hit up the list of chores around the house. It’s easy to shame myself when the dishes aren’t done and Cody and I both have an overflowing basket of laundry, or my personal trademark: clothes are folded and clean, just living in the laundry basket. However, my focus is on this little girl and trying to figure this mommy thing out.  

^being high maintenance and requesting to be held while mom is in the grocery store

poor little baby, her newborn clothes are still too big! I hope we get to wear her summer 0-3 clothes before summer ends!

those eyelashes!! she's such a cuddle and prefers to be held more than anything else

Can I just bottle up her itty bitty-ness? I just love how teeny she is and hate that she’s going to get much, much bigger soon! If I could, I would so bargain for more sleep but to keep her fitting in my arms. 

I still question if I know what I’m doing (luckily I have a pediatrician who doesn’t mind my obnoxious questions all the time, ha!) or how in the world I can manage to survive off 4-5 hours of sleep, hence the fogginess all over my face. Somehow, I was made for this.

we just love this girl more than we could ever imagine! 

evynn claire | week three

three words to describe week three: feed. pump. repeat.

this little girl hasn't put on weight yet which has greatly stressed me out! so we've been all about feeding and pumping then supplementing with milk from the last session. we joke that she just has a high metabolism or burns all her calories  but for whatever reason little evynn wants to stay.. little. 

a few pictures to capture our 3 week old:

she's so busy!

this long and lean little girl cuddling with dad

3am wide awake chats

we've taken plenty of baths

we visited daddy at work

..and a little photosession to capture these itty bitty sweet baby features <3

oh baby (products)!

more baby favorites!

iBreastfeed app by medela. I was using another baby feed app to track diapers and feedings but i found this meddle app for free! it not only tracks diapers and feedings but also pumping sessions and keeps track of height/weight growth. it also has breastfeeding Q&A and articles of advice throughout the app. 4moms rocker thank goodness for this thing. i'm able to put evynn in it when i need to hands to do something really quickly, so I can eat, or just to soothe her. moby wrap or any similar wrap thank the Lord for this! Cody got me one (unsure of the brand, he found it on amazon) last Christmas when I was about 8 weeks along. I've put evynn in it a few times and been able to cook, clean, do laundry, etc. anything that requires two hands. I wore her to church in this last week and she slept like a charm the whole time! medela pump in style thank you, co workers for this awesome pump! I was going to wait to start pumping but miss thing isn't packing on the pounds as expected and so I was curious about how much I was producing, so i've pumped a few times. this pump is great, has everything you need and comes in a convenient black tote back. lily jade diaper bag this model is madeline and we love it! I love that it's brown leather so it matches anything an can be used for baby girl or boy and even just a mom bag! it has a insert for baby stuff that can be removed or added. and there are normal shoulder straps as well as a cross body strap and a backpack option. Cody doesn't mind carrying it at all and i've been able to throw my bible, keys, phone, etc. in it and double it as my purse as well :)

evynn claire | week two

we're two weeks old!

I won't always do weekly updates, just for now while everything is so new ;)

this face. literally this face. she makes it everytime we pick her up when she's sleeping and i cannot help but kiss that silly, adorable face!!

 

 

she loves short walks outside with daddy in the sunshine, cuddling in the moby wrap,cluster eating (which means binge watching netflix for this momma, but who's complaining?), being swaddled with her arms out,  sleeping from 6am-9am, and lifting her head way up and looking around

she dislikes keeping both socks on, waiting to nurse (when the girl wants to eat, she wants to eat NOW), having wet diapers, sleeping at proper night hours

she has beautiful grey/blue eyes, cute little hairs on the tips of her ears, perfect lips, and the loudest toots that could possibly come out of a little girl

^this is our getting mad because she ready to eat face

first manicure with mimi ;)

y'all. this blog post "when love feels heavy" hit me hard the other day. it's no lie i've been struggling with exhaustion these two weeks of motherhood, this was such a great read to know that I'm not alone! in the 4am feedings and a screaming infant who i can't seem to soothe, i found myself questioning if i did have "baby blues". I always craved to be pregnant, i loved being pregnant, i could.not.wait to meet our sweet daughter and cuddle her newborn self, so why was I not head over heels in love now?! I hated myself for not being completely smitten for this precious baby girl but I blame that (now) on utter exhaustion. a quote from this article:

