3 Months Old: 3 Months Milestone

Gah, it's been weeks since I wrote the last post! I wrote a new post every week when I was pregnant, but man, my life is busy now!! 

I cannot believe Hayboo turned 3 months!  3 months is a big milestone and I cannot believe how fast time is going by.  She is so much more alert.  I am taking bunch of pictures of her with my iPhone.  I look at them at work sometimes and they make me smile :) 

Here are some of the recent pictures:

Hightlights of her 3 months:
- She smiles a lot but she started laughing!  It's so funny when she does that.
- She started trying to roll over.  She still doesn't being on her tummy too long, but she can lay on her side now.  She gets really frustrated though. 
- Her arm and hand coordination are better.  She is getting better at reaching an object and grabbing. 
- Less BM.  She doesn't have BM all day sometimes, but I know it's normal.  She is gassy sometimes and she hates it!
- She is talkative more!  She coos and talks.  I can tell she is trying to tell me something :)
- Sleeping routine has been established.  We swaddle her and she gets a final feed around 9-9:30, so she is asleep by 10 usually.  She usually sleeps through until 4,5 or 6 am. 

I was struggling a lot to balance my work and baby in the past week, but I found a way to make it more balance and it became a reality.  My company approved my request to work for 4 days a week instead of 5 days, yay!!!  I will be working from Monday through Thursday and I am off on Friday.  I am soooo happy that I can spend the entire day with my baby girl!  My mission is to talk as much as Japanese to her.  I learned that now is the time to start a billingual education and I must speak Japanese to her all the time.  This will be a challenge as my hubby only speaks English, but it's my goal to have her talk to me in Japanese once she gets older.         

BF
I have to say I am proud of myself (and my precious boobs) to be able to give her BM for 3 months!  BF has been such a tough journey, but I made it till 3 months!  I feel like a full time cow and I do respect cows more than ever!!!!  My milk production has been increased after I took Raglan for 3 weeks.  I produce about 30 oz a day with 7 pump sessions usually (Weekday schedule - 8:30am, 11:30am, 2:30pm, 4:30pm, 8:00pm, 11:00pm & 4:30am).  It drove me insane when I tried to pump every 3 hours throughout the night after I returned to work, but I am doing better that I pump at 4:30am only.  I have decent freezer stash to feed her after I am done with BF.  3 more month to go!  

10 Weeks Old

Photoshoot

She had a newborn photo session @ the hospital and the photo company wanted to come to our house for a follow-up shoot.  I didn't expect much and one 8x8 photo was free, so I said yes.  The photographer was nice and he knew how to make a baby laugh and look at camera.  It was nice and convenient for him to come to our house and setup the studio.  I wasn't interested in getting actual photos, but I wanted their digital images.  I had an on-line meeting with an editor followig week and he showed me edited photos as well as collages.  The price for the digital copies weren't cheap....around $300, but I was sold after I saw this photo!!!  His photo style was more traditional and I prefere Kacy's contemporary style, but I couldn't resist not to get this collage.  She is daaaaarrrn cute!!!

Baptism

It's finally booked for 7/27th!!!  She will be 4 months, so she should be a lot more manageable.  The baptism will be after the 4:30 mass, so we will probably attend the mass and then baptism.  The date and time should work out great because it's Saturday and we can have people over to our house for a grill out afterwords :)

Haley's Obsession

She is in love with the bird which hangs down from the car seat!  She used to just stare at it, but she started smiling at it and trying to grab it. For some reason, she likes to look at her right side.  I just bought a new pink hanging toy and hang on the left, but she doesn't even look at it, boo!

Mama's Milk Supply

Not too happy.....I have been recording all my session and reading daily milk production stats, but it's clearly going down :(  I am drinking fenugreek tea, non-alcoholic beer, cookies, etc, but I don't see an improvement, so I called my OB for a prescription.  I started taking a milk booster called Reglan so I hope it helps!!!  I am thinking to supplement some of sessions with formula so that I can freeze my milk for the later use.  BF has been a roller coaster....as soon as I start getting comfortable with pumping, I run into a wall :( 

9 Weeks Old

Learning Learning and Learning!

Wow, a week makes a big difference in a infant phase.  She is more alert and looking at various objects to become more familier with it.  Since she discovered her hands recently, I started noticing she would suck her fist!  I thought she was maybe hungry at first, but looks like it might be just a comfort thing.  I can see her discovering her finger eventually and she will go for it!

She is also talking a lot!  She makes some cute noises as well as big ones!  I am so curious if she will be an active & talkative baby or not. 

It's exciting and sad at the same time, but she is growing out of her current clothes!  I need to dress her cute more often because she won't fit into those cute outfits soon!!

Me 

BPing is getting easier for sure.  I heard that I need to pump 8 times at least to maintain the milk supply, so I have downloaded an iphone app to keep track of my sessions.  My goal is till 6 months because we want to start trying for No.2!  I hope I continue for another couple of months and have decent amount of frozen milk for her to take in the future!

Also....I decided to work from home once a day because I miss her!!!  Today is my first day and I laid out many things like play mat, bouncer, bobby pillow, toys to keep her entertain.  It's a serious multi task job because I gotta work, entertain her and pump!  I like my job and I feel good about earning money, but I think I would like to go part-time when we have the second child. 

Oh!  I have a perfect gift for the father's day coming up!  Joe stepped up and gave me a special mother and daughter letter book for the mother's day, so I had to come up with something unique and special, too.  I am making a special picture story book.  I almost cried making it, so I am sure he will love it!!!

8 Weeks Old

First Sick Time!

