She is growing..oh my!

Sophia had her 4 month appointment on 2/18/09. She had to get her vaccines and get a general wellness exam. She is doing fantastic. She only cried for a second when she got her shots. It didn't seem to phase her at all. The doctor did say that she thinks the snotty nose she has is completely related to allergies (most likely the dogs) she checked her lungs and her ears and all looked good. Sandro said the appointment was short and sweet and not nearly as stressful as the last time. (he took her when she was sick with her first cold) Below is the stats from 2 months ago and this appointment. Girl is growing! She is 5 inches away from needing a new car seat. Which require a new stroller as well.

Stats from 12/16/09

Length 23.5" (90%)
Weight 11 pounds 3 ounces (50-75%)
FOC 15.25" (50%)

Stats from 2/18/10
Length 27" (>95%)
Weight 15 pounds 1 ounce (75-90%)
FOC 16" (25-50%)

The doctor did recommend that we keep her on BF and forumla for the time being. She said she prone to allergies and we shouldn't rush her belly. I found this great article explaining 6 good reason why you should wait. The one that explains it enough for me is this one:

1. Baby's intestines need to mature. The intestines are the body's filtering system, screening out potentially harmful substances and letting in healthy nutrients. In the early months, this filtering system is immature. Between four and seven months a baby's intestinal lining goes through a developmental growth spurt called closure, meaning the intestinal lining becomes more selective about what to let through. To prevent potentially-allergenic foods from entering the bloodstream, the maturing intestines secrete IgA , a protein immunoglobulin that acts like a protective paint, coating the intestines and preventing the passage of harmful allergens. In the early months, infant IgA production is low (although there is lots of IgA in human milk), and it is easier for potentially-allergenic food molecules to enter the baby's system. Once food molecules are in the blood, the immune system may produce antibodies to that food, creating a food allergy . By six to seven months of age the intestines are more mature and able to filter out more of the offending allergens. This is why it's particularly important to delay solids if there is a family history of food allergy, and especially to delay the introduction of foods to which other family members are allergic.

This makes me feel better about my decision and also motivates me to keep breasfeeding for the time being. What I am trying do now is keep focused on thing I can control. Limit my sugar intake (which is so hard) and eat protein rich snacks. I am also going to increase my workouts from 3 times a week to 5 times a week. I will start lifting weights on Tuesday and Thursday during lunch. Once I am able to go back to counting calories again I should see some results but for now at least I can control this part of the problem.

On to the pictures of the week:

Sophia LOVES to chew stuff right now. She can't get enough of her Sophie.

Daddy was dancing with Sophia. She was loving it.

And all the kisses I am sure.

Just look at that smile.

She likes to attack her flower on her exesaucer. She gets a little fustrated sometimes because it won't come off.

Trying to get a shot of her blue eyes. She is so beautiful!

For Nana! :) More pretty in purple.

One of her 4 month pictures.

Sandro calls this the Russian hat! A little bit big but she looks cute in it.

A Suggestion

This is directed to my readers that are either moms to be or new moms or any moms who have had a child. Lets just say that I never really listened to much when people gave me advice because well I wanted to figure everything out for myself. I still feel this way. However, I do want to suggest or mention to everyone about the fact that sleep is going to be missing often from your routine when you are a mommy. It's just part of the deal. I know there is going to be some lucky people out there that have babies that sleep all the time or through the night. This is wonderful for them. But they are not the norm. I thought that lack of sleep would not effect me but it really has. I wake up sometimes in tears asking Sophia why can't she just let mommy sleep. And I thank my lucky stars when she actually sleeps a good portion of the night. When she was first born she literally would wake up every 2 hours to eat. This made me crazy and angry and I guess you can say resentful at first because it was really hard for me to manage my patience. I should have have been more mentially prepared for this and I know I will be for the next one.

Lets just say that it does get better but you still will have bad days. For us Sophia has 3-4 good days where she goes down about 8:30-9:00 p.m. and wakes up only once to eat. I have to wake her up for daycare. These days I love and I have no issue. However, every 3-4 days she has a bad night like last night. She woke us up 3 times (12:30, 3:30, 4:30) and she refused to back to sleep. Yes, she was stuffy and just couldn't get comfortable and I understand this but it's really hard on a working mom when she does this. I have learned to accept this. It's just really hard some days.

To add to that I need to work on the fact that I really let everyone's opinion effect me even I try to tell myself that their advice doesn't matter. Because the reality of the situation is that it does matter to me what other think of me. I have been debating with myself to stop breastfeeding for the awhile now. Ideally I wanted to wait to 6 months but I am finding it harder and harder to keep motivated. I think it's because my supply still sucks and I really want to get back to dieting and feeling good about myself again. I look in the mirror and all I see is my belly (muffin top) and my super large breasts and I want to cry. I don't mind being a little larger frame. But I miss my body and the ability to control what I eat. I know these seem like selfish reasons to want to stop breastfeeding but it's truly how I feel. Sandro is completely supportive of what ever decision I make but let just say that Mother's guilt makes me keep doing it anyways. (in addition to what people would think about me giving up) I feel like I am having a internal battle with myself and it sucks.

