Sitting up??

Well, trying to anyways lol. She has had such amazing head control, I think it's time we started working on sitting up. So, out comes the Bumbo seat! I only let her sit in it for a few minutes at a time b/c I don't want to put stress on her back or neck.

 But from the looks of it, she seems to enjoy it! She loves to sit up when being held, so I knew it was only a matter of time before we'd have to break the seat out lol.

She is growing up way too fast for mommy! Before you know it, the Bumbo seat won't even be needed :(

2 months old and shots :(

Oh my poor baby! We had to go to the Dr's on Friday for the dreaded 2 month shots!

We got into the Dr.'s office and they had me strip her down so they could weigh her. She weighed in at 8lb. 11oz. When we turned around to go back to the room, we had a crowd of people behind us. Nurses and patients were admiring my baby! "All that hair! What a cute face!" These were among the many exclamtions from her fans lol. When the Dr. came in, she wasn't too concerned with how little she's gained, but more concerned with my lack of breastmilk. She gave me a prescription and told me to up my pumping. Then we found out that Sophie has eczema all over her body and cradle cap. Poor kid inherited my horrible skin :( So, we have to work on the cradle cap every night and put the special lotion on her skin.

Then the 2 nurses came in. :( Each one took a side and with a 1-2-3, jabbed my baby with needles! She screamed so loud and mommy cried so hard.  As soon as they let me, I had her picked up and cradled in my arms and cried with her :( It sucked.

 As you can see, the trauma that it was, has exhausted her! Poor baby was wiped out most of the afternoon. She even got a slight fever later in the evening.

 Poor legs :(

 Exhausted :(

 She perked back up though by the next morning :) All smiles for mommy!

This is all dressed up and ready to go shopping! I call this the "pound it" picture b/c of her facial expression and her fist being up lol.

Sophie is 2 months old

OMG, my baby is 2 months old.  This does not seem possible!

The last month flew by sooo fast and she is just growing and amazing me with new things every day!

She has started smiling on her own without it being gas or sleepy time. She has also discovered her voice!

 Here's a little bit of a smile I managed to capture! Her cooing is so freaking cute and hilarious at the same time. She discovered it the week that I had to go back to work. I had her out in the kitchen with me in her bouncer, while I worked on a cake for a friend and all of a sudden I started hearing this high pitched "whoo! ooo!" I turned around and she was just grinning from ear to ear! I started laughing and clapping my hands! I turned back around to work on the cake some more and she continued cooing...then all of a sudden she let out a deep growl coo. This made me turn around too of course and she's still grinning from ear to ear! lol. It cracked me up!

She has so many funny facial expressions too that Ibou and I have started "talking" for her by saying what we think she's saying with those expressions. For example, check out the pictures below lol.

 "Hey mommy, we need to talk! This creeper in the back ground is freaking me out!"

LOL. The next 4 pictures go together.

You talking about my momma??

Don't be talking about my momma! Or...

I'll give you a knuckle sammich!

 Are we clear? LOL

I had to go back to work at 6 weeks and it's been really hard for me. The whole first week back to work, I think I cried every single day. This is my 2nd week and it's gotten easier, but I still wish that the work day wasn't so long. I miss her so bad during the day and text the daycare friend several times. Thankfully she doesnt mind. Fridays are the best though b/c I don't work and I have the whole day of just me and Sophie.

 Here we are for a little bit of mommy and baby time :) I love that she is so little and snuggly and that she needs me as much as I need her.

 There are many times I look at her and can totally see myself and other times I can see Ibou in her. It's so neat to see a baby that has equal features of both mom and dad. With this bunny hat on though, she definetly looks like me. If I could find a few of my baby pictures at her age, and compare them I will. I do think though that she does favor me a bit more than him, but time will tell who she ends up looking more like :)

 She is starting to learn how to laugh out and smiling alot more. We have also had her sit in her bumbo a few times since she does have pretty good head control. I don't want to do too much but she is pretty advanced part of the time. She's even rolled from her tummy to her back during tummy time.

