2 months 1 week 3 days old :)

So Ava hit her two month mark and is full of smiles!!! She started smiling weeks and weeks ago but now she is really smiling at us, not at the sky or the wall. I was playing peek a boo with her at Molly's last weekend and she thought it was just the funniest thing! It's so nice to finally get a reaction to all my sillyness :)

On a sad note, Ava did have her shots last week. She had two shot vaccines and one oral. I had to excuse myself but John stayed with her and gave her a bottle immediately to settle her down. The doctor said Ava is doing great-he said her head looks nice and round and the torticullis is getting better. As for her weight, she's still in the 25th percentile...so she's growing, just at the exact same rate! We're lucky if she drinks 3 ounces in one feeding! Who would have thought that John and I would have a small baby?!?!? She was 9 pounds 10 ounces.

Ava is sleeping about 5 hours straight each night-so that's getting better. The problem now has been getting her to nap during the day! Poor girl get sooo tired but she doesn't seem to want to miss anything. She is so curious about everything and keeps herself awake ALL day! Today she seriously only napped twice for fifteen minutes each time.

I finally ordered a new stroller, it's the new 2010 baby jogger city select. I'm going to a store tomorrow to check it out before our mommy and me class. I hope I love it, I probably should have tried it out BEFORE ordering it but of course I chose to do it backwards :)

7 1/2 weeks old!

I can't believe how time is just flying by! Starting this week Ava has actually been smiling back at us which has been amazing. It's great to finally get a good reaction to all my silly faces (before she would just give me her serious zoolander face) She has been cooing much more too which has been so fun to listen to. Also this week, actually today, we started physical therapy for her torticollis. Ava didn't like therapy but she was just more complaining about it, not exactly crying so that was good. They said it usually takes 4-6 weeks if you go twice a week for half an hour.

For the past 2 1/2 weeks they've been working on our kitchen floor and finally today everything is done! It's been so hard trying to get on a routine since we've had to be out and about so often. This next week I plan on really keeping better track of her activity and I would like to get on a routine by the end of February. I think I FINALLY found a bottle that agrees with Ava. After getting a whole pack of Dr Browns I decided to try Born Free since Elissa and Jen love them so I bought a huge pack of those too the other day. Ava still wouldn't eat more than an ounce. So today I tried an Avent bottle and she drank 3 oz in like ten minutes! Could it have really been the bottle??? I guess we'll soon find out!

Last weekend we took Davis skiing for his first time! Ava slept at Grandma and Grandpas, I missed her terribly!!! But it was great for us to spend some quality time with just Davis and he was adorable and really appreciated it. We called it "Davis Day" and thankfully he LOVES skiing!!! He was awesome! At the end of the day he said "Thanks for Davis Day Lisa, It was the best day of my life!" Definitely made it worth parting with Ava for a few hours :)

Beauty Sleep :)

Thank you Dr. McClaren!! Thanks to his advise we've all been sleeping much better, and in our own beds!!! It was really hard the first day but now Ava is very comfortable sleeping by herself in the bassinet or taking naps on her tummy or in the swing :) It's been great because before she hated when we put her down even for a moment-so that made car rides miserable, especially with Davis cause the poor kid had to plug his ears the whole time! Now Ava seems to enjoy car rides and is overall just a more content and happy baby...which makes me a happy Momma :)

I really couldn't ask for things with Ava to be going any better...she's an absolute joy and makes our life so much brighter. We love her more than words and think she's perfect in every way. I feel so blessed that she's not a fussy baby, not so much that I would mind the crying but I think it would be really hard if I didn't know why she was in pain. I'm just so happy that she's happy! So, we had our first mommy and me class last Thursday which was great...It seems like this is a great time to meet some new friends! I'm taking Ava to Balboa Lake tomorrow morning to go on a walk with some other mommas-hope they're like the ladies in our class. Also, tomorrow we're going to Pennys to go take some newborn pictures! I can't wait to post them soon :)

One Month Appointment

So this morning we went to Ava's one month appointment. The good news is she gained 6 ounces in the past week! She's now up to 8 pounds 6 ounces. She also has grown to 20.5 inches long and her head circumference is 35...overall she's in the 25th percentile for her age.

The bad news is that Dr. McClaren says we have to modify our sleep routine. We've been co-sleeping (I know god forbid!) and it's been going really well for us...but the doctor says no more. He said that even during the day I need to be putting her down each time to sleep. So I just did exactly that and now my poor little baby has been screaming her head off for the past 4 minutes :( It's going to be a long day!

Happy 1 Month Birthday!

