Two months

Lucy had her two-month well visit yesterday, although she was actually 2.5 months. I can't remember all of her exact stats, but I do remember the percentages and we have a long, skinny girl on our hands (I'm not gonna lie- I was kind of hoping she would have a bit more chub by now, but maybe she's just not cut out for chub. That'll be a good thing when she's a teenager I guess).

Weight: 25th percentile (10 lbs. 5.5 oz.)

Height: 75th percentile (I think 24.5 inches?)

Head circumference: 1oth percentile (14.5 cm... umm, I don't think this changed from one month... is that bad?)

Here's a little about Lucy at this age:

• I figured this would be the case, but now that it's confirmed I can say that she HATES shots. I've never seen the poor girl cry so hard... it seemed like a full minute before she could even catch a breath.
• She loves baths, but the water has to be really warm (like mother like daughter).
• She gives great BIG smiles when she's happy and we love it!
• Something that she LOVES and always calms her down if she's upset is "jumping." Basically Ryan will just make her jump up and down on his lap.
• She hates her car seat and will usually cry more than she sleeps when driving somewhere. The farthest I have gone alone with her is 20 minutes to her doctor's office and let me tell you... that is a long car ride. I'm a little nervous for when we drive from California to SLC shortly (I bet Ryan's parents are even more nervous about that than I am since they're driving us... I apologize in advance).
• Lucy will usually give us a 4 hour stretch of sleep at the beginning of the night, and then about 2 or 3 hours each time after that. Yesterday the doctor asked if we were getting any sleep at night, and I said "yes! Sometimes she gives us a 4 hour stretch at some point during the night, thank goodness!" and the doctor started laughing and said "well... at least you have a positive attitude about that." Yes, I will take 4 hours compared to the, hmm, 1-1.5 hours we got if we were lucky the first few weeks.
• We transitioned her from the pack n' play in our room to the crib in her room, but had to bring her back in a few days later because her reflux flared up again and the pack n' play is much easier to have her sleep in at an angle that helps.
• Finally no more tummy troubles... at ALL! Now we just have to re-introduce food into my diet to see what was bothering her, and maybe she will have grown out of it, if we're lucky!
• Like I said, the acid reflux flared up again making it really hard for her to eat, sleep and breathe. The doctor had us increase her dosage of zantac, so let's hope it works again (and fast, please!)
• Her nicknames: Lucy Goose, Lucy Goosie, Lulu, Tighty.
• LOVES lights and will stare straight at them forever. She especially loves the ceiling fans in all of our rooms and will look up at them while we have her wrapped up and trying to get her to sleep.
• Speaking of being wrapped up, this girl is a houdini! She can escape the tightest of swaddles. Unfortunately, she can't sleep without her arms being wrapped up because otherwise they don't stay still and she wakes herself up every time. I've even tried leaving just one arm out of the swaddle but that didn't work well at all. So it's one of our sleeping battles right now.
• She's no longer screams or cries when her diaper has to be changed... so that battle is over. Yay!
• Her two favorite (judging by smiles and kicks) songs right now are 'wheels on the bus' and 'popcorn popping.'
• Coos and "talks" like crazy when she's happy. It's super cute! She's starting to get this baby communication thing a little bit. She will make a noise and then I will imitate it, as if responding, and then she smiles really big and gets excited.
• Loves to be held up on my shoulder and walked around. A better word for "loves" in that sentence would maybe be "demands." Lucy really does not like to be put down right now and will only lay on the floor playing for maybe 5-10 minutes before crying. Let's hope this is just a short phase because it's hard to do much otherwise. I think the reflux has a LOT to do with that since laying down makes it a million times worse. At least my arms are getting a good workout.
• While she's still a bit fussy quite often, she has had many more calm moments lately and has started to sit quietly on my lap while we eat dinner in the evenings.

Her pediatrician keeps saying how she'll most likely grow out of her reflux and tummy troubles and this and that by 4 months and I have to admit that as much as I love Lucy and am getting used to this parenting thing, 4 months can not come quick enough at this point. We all just need some good sleep and a little less stress. And, while I'm being honest, I know a ton of people who have recently had babies and it's a little difficult to read everyone's updates and blogs about how wonderful their newborns are and how they never cry, they sleep through the night and take good naps, are super happy, perfect little babies that they can take anywhere and do anything with, yadda yadda. I wasn't expecting a perfect child but it's really hard to not compare and wish for something a little easier. Or at least a shower, an extra hour of sleep, and a trip to the grocery store to get something to make for dinner that night. I know it will get better though and seems to with each week. Anyway, I should make a paper chain countdown because it will definitely be worth a party when all these issues are "grown out of." That's all I can think of for now. We really do love our little Lucy so much and she has stolen our hearts so much, even when she is crying in the middle of the night!! Her smiles make it all worth it.