 She's also enjoying bath time soo much more. I think it does help that I get into the bath with her and hold her and talk to her the entire time while bathing her. I'll only do this until she is able to sit up on her own. After that, it is kind of weird. lol. Her hair keeps getting thicker and longer. I love how it curls up after a bath and then looks like a cross between a cupie doll and an oompa loompa lol. She is slowly growing out of her newborn clothes too and fitting into her 0-3 month clothes. It's exciting but sad too. I packed up several of her sleepers and pants b/c she still fits into the newborn onesies. I think she is going to have my short torso and daddy's long legs lol. All the 0-3 month onesies are as long as she is! lol, but the pants fit. Oh well, she'll fit into them eventually. Oh and I'm learning that having a girl is sooo bad on my check book lol. There are so many cute clothes out there! I never buy anything at full price, which is worse than buying them at discount prices b/c if I bought at full price, I'd only have one outfit at a time, where as discount prices, I'm bringing home like 10 outfits for the price of 1 lol.

My baby is 2 months old! I can't wait to see what she will do next :)

Sophie-Month 1

This first month flew by sooo fast! We got her home and immediately the fun began! Oh the sleepless nights and sore boobies and the trial and errors lol. The first week alone, we had to take her to the Dr. 2x. She supposedly lost 11% of her body weight in the hospital, so we had to take her in the day after we brought her home for a weight check-there was no way she had lost 11% b/c she weighed in at 6lb 5oz. She should have weighed in at 5.14 if she had truly lost all that weight. Anyways, they wanted us to bring her back again in a few days just to make sure she was in fact gaining weight and then bring her in again the following week to check again. by the 2nd appt, she was at 7lbs and the next, 8lbs so, I'd say she was gaining just fine.

We did have some problems with latching on for feedings in the beginning and it was very frustrating. I learned though that I just needed to pull her away from my breast, let her scream for a minute and try again. We also learned to try different positions until we found one that would work. Now we have no problems with breastfeeding!

 Before she was born, I had won a free newborn photo session with a local photographer, so a week after she was born, I took her in and got the pictures taken. Rachael with Capture Today Photography did an amazing job and was such a wonderful person to work with!  I couldn't have asked for better pictures honestly! I mean, just look at the few I posted!

 The hat is courtesy of Cutie Booty Baby Boutique.

 My baby is truly amazing. She has the best head control so far and she is just so alert and really looks at you when you hold her. I can't believe how beautiful she is!

 She really only fusses when she's hungry or needs her diaper changed, otherwise, she's pretty content and happy.

 I seriously want to kiss on her chubby cheeks every minute of the day! Look how adorable those are!

 In this picture she's about 6 weeks. My maternity leave is about up. Who ever thought of giving only 6 weeks to a brand new mother? They need to be shot. I need way more than just 6 weeks. The thought of going back to work makes me sick. I want to spend every minute with her and watch her grow up.  I hate that when I'm back at work, someone else will be with her for more hours of the day than I will. :( Even if that someone is a good friend of mine. It's just not the same. I have asked her to not tell me if she hits any milestones at daycare. I want to experience them myself! Like the first time she rolls over, or sits up on her own or when she starts to crawl, walk and so forth. I want to experience these.

My baby is One Month old. Where did the time go?

Sophie is here!

Sophie Coumba Lou Ka

January 5th, 2012

6lb 10oz  19 1/2"  born at 8:23 AM

My beautiful baby girl is here! Sorry it has taken me 2 months to update this, but here she is!

I was sooo scared about having the c-section and I really had no reason to be so scared! My c-section was probably the easiest part of this journey so far! I think when they put the IV in my hand, that hurt worse than the recovery of the c-section!

Here is Sophie's birth story:

We were scheduled for a c-section for Jan. 5th at 8 AM. Of course they want you there at least 2 hours before so they can pump you full of fluids and make you nervous lol. We got up at 5, I took a shower and then we loaded everything in the car and left for the hospital. All the way there I was having small contractions, but nothing that would stop the c-section from taking place.

We got checked in and they took us to the labor room where they would prep me. They started out by having me undress and putting on a monitor around my belly to monitor baby's heartbeat. Then they gave me the IV which freaking hurt sooo bad! I hope I never have to have another IV experience like that! My hand was bruised for 2 weeks after.