Dear Ava,

Happy 1 month birthday! You have been such a wonderful addition to our family and I'm so happy you're finally here with us. I love you so much more than I ever thought possible. Even though I'm completely sleep deprived because you refuse to sleep without being right next to me, I'm still so grateful you've come into our lives and I can't even remember how we ever lived without you.

So far you've been a pretty good baby...especially compared to these babies I read about on other Mommy blogs. You don't seem to have colic (knock on wood) and you're generally a very happy kid...as long as somebody is holding you! You're our little cuddle bug and I'm loving every moment! You do have a few quirks....You are a breastmilk snob! You seriously won't take formula from me! After tasting the bottle, you give me a disgusted look and spit it out. I just tried mixing the formula with breastmilk today for the first time...It's seems to have worked! LOL-tricked ya! Also, what's up with your nighttime routine??? Why must you snack from 9-12...that's 3 hours straight?!?!? just drink already! Also, feel free to start accepting the fact that babies sleep by themselves! I love snuggling with you but everytime I end up waking up in a HUGE panick..."Did I suffocate my baby?!?!?" Thankfully every time I look down you're safely tucked right into my belly :)

You're really starting to become you're own little person...you love bath time and love when your Daddy gets home from work! You've only smiled for Daddy, with exception to a lollipop I let you lick on Monday. That's alright though, I know we'll share many smiles and laughs in the future....for now I'll just enjoy my little cuddly ladybug :)

I love you always,

Mommy

Life as a Momma

So far I LOVE being a mother.  I'm sure people think there is no possible way NOT to love it but I have to admit...it's not always easy!  There have been a couple fussy times with Ava where I just feel so helpless and wonder what the heck I need to do to make her happy!  The worst was yesterday with Ann Crevilli at my parents house...I think Ava sensed the stress the moment she walked in the door and as soon as Ava started to cry, Ann wouldn't shut the fuck up!  She kept telling me what do, what I was doing wrong, how I shouldn't let anybody but me hold Ava, how I shouldn't even be at my moms house yet and how I wasn't even holding my daughter correctly.  I seriously was so frustrated which I'm sure Ava could sense...I know Ann was just trying to be "helpful" but I don't want to be around "helpful" people right now.  If I'm dealing with my child, let me do just that and don't interfere or judge me.  That's the crazy thing...Ava has NEVER (I say that like she's been around forever lol) been like that!  Poor baby  :(  Anyways, other than that dramatic experience things have been going really well.  Breastfeeding is a full time job but we're a pretty good team and John's been really supportive.  I introduced the pacifier today while we were on a short walk...she enjoyed it but I think I'll try and limit the use until I know she's gaining weight from feedings.

Oh, and my "I'm a dumb shit" moment of the day!  I was changing a wet diaper and took the wet diaper out from under her...just as I was grabbing the clean diaper to put under her-she pooped all over the blanket!!! Lol!!!  The poop was yellow for the first time so that's all that mattered to me...I just felt so silly because John just told me to be careful about this yesterday  :)  I have a feeling I'll be learning by trial and error a lot over the next few months-actually probably the rest of my life to be honest.

John is golfing right now...he's playing with Johnny Drama from Entourage-I don't know his real name!  Mom is coming over to help give Ava a bath and then Caitlin, Dana and Drew are stopping by before their Christmas party tonight.  

Oh, and last night we all got 6 hours of sleep in our own beds!  Well, not Ava's crib but the bassinet in our room.  She's pretty much waking up every 1.5 hours and feeding for 30 mins which is a huge increase from yesterday.  Dr McClaren said that she should be feeding ever 2 hours so we're on track now...Ava weighed in at 6 lbs 9 oz at the appointment so it's really important she doesn't lose more.  We go back Monday just to be on the safe side but I think I'll be fine since my milk is finally coming in.

Some Baby Pictures

The 3 of us...

Mommy and Grandpa
Ava with Grandma and Grandpa

Right before pushing-yes...I put on make up

Ava is Here!

So I want to start from the beginning of my labor story and get it all down before I forget.  My last update was around 6:30 yesterday morning...I was having some cramping.  Dr. Katz came in around 8 and did an exam and gave me the gel.  I was about 3 cm.   Everything was fine for about 2 minutes, then I started heavy contractions!  I would say my pain went from a 3 to a 8 immediately!!  I decided to get the epidural and by 830 that was done.  Getting the epi was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be-definitely less pain than one contraction!  John was great and held my hand as I got it and he later told me that the needle was HUGE!!!  I'm glad he kept that information to himself at the time  :)

I was feeling great, couldn't even feel my contractions.   Dr. Katz came in again around 9 and broke my water.  She also did an exam and I was up to 4 cm!!!  Mom and Dad came soon after and we all hung out for awhile...I was in absolutely no pain and happy to have everybody there to keep me company.  My parents took off around 10:30 and at 11 the nurse examined me and I was 6 cm!  I was surprised how quickly this was all moving along and started texting a few people give updates...Elissa wrote back that she went from 7 to 10 in about 20 minutes!  I was in shock so I called Mom and Dad and told them they should probably get here sooner than later.

