Peyton Laughing

This. Is. The. Best.
She really gets going around 1:00

1 yr old

I'm going to avoid the ever looming fact that I haven't been on here since April .... and just gloat that my little baby is now a 1 YEAR OLD! (well 1 yr and 3 weeks)

First birthday was great. Although she was sick - had a cold and was generally unhappy. And then to add insult to injury, three days after her first birthday she went in for surgery to get tubes in her ears. It was a joyous week tainted by sickness and hospitals. BUT all in all, she is growing big and strong. Walking, talking, eating her way into toddlerhood. I couldn't have imagine this past year any better. Peyton really is the best thing I've ever done and had in my life.

I'll try to get on and go thru her massive birthday party (yes, I went over the top) but until then I'll just leave you with the cutest photos of her EVER!

Peyton 10 months

Weight
Hmmm ... Maybe 17lbs (last time we were at the doc was two weeks ago and she was 16lbs 10oz)

Height
???

Diaper size
I are finishing up our 2's, but we purchased a huge box of 3's - cruisers. They seem to hold it all in, so we are movin' on up!

Clothing size
3-6 months in baby g.ap; 6 months in c.arter's; She still wears 3 month onesies. I started buying summer stuff and I pushed myself to buy 6-12 in g.ap and 9 months in c.arters ... She will eventually get bigger - I think.

Feeding Schedule
8 am - 7oz formula
10am - 3oz oatmeal, 2oz fruit, some water, cheerios; sometimes we do egg yolks and a sliver of toast.
12pm - 6oz; snack (cracker or something)
1:30pm – 2-4oz veggies, finger food (today was avocados) and puffs
4pm - 6oz
6pm - 2 oz "dinner" (chicken mixed with veggies); 2oz veggies, some water; graham cracker for "dessert"
8pm - 7oz

We are on the verge of dumping pureed stuff and moving to all finger foods. We do that at home all the time, but it's easier right now at daycare to just give them a jar of e.arth's b.est and call it a day.

Sleep
Sleeps great. Bedtime slowly receded from 8 to 7:30. With summer coming, she'll be in bed before the sun goes down soon. She wakes up anywhere from 7 - 7:45am. Usually takes (2) 1.5-2 hr naps when she's home with me. It's a different story at daycare. I think she just doesn't want to miss anything (she is so my husband in that regards)

Favorite toy/entertainment
I bought her these cups that fit into each other on a whim - they were in the check out line at BRU - she LOVESSSS them. She can sit there forever playing with them.

Milestones
First top tooth – April 3
Cruising - March 25
We ask her where Ma-ma is and she turns to me and says"ma-ma" and she does the same with "da-da" - I'm not counting that as first words b/c we prompt it. She does say "Whoa" a lot and it's so cute. I'm sure it's just the sound she likes making, but still, so cute.
Starting pushing her "walker" around - she walks all over now.
She still can't stand by herself or no sign of taking unassisted steps yet.

She loves the swing

April 3rd - 10 months old!!!

Easter Breakfast

Love these tights

Crunch time

Starting a work out schedule can be daunting - especially when I want most, if not all of my non working, non sleeping time with Peyton, but nevertheless it is needed. I've worked out a hand full of times since I've had the baby but not on a consistent basis. It's prob been almost 2 yrs since I was steadily working out. I stopped right before we started ivf. That would be July 2010.
As you may have read a few posts ago (pumping 101) it is go time.
My stomach is a soft, pillow-ly cousin of its former self; my arms continue to wave after I've said my goodbyes (no thanks to my super light baby - she's not even heavier than my dumbbells!); and my ass has become very helpful in transforming itself into a shelf I can place things on. needless to say I have to start working out. I convinced C to purchase us a treadmill in the promise that I will get on that thing multiple times a week. The new machine and I have only met twice since its move in about two wks ago. I need some motivation. You would think the fact that I'm carrying a muffin around my waist would do it - but ah nope.
So I decided to register for a race. A simple 5k. In 3 mons. Enough time to be realistic but not too much time that I can put off starting. So with that being said I will starting my training program tomorrow morning - 6am. I am making my friends here hold me accountable. Ask me how it's going. Ask me when I ran last. I need some pushers! I will - gulp - post a "before" post and ?!?!! Photo ?!?! this week. Yikes!