In the room with me was Ibou, my mom and my sister. We sat around, excited but all nervous too. Finally 2 hours had passed and the drug doc came in and told me how the process was going to go once we got into the surgery room, and then they walked me down the hall. It was sooo cold and I was soo scared. All I could do was cry and try to be brave. They wouldn't even let Ibou in the room with me at first.

Once I got into the room, they had me sit on the edge of a very skinny table and hold onto the nurse in front of me's shoulders. Kristen (our nurse) talked softly to me and explained everything the drug doc was doing behind me. He also walked me through it as he injected me.

He told me that at first I would feel something like a bee sting (local going in) and then I would feel slight pressure in the same spot kind of like him pressing his fingers in that spot and then as soon as I feel that, my legs would get warm. Boy did they get warm! They got warm and immediatley went numb! They then rolled me on my side and got me situated on the table. They asked me at one point if I would move my tush over a bit and I remember I laughed really hard. I told them I would if I could feel my tush!

Once they had me layed down, it was a matter of seconds and they had the screen up in front of me, my arms out like I was on a cross, and then they let Ibou come in. They had him sit up by my head behind the screen with me. The drug doc stood at my head and asked me how I was feeling. I told him slightly nauseous and as soon as I said that, I screamed "ok, REALLY nauseous! He put a bag by my mouth for me to throw up in and let me ask you, Do you know how hard it is to throw up when you can't feel your stomach muscles?? I was numb literally from my neck down, and yet had movement in my arms...it was so strange! Next thing I know, they are telling Ibou that they are pulling her out and he can look. That surprised me b/c I hadn't felt a thing! I was told beforehand that I would probably feel the tugging and pulling and it may feel like an elephant is on my chest due to the pressure they have to put on my stomach to push her out. I felt NOTHING!

So, Ibou stood up and watched as they pulled our baby girl out BUTT FIRST! lol. One of the nurses yelled out how she had gorgeous dark hair and I remember yelling back, "THANK GOD it's not red!!" They flashed her in front of me really quick and I think I said something like, that's not an 8lb baby! lol. The Dr. had told me to expect a large baby, and she was soooo tiny! When I first saw her, I started to cry. I can't begin to describe the various emotions that came over me. I was happy, sad, and so in love all at once. I hated that I had to lay there and get stitched up while she was getting cleaned off and I couldn't hold her yet, but Ibou filmed all of that for me.

All in all, the process of getting the drugs, taking her out and getting stitched up took less than an hour! I got in the room at 8:07 and they had her out by 8:23!

Next they wheeled us down the hall back to our recovery room. They handed her to me all swaddled up before they wheeled us off and I kid you not, she was so alert and looked right at me. The moment our eyes met, I loved her. I know I loved her before she was born, but the feeling of love that I have for her now that I can hold her and see her, is so much stronger, it's amazing. How can you love someone so much that you've literally just met? You just can.

We originally said that we were going to make everyone wait, including my mom and sister, until we were out of recovery for them to meet her, but I couldn't do that to my mom. Now that I know how she felt the day I was born, I just couldn't wait to share that moment with her. I told them to let her see the baby and then they had to leave for a bit b/c I did still want that time for just me, Ibou and the baby. The moment my mom saw her, she started to cry. I may be biased b/c she's my baby, but she is the most beautiful baby ever.

My mom and sister left to give us our space, but were back about an hour or so later asking if my grandparents could come and in and see her since they had just got there. I really didn't want them to yet, but decided to say ok. I was so sick from the drugs that I couldn't stop throwing up, so I really didn't get to hold her very much at that point. I threw up all the way until about 5 later that night when they finally let me eat something!

Other than the throwing up, I really did have the best experience.They had me up and moving the next morning as early as 4:00am, taking a shower and walking a little at a time and they were ready to send us home a day early. We opted to make the most of the stay and stay one more night.

We are now adjusting to our new routine and life with our precious baby girl and I wouldn't have it any other way. She is beautiful and it's a joy to watch her grow everyday and I can't imagine life without her!