First Overnight w/o AG!

This Saturday I will head up the highway about 25 miles to my friend Ariane's house for a mini girls weekend/overnight. There are 9 of us getting together, 8 spending the night. This will be my first overnight away from her. Granted, I spend 11 hours/day during the week away from her while I'm at work. But overnight is different.

Steve and I (well, really just me) have been trying to transition Aubrey into her crib for a few weeks now. We had fallen into the routine of letting her sleep in our bed for ease (mainly for me) of middle-of-the-night feedings. When she hit 4 months old, she went through a sleep regression. She had been doing so well sleeping through the night and then it was like a switch was flipped and she started struggling to stay asleep when we put her to bed. She was still sleeping in her moses basket, but when she started pushing herself backwards while she was in the basket, i started worrying she was going to hurt herself (like her head, pushing it into the edge of the basket). So I pulled her into our bed. And there she stayed. For a month. With us.

I'll be honest. I love having her sleep beside me. She snuggles right up. But bed sharing is something I swore I would never do. It can be dangerous, even lead to death. Last week, my dad texted me about a story on inside edition about co-sleeping and a couple who lost not only 1 child, but 2 children on separate occasions because of co-sleeping. You would think the first time would have scared them enough not to ever do it again, but a year later they found themselves facing charges in the death of their 2nd child.

That night, I tried the crib again. That story was looming over me and I couldn't shake it. Everyone thinks "it won't happen to me" but I DON'T want it to happen to me! So for the 1st time, Aubrey stayed in her crib ALL NIGHT. Yes, I had to get up a few times during the night to comfort her/feed her, but the point is, she went to bed in her crib and awoke in her crib. Next fear - her sleeping on her stomach! But that's another blog post for another day.

So back to the reason I started this blog post - Saturday Steve will be in charge of getting her all ready for bed, fed and put to bed. He will be the one getting up during the night to try and calm her when she wakes up crying. Maybe he'll feed her, maybe he'll see if he can just calm her back to sleep. Of course it's easiest for me b/c I have a boob I can just throw in her mouth and she will nurse back to sleep. Not so easy for Steve! 

We have yet to have a full night of uninterrupted sleep. I was hoping if we stuck with the crib sleeping routine that maybe by the time Saturday gets here, she will have slept straight though the night - but unless that happens it the next 3 nights, i'm not sure Steve will be that lucky. We did get a good 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night though! Baby girl slept from 12:30am - 6:30am without me having to go into her room and comfort her. So maybe, just maybe, another switch will be flipped and we'll get 10 hrs of uninterrupted sleep!

And let's not talk about her leaking diapers!

I'll report back on Sunday to tell you how everything went!

xoxo

you're gonna LOVE this one!

22 Weeks, 3 Days

look how CUTE!?! love it!

Jumparoo!

Aubrey is testing out the Jumparoo that Ben & Kari gave us and it looks like she's enjoying it! She uses her exersaucer that Cameron loaned to us that we keep at our house and Charlene just set up the Jumparoo for Aubrey to enjoy at her house while she's there during the week. This girl is loving all of the new things she can explore!

1st Sickness - 4.16.12

Aubrey girl was hit with her first nasty cold at 4.5 months old. She went to bed Sunday night with some sneezing and a little bit of a runny nose and started getting congested during the night. Monday morning I took her over to Charlene's, cautioning her that I thought Aubrey might be dealing with her first cold, but that I felt she was probably okay, overall. I didn't think she had a fever and she seemed happy when I was getting her ready for Charlene's. I didn't take her temperature.

A few hours later, I got a text saying Charlene thought Aubrey felt warm and wanted to know if I wanted her to take her temperature (still being young, this means rectal - eek). So I said sure, and Charlene being the AWESOME CAREGIVER THAT SHE IS, took her temp. Sure enough - 101.5. Aubrey girl had a fever. It's advised for a child 4-6 months of age to see a doctor for a temp above 101, so I called the peeds office and left work to get Aubrey. 

Poor girl was PITIFUL. Not her happy self, hot and snotty - everywhere. I waited at Charlene's for the nurse to call from her peeds office and once i got the call, I took Aubrey in. We were seen right away - pretty good for a walk-in. The nurse took her temp (more bootie action) and she was not very gentle about it, so it made Aubrey start to cry. As soon as she was done, I picked her up and calmed her down. Why be so rough? That nurse wouldn't want a thermometer shoved up her bootie so fast, would she? 

We saw the female doctor in the practice. She was super nice and thorough. She did a nasal swab to test for RSV which came back negative. It was concluded that it was just a simple cold and that all we could do was keep an eye on her, snuggle and take care of her to get better. I stayed home from work on Tuesday and mom came into town and helped out. She watched Aubrey on Wednesday when I went back to work. Aubrey kicked the overall feeling of misery pretty quickly. She is still dealing with a little bit of a runny nose and some congestion - but is pretty much back to sweet, smiling Aubrey. 

She did pass it to me. I came down w/ a fever on Thursday. So I stayed home again and mom helped with Aubrey until she had to leave and head back home later that afternoon after an ultrasound for Aubrey.

Ultrasound for Aubrey? What am I talking about, you may wonder? I've mentioned before that there is a mass on Aubrey's back that I noticed when she was pretty young (around 2 months of age - I can't recall exactly how old she was when I first noticed it). I've asked just about every medical professional I know or come across what their thoughts are on it and just about every single person has said they thought it was a fatty mass (or Lipoma - medical term). Well - when I brought it up at her 2 month check up, the pedi said we sould keep an eye on it, that it was probably a Lipoma. A course of action that might be taken in the future is to have an ultrasound done of the mass to see if blood is flowing through it. 