Booked.

In just a few months we are leaving the midwest for a little bit to get some sun, beach, and a little R&R. Maybe some Cafe Rio too (food is always involved). And family and friend time. Here's the plan:

C-bus to L.A.

L.A. to SLC

SLC back to C-bus

We can't wait! To prepare Lucy, we have been using an ocean waves white noise app, and it puts her to sleep every time. Bring on the beach!! (I'll admit though, that I'm just a little bit nervous for such LONG flights with a baby. I gotta face this fear sometime though.)

Dare I say it?

I feel like I am about to jinx myself, but I'm going to admit it anyway.

I feel like I have a new baby.

I feel like poor Lucy has been in pain since she was born. She's had tummy troubles constantly and acid reflux that have both kept her from eating, sleeping, and breathing well much of the time. We finally got a prescription for her acid reflux and that has made a huge difference in that area. She still had the tummy troubles though. Though very skeptical, I finally decided to give an elimination diet a chance. It takes at least a week for improvements to show, and lo and behold, a little over a week later and Lucy has not had any tummy troubles and has been able to eat, sleep, and breathe in peace, not pain! I don't really know if it's this diet for sure that's doing the trick, or just her reflux medicine helping that too, or her "growing out of it," but whatever it is I feel SO relieved. I am sure Lucy does too. Now we just have to hope that this really is the end of her constant pain and not just a little break. Either way, we've had a great few days!! In fact, this is how we've felt about it all:

Pardon the blurriness... cell phone pic.

Lucy lately

Here is an overload of Lucy pictures and information. We really don't have much of a life these days besides figuring out this parenting thing. We've had to try and figure out some problems Lucy has always had and thanks to switching from a complete idiot of a pediatrician to an awesome one, I think we're right on our way to helping her... FINALLY! We discovered that she has GERD (gastro esophogal reflux disease... basically really bad acid reflux). At the same time this got really bad, I got mastitis and had to go to the ER. The antibiotics they put me on totally upset Lucy and made her scream inconsolably for three days straight. I quit the meds early, so hopefully it doesn't come back. She was struggling to eat, breathe, and sleep- which just so happens to be a lot of what babies do at this age, so things have been a little tough for her (and me and Ryan). We got some medication to help with her reflux, and it has already made a HUGE difference. She can breathe and eat again! She is still having some of her tummy troubles, which is making it a little hard for her to sleep through sometimes, but we're working on figuring out what's causing that. Right now I am on an elimination diet- no dairy, wheat, soy, nuts, eggs, etc. for a few weeks and then I will add them back in one at a time to see if maybe it's something I'm eating that's causing her to have these tummy problems, and possibly even the reflux. I just hate that it takes weeks to figure out, especially when I see her in pain! But I am confident that we are going to figure this out sooner than later. Anyway, I love love love getting BIG smiles from Lucy everyday. She's really growing on us these days. :)

Over Christmas break we met up with Alyssa (my sister-in-law, Amy's, sister who lives here in Columbus as well). She made Lucy this gorgeous yellow dress and even taught herself how to crochet just to make the flowers on it! We were really impressed with the details and how well it was made! Lucy loves wearing it.

One of my favorite things about Lucy right now are her feet. She LOVES to get her feet and legs massaged. She can be super fussy at times and as soon as we start to massage her feet she gets super calm and gazes off in the distance while we rub her. :)

Lucy with her Great Grandpa Walz

Lucy with her Great Aunt Wanda

My mom came to Columbus over the long weekend and it was SUCH a relief! It was nice to have someone else's help soothing her in the middle of the night so that I could catch up on some sleep. Also, thanks to her, Ryan and I were able to go run some errands alone and even go out a date to the movies! It was fantastic. I was not ready to have her leave today. Oh well.

Lucy's two-month appointment is coming up in a week or so (even though she's already 2 months now) and I am anxious to see how much she has actually grown because she is SO LONG now! I really can't believe how long she has gotten and so fast.

