Natalie is 2 months old!

Natalie is 2 months old today! She's gotten so big and is so interactive now. She's such a blast! This week she's started sticking her tongue out a lot and started holding onto things that her hands happen to encounter (she still can't reach for things yet) -- such as pulling her dress up. Her belly is always showing now. We keep telling her little girls aren't supposed to do that but she finds lifting her dress more fun. She's also been drooling/forming little bubbles a lot.


She's also started trying to pull herself forward by her head -- but she doesn't have total head control yet so she ends up with her head falling forward. But at least she's still trying! :)

Looking back at the first week of photos I posted, you can really tell how much bigger she's gotten from comparing the photo of her in her bouncer.

Today, 2 months old:
Her first week home:
Here are a few more photos of our "monthly photo session". There is a light fixture on the ceiling that she loves looking at which is why in the photo below she's smiling up at the ceiling. I'm not sure what her fascination with the light fixture is (the light's not even on).

We had a major success this week with getting her to take the bottle. I had called the pediatrician's office last Friday to get their suggestion on getting her to take a bottle. After hearing everything we had tried -- 4 bottle types, 2 nipple flows, different milk temp, Emile feeding her, me feeding her, feeding her in different locations and at different times of the day -- the nurse said she thought our only choice left was to withhold breast feeding, making the bottle her only choice. She stated that she would eventually take it (sometime within the day) given she wouldn't let herself starve (comforting!). I was not at all happy with this option. I thought it would be super traumatic for her. So I was going to keep trying different bottle types for awhile longer before giving into such a drastic measure.

Well, on Sunday, although we weren't planning on holding out breast feeding for the day as the nurse suggested, we inadvertently did a test run that worked. I also tried another new bottle (Nuk Ortho) -- the 5th type. Natalie took a little from the bottle when Emile fed her, then started crying, so we decided instead of going straight to breast feeding (usually we gave up after 10-15 min of trying because of the cries -- they break your heart :(, we decided to walk away with her from the bottle for a little while. After about 10 min, we went back and tried again -- she took a little more, then cried. So I tried giving it to her -- she took a little, then cried. In comes the miracle vacuum cleaner -- when she got riled up, we turned it on, she calmed down and took the bottle (we discovered during her 6 week growth spurt that she likes the white noise of the vacuum cleaner). She drank about 1.5-2oz. Then went to sleep! It only took about an hour to get her to take the bottle (I was thinking this process would take all day which would break my heart -- although I still had to stifle my cries while going through this process!). We tried again at her next feeding, and twice a day since -- every time it was offered, she took the bottle, with a little coaxing periodically from the vacuum cleaner. She's now taking about 3.5 oz. at a time and today I didn't have to calm her with the vacuum cleaner noise in order to get her to take it!

I wasn't sure if it was the bottle type or offering it more frequently that convinced her to finally take it so I tried giving her the Playtex Drop-in bottle again on Monday morning to see. Although she would suck on the Playtex bottle, she wasn't getting anything to come out. With the Nuk bottle, she immediately got milk out! So I think it was a combination of getting the right bottle and then continuing to offer it to her until she got it. I'm so relieved! This will make running errands and going back to work so much easier.

We also chose a new nanny, Charlotte. The one we previously met with is not going to work out -- there was a misunderstanding as to the pay. Charlotte seems great and has gotten great reviews from her previous references. She's a college student from England. I think her and Natalie will get a long well. I'm still not really excited about having a nanny in general -- I don't think anyone can take care of her as well as Emile and I but it's necessary. I'm sure the first few weeks will be the hardest.

Sleeping in Swing

I snapped a few photos of Natalie sleeping in her swing. I think she looks so adorable sleeping!


Shortly after I took the photo, she started waking up. She always spends a good 15 to 30 minutes stretching and arching her back, like she's doing in the below photo, before she decides she wants to really open her eyes.

I think she was a little shocked I was sitting in front of her with the camera.

I can never get enough of her smiles which she shares with us all the time now!


On Thursday, I noticed that Natalie has started making more sounds with her coos. She's becoming much more vocal. She also started looking at herself in the mirror on her play mat. And the biggest milestone (at least one I'm pretty happy with) is that I was able to get her to spend tummy time on her boppy for about 20 minutes twice on Thursday while I read her a number of books. We're making progress.

Apparently, babies are considered to "sleep through the night" (STTN) if they sleep for 5 hour slots. Natalie did this for the first time on Thursday which was pretty nice. But it was short lived, last night she only slept for 3 hrs at a time. I'm looking forward to the night she sleeps through my STTN period (a good 8 hrs would be nice) -- I have a feeling that's months from now!

Attempted Tummy Time

We've been trying to no avail to get Natalie more interested in tummy time. She usually protests within a minute or two if we put her on her tummy on her play mat so we tried putting her on the boppy instead. Although she lasted longer, we got similar facial expressions and protests from her after a few minutes:

I'm hoping next month she's more interested -- how else is she going to learn to roll if she never spends time on her belly :(

The swing is a common place Natalie likes to be when she's decided she's had enough interaction with Mommy and Daddy. Beginning around when she turned 6 weeks old (July 11), she started having crying and screaming fits at night. She would refuse to sleep in her Pack-N-Play at night and would only settle down in her swing. Luckily, this only last a few nights but the swing is still one of her favorite places to relax.

We're pretty sure Natalie started social smiling around 3.5 weeks old (whether the doctor says it happens later or not) and they have only increased in frequency since then. It's such a great sight. She now talks with us as if she's trying to tell a story and smiles all the time when we come near her or play with her. These photos are from a week ago (her acne has cleared up a lot!). Doesn't she have the cutest smile!

She's getting big so quickly. I took the photos below earlier today. She's already out of her newborn clothes and in 0-3 month sizes (and she's only in the 50th percentile for her weight). It was sad putting away her "going-home outfit" and some of the other outfits she wore in the first few weeks. She's become so much more interactive and social! It's fabulous! On July 6, I got her to hold a rattle in her had for a few minutes (of course, I had to put it in her hand). She's done it a few times since.

This past Tuesday, I took Natalie to get professional photos taken (www.rliphotography.com) -- like the ones you see of the baby laying naked in the mom's hands, etc. She did such a great job! She didn't cry or fussy at all and actually seemed to be enjoying the noises and faces the photographer was making at her. I get to see the proofs on July 31 -- I can't wait! From the few frames I saw when there, I think they're going to turn out wonderfully and Natalie looked beautiful!

We're trying to get Natalie to start taking a bottle but we haven't been very successful. We've tried different types, Emile giving it to her, me giving it to her, feeding her in different locations, and different milk temperatures. So far she usually screams. We only got her to take a few ounces once or twice in the three weeks we've been trying. We need to her to take a bottle before I go back to work. We're increasing the number of times a day we try to get her to take it hoping that with constant exposure she'll finally give in her. Here's hoping!

We found a nanny to help out when I go back to work -- Meagan. She's a very sweet woman (in her mid-twenties) and very professional about being a nanny. She has a good amount of experience with different families over the last seven years -- all which gave her great reviews. It will be weird having someone here in the house looking after Natalie while I'm working in the the other room in our office-- I'm going to struggle not running to Natalie's rescue every time she cries. But I have to go back to work so it's necessary. Luckily, Natalie will at least be in the house with me so I can spend lunch with her, etc. (and watch over the nanny!).

Happy 4th of July!

It's Natalie's first holiday and I, of course, got her an adorable outfit to celebrate it. She has been super smiley all day and just a joy, as always! We decided not to go to the fireworks because she's still so young and we're not sure if she'd do well with the noises. We'll take her next year though -- Wake Forest also has a children's parade and art festival for the 4th which we plan to check out next year.

Yesterday, while I was reading her a few books, she added her own take on the stories with endless amounts of cooing -- it was wonderful! Although she's been cooing for a few weeks now, this was the first that she did it as if she was telling you a story. I loved it!

Natalie's 1 month appointment was this last Tuesday. Dr. Hewett said she's doing great and given her weight gain (she's up to 9 lb. 3 oz already!), we don't have to wake to feed her every 2-3 hrs anymore. We can let her sleep as long as he'd like! YAY! Of course, that night she decided to start a growth spurt or something, and was awake every 1.5-2 hours to eat. This continued throughout the morning -- it was a long 24 hrs for me! But she's back to her normal schedule now and is getting about 1 four hour stretch of sleep in each night (usually early evening though, 9 p.m. - 1 a.m). Dr. Hewett confirmed a number of things I had questions on and had looked up in books (I do a lot of reading on what to expect, etc.). Natalie also got her 2nd Hepatitis B shot :(. She, of course, screamed which was heartbreaking! She calmed down quickly after I picked her up and cuddled with her -- it's such a great feeling to be able to soothe her!