Peyton 9 months

Weight
16lbs 4oz (at home weigh in)

Height
I think she’s close to 27” ??? I should measure her.

Diaper size
2’s still. I think we will be here for a little bit more.

Clothing size
3-6 months in baby gap; 6 months in carter's; She still wears 3 month onesies. Crazy.

Feeding Schedule
8 am - 7oz formula
10am - 2oz oatmeal, 2oz fruit, some water
12pm - 7oz (she usually only drinks about 3-4oz of this one)
1:30pm – 2-4oz veggies, puffs
4pm - 7oz
6pm - 2 oz "dinner" (chicken mixed with veggies); 2oz veggies, some water
8pm - 7oz

We started giving her a lot more fingers foods. She LOVES pieces of chicken. And I think she is a huge carb fan – puffs, bread, graham crackers, pasta … I also started mashing up veggies and fruits. Soon enough we will dump the pureed stuff and go straight with whatever we are eating.

Sleep
Normally sleeps through the night and I’ve noticed that she is waking up earlier than usual, but just sitting there talking to herself. She seems fine just entertaining herself.

Favorite toy/entertainment
She loves the remote control – I gave her an old one, so she has her own now. She loves ripping magazines and playing with anything that is not really a toy – phones, shoes, paper, pens, etc.

Milestones
Second tooth – March 2
Full on crawling – early Feb
Getting into a sitting position by herself – mid Feb
Pulling to a stand – Feb 26 (she has taken a few steps around the coffee table to get to some toys)
Starting to “wave” hi and bye – Mar 1
(last week was a big week for her!)

yay - the Giants won!!!

I love water!

Big girl standing!

Big Brother ... baby style!

Peyton 8 Months

Weight
15lbs 4oz (6th percentile)

Height
26" (17th percentile)

Diaper size
2's - she has the cutest tush

Clothing size
3-6 months in baby gap; 6 months in carter's;

Feeding Schedule
8 am - 7oz formula

10am - 2oz oatmeal, 2oz fruit, some water

12pm - 7oz

4pm - 7oz

6pm - 2 oz "dinner" (chicken mixed with veggies); 2oz veggies, some water

Tomorrow we are starting a third solid feeding at 2pm.

Sleep
Still sleeping thru the night. She has been getting up at night due to teething or something. I've been seeing a lot of 4ams lately.

Favorite toy/entertainment
She loves her Dance Wiggle dog - I don't know what the real name is, but you know what I'm talking about. She loves ABC blocks and my iTouch with Laugh and Learn apps.

Milestones
First tooth - Jan 18th

Creeping around - almost crawling - mid January

Starting to clap - just a few days ago

None more deserving than she

In this trying world of IF, you “meet” lots of different people. You feel a connection with other women going through the same or similar thing. In my case it was because no one in my real life understood; I needed to feel like I wasn’t alone. You join message boards and start blogs sharing your most intimate, deepest feelings/secrets/moments with, essentially complete strangers. You don’t think that these “web-friendships” will ever turn into anything more. Except I couldn’t have been more wrong. I found a connection with a bunch of ladies and I have a feeling we will always keep in touch – but there is one woman that I felt like I knew (M at Seriously?!). I got her. She got me. I confided in her more than I did my closest “real” friends. We cried and laughed and we wished together for the one thing we were both missing – a family. I swear the only reason we have never met is because we live on opposite sides of the country, her in fact, in another country! But we talked and daydreamed about our meeting and all the fun we would have.

When my dream of wanting a baby started to become a reality, she was nothing but a solid cheerleader for me. Sending me well wishes along the way. Calming my fears. All while struggling still with the beast of IF. She has been dealt a difficult hand and I don’t think there is ANYONE more deserving of a family – she is loving, funny, motherly and kind.