You may feel like you will nearly break in half from the top-heaviness. You will not be able to tell the difference between exhaustion and depression, and that darkness will rob you from what should be the most tender months of your daughter's new life. 

so here I am cuddling with my two week old and I can truly say, I am in love with this little being. the exhaustion is still here, especially in the middle of the night. but we're managing. thank the Lord for pacifiers, swings, swaddles, and the best daddy around for making the transition do-able. The moments ( a few days ago) that caused me to cry out in desperation for help are now moments that I spend in prayer and holding her sweet hand while she nurses or stroke her sweet, soft baby hairs. I'm soaking in these moments. A friend of mine text me the other day "the days are long but the years are short" and isn't that the truth! I already look at her teeny newborn clothes and know she won't always be this small. I want to treasure these moments. So praise the Lord for getting me out of the rut of feeling like I wasn't meant for this motherhood business, like I would never sleep again, and that I didn't know what I was getting in to. Here's to late nights and early mornings, re-heating my coffee a few times before actually getting to drink it, sweet cuddles when her tummy is upset, and soaking in these moments when she needs me. 

and shoutout to my husband while we're on the mushy roll ;) Cody has helped me beyond what I can express. From getting up in the middle of the night to change diapers or walk evynn around to cheer her up to rubbing my back while I sit up in bed and nurse to buying post part pads at the store. he's watched me wear the same outfits on repeat for two weeks now and tells me that I'm beautiful as I examine my postpartum body. this guy is the best husband and daddy to myself and miss evynn!

pregnancy recap

we should've been better about checking the lighting to make sure they all matched, oops ;)

this pregnancy I gained: 

lots of unfortunate stretch marks

30 pounds of weight gain

sweet cravings

multiple cups of ice a day

a new found appreciation for my body

a greater prayer life 

1 precious baby girl

What I’ll miss about pregnancy

• ·      Eating whatever I want. I did try to take it easy and not eat a burger and fries everyday, but it was great to have so much freedom and what to eat. Thank you for not being gestational diabetic, that would’ve put a real damper on my sweet tooth cravings ;) Now time to kick these pounds to the curb!
• ·      Feeling movements. I love being able to actually hold her and stroke her sweet head… But, there’s something about feeling and seeing a little body part poke out of your stomach, or feel her squirm around inside that reminds you of God’s perfect and detailed creation and how fascinating pregnancy is!
• ·      Body changes. This has been both good and bad. I actually struggled a lot with insecurities this entire pregnancy when it came to accepting my growing body. But, I know this is a rare gift that not everyone gets to experience, and those who do, only a few times. It truly is fascinating to have watched my belly grow from a teeny “food baby” to a full on baby poking out. There’s just something about that pregnancy glow too ;)
• ·      Sleep J now that miss Evynn is here I’m barely making it on 3-4 hours of sleep and coming from a girl who has always had 9-10 hours.. this has been rough! In my pregnancy I could sleep and sleep well, especially those last few weeks!

I I can't believe my whole pregnancy is gone and over! Last November seemed just around the corner. I remember the afternoon Cody and I found out we were expecting this precious miracle like it was yesterday. I tell cody often, "I wish we could bottle up that moment and replay it" just to re-feel that excitement of such big, surprising news! We spent the next 9 months in heavy prayer.. they started as praying for a true pregnancy, praying for a pregnancy that survives, praying for movement, praying for our baby girl, praying for consistent movement, and so on. As each trimester passed by I had different concerns and fears and had to rely on the Lord for all of them. Cody and I have said (and continue to say it as we tackle these first few weeks) that having a baby has definitely strengthened our prayer life. I look forward to future pregnancies and babies but nothing can compare to the first and all of the unknowns!