Fast forward to her 4 month check up. We switched practices and saw a new doctor - an older gentleman. He, also thinking Lipoma, suggested we go and see a pediatric plastic surgeon to see if it needs to be removed. He did NOT think it was vascular b/c it "wasn't blue enough". An appt. was made but it wasn't until SEPTEMBER!! 6 months away! Guess it wasn't that urgent!

Skip to current day. I'm just going to go ahead and praise God that Aubrey got sick because it led us back to the doctor, a different doctor, that advised we get an ultrasound done. Non-invasive procedure that can be done quickly and help us determine what the mass is and what the next steps should be. Turns out the mass IS VASCULAR. So the doc was able to work us in to see the plastic surgeon on May 3rd. Likely we will have to have the mass removed, which quite frankly freaks me out. BUT I have faith in God and know that everything will be okay. I need to keep my worrying to a minimum b/c that will only make things harder. 

So there you have it - I will update when I have more info!

Need a good laugh?

DON'T PUMP AND READ!

So just a little bit ago, I'm pumping and reading a magazine. I glance down to see how much milk I've pumped – the bottle is about half way full. I keep reading. Then I feel a warm sensation on my thigh. I think…have I just peed myself and not known I was peeing? I look down. Milk is OVERFLOWING. The bottle was FULL…milk all over my leg and IN BETWEEN!! So I changed into my gym clothes for the rest of the day! LOL

fortunately cree boasts a causal work environment so me chillin' in my gym clothes is okay!

Point taken – don't pump and read. Or at least pay attention a little better.

Aubrey Girl - today you are 4 MONTHS OLD!

Aubrey Girl

Wow - 4 months have passed by so quickly! I think I will say how quickly time has gone by in each and every letter I write to you. This has been such a big month of change for you! You are SUCH A HAPPY BABY! You only cry when you are overly tired or hungry. You used to tell us immediately if you had a dirty diapee but now you let it go for a while.

You have been spending your days with "Nanny Charni" while Mama and Daddy are at work. She and her family are a true blessing for us. You get such good care and LOTS OF ATTENTION from Nanny Charni and her two girls, Becca & Katie. They dote about how you are a joy to be around and are so happy, and that pleases me to no end. It's true - you smile all day and are now LAUGHING! It's so great. You get a kick out of the saying "stinky bootie". If you have a stinky bootie, all we have to do is ask "do you have a stinky bootie"? and you just laugh and laugh. it's AWESOME.

Some of the new things you're doing include:

• more major kicking - definitely have a future soccer player among us (you get that from your mama)
• you push yourself backwards when you're laying on a flat surface (changing table, floor, etc.) - and rotate around when on the floor - no more laying still in one spot for you!
• you rolled over from back to front for the first time on St. Patrick's Day! You've rolled over from stomach to back as well - maybe once, so we're working on that.
• talk, talk, talk - you are a talker! you are finding new pitches with your voice daily and you sit there gabbing away - it's the cutest thing!
• you love your "lovie" (you probably think we are trying to push a love of giraffes on you with your lovie, sophie the giraffe and your giraffe music maker hanging on your carrier - we aren't)
• you are a DROOLING machine - Nonna Jo thinks you're teething ~ time will tell!
• you have started biting me when I'm nursing you. this is NOT nice and I am sure to let you know this
• the other night i think i scared you when i said "no biting" b/c you de-latched, pouted your lip and started crying - mama felt bad afterwards...but it hurts baby girl - OUCH!
• speaking of nursing - besides the biting, it's going well. you take a bottle easy peasy while away from me, but when you're with me we do not use bottles and the transition b/w the two forms of feeding have been seamless. let's hope this stays that way!
• sleep - you like your sleep (which is GREAT). People are surprised when I tell them you're sleeping through the night - and have been for a while now. Sometimes the actual bedtime is late - around 11pm but you typically last until 5 or 6 am, with the occasional 4am feeding. You typically fall back asleep on the way to Mrs. Charlene's and sleep until 10ish. We've had a few 4am feedings and the other night you pulled a fast one and woke up at 1:30am to feed. 
• speaking of sleep - we tested out the crib and you slept in your crib for 2 nights in a row (i was nervous, but you did great). Sunday night, however, i could NOT get you to stay asleep and so for the sake of all of us NEEDING sleep - we brought you into our room. you wouldn't settle for the moses basket either - so i nursed you in our bed and that is where you stayed for the night. this has happened a handful of times and it freaks me out sometimes b/c i don't want you to get hurt b/c you're in our bed. 
• we tried out size 2 diapers last weekend (just before your 4 month b-day) and although they may be a wee bit big, we are probably going to stick to it and keep you in size 2.
• you're outgrowing 3 month clothing and there are some outfits i'm still cramming you into (like i did with your 1st st. patrick's day outfit). i think it's time to shift to 3-6 month clothing!
• you're holding your head up like a champ and we introduced the BUMBO seat to you - you seem to like it. We are keeping it at Mrs. Charlene's house.
• you're losing your hair!  you were born with so much hair and now you're working on a pretty awesome mohawk. Your left side of your head is more bald than the right.

Your 4 month check-up is this week. This means more vaccinations...boo. But you did so great last time, I'm hoping for another easy shot day. We will get lots of snuggle time in afterwards and Nonna Jo will be at our house, so she will sneak in lots of snuggles too.

You are just a gem, Aubrey. I grin from ear to ear every time I think of you and I cherish the evenings and weekends with you since that's when we get to spend our time together. 

I love you baby girl!

Mama

UPDATE: you weighed in at 13 lbs. 11 oz. and are 25 in. long. You're in the 75th percentile for height and 50th for weight.