Well a few days ago, after many years of trying, waiting and agonizing, her wish finally came true. Her daughter was born. I can’t even describe how happy I am for her. Words seem so little in comparison of how I feel. I wish I could jump on a plane and head over there just to give her the biggest hug ever. She is going to be a fantastic mother.

I know you are holding your breath, waiting anxiously for the weeks to pass before there is no turning back, but I know that this little one will forever be in your arms.

So here is to you my friend, M – Enjoy! Enjoy it all. The tiny toes, the softest skin and the heart that has stolen yours. xoxo

Pumping 101 (or Advanced Cardio)

I haven’t really touched on the subject of pumping except for a few months ago when I mentioned that I wasn’t breastfeeding anymore, just pumping. Well the long story was that P, around 4 weeks old, was refusing the boob. She would start nursing and then after the initial letdown, she would pull off and scream and cry. Our “magical moments” of nursing turned into a nightmare that lasted over an hour long and ended with both of us crying. I called every lactation consultant I knew. I went and nursed in front of one and the conclusion we all came to was that I had a strong letdown and then P was getting pissed that she had to actually do a little work to get the rest of it out. I had a few LC tell me that I needed to stop pumping, stop giving a random bottle and go back to a strict boob to mouth relationship – even if it took “3 – 5 weeks” … um, when this was going down, I had about 8 more weeks of maternity leave and then I would be giving bottles all the time anyhow. I couldn’t imagine going through another feeding of the screaming, let alone 5 WEEKS of it!

So I decided to pump and supplement with formula if I had to. What I didn’t realize was that P would have a milk protein allergy. So after giving her 3 oz of formula over three days (if what I pumped was low, I’d put in 1 oz of form) she started to have blood in her stool. Great! So long story short, I couldn’t bare to give her the hypo allergic stuff that smelt like Cheez-Its, so I hunkered in and started a pumping routine. Not how I envisioned giving her breast milk, but it would have to do. And if I say so myself, I did pretty well.

I started out pumping every 2-3 hours to get my supply up, then every 3 hours, then every 4. In the beginning, until mid September (after I returned to work) I would nurse her in the middle of the night. She was sleepy so she didn’t care about how fast or slow it was coming out. But eventually when the supply wasn’t working for her, she started to wake up every hour or so looking for food and being back at work, this didn’t fly with me. So I then started to pump in the middle of the night. It was tiring. It was stupid (I would pump, put it in a bottle and C would feed her) Eventually I got on a schedule – Woke up at 7, pumped; Went to work; pump at 11, pump at 3; pick up P; pump at 7; Stay up to 11; pump – leave pumped milk out in case P woke up before I did in the middle of the night; pump at 3AM; put 11PM milk in fridge, now have 3AM milk to feed when she woke at 4AM to eat. (my supply was pretty good – I was getting a solid 28-30oz a day, so I had enough to feed her and I could add to my freezer stash) I was getting in, at best, 3.5 hours blocks of sleep. This did not make for a productive lady during the day. I did this – EVEN after P left our room in November and started sleeping through the night (I still left out a bottle in case she woke up hungry.) I vowed to stick to this until she turned 6 months old. I would have LOVED to nurse her until a year old, but I couldn’t do another 6 months of this. So I started around mid November to alter my pumping schedule. I started to increase the time between until I eventually stopped pumping on December 7^th. I was sad. I couldn’t believe it was over. I no longer possessed the ability to feed my child. Def sadder than I thought I’d be. But nonetheless, I did 6 months and felt pretty good about it. I started mixing in the hypo allergic formula – which to my surprise she took to seamlessly. I went through my stash and completely switched her over two days before Xmas.

