It's been a while!

I've been a terrible blogger! But life has been busy to say the least. Reese is one year old!! She's doing awesome. She walks all over the place. She has quite the temper like a toddler. She is weaning off of the breast which has been a bit trying. She wants what she wants, stubborn like me. I can not believe its been a full year! What happened to my peanut?! That "peanut" is not 26lbs 14oz and 28" long. 

Her are some photos from the last few months. 

Reese is 7 months!

Wow time is flying. Reese is just over 7 months now! Still going strong with breastfeeding! My supply hasn't been the best lately but I'm hanging in there! 

Reese has 5 almost 6 teeth now. The teething monster has fully taken over! She has been waking in the middle of the night for nothing but comfort, poor baby. She is also standing against objects like a big girl. She wants to move so bad but can't yet lol. I've been terrible at updating! She had some 6 month photos done but I don't have them on my phone. Here are some recent photos:

Reese 5.5 months

 Ah, it's been a while. But all is well. Reese is getting so big! She is officially a sitter. And now has two bottom teeth! She is quite the little babbler too, she says Mama when she is upset lol. And just like her mommy she is a feisty little girl sometimes. But still a GREAT sleeper! 

Still breastfeeding and pumping. I started to donate milk since I have so much in the freezer and the woman just pays a little bit towards my pump rental, so it works out well. I've been really struggling emotionally with working full time. It's really hard for me to work three 12 hour nights with such a long commute. I'm feeling defeated because we can't afford for me to go part time. I miss my baby while at work and I just wish I could go without sleep during the day so I can spend time with her. C and I have been exploring other options to try and fix my frustrations. The hard part is I don't know what I want more day shift or part time. I'm sure it will work out though. 

I promise to update with her 6 months pictures. It's so crazy how time flies. And I love seeing all the other blogger babies grow!

Baby girl 4 months old!

Baby girl is 4 months old as of yesterday! We tried homemade bananas with breastmilk and she loved it!

One year ago

One year ago today C and I got our first positive pregnancy test! Oh how much this year has changed... We are truly blessed. Here is my sleepy girl resting on my chest  ;)!

Long time no post!

Hey there! It's been a little while! Reese is getting so big! She is almost 4 months now, where does time go??? I weighed her at my breast feeding group meeting last week and she is 15lbs 11oz! My big girl loves to eat! Breastfeeding and pumping are still going well. My deep freezer is full of milk so I am looking into donating breastmilk. I'm back to work and have been for almost a month now. It's not as bad as I expected but I would still love to be part time. Unfortunately it's just kit financially possible. My wife is looking to go back for her NP in acute care. So maybe when she is down school lol three years from now! 

Sleeping is still great. She finally wakes herself up in the morning! I was getting concerned about her not waking up lol. She is such a great baby. I'm enjoying every minute I get with her! Here are some photos:

Baby girl is 3 months!

Reese is growing so fast! I am falling more and more in love with her each and everyday. Everything is going way, breastfeeding and pumping is still going well. My supply is still in the excess and I am running out of room in the deep freezer lol. I go to weekly breastfeeding support group meeting now. It's nice to be surrounded by other women that breastfeed/pump etc. As far as sleep, this little girl sleeps  like a teenager! She goes to bed for the night at 9:30pm and I have to wake her up at 10:30am the next morning! One day she slept straight until 12:00pm and I had to wake her up! So now I just always wake her up at 10:30am so we can keep her on a routine with a nap etc. I returned to work Monday and it actually wasn't too terrible lol. I feel good knowing she is with mostly family and a good friend. Anyway here are a few of her 3 month photos:

Baby girl 11 weeks old!

Time is flying! Reese is 11 weeks old now. I go back to work in one week, ugh! I am both excited and nervous to return to work, it will definitely be an adjustment for our whole family! 

Everything has been great. Reese has blossomed into a wonderful and happy little baby girl! Breast feeding/pumping is still going pretty well. My supply has been great, but my poor nipples are so sore! I went and saw a lactation consultant today which was super duper helpful! She weighed the baby and she is 14lbs, holy cow lol! She also helped me find a better fit for when I pump. Reese has a slight upper lip tie, so we were referred to a Pediatric Dentist, that will laser it.

Great news in the sleep department! Reese sleeps at least 8 hours a night now!!! My boobs still haven't adjusted (I am working on it), so I still wake to pump. 

So for now I am enjoying this last week off from work with my baby girl. This saturday my family and I will celebrate my sister's wedding, can't wait! Reese has a pretty dress too! 

We booked photo sessions for 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months… so excited! Here are a few photos I took from Valentine's day etc:

Chunky Monkey!