We weren't ready for her to get sick so soon.  She has been great and happy baby, so when I saw her watery eyes, coughing & congested on Friday morning, I was concerned.  She sounded pretty bad when I picked her up at daycare.  We were supposed to leave her there for the night for a parent night out, but we decided that we needed to keep our eyes open for her, so we stayed in with her.  I am glad we did because she was miserable :(  Poor little thing couldn't eat because her nose was so stuffed up.  Her face was so yucky and we didn't know what to do, so I called her pedi and got an appointment on Saturday morning.  We were relieved that there was nothing to worry about, but we couldn't do much....because she is too little to take any meds.  I thought she had some sort of allergy from being at SandV night before, but the doctor said, it's probably a mild cold.  We put her in the rocker so that her head could be elavated.  I actually enjoyed having her in the room and she slept pretty well!  This was just a beginning of many more sickness days but as first time parents, we were quite worried about her!!! 

Hands / Leg Move

It's really fascinating to watch her and monitor her development.  She started liking her baby Einstein mat, so it's becoming to have her play there when she gets home from daycare.  I read that a baby doesn't know the existance of her legs and hands in the beginning.  I totally saw that when Haley was just doing her animated move, but I recently noticed the change in her hand movement.  She would look at an object and try to bat at it.  She even grabs the object sometimes!  As for legs, when I hold her straight, she tries to stand on her feet for a little bit.  It is amazing to watch her development and she is only 2 months.    

7 Weeks Old

Monrining routine is getting better.  I try to prepare as much as possible at night. 

She is sleeping through the night!!!!  Well, she usually clusterfeed.  Someday, she sleeps through from 10pm till 5am!!  I am little bit worried about her less feeding amount, but she looks healthy to me.

Pumping.....I feel like a cow.  I am trying to pump as often as possible at work.  I try every 2.5 - 3 at work b/c it can be difficult to do frequently at home, esp. at night.  It's great that Hay is sleeping better now, but I have to make myself wake up to pump in the middle of night to keep my milk production.  It's not easy and I am sleepy, but watching 90210 on Netflix surely helps! I don't get plugged ducts too often like I used to.  I am not sure if Lecithin is working or the frequency of pumping, but I take it!  

Our deck is done!!!  Love it love it!!!  It's so peaceful there and I cannot wait to hang out with Hayboo and animals. 

6 Weeks Old

The time has come.....I went back to work :(
It's so true that time goes by so fast.  I cannot believe it.

I was planning on working from home 2 days a week.....miserably FAIED!  I couldn't do it.  I had my laptop on the kitchen counter and working.  At the same time, I was kicking the bouncer to calm Hayboo.  It was so exhausting.  It wasn't fair for me and it wasn't fair for her.  I was trying to make her sleep all the time when she should get some fun time with me.  I've decided that she goes to daycare 5days a week...

To be honest, I feel alive going back to work.  Yes, I do miss her, but it's nice to just jump into a car and turn up the music.  Hay was so tired the first day back from daycare.  There are 9 babies and a lot of toys, so I am sure she gets so stimulated! 

Getting ready in the morning is hectic!  I don't know when she would wake up and due to lack of sleep, I am tired at work.  However, it's nice to make money. 

I check her all the time online.  I can usually tell which one is Hay b/c of her hair :)

She likes one of the swings daycare has.  The one swings first, so we got a similar one and it has been working!

 

5 Weeks Old

One Month Checkup

I was looking forward to the first pedi checkup because I wanted to make sure that she is a healthy girl!  Her weight was up to 10.5 and she is in the 50% tile, so she is darn average!  She was pretty good in the office and cried only when she was getting a TB shot, but I put her paci right away, so she settled.  I hate seeing her getting vac shots....:(  I know it's necessary, but I am going to take off half day when she has 2 month checkup b/c I heard that those shots are painful.  

What is Going On with Hay?

She still has tons of baby acnes on her face and forehead.  Blisters on her lips are getting better and her feet aren't peeling too much anymore. 

She started spitting!  She spits quite a bit, so it's hard to put her down and change her diaper, so I started putting a bib on her. 

She is growing!!!  We bought infant 0 diapers and they are getting too small for her, so we need to change it to level 1 very soon.  Her clothes, too.  Some onesies and sleepers are too small for her :( 

Sleeping - Wow, she started sleeping longer!  We are giving her a bottle of formula for the last meal of the day and that seems to do the magic.  It does make sense though b/c it's faster to digest BM, so she would get hungry faster. Other day, she slept from 10:30 to 4:30.  That's 6 hrs straight!!!!!  The only problem is that my boobs are so full when I wake up.

Feed - She started taking 2.5oz per feed.  She sometimes doesn't finish it all though and there isn't a set of feeding schedule at this point. 

What is Going On with Mama?

Plugged duct - Oh my goodness.  Challenge never ends with BM!  I get plugged duct so often and I hate it.  It hurts and affects my milk production.  I am glad to know that taking a hot shower for 15 minutes and massage my breasts work to get ride of PD, but it's ridiculous how often they come back.  I feel like wearing the baby wrap causes it, too.  After googling about some prevention, I learned that some women find supplement called Lecithin work, so I went a head to buy it.  It is supposed to thin out milk's thickness.  I have been taking one Lecithin per meal and I think it's working!  My milk production is pretty decent now and I have tons of milk stocks, yay!! 

Pee - My pee used to smell like a maple syrup b/c of the Mother's tea, but lately I noticed that it smells like a cat pee!!  It stinks.  I am not sure if it's my pee or discharge.

OB checkup - I had to take Hayboo to the clinic so I was little nervous, but she didn't have any meltdown!  Everything looks good and my weight is around 107, yay!  I've eating a lot, so this is b/c of pumping.