Lucy's reflux really flared up bad for a few days before we got the meds and she had a really hard few days. I think all of her crying and problems wore her out and she completely zonked out on both my mom and Ryan. Usually the girl can't fall asleep and stay asleep unless her arms are swaddled tight next to her. Poor thing. Hopefully she can catch up on some sleep since she's starting to get a little better!

Happy 2012!

This year's New Year's Eve was definitely low-key. We kicked off the evening with some homemade cheese fondu. There was a great recipe we found online and we had steak, chicken, sausage, apples, bread, and cherry tomatoes with it. It was fun and delicious. We then went to a (family-friendly) party with some friends for a little while. It was fun to get out and do something, and then we left once Lucy got fussy and hungry. When we came home, we all got ready for bed and Ryan stayed up watching tv and rocking Lucy to sleep while I zonked out well before midnight. I'm lame. Ryan woke me up just in time for the last 10 seconds of the countdown, a quick New Year's kiss, and then right back to sleep. Fireworks were going off all over the place right around us though. Ryan tried to get me up to see them out of our window, but I was too tired to even walk three feet to the window to see them. :) That's what you get with a newborn sometimes, I guess. We still had a good time. Since then, we have been able to talk out some of our goals and ambitions for this next year, which is always a refreshing thing and gives me motivation to keep going and improving myself. So, bring on 2012! Happy New Year!!

Yep, that's Lucy with us over there on the couch sleeping in that blue blanket. :)

Christmas break with the Martin's

Ryan's parents and his brother, Craig, were able to come out here for ten days at Christmas. Whenever I told people out here that my in-laws were here for that long I always got a negative reaction with comments like "oh... sorry!" and "uh... I hope you survive that long." But I never feel that way with them and was so happy to have them here. Not to mention that I had three extra people around to help with Lucy (only now I'm back to wondering what to do with her sometimes)! Anyway, we had such a fun time doing lot's of shopping, movie watching, puzzles, baking and cooking, hanging out and relaxing, etc. Ten days went by way too fast!!

Here we are making Danish pastries- a very tasty yearly tradition.

You should see Craig when he's actually trying to flex...ha!

The first 1,000 piece puzzle was done quicker than expected, so Janae bought another 500 piece one as well. Puzzles are also a Martin holiday tradition of sorts.

Here's Lucy rockin' her first triple chin:

These plates look just like Janae's Christmas plates that she uses every Christmas, so when we found the paper version at BB&B, Ryan insisted we surprise his fam with them.

We ventured from a traditional Christmas dinner and went with steak, baked potatoes, salad, and lion house rolls. It was delish.

And for dessert we had apple pie made by Ryan and Craig, and red velvet bundt cake with cream cheese frosting made by Janae.

On Christmas Eve, we had a little family home evening and read the story of the birth of Christ, followed by a bunch of mormon channel Christmas videos.

She was NOT a happy camper for this picture. But she should have been since she had a cute new "baby's first Christmas" ornament behind her on the tree. :)

My mom found this gem of an ornament for Ryan. Fits him perfectly. He loves a good hot dog!

Mark and Janae found this ornament and I LOVE it!

Best stocking stuffer ever:

On Christmas morning we went to church and had a beautiful Christmas program. Then we came home, took a family picture, and then changed and opened gifts.

The contents of one of Craig's boxes. I have some even better ones that I might just hang on to as blackmail in case we ever need it someday. :) My favorite line of this visit came from Craig. We were sitting around in the living room eating ice cream and Craig, who was laying on the floor eating out of the small container sat up, looked around and said, "umm... did anyone see a chunk of ice cream fly somewhere?.... Like, a really big chunk?" haha.

And the best Christmas present of ALL..... SMILES! Real, intentional, non-gas-related ones!!!!

One Month

A couple weeks ago Lucy had her one month appointment. She sure has grown in just 4 weeks! Here are the stats:

21 inches long

8.5 pounds

14.5 head circumference

At one month, Lucy was a content baby when she was not having tummy troubles. She still didn't sleep for more than about and hour or two at a time during the night. She was very alert and awake all the time with her eyes wide open exploring around her. Her newborn clothes finally started to fit and not be too big. She loves lights, especially the Christmas lights on our tree. She could lay and look at them for a long time. It's cute.