Miss Rori is already a month old! I always feel like this is both a "just get through it" and an "enjoy it while it lasts" sort of phase. They change so much, but the adjustment period is always a little hard. The sleep deprivation coupled with needy toddlers has made this period a little challenging, but I think with each child I'm able to handle parts of it a little easier. Donny (and even Josie) was a baby not that long ago, so I slipped into the newborn groove fairly easily and the sleep deprivation is quite familiar. Logistically, it's been a little hard. Just having a fussy baby is enough, but having 2 other needy young ones means someone is always crying and I never have enough arms. Even though Josie and Donny are good kids and I don't have many problems with them, they are still only 3 and almost 2 years old, so they still rely on me to do a lot for them. I just try to remember that it will get easier, they will get older, and by the time I'm ready for #4, at least my oldest will be old enough to help more.
Anyway, onto our Rori! The baby pattern baldness has set in and she is plumping up nicely! I don't know her stats, but my guess is she is around 10ish pounds maybe? My doc said at her appt at 4 days old that since I'm a third time mom, she's fine with not seeing her for another check up till she needs shots at 2 months old. Rori is an intense little baby! She is quite fussy a lot of the time, but is also very calm and content a lot of the time, too. Her fussiness doesn't seem to be from any tummy or digestion issues or anything. I just think it's her temperment and probably the inevitable momentary neglect that happens when you are #3 with 2 other attention hungry toddlers around. I can't stand to just leave her to cry though, so she's in the wrap a lot or in my arms. She has a fierce cry and will cry and cry and cry till she's red and shaking till you give her what she wants. Many times, she will be screeeeeeaming for like ten minutes and I'll finally turn her the way she wants or bounce her a certain way or whatever and she immediately stops like it never happened, lol. She knows what she wants! Much of her fussiness is when she's tired. So, like many babies, she gets really fussy in the evening before she goes to bed for the night. She is awake for a crazy long time sometimes (like the entire 3 hours of church) and is quite fussy when she's ready to sleep. She doesn't usually just drift off to sleep. She really wants you to actively help her. My other 2 easily nursed to sleep, but she prefers to walk. She'd love it if I walked with her all night long, I'm sure.
Sometimes, her crankiness is at eating time. I have always had an issue with breastmilk oversupply. With each child it seems to get worse. As usual, engorgement was the most painful part of recovery for me and nothing seemed to help. Though it's great to have enough milk, it's not necessarily good for the baby. Rori HATES this problem. Every time she latches on and starts to nurse, my letdown is super strong and it makes her choke and sputter. She then cries and cries before I can get her to latch again. She has started to prefer the side that has less milk because it's not as overwhelming for her (I'm sure you really wanted to know all this about my breasts, lol) Josie and Donny would always choke a little the first few months, but they didn't seem to mind as much and they actually preferred the fuller side. Rori, will sometime just reject that side altogether, so I almost have to pump to make sure it gets emptied. I'm hoping she will grow out of it and get used to things. With all things nursing, it sometimes takes 2-3 months for things to level out and get into a groove. Plus, with over supply, you have to make sure they nurse long enough on one side to get to the fatty hindmilk. Donny had a problem getting too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk. So, it's actually possible that having too much milk can keep your baby from gaining as much. Rori seems to be gaining just fine and since I know more about this issue, I know more about how to deal with it.
Fussiness aside, she is smiling already!! She smiled earlier than my other two (go figure) and they are becoming more plentiful. She smiled at me, fully awake, looking right at me at 3 weeks 2 days!! Crazy early, right?!? I thought it was a fluke, but she smiled again at my mom, too! By 4 weeks, she was giving us little open mouth smiles. Now I just need to catch one on camera : )
I don't really keep track of when she sleeps or how much I've been getting at night, but I guess it's enough to function, lol. She goes down for the night anytime between 9-11 and usually sleeps initially maybe 3 hours before waking. In the night, she stirs every couple hours but sometimes sleeps longer. I'd say I probably have to roll over and nurse her every 2-3 hours at night. It's honestly so brief that it's not a big deal. The biggest cause of my sleep deprivation is from Kev and I's inability to go to bed at a decent hour and Donny's inevitable 6:30 wake up call. Rori also seems to stir a lot from 5 or 6 am on. So, I suppose I can't be getting more than 4-5 hours at night. Ouch. That hurts to type, lol.
I have forced her to be a binkie baby. She really hated it for the first couple weeks, but now she will take it. I'm just not patient enough this time to wait for her to find her fingers/fist like I did with the other two. I just can't satisfy all her sucking need with nursing, especially since a lot of the time, it seems she just wants to suck and not eat.
As intense as she is, we are LOVING our little Rori!!
My mom was here for 2 full weeks and she was a life saver!! It was so nice having an extra hand and being able to rest and recover. I had so many activities, crafts and projects that I wanted to get done while she was here, but as usual, we have too much fun just hanging out and time moves way too quickly. The kids LOVED having her here. They have gotten used to being slightly neglected these last few months, so having someone that had the energy to play with them at the park, push them on swings and be really hands on was great. They loved all the attention (and goodies) they got from Grandma! I was feeling pretty crappy weeks 1-2 after Rori's birth, but by week 3, I was feeling pretty good. We did plenty of fun things:
Had to use our zoo passes. As usual, my kids refuse to look at the camera. *sigh*
We had lots of nice park days:
It's a miracle!! She's looking at the camera!!
Such a pretty girl. Look at that long hair!!
Total BFF's : )
We went to our town's summer festival and got lots of fatty fair food and bought the kids a couple little souvenir's. Josie wanted this sparkly, crown thing. She fell asleep in the car with it on her head and it ended up like this. It was pretty funny.
The organic blueberry ranch opened up while she was here. We decided to go picking! We are planning on going regularly this season cause we can never get enough. The are sooooo super yummy, especially frozen : ) Yum!!
After picking several pounds of berries, the kids needed a rest, lol!
We were so sad when Grandma had to go home. Both Josie and Donny told me how much they missed her. Donny kept accidently calling people Grandma for a couple days.
At least Rori was looking at the camera.......
