Harlow Wynter-3 Months!

The outtakes

2 to 3 month comparison



Weight: She is growing and growing! We haven’t had her weight checked since her last appointment but last time she was 10 lbs 11 oz. Since that was now a month ago, I am guessing she is around 12 lbs! We really need to get a scale so I can keep closer tabs on this. She now fits in 0-3 month clothes and they seem to be fitting her well! This is good because her clothes in the 0-3 month range are some of my favorites!

-Health: Besides the little heat rash that seems to pop up every now and then, this girl is as happy and healthy as a clam..(are clams healthy? Who knows)! She is growing so fast. I feel like these last 3 months have just flown by. Her next appointment will be in about a month so we will see how she is progressing!

-Sleep: Same as before, she just sleeps like a little log! We are still putting her down around 8pm, and then since I have started working we have been waking her up around 8ish to feed and then take her to Tim’s dads house for his Step mum to watch her. She gets really cranky around the time we are supposed to pick her up (5ish)…so that makes it pretty hard because after missing her all day, the last thing I want is for her to be cranky pants when we have her!

Social: She has been the little social butterfly! As previously mentioned, Harlow had a couple of play dates my last few weeks of maternity leave. It was fun to be able to spend some time with my girlfriends and Harlow got to observe the big kids (and when I say big kids, I mean 1 year olds) play. Tim’s mum also came down from Portland area and watched her for 2 days last week. She took her to her friends house (her friend has a grandson 6 weeks older than Harlow). They had a grand time! They listened to music, played with new toys, and got to spend time with her grandma! She was absolutely ZONKED when she came home! My seester also came down to visit last week and her and her FIANCE (sidenote: SQUEE), watched our little bug for the day! From what I hear, everything went well and they went to the Wednesday market downtown in the strollie and watched Frozen. Apparently, Harlow loved Frozen…(That’s my girl).

Diet: Same as before! She is now completely on formula. I had her on the sensitive tummies formula since Tim and I are both lactose intolerant. It turned out that it was actually making her constipated! So we switched to a premium formula and she seems to be doing much better! She is still getting around 5 oz, but slowly we are transitioning to 6 oz! She is a healthy eater and eats every 2 hours still like clockwork!

Clothes: 0-3 month clothes are where its at right now! They are fitting really well, which makes me happy since some of my favorite outfits are in this age range! I will be sad when she grows out of them because some of them are so freaking cute!

Baby Gear Love: We have successfully transitioned out of the Rock and Play! She now sleeps solely in her crib, which is SO nice!! Our friend also gave us a Fisher Price Snug-a-lamb swing that Harlow sits in while we are eating dinner! She has discovered Sophie (her teething giraffe) and although she doesn’t quite grasp it yet and put to her mouth, she is ALMOST there!! She loves to suck on Sophie’s face. She also likes her Bumbo chair. (we will put her in it while we are making dinner, and stuff so she can observe). Her pacis, her Nurooo swaddler, and her activity mat!

Crying: Same as before, Harlow is SUCH a good baby. She gets cranky every 2 hours or so because she is still eating like clock-work every 2! We have even tried extending it, but once she gets going, there is no stopping this little one! She freaks! We have even tried doing other things to try and extend the time between meals, but this girl likes a bottle every 2 hours! She fusses a little bit when she gets bored- sitting in her swing, or if she gets bored of her mat…but change positions or give her a pacifier and she is good!

-Likes: 3 month old Harlow still loves getting her diaper changed, being woken up in the morning by mom and dad, she loves when her dad rubs her feet on his beard, she is ticklish, she loves her paci, her sound machine, she loves music, and wind chimes, and being outside! She loves going for walks and loves watching the girls move about!

Milestones: She smiles pretty much all the time now! She giggles when she is tickled and when she sees dad! She follows us around the room and has responded to her name a couple of times!

Postpartum: I have been trying like crazy to get this baby weight off! I am running mostly every day and try to do arm workouts 5 days a week. I have also tried doing belly and thighs workout videos. I haven’t seen a HUGE difference, however I notice that my stamina has increased. I have lost 2 inches off my waist and instead of only being able to run 2 mins, I am now able to run 15 without stopping. I had my fastest mile postpartum yesterday evening, and instead of barely being able to do 1 sit up, I now do over 200. I am feeling confident but of course still stressing about my body. I have to understand that I am only 3 months PP, and it is going to take time. My poor body was stretched to the max, and on top of that, major surgery to boot!