Sure enough around 12-1230ish the nurse covering for my other nurse came in and said "you're ready to go!" I didn't really understand and asked her if I was at 10 cm--she said "yep, and you're ready to push!"  I was feeling a lot of pressure and thought for sure I was peeing my pants every couple minutes but they said it was the amniotic fluid.  So when my nurse got back from lunch around 1 they got me all set up and we started to push around 130.  We decided to have Mom in the delivery room taping which I'm so thankful I did...she didn't miss a thing but recorded the perfect angle (not too much).  The pushing was bearable and John was the best partner ever!  I looked in the mirror a couple times which was helpful-It was super motivating to see the hair on her head and made me want to push even harder-lol.  By 2ish Dr. Katz was there and things really went smoothly until the very end-I started to feel some pain.  By the time they got more meds in me we were just moments away.  Ava Rose Makely was born at 2:17pm December 14th 2009!!!!  It was the most amazing moment in my life and I was so elated to hear her first cry.  It felt like I was floating with joy...I was so happy to finally meet my little princess and I think all the meds were kicking in at the exact same time lol.  My entire body was tingly with pure happiness :)

Ava is absolutely beautiful!  She weighed in at 7 pounds 5 ounces.  I was so happy to hear that she was perfectly healthy that nothing else mattered at this point.  Not to mention I had the PERFECT delivery (no tear, no c/s, no horrible pain, no H's, nothing!)  We've been successfully working on breast feeding which is going to be a learning process for both of us but we'll get it!

Anyways, my computer is about to die and I'm tired but next post I'll put pictures on :)  I'm glad I got this down!

Hospital Update #1

So I think I'm actually having a contraction right now....to be perfectly honest it just feels like severe and sudden period cramps that only last a couple seconds.  We checked in around 830 last night after going to Cheesecake Factory for dinner with Mom and Dad.  Last night when Diane, my nurse, measured me I was at a 2 and 70% and now with the medicine this morning I'm at a 3 and 80%.  There are two other mommas-to-be doing the exact same thing with the same doctor today.  They both already had their epidurals!!!  I have an imaginary goal of waiting until I'm at at 5 but realistically I'm just going to go as long as I can.  It kinda scares me that they both got it already....like am I doing something wrong?  Are they further along then me already?  The nurse said they both came in having contractions so maybe that has something to do with it.  Ahhh,  I think I'm having another contraction right now and my belly is really hard on top....I take it back, not as painful as it was before.

So I guess Dr. Katz will come in around 7ish and give me the gel to speed up the process.  I'll try to write again after that but I'm sure at some point soon I won't want to be near a computer.  Right now John is just sleeping and I can't sleep with the cramping so it's pretty much just a waiting game.

Hospital Here We Come...

I'm really glad Davis was here this weekend-it flew by!  I can't believe we're going in to have a baby tomorrow!!  We went to Jason and Yvonne's to celebrate Hannukah and Yvonne's birthday and I met a lady who was like, "oh, when are you due?" I kind of giggled and said "Tomorrow!!"  Never thought I would be out and about this far along but to be honest I feel pretty damn good!  I really don't think I look as pregnant as other women look at 9 months...thanks Daddy for making me tall!

I think I have my hospital stuff packed

Diaper bag

2 swaddle blankets

2 Newborn outfits w/footsies and bibs

2 hats

1 box of See's chocolates for the nurses

 

Duffle Bag

1 Hot Diggity Dog

1 Pink Robe

1 pair of pink slippers

1 knee length vera wang nightgown

2 pair warm socks

1 big brother shirt for Davis

For Dad-boxers, sleep pants, shirt, thermal, white shirt

4 packs of gum

Breast Pads

Overnight Pads

Thank You cards

Body Wash, Shampoo, Conditioner, Deodorant, Lotion

Juicy Pants to wear home (I figure I'll wear the same shirt I wear in)

Macbook-need to pack last thing tomorrow

Laptop

Charger

Upload cord

Iphone

Phone Charger

Camera

Camera Charger

Still need-make up, hair brushes, face wash, Boppy or Breast Friend, and lanisohl cream!