We had Reese's two month check up today. She is 12 pounds 10 ounces and 22 inches long, she's in the 85th percentile for her weight/height ratio. Yay for boob milk lol. They weight adjusted her Zantac dose. She also got one oral vaccine and three shots, poor baby. She only cried for 10 seconds though haha. They want to see her again in one month because her head is measuring on the higher end. But it's kind of silly if you ask me because she has been following the same growth curve since birth (regarding her head circumference). I guess they just want to make sure it doesn't jump up quickly. I mean for god sakes I'm a NICU nurse I hope I would recognize if my child had extra fluid, and she doesn't. Her fontanels are nice and flat, she just has a big noggin' (which means lots of brain for my smarty lol). Anyway, Reese earned her first dose of Tylenol since she has a low grade fever from her shots. Poor baby is so grumpy/sleepy. 

Well, until next time, here are some pictures my sister took of Reese for her 2 month mark.

I never thought...

I never thought…. I would miss being pregnant so much. As I sit here starring at my beautiful sleeping baby, I miss feeling her from the inside. I find myself watching videos of her kicks/flips. I miss my belly. I also miss the excuse for being "fat" lol. I am already thinking about baby number two! I must be crazy considering I had a fairly complicated pregnancy!! But before that I have to lose at least 50lbs!

Speaking of second pregnancy…. I called California Cryobank to see if our donor had vials available to store. And he doesn't, which stinks. but for now we are on the list to be called if vials become available (via the buy back). Our plan is to try again once Reese is out of diapers. If there are no vials available by then we will explore the option to have CCB contact him to come back. Which is $1,750! And that's not including the cost of sperm, storage, or shipping etc. But I do feel it's important for Reese to share a donor with her future sibling. For many reasons… medically and emotionally. But at the same time I know that it's not that HUGE of a deal if they can't. I do not share the same father as either of my brothers and I look at them as full siblings.

On to another subject… returning to work. UGH I do NOT want to! Slowly but surely we are figuring out babysitting plans for Reese, and I will not lie, I am very nervous to leave her. I haven't left her for more than 6 hours this far. I am hoping between my mom, sister, roommate and potentially a hired sitter we can have everything covered. I go back February 24th, and I am also nervous about going back after such a long time out. I have been out since I was 36 weeks pregnant. I so wish I could go part time! I don't think I would want to be a stay at home mom, I would go stir crazy but I would love to go part time!

For now I am enjoying the time I have with my baby girl. Even though I am terribly sleep deprived lol. She has regressed a bit these past few nights (not sleeping much at all)! ANY TIPS AND TRICKS FOR GETTING A BABY TO SLEEP WOULD BE APPRECIATED! I am not even looking for "through the night," I'll take 3 - 4 hours at a time. But she barely gives me that. I have tried increasing her night feed and adding organic oatmeal to help with her GERD (on top of her Zantac). She sleeps on her belly when she does sleep (she won't sleep any other way). I know that's not the best but thankfully I have an apnea/video monitor. She hates to be swaddled, so that's out. UGH, I don't know what else to do. Momma's out there, HELP!

2 months already!

It's crazy how times flies! I realized that our bloc is now a year old, as of December 31st it was! I missed the blogiversary because I've been so busy with the little one lol. Our little Reesie cup is now 8 weeks old (2 months on the 30th)! Things are going well. Our battle for sleep is continuing! She is slowly but surely getting slightly better with the whole sleeping at night thing. The Zantac had helped her GERD a lot, thank goodness! I have started somewhat of a night routine. During the day I kind of just let her do what she wants until around 6pm.

I always time her last two feeds to be between 6:00 - 6:30pm and 9:00 - 9:30pm. She does not nap after 6pm. I will bathe her around 8:45 - 9:00pm and then give her the last feed of the night. She will figh her sleep until 10:30pm usually. And she won't go to sleep unless I rock her, which I am hoping to do away when at 3 months. But once she is down, she will sometimes sleep until 3:00am which is great for her. One night she even went until 4:00am! After her midnight feeding she will go back down for maybe another 3 hours after being awake for 45 minutes. Then she is pretty much up for the day. Every night is slightly different but I am going to keep going with this routine, in hopes that she will eventually sleep through the night. I basically always have the night shift (my wife is spoiled). But I did tell her if Reese doesn't start sleeping through the night soon that she better practice for when I am working (I work night shift). So, here is to HOPING!

Her 2 month check up is on Thursday so I am not sure what her stats are but I will update again with them. She is surely a little chunky monkey though! Breastfeeding/pumping is still going very well! I rented a hospital grade breast pump in order to alleviate the time consuming stress of pumping with the pump I have. I can now pump in 15 minutes and get the same amount of milk as I would in 30 minutes with my other pump. It's money well spent in my eyes! Plus it was my birthday gift from my family lol. I don't think $175 for three months is bad at all and I would have done it from the beginning had I known! I am taking fenugreek to help maintain my supply and I even made some lactation brownies (I have the recipe if anyone is interested)!

Reesie Mouse :)

At her first playdate/bday party

Cutie patootie in her tutuu

C and Reese, she loves her Mama!