I will leave this on a lighter note. Here is a slideshow of the V-day pics that Sophia took. She is so stinkin' cute. My mom still has not received her pictures yet. (Shakes fist at the US postal service)

vday - Slideshow

V-day Snowy Week

What a week. This week was awesome. A year ago we learned we where pregnant with Sophia. It was Feb 10th to be exact. I can't believe it's already been a year. How much our life has changed for the better and how happy we are with our little family. We are looking forward to the future. Today is Sophia is 4 months old. She is growing so fast. Her daycare ladies think that she is some sort of Alien baby the way that she advances past the babies in her class. She is mastering things so much quicker and just enjoying being a baby. It's amazing the conversations she is having even with out words. You would just have to hang out with her to see what I mean.

This week we had a snow storm so we stayed in the house for most of the day on Friday. We did go out on Saturday and did some shopping (Target and Costco) Sophia and I have been fighting a little cold and both of us have been coughing. So I went out and bought her a nice new humidifer and I used my old beat up one. I can tell I am feeling dramatically better and I think she is too. When we went to Grandma Vesna's house on Saturday and Vesna was holding her and telling us a story and she got a little bit loud explaining something and immediately Sophia got this big frown and started balling hysterically (Grandma scared her)..Vesna handed her over to mommy and she stoped immediately. Two minutes later I try to hand her back to Grandma..The frown and tears started up again. So Grandma gave her back to me and I calmed her down again and she stayed with me for a few minutes. Adventually she allowed grandma to hold her. It was too cute. Miss Sophia and her personality.

Grandma Vesna was trying to talk me into feeding her solids now. She was even going to make her Apple Juice or something. But I told her no and that I wanted to do it in stages. Probably not starting till 6 months. This made her a little mad. She started questioning me but I don't care. It's our baby and we will start when we/she are ready and showing signs. I think Zdenko hushed her up in Croatian cause she stopped. ;) I have no issues starting Sophia on solids I just really want her to be ready for it. Babies don't really have to start on solids till 6 months. At least from what I read. So we are not in a hurry.

Originally I wanted to go on a date with just me and Sandro and Vesna was going to watch the baby. (They owed me for doing their Taxes) Anyways we decided to go ahead and bring Sophia along. She ended up sleeping the entire time. Ha! Then we to Whole Foods. She didn't sleep at all in there and starting hollering in the middle of store cause she was hungry. Sandro had packed a bottle and he gave it to her and she stopped. See what I mean..she knows what she wants! :) Sandro and I watched a movie together (of couse she was there too) and it was a great day. I feel totally refereshed today. My cold is almost gone completely.

Now on to this weeks pictures.

Sophia is trying to hold her own bottle

She is becoming a thumb sucker. Always loves to sleep on daddy.
Our first wounded toy. This was Helix's work.
She loves this thing. Sometimes she gets sick of being in our arms and just wants her indpendence in her toy.
About to brave the cold. There is that thumb again.
Daddy I am really cold! :)
Look how tiny she was compared to the snowman.
Her new sleep sack. We no longer swaddle but we do use the sleep sack. The loves the freedom.
She is pretty in purple.
This is from our Vday photo shoot. All the grandparents and great grandparents where given pictures from Sophia. However, some are receiving them late. Darn US postal service.

Busy Busy Busy

We had yet another busy week this week. Running around like crazy. Saturday we decided to cram everything we needed to do outside of the home into one day. Also filed my taxes ..as well as my inlaws. I went shopping to get GOOD bras. Which I am happy to report I feel like a new woman. However, I can't believe my nursing cup size is G. I just can't fathom this. The lady was measuring me and looked at the bra I was wearing and she asked me polietly to never wear it again and it would damage my breasts forever. She may have been just trying to sell me this $69 dollar bra, however I was spilling over in everything I wore and it was getting crazy trying to find a shirt that didn't look terrible with my ever growing breasts. So thumbs up to Norstoms and I will be going back after I finish nursing to find a good bra as well. It's worth the money. I must have spent $20 to $30 on each of the 5 nursing bras I tried. I should have just gone and got a good one in the first place. Sandro also got work pants which is good because he needed them. They are almost the same price as my bras. (actually came out a little less with alterations)

Sophia was good this weekend. Really good in fact she is growing so quickly. I think she is either going through a growth spurt or she is getting in her 4 month wakeful time. She falls alseep great. Fine in fact. However, she does wake up at 2:30-3:30 to feed. Some nights even earlier than that. She is truthfully really hungry. It's not like she gets up to play. The problem is that it's hard for her to fall alseep. She is getting better about soothering her self to sleep, but she gets hungry again with in a very short period. I know this is a phase and it shall to pass. It's just hard on mommy having to still do night feedings. I know things will change a ton when we start on solids. She really isn't showing any signs of wanting to eat yet but I think it's coming soon. Sandro plans to talk to the pedi about it. Ideally I don't want to start her on solids till 6 months. I don't see the rush. (just means more work for us right?) However, if she starts showing signs earlier then we will probably start slowly. Rice, Oatmeal, Veggies, Fruit. Your supposed to introduce one at a time. She is showing a few signs of teething and loves to chew on her Sophie (or her mommy and daddy) and I hope it goes well.

Pictures and Videos of the week:

Sophia's First Daycare Class Picture..She is the one with red bow. The one in pink is her older twin sister. Weird huh?

Showing me her play skills.
Yeah she knows she is cute.
She is screaming less and less during bath time.
In fact she loves to be naked.
Video of Sandro singing to Sophia:

Sophia showing me her play skills: