Pearl's 2 months old!!!

      I can't believe my baby girl is already 2 months old!!!  Time has flewn by and she has changed so much and has begun to let her personality come out.  She weighs 8.9 lbs and is in the 9th percentile for weight and she is  22.5 inches long and is in the 53rd percentile for height.  Her hair still appears to be strawberry blonde so I'm still wondering if instead of the little blonde girl I always expected if she will be a redhead instead.  She has my temper especially when she is hungry or tired.

      Breastfeeding is going great although I'm pretty sure I spend just as much (if not more) monthly on lactation supplements.  I've also been making foods that help with lactation such as lactation cookies, peanut butter banana oatmeal (every morning), and putting spinach in just about everything else.  I just got some powdered brewers yeast in the mail so that I can bake even more lactation goodies.  She is down to 1 bottle per 24 hours on most days and that bottle is right before bed.  There are still a few meltdown days here and there where she may have 2-4 bottle per 24 hours but she only had 1 of those days last week and on that day she had 1 bottle during the day and 1 at night so we've really come a long way in the supplementation department.

      She goes to bed easily pretty much every night and sleeps 4-6 hours then for at least another 2 and sometimes again for yet another 1-2 hours.  Momma loves her sleep, especially in the mornings and Pearl is following suit and going back to bad sometimes until 9am!!!  We're working on being able to sleep flat. Currently, she really prefers to sleep at an incline which apparently is bad for her spine and neck development according to her pediatrician.  Really, even if it wasn't bad for her I should start working harder to get her to sleep flat, because she will outgrow her swing and rock n play somewhat soon and will basically be forced cold turkey onto a flat surface.  So far whenever I put her in her crib (for naps) or in the pack n play (at night) she does ok for a few minutes but as soon as she puts her arms up and realizes she has a ton of room she kicks her feet up and rolls a little as if going "OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS...?!?!"  While it is cute and kinda funny.. it doesn't help any of us sleep.  So we're taking baby steps.  As soon as I take the leap and get a video monitor I'll start laying her in her crib at night but for now I really do enjoy having her in the same room with us.  I still sleep with my glasses on and with the bathroom light on so that when I wake up before I'm able to see her easily.  I didn't realize that every time I wake up before her I would panic and make sure she's still breathing.  Talk about scary.  I'll be glad when that's over... will it ever be over?  Hmmm, maybe not.

       We have established a bit of a routine that I feel we're both pretty happy with.  On days where Daddy works, she wakes me up around 2 am for a feeding, then around 4 or 5, then around 7 or 8.  After that feeding I go downstairs and put her in her swing so that I can make myself some breakfast.  The swing knocks her out quickly and for very long periods of time so I usually let her sleep for 2-4 hours to get some housework done.  2 hours if we slept well that night, 4 hours if we didn't (in which case I get in a nap too).  Then I'll feed her and pull out her toys for playtime.  She really likes to play on her back in the activity gym... she really hates tummy time, but we're working on it.  5 minutes here and there throughout the day is about all she can stand but she does hold her head very well while I'm carrying her/holding her.  Speaking of holding her we have really fallen in love with the wonderful world of baby wearing.  During the day, I wrap her up in the Moby wrap and we go for a walk... sometimes the walk is only to the mailbox down the street, sometimes, it's around the block, sometimes to the park around the corner, and sometimes just wherever.  She loves the sun.  When we start our walk she always closes her eyes and leans her head back and just lets the sun hit her face.  At first, I kept trying to fix her head but then I realized she was doing it on purpose.  She's definitely my California girl.  We also have the Ergo carrier which she is not quite as fond of but is a good one for when she's older so we'll definitely hold onto it.  She still hardly ever takes a pacifier and when she does the only one she will take is the wubbanub kitty.  I have 4 or 5 other soothies the same color and she will not take them or any other pacifier.  She has started to prefer to suck on her hand and finds her thumb every now and then.  During the day I generally always have something playing on music unlimited (usually Elton John, Janis Joplin, The Doors, Sublime, 311, and the Jewel Lullaby album), or I'll play a disney or baby einstein movie.  She loves the opening part of the Little Mermaid.

      These past 2 months have been the most amazing and rewarding 2 months of my life.  We've had our ups and our downs but the downs don't even compare to the ups.  We are so in love with this little lady and