First time sleeping through the night

Kaitlyn slept her first full night last night! She went to bed a little later than normal - Eric fed her a bottle around 11:15 and then put her down. I expected her to get up around 2, so when I woke up because my alarm went off to pump at 3 - I was surprised. When I was finished pumping, she still hadn't stirred, so I went ahead and got back in bed. I really didn't expect to get much sleep before she woke up. So again, when I woke up because my alarm went off at 6:45 to pump - I couldn't believe it. I almost woke up Eric because I was a little worried. But then I noticed she was moving around a bit and waking up. She went 8 hours between feedings! Let's hope tonight goes as well.

12 Weeks

Can you believe Kaitlyn is 12 weeks old already? I cannot believe it! I almost cannot remember life before her.

I survived my first 2 weeks back at work. I picked the busiest time to go back, so it has been pretty tough. At times I have thought that there is no way this will work. It is really tough being a working mom! I miss being with her all the time. It is a shock to the system to go from that to maybe seeing her for an hour or two at night. And when we get home, we have to wash bottles and get her stuff ready for the next day. It is also tough to get up in the middle of the night with her. Although I do enjoy that extra time with her!

Mornings are tough. It is a struggle to get to work on time. We pretty much let her set her own schedule. So some days she eats with Eric before he goes to work, some days I have to find time to feed her after I get up and other days she doesn't eat until she gets to Grandma's house. Each day is a little different and some definitely go better than others! Luckily I have an understanding boss.

Lately, she only gets up once around 2 or 3 am. Since Eric puts her to bed, I get up with her the first time. She's gotten really good about eating and going back to sleep quickly. Only a few times in the last 2 weeks has she woken up a second time. That one is Eric's turn.

Pumping has really been a challenge. I have to leave my desk and go to another floor where there is a locked room that I can use. That isn't very convenient considering I have a ton of work to do. I try to bring work with me to do but I've noticed that sometimes it seems like I waste too much time finding work to bring and packing it up. There is also another girl who pumps. I asked to find out her schedule so I can avoid those times, but I find that sometimes she deviates from her plan. More than once at the end of the work day, I have gone longer than I wanted to between pumping times. I get caught up in something and before I know it, it is 7pm. I just want to hurry up and get home, so rather than staying there to pump - I leave. But then I get home 20-30 minutes later and I'm starving and I desperately need to pump.

Well, 2 weeks down!

Maternity Leave is Over

I go back to work tomorrow! I am definitely met with a ton of different emotions.

I'm excited to get back into a routine that involves adults on a regular basis and looking forward to seeing my coworkers.

I'm sad that I won't be spending all my days with Kaitlyn. It is going to suck only seeing her a few hours in the evening.

I'm nervous that I won't be able to fulfill all of my job duties and still be the mom that I want to be. I am going back to work right at the heat of things, so will be expected to work some overtime. I'm not sure how that is going to work. I always thought that I would go home from work at a normal time and then work after Kaitlyn has gone to bed. But now I go to bed at the same time as her!

I'm glad that we don't have to bring her to daycare. We are so thankful to my parents for watching her.

I'm worried that the sleep deprivation will get to be too much. Or that Kaitlyn will be too much of a burden on my parents.

Man, that is a lot of emotions! No wonder my stomach has been in knots all weekend!

Let's try this again

I had to do the photo comparison to me again, because man - it's uncanny

First Professional Photos

I took Kaitlyn to get photos taken on Friday, the day she turned 10 weeks old. She did great! We got tons of great shots - it was really hard to figure out which one's to buy. Needless to say, I ended up buying too many. She's just too cute!

Looking at Everything!

Kaitlyn is wide-eyed this week as she is taking everything in. She is really intrigued by things that she sees. Here she is taking in the elephant for the first time (although it has been on her car seat for weeks). In this picture, it even looks like she is trying to touch it!


Here's a picture of her in a new outfit (thanks Ann!) - it's still a little big on her, but she looked pretty cute!

And she knew she looked cute - here she is hamming it up!

And people say she looks like me???

Me

Kaitlyn

What is that???

Kaitlyn had a new discovery on Wednesday - the mobile above her swing. I caught it on my camera (the closest thing I could find) to make sure Eric could see. The video quality is poor because it was dark in the room.

