Tummy Time and First Bottle

Avery is still growing like a weed. Just today, I did an unofficial weigh-in by adding her weight to mine on our bathroom scale and it showed she weighed 11 pounds 4 ounces. That's pretty impressive since she was born at 8 pounds 1 ounce. She will be a month very soon and I can't believe how fast time has been flying by. I think having an active toddler around helps make everything go by in a flash.

Speaking of the big brother, Connor continues to impress me by how loving and attentive he is to Avery. If she is sleeping somewhere, he'll ask where she is. Also, I put a photo of her in Connor's room and he was so excited. He told me, Jeff, and my Mom about it. It was adorable. He also will occasionally say, "Watch this Avery," while he's playing. One very cute example happened in the car on Thursday. I realized I hadn't eaten lunch and was starving, so I went to a drive through at Potbelly sandwiches and there was a pretty long line. Avery started crying a bit and Connor turns to her and says, "It's OK Avery, we'll be going soon." I practically melted. I had hoped he would be a good big brother, but he has surpassed my expectations. Now let's see how he does once she is big enough to steal his toys...ha!

Avery is still a very sporadic sleeper. She'll sleep for three hours at a time during the day and then be awake for 3 or 4 hours. Babies at this age typically are awake for about an hour and a half at a time before they are sleepy again. Luckily though, she still seems to have a sixth sense when we are out and about and when she needs to be "good" because she continues to amaze me in her flexibility with her big brother's outings and schedule. She is a trooper.

It seems like her fussiest time is soon after Connor goes to bed from about 9pm until 12am. She likes to be awake then, which isn't the easiest schedule for her Mommy who just had a long day taking care of her big brother, but we're all adjusting. After finally settling down to sleep at midnight, she wakes up around 3am and then again at 6:30am lately. Sometimes at the 3am feeding she goes right back to sleep and other times, (like last night...ugh), she doesn't want to go back down and decides it's time to hang out with Mommy. She'll sometimes be up until nearly 5am and then she's still back up at 6:30. I can usually put her back down at 6:30, which helps when I'm getting Connor up in the morning, but this isn't a given.

Overall, she is still a very sweet girl who it seems her biggest complaint in life is that she can't eat all day long. I call her my hungry hippo because sometimes she'll want to eat every hour, but then she'll also go three hours with no meals. She's pretty unpredictable at this point, but we're working on it.

She had a few firsts last week. We put her on a blanket for some tummy time. This helps her strengthen her neck and back muscles so she can sit up on her own. Unlike her very fussy older brother, she didn't seem too distressed by tummy time. I think she was more confused. "Why are you people laying me on my face?" She can lift her head for a few seconds at a time but then it plops back down. It is very hard work you know. :)

Avery was also given her first bottle last week. This is not only a milestone for Avery, but also for me. I am having a hard time finding time to pump, because it seems like sometimes when I feed her, she wants to eat again so soon, and if I pump my milk she won't have it to drink. Once we get on a more regular schedule I'll be able to pump more, but for now, extra breast milk is like gold. Anyway, Avery drank the bottle like a champ. I figured she would, but it's always nice to see, since if she doesn't take a bottle, I'm pretty much stuck by her side for everything.

Since we had a bottle or two ready, on her last night with us (weep, weep), my Mom was kind enough to let us go see the Hunger Games movie. Jeff and I both read the books, so we wanted to see the movie. I was a little nervous to leave the kids, but of course they both did fine. Avery slept while my Mom bathed and put Connor to bed, so that made things a ton easier and then Avery woke up, took her bottle and was calm the rest of the evening until she fell asleep again shortly before we arrived home. What little angels.

Enjoy our pics from last week.

I'm not so sure about this Tummy Time business Mom and Dad.

I'm trying to lift my head, but I think I'd prefer to just chew on my hand.

Looking cute in her blue romper on her 3 week birthday.

Connor looks on intently as Avery gets her first bottle.

She chowed down...surprise, surprise.

I get to enjoy some wine while Avery eats from a bottle. We are both happy.

Avery showing off a bow in her hair. Since she actually has hair, everyone tells me I need to use bows. Well here you go. She does look pretty cute. I'll give you that.