Two Months!

Time's just flying by!  I no longer have a newborn!  Phew, so glad that stage is over!  : )  I knew I needed to at least get to 2 months until the baby would start to calm down more, and thankfully, that was true!

My beautifully SMILING girl!

Poor Clara had TWO colds this past month!  Crazy!  Luckily she was still able to eat and sleep without too much trouble even with her stuffed nose, and she managed to not get the yucky cough that Eli had.

Check-up and Stats: Clara had her 2-month check-up today.  It went really well!  The dr. was very pleased with her progress and development.  I told her that Clara's rolled several times, and she even rolled for the dr.!  The nurse commented on Clara's beautifully long eyelashes.  I've been admiring them so much myself!  They were so thin and short when she was a newborn, but now they are just long and gorgeous and I stare at them all the time!  : )  Here's Clara's stats:

Weight: 11 lbs. 12 oz. (90th%)

Height: 24 in. (95th%)

Head: 75th%

Long baby!

Clothes: A mix of 0-3 and 3 months.      She's outgrowing her clothes too fast!  I put something on her for the first time and it's already tight on her!  : (  

Diapers: Size 1.  She's really calmed down on the poo-poo.  When she was a newborn I had to change one poopie diaper after another.  Now I think I change 3-4 poopie diapers/day.

Mommy & Baby photos from Labor Day weekend 

Love those ruffle bottoms!

Feeding: She's a great eater!  I really don't mind nursing at all anymore.  She's almost always quick and efficient, and still only eats on one side for a feeding.  If I do try to feed her on the other side she just spits up more.  I think I feed her every 3ish hours during the day (sometimes less hours apart, sometimes more).  Plenty of times I think she still wants to eat because she's still fussy and not content (it seems) after a feeding, but if I put the paci in her mouth instead, she starts rolling her eyes so I know she's just tired and ready to sleep and not eat.  Having Clara sleep on her boppy on our bed wasn't working anymore.  I knew she was capable of sleeping in long sleep stretches, but she was waking up every hour or two for her paci or because she'd unswaddled herself, etc.  That was NOT okay!  I needed some sleep!  So I fixed up her bassinet so her head's raised a little, and put a soft blanket under her.  Now she's sleeping in there at night and doing SO good!  She's out for the night by 8:00, wakes up for a short feeding at 1:30, back to sleep until 5:30 for a short feeding, and then sleeps til close to 8:00 am.  And since she's been in the bassinet she doesn't make peeps for her paci between those times, either!  Hallelujah!  

Sleep: As I mentioned in her one-month post, Clara really fights her sleep.  I've had to start letting her cry for awhile to get her to sleep.  I still keep her wakeful window less than 2 hours, and even though I seem to start preparing her before she's overtired, by the time she DOES fall asleep she is VERY overtired from fighting it for so long.  Even though she has a happily full tummy before sleep time, she always wants to be sucking on her paci.  So when it falls out she wakes up.  And when she finally sleeps deep enough so doesn't need her paci anymore.  So letting her cry usually helps her get to sleep faster because I'm not continually putting the paci back in.  I hate having her cry to sleep, though.  But nothing else works!  I could nurse her to sleep or rock her to sleep, but she'd still wake up a few minutes after putting her down.  So crying it is!  And I know that won't last forever, and then she'll reach a time where she can peacefully go to sleep on her own sans crying!

Temperament: Clara is such a happier baby now!  She is no longer a screamer except when she's really tired or really ready to eat (which can be often, but it's still a huge improvement!).  She smiles and coos all the time.  She'll even stop nursing and look up at me to "chat."  She LOVES one-on-one up-close interaction.  It is so, so cute seeing her big smile with her tongue sticking out.  : )  When she was younger there was barely any amount of time where she wasn't eating or sleeping, so it's really fun getting to hang out with her more and have her do some tummy time.  Eli gets SO excited when Clara's around and awake.  If she's not in the room he asks, "Where's baby?"  and is bummed if I tell him she's sleeping.  Then when she's around he exclaims, "My baby's awake!" and comes up and smiles and loves on her.  Every time she's on tummy time he lays down with her.  I love how much he adores her.

A Afrustrating thing about Clara is she is not very portable.  While many other babies hang out or sleep happily  in their carseats during errands and outings, Clara does NOT.  Grocery shopping is my absolute least favorite thing now, as I'm always having to get her out and hold her.  I started bringing around my front pack carrier, but gosh is that such a PAIN to get her in and out of!  I only go one place during the entire day, just somewhere in the morning.  I try to make it a little later in the morning so Clara can get in a nap before we go.  That would totally work if she didn't fight the nap so hard!  So then by the time we go someplace she's hardly napped and is so overtired.  Sure hope she'll do better with outings as she ages.

Exactly 2 months old this day!

Sunday afternoon I asked David to pull out his camera because the kids looked so cute and we need more (and better) pictures!  Here's a few that he got.  Every one he took with Eli laying next to Clara was so cute of Eli.  

What a sweetie!

Love my little girl!