I only have 1 more week of maternity leave. I will definitely miss my days with her (oh, and watching Oprah and Ellen everyday wasn't so bad either). But I'll be glad to be getting a paycheck again and to be seeing adults on a regular basis.

Last night gave me hope that we can survive nights with us both working. Eric fed her at 11 pm and put her to sleep and she slept until almost 4 am! When I put her down again, she slept until 7:30. I can handle getting up 1 time each night. And who knows, I might actually enjoy that alone time with her at night!

2 Month Visit and Shots

I took Kaitlyn to the doctor today for her 2 month well visit. She now weighs 9 lbs 4 oz and is 22 inches. I did get a "good job mom" but we have a few things to work on.

The doctor said she was skinny - in the 25th percentile range. The doctor thinks she is getting enough ounces of formula but must be burning extra calories with her breathing. In order to get her more calories, we are now adding 1/2 scoop of formula per bottle. That is in addition to the rice cereal we are already adding. I just gave her the first feeding with the added formula and it went pretty well... so far so good.

She commented that Kaitlyn was "really dry," so recommended we start putting Eucerin lotion on her 4-6 times a day. I guess the beneficial side effect of that is that our hands will also benefit from that extra lotion. Because man, are my hands dry lately with the dry air and all the extra hand washing and antibacterial stuff.

She also recommended that we follow up with the ENT surgeon that saw Kaitlyn in the NICU. Nothing of great concern - just to give us some peace of mind and to make sure things are progressing as he thought they would. I made an appointment when I got home and the first available was February 10th.

Kaitlyn did really well with her shots. She got 3 and of course, she cried right away. But I was able to calm her down pretty quickly afterwards and before we left the office she was sleeping again. My angel!

More Firsts

We are all about the firsts around the Aitken household this week.

First Spend-the-Night

On New Year's Eve, Kaitlyn had her first spend-the-night at Grandma and Grandpa Bork's house. It was an unexpected surprise for Eric and I. We were expecting to pick her up just after midnight, so were shocked when they offered to keep her for the whole night. I was thrilled and must admit, the thought occurred to me to skip out on the festivities and go to bed! But we definitely managed to have a good time. We were still pretty exhausted in the morning because we were up so late, but imagine how tired we would have been had we been getting up with her?!?! And I got my first long stretch of sleep in a long time. I slept around 5 1/2 hours between pumpings!

First Trip Running Errands

On Saturday, I took Kaitlyn out to run errands for the first time. I took her out mid-day and went to the Container Store. I hadn't eaten lunch, so went to the Taco Bell drive-thru (no, this was not our first trip through the drive-thru). I was not too happy to see a 5-6 car wait in line, but knew that it would be too much trouble to get her out of the car to go inside. So I waited, which ended up being a little bit of an issue. Apparently, that while Kaitlyn loves the car and falls asleep almost instantly, she does not like sitting in an idling car. So she woke up in the middle and by the time I got my food, she was crying a little.

I was hopeful that by the time we got to the Container Store, she would be back asleep. But much to my dismay she was crying when I pulled into the parking lot. I decided to try to drive around the block for a minute in hopes of her falling asleep. When it was clear this was not working, I decided to park and see if she had a dirty diaper. Nope, that wasn't it (and you should have seen me in the back seat maneuvering her out of the car seat and peaking in her diaper). The thought crossed my mind to turn around and go home, but I knew that would "set me back" in terms of confidence. So I decided to brave it and go inside. I kept her in the car seat and put it in the shopping cart. She took up most of the space in the cart, but I managed to get what I needed and we made it home. A success!

First Lunch with Mom (and no Dad)

Today, I went out to lunch with her for the first time without Eric. We met Eva for pancakes (yum!). Again, I expected her to sleep the entire time, but she woke up in the middle and was wide awake. For the most part, she just laid there and looked around. But at the end, I pulled out the pacifier when she started to get a little fussy. Another success and some much needed girl talk! Thanks Eva.

First Trip to My Office

We then went across the street for our first visit to my work. Everyone was excited to see her and she stayed wide awake to visit with everyone. I received many "she looks just like you" and "she's so small!" At the end, it was definitely time to go home. It was time for her to eat and she was patient for awhile, but she let out a single cry while sitting in Justin's office and I knew we had to head home so I could feed her. But all in all, a successful outing.