Looking forward to: We found a lady to watch Harlow in Albany: The good news is that she is super sweet and flexible with cost and things. The bad news: it would be 20 mins there, 20 mins back…twice a day. UGH.
However, child care in Corvallis is ridiculously overpriced so that was a huge stressor for us. I am confident that it would be fine, but ideally Corvallis would be a much better location. For now, we are thankful that Tim’s step mum is able to watch Harlow for the month of August. Looking forward to finally having money again ( now that Im off leave). My birthday, which is in 11 days…but who is counting?!? And the holidays coming up with our little bug! Also, excited about seeing her grow over the next few weeks and months, so fun and exciting!

Harlow Wynter- 2 months!

 

Happy 2 months baby bug!

 

And comparison from 1 month!



-Weight: She struggled to gain weight at first but now she is growing like a little flower! At her 2 month checkup- on July 16^th, she was 10 lbs 11oz, and 22.25” long. She was in the 50^th percentile for both height and weight. Her head circumference was 15.34” which apparently was in the 78^th percentile. She has a big noggin…which kind of takes after me and my giant Norwegian head.

-Health: She is just the healthiest little baby! She is getting stronger every day, and will even “stand” with assistance. She would rather be upright than lying down, and even gets fussy when she is in one position for too long! She is getting better at tummy time and holding her head up and even actually enjoys it!  

-Sleep: We have the BEST little sleeper on our hands! Sleep has never been a huge issue for us. We have been so thankful for that, and even feel a little guilty when our friends with little ones ask! We start her bedtime routine around 7:30 ish…it includes a bottle and her daddy rocking her while she is eating. Then, he swaddles her, and lays her down in her rock and play. Sometimes she fusses a little bit for about a half hour or so, but then she falls asleep and stays put until around 9am. This will be hard for me to break this habit when I have to go back to work, I am loving that she sleeps in. This gives me time to work out, run, do dishes etc, anything that I have to do before she wakes up for the day!

Social: We take our little bug everywhere! We have taken her to a baseball game this past month, out to dinner, etc. We had our first visit back home the other weekend for my cousins wedding and to see my seester for her birthday! This was the first time that we had been back since having Harlow. Tim got Friday the 11^th off and so we packed up the car Thursday night and headed up there. It was so nice to see family that we don’t normally see on Friday at my cousins wedding, and it gave Harlow the opportunity to meet the extended family. Also: my cousin has an ADORABLE pug named Chief, and they included him in the wedding!! He was so cute I was dying, and Tim had to tell me to stop taking pictures of him since apparently that was all I was taking pictures of…rude. But then the next day Tim and I gave Harlow to my mum to watch for the day while we hung out with my Seester and her man, and friends for her birthday! So much fun! Harlow got to spend time with grammy and we got to spend time with our friends..win win! My mum said that Harlow was a little fussy all day, which isn’t normal for her. I am going to chalk it up to the heat (nobody has AC in Washington, and it was in the 90’s, and a new environment). We also have a couple of play dates coming up within the next few weeks while I am still on my maternity leave. Harlow is such a rough houser I am sure that she will just be beat by the time we are done ;)

Diet: We have completely switched her over to formula. I feel so much better about our decision and so much more relaxed. When I was breastfeeding, I was so tense and really started to resent it. I didn’t want to have that attitude, but it was not feeling better. I was still in SO much pain. Even pumping, was absolutely killing me! I know that I will probably raise some feathers because I didn’t enjoy it, but you know? It didn’t work for us….and that is okay.

Clothes: She is now out of most of her newborn clothes but the 0=3 months are still a little big on her. She has really little legs, so Newborn pants she might stay in for awhile, but for now 0-3 month onesies and dresses. Our friends also bought her some super cute bows for her hair…so we have been playing around with those too!

Baby Gear Love: The Rock and Play of course, still haven’t transitioned out of that but will try to do it before I go back to work just in case she has a rough transition. We still use the Sound machine EVERY NIGHT, her Aden and Anais swaddles, and Nuroo Swaddler. This girl loves to be swaddled! We also bought a Bright Starts Safari activity mat, with lights and sounds. You would have thought this girl was in heaven. She was cooing at it, smiling, kicking the little toys…I just love to see her so happy! This was definitely the best $40.00 ever spent!

Crying: Same as before, Harlow is SUCH a good baby. She gets cranky every 2 hours or so because she is still eating like clock-work every 2! We have even tried extending it, but once she gets going, there is no stopping this little one! She freaks! We have even tried doing other things to try and extend the time between meals, but this girl likes a bottle every 2 hours! She fusses a little bit when she gets bored- sitting in her rock and play, or if she gets bored of her mat…but change positions or give her a pacifier and she is good!

-Likes: 2 month old Harlow loves her Pacifier…still. She adores her activity mat. Her dad is basically her favorite person in the history of ever. She is smiling more and more, and have even gotten 1 laugh out of her so far! She LOVEs getting her diaper changed, loves textured clothing, will always try to rub her hands on it. She also adores her car seat, and the light up tiger that came with her activity mat. She could watch that thing for hours!

Milestones: Her legs are getting stronger and stronger! She loves to “stand” with us holding her. She smiles and have gotten 1 giggle out of her! She follows voices around the room, she holds our fingers, she can hold her head up for short instances. We think she is so advanced…but we could be biased.

Postpartum: I finally got the go-ahead from my doctor to start working out again! Hooray!!! I have started doing the couch to 5k running challenge and an arm challenge and work out. I realized I need to start small and the couch to 5k, is actually small enough where I think it will really help. I really hate running, but I am hoping this will make me feel more okay with it. I have also started drinking protein shakes in the morning as a breakfast. I look forward to these now after playing with the recipes a little bit. I still have a ways to go, but I am happy to actually just be moving again. I know with hard work and time, It will work itself out.

Looking forward to: I am excited to see what this next month holds for us. Already, she is growing up too fast, and I can’t believe we are starting this next month! I am dreading going back to work because I can’t fathom being away from her for so long. My hours at work are not really conducive for a young family and the flexibility is nil. I am going to see what I can find for part time work, to try and see if I can find something to stay at home more with her. I am stressed about finding child care, we have interviewed a few different people, but that was a stressor that we had no idea we were going to have. The lady that was going to watch her, decided last minute it was too much of a commitment. It really irritated me, especially since if we wanted to get on a waiting list for a daycare, I should have gotten on one when I was pregnant. Now I am stuck scrambling to find something with less than 1 month until I have to go back to work. Thanks for nothing.

Harlow Wynter- 1 month!

 

June 13th, 2014 our little bug turned 1 month!

 

I will try to do more of these updates as she grows

 

-Weight:  At our last appointment, which was a few weeks ago now, she was 8 lbs 4 oz. She had initially struggled with gaining weight. She was born at 8 lbs 7 oz, and then lost a bunch of weight in the hospital (which is normal, but she was right at the 10% mark where they were concerned that if she lost more, than they would have to think of a backup plan (ie.supplementing). When we left the hospital she was 7 lbs 9 oz. So when we broke the 8 lb mark...that was exciting for us! We have a dr appointment on Friday, so excited to see her progress!

-Health:  Besides the struggle with her weight gain initially, she is a healthy, happy baby! She does so good everywhere that we take her, and people always comment on how wonderful of a baby she is!

-Sleep:  The very first night that we were home it was a struggle. She HATED her bassinet, and just wanted to be in her car seat the whole time. We had read so many horror stories of how you are NOT supposed to let your kid do that. Well, we decided after that first night, that we needed a Rock and Play. It is basically a chair, that sits her at an incline (mimicking the car seat) and kind of cradles her just like it too. We found one on Craigslist at SUCH a good price, in near perfect condition. We have been hooked! She sleeps so good! We start doing her bed time routine around 8 pm. We will lay down with her to do tummy time. Then, Tim will take her to bed, keeping the lights low and not talking to her at all. He will change her, and feed her/rock her to sleep. Swaddle her, then set her down in her Rock and play with her noise machine going, give her a paci if she wants, and then walk out of her room. She usually fusses a little bit if the paci falls out. We will go in and give it back to her without saying a word. She then normally sleeps until around 4:30 ish. Which at that time, I will wake up, feed her, change her, and put her back down. Where she then **usually** sleeps until around 10am. The first few weeks she would wake up around 1am, and then go down until around 5am...and we would follow the same routine. We feel so blessed to have such an amazing baby.

Social:  We have been on several outings. I understand wanting to "shield" little one from germs, but I can't just sit at home. I get cabin fever really bad, so anywhere we want to go, we just pack up the little one and head out. We have been told that we are so relaxed as first time parents, and honestly I feel like that is a small fraction of why she is such a good baby. Children seem to mimic their parents behavior (to an extent) and we are pretty relaxed about everything. Harlow seems to be too. We have gone to the zoo, and to Portland. We go on walks every night, and during the day when I am home alone with her, we usually walk anywhere we need to go. This helps me feel less like a caged animal and more like myself.

Diet:  We are doing both breast milk and supplementing with formula. Breastfeeding was not so  much working for us. So I decided to exclusively pump and if I was not keeping up with her demand- then I would supplement with formula. This has been a struggle. I feel like people are so judgemental when it comes to things like breastfeeding and the like. Every family/baby/mommy is different, and for awhile, I felt like if I didn't absolutely LOVE breastfeeding, than I would get commentary like I wasn't trying hard enough, or just keep with it and you will love it. No. I did not like it one bit. I didn't feel like it brought Harlow and I closer, I would feel resentment and avoid feeding because of how badly I was in pain. I went to 4 different lactation consultants, and just felt like I couldn't ever really do it to where it was comfortable. Pumping still hurts but at least she is getting breast milk. And that is all I am going to say about that.. Rant over :)

Clothes:  She is still in newborn clothes- however, some of her newborn clothes are getting a little tight. They were so big for so long, but now I am finding that some of the clothes that I had held off on putting her in because they were too big, are now getting a little snug. All brands are different though, but she is mostly still in newborn clothes. She is in Size 1 diapers as well. I thought they were running a bit big on her, however, I found a newborn size diaper in her diaper bag and put it on her, and it was definitely too small! I can't wait to put her in some 0-3 month clothes....she has the CUTEST clothes in that size bracket.

Baby Gear Love:  Of course the Rock and Play...we use that every single day! We also love her Soundspa Sound Machine. We have been using the Avent bottles and seem to really like those ones for the amount of milk that she has been getting. Also, the Mam pacifiers are her favorite, and her Chicco Keyfit 30 carseat and strollie we seem to use every day, and the stroller is so easy to push and take around.

Crying:  She is more awake now than she has been during the day. I noticed yesterday, that when she didn't go down for a nap, she was so tired and cranky by around 3pm, that she would not stop crying. Queue me swaddling her...and by golly she was out within 5 minutes! She is SUCH a good baby, and usually only cries for a little bit when she does tummy time, when I put her in princess outfits, and when she is hungry in the middle of the night.

-Likes:  1 month old Harlow LOVES her Pacifier. She has formed quite a bond to it. She also loves her dog Sullivan Louise. Sully has really decided that Harlow is "her baby". She watches over her when she sleeps, and sometimes in the morning I will go into Harlow's room and Sully is just laying by her bed. She will come get me if baby starts to cry. Gotta love that girl. She is such a good big sister. She loves it when her daddy holds her, she just seems to calm down. She loves her Rock and Play, going for walks seems to calm her down. She loves her car seat, and of course milk!

Milestones:  What a difference 1 month makes! She has started to follow us with her eyes around the room. She rolls over onto her back when we put her on her stomach for tummy time! Such a smart girl we have. She also has given us a few smiles which I think are from us being funny...not just gas for this little one! I am so excited to watch her grow. She can also lift her head up for small periods of time- and is making a few more noises than just crying!

Postpartum:  Well the first 2 weeks I lost 30 lbs! Oh gosh, it felt heavenly! I still have about 20 more lbs to go until I can safely say that I am back at pre-baby weight. I have already felt such a difference in my energy level. I am still recovering though from my surgery, and have yet to get the go-ahead to be able to work out. I think all this walking though has been so good for me, and Harlow. I feel so much better, and I am looking forward to be able to work out and run like I was before I got preggo.

Looking forward to:  I am so excited to be able to start going on hikes with this little one! We bought an Ergo carrier, and it arrived today, so I am excited to test that out and be able to go out like we used to! I am also looking forward to seeing her grow, I feel so blessed to be her mama. I love watching her daddy with her, it makes my heart burst! Looking forward, to my doctor appointment on Friday to get the go-ahead to work out and see how far I have come form her birth until now. I feel like a different person, but excited to see this weight fall off. Can't wait to have my body back, even though it will take some time, I am happy with my progress so far, and can't wait to be back there eventually.

 

Newborn to 1 month to compare..

I was going to try and pretend this was newborn...and compare it to the 1 month in the chair...however this is actually like 2 weeks...sooooo there is that. I was living a lie..

 

xoxo

 



Newborn Photos!

So our dear friend, Tessa, came out to do newborn photos of our little one. She had taken our maternity photos and we wanted her to be able to capture a few photos of our new little one as well! She came out about 10 days after Harlow was born to be able to get these new pics of our little one! We had so much fun! She was so patient with Harlow and with having 2 little girls of her own, we knew that she would be able to bring what we were wanting in newborn photos-alive.

 

 

Here are a few of our favorites..

 

 

 

 

xoxo



TBT Things I did on my maternity leave...before Harlow

Sooo just because I found it amusing...I am going to give y'all a glimpse of what I did on my maternity leave....before this little bebe entered my life.

 

I decided to take off from work a little bit early so I had time to relax before baby got here... I realized that the unemployed life isn't so much for me...I got bored... fast.

 

 

 

1.) Wet my whistle with one of these babies...

Whats this you ask? A BSRL...

For those not well versed in Sbux lingo..that is a Blended Strawberry/Raspberry Lemonade... ERmergerd..DELISH.

Word of the wise: Don't let them make you a Strawberry Frap. This has happened to my seester and I on more than one occasion...

2.) Had a 7th birthday party for none other than Sullivan Louise

 

 

Mildred Jean also partook in the festivities

I'd like to think that she was thoroughly enjoying mums baking..not shunning it like this pic would suggest...

Clearly Selfies were not high on Sullivan's priorities

This duder is such a good sport with my crazy antics...pic with the birthday girl!

3.) Discovered that Millie Jean had no idea that Merriwhether existed...

once she realized...she spent ALL DAY like this...Who knew a fish could be so interesting. New besties.

4.) Disturbed Grandma Mill's slumber..

5.) Take Selfies with my newt and send them to papa Chim

 

 

Hope you enjoyed...haha xoxo



Going home!

On May 17th, 2014 we were discharged out of the hospital.

Despite a little fiasco where...umm we didn't have the clips to the car seat (queue us sitting there for 3 more hours while another car seat is found), we made it home in one piece and began our life with our new little family...our new normal

 

 

 

 

Gahh I just love her

I tried to dress her like a princess but she wasn't as excited about it as I was..

Harlow, will you please stay put?

I don't know why awful pictures of my daughter make me laugh...

Ruv

Ready to go mama!



Our first few days...

Throughout our hospital stay we were so well taken care of by both the hospital staff and by our friends and family. No amount of words of thanks would be enough or sufficient to tell them all how thankful we are for the support and gifts. To all the people who brought us things in the hospital...thank you. Or to the people who took such good care of our girls, the visitors...everything! Ahh I am overwhelmed by the love our family and friends have shown us.

 

 

Since I had a C-Section, we had to stay in the hospital quite a bit longer than if I would have had her vaginally. We went in on a Monday and did not leave the hospital until Friday afternoon. Besides being interrupted to take our vitals, our hospital stay was kind of nice. It was nice to have such big help while we struggled to figure out life with a newborn.

 

One of my struggles was the pain of breastfeeding. The pain of her latching on. I knew it would be uncomfortable..but I did not realize that I would want to scream out in pain. Oh my word. She latched great, that was not the problem. I think I am just very sensitive...and that area especially. Uff Da! So I would feed Harlow, she would be done, the nurse would take her out so we could get some sleep and then literally about 5 minutes later she would return and tell me that Harlow was hungry again. No bitch, she is not hungry. She just wants to use me as a human pacifier, and I am not going to let my poor nips go through that! This went on for a few days until I had a pacifier in my bag, and I gave it to Harlow and Voila!! She was perfectly content! It got to the point where the nurses would see us in the hallway or in our "Purple Crying" class...and be like oh is that Harlow? Room 7? Oh she needs her paci! Yes...yes she does. She has formed quite a friendship with it.

 

Well anyway, those few days that we spent in the hospital....I actually enjoyed. I was content. I didn't do much but sleep, and feed Harlow. It was nice to be able to be with Tim with our new baby and just enjoy each others company.

 

Just a few pics from those first few days...

 

 

Mama Carolyn's First grandbabe

Miss Harlow Wynter

 

Auntie Kristyyyyyyy

A hot mess and her child.

Ohana

Be still my heart!

Yittle toes

My poor chunky monkey and her arm full of IVs :(

At peace with her paci

Possibly milk drunk

I know a good dad when I see one..