NOW to the point of my post. I gained a total of 23 lbs during my pregnancy. I was expecting to lose a good portion after delivering her, but to my surprise when I jumped on the scale the day I got home from the hospital and I had only lost about 7-8 lbs. However the following weeks I saw the scale number drop, drop and drop. Man this pumping thing rocked! When I surpassed my pre-pregnancy weight I was thrilled. When I saw I was 10 lbs lighter than when I started the IVF process, I was over the moon! I didn’t exercise – I mean who has the time. I wanted to sleep when the time arose! I was fitting into clothes I couldn’t wear the summer before. This was amazing! I was eating like shit – however I had cut out all dairy b/c P had the milk protein allergy – but I was living off potato chips and candy! Seriously!! But the pounds just stayed off.

And then I stopped pumping.

1. My boobs were no longer milk-fabulous and perky. They were worn out and sloppy. The amount of abuse I put them through with pumping started to show. They are straight up African tribe looking. I wonder if National Geographic will come knocking soon!

2. I got my period. I SERIOUSLY forgot all about it. I hadn’t had it in over 14 months and it was wonderful! In fact when I got it, it was like I was 13 again and didn’t know how to handle it. I was running to the bathroom all the time, swearing that I was leaking. Fun stuff.

3. Hmmmm. My pants were starting to get tighter. That’s weird. I pondered that until I got on the scale and saw that I was 6 lbs heavier than I was just a mere 3 weeks earlier! Holy Shit. My stomach was falling over the top of my jeans. My bra straps were showing the ever growing back fat that came home from a long vacation. This was terrible. Even though I was/am still lower than my pre-pregnancy weight, I look so much worse! I’m soft … ALL over! I can’t get throughout the day without pulling up pants, pulling down a shirt, shifting a bra, etc.

I really took for granted the power of the pump! I have a ton of shouldas-wouldas (should have worked out while pumping; would have been able to lose more weight, etc.) but I just didn’t realize how quickly the weight would come back on. So I’m in the mist of getting back on the cardio train. I’m having trouble finding the time between working, wanting to spend quality time with P and C and of course, sleeping to work out. I know moms do it. And I know it’s just rearranging the schedule a bit … and as I start to sweat the pounds away, all I think about it is DAMN I wish I were still pumping!

And we're off ...

C and I are in the throes of packing up the last minute stuff before we go to bed. We are taking Peyton on her first plane trip tomorrow morning. We are headed off to Florida to visit my dad and stepmom. I'm excited about this trip for many reasons.

One - we are heading out of this cold place and going to hit up the warm weather! (Actually I don't think it's suppose to be all that warm tomorrow there but still a hell of a lot better than home's temp <25 degrees!!!>)

Two - I'm excited to take Peyton on a plane. I know she will NEVER remember this, but still I will like telling her about this experience - I didn't go on my first plane trip until I was 19.

Three - Obviously excited to see my dad and spend some time with him. Excited to see his house - he recently built a home in a retirement community. Apparently this community is like a big college for retired people. Lots of mid day drinking, golfing, lunching, golfing, drinking, etc. Hopefully it should be a good time!

And fourth - this is a big one ... C and I are leaving Peyton with my dad and stepmom for two nights and heading over to the gulf for a little get away. This will be the very first time I'm away from her overnight. Let alone two nights! I think I'll be OK, but who knows. Luckily we are only a car drive away so if I'm desperately missing her, we could always pop in the car and head back to my dad's. OR I'll just drink as soon as we get to the resort and relish in the fact that I sleep in and nap whenever I want to! :)

Anyhow, I'll post in a week or so, hopefully with some pics of me with a tan!!! LOL. Enjoy your week ladies!!

6 months of Peyton

I use to be such a good blogger. When I was pregnant, I use to update at least once a week, if not more. Having those weekly update commitments made me get on here and do it. So I saw this on another blog and thought, hey this is a way to kick start my entry back into the blog world. I'm going to do a catch up of the last 6 months and then hopefully will remember to do a monthly update.

Peyton - 6 months (she is technically 6m3w, but whatever)

Weight
Birth - 5lbs 15oz (Came home at 5lbs 7oz)
6 months - 14lbs 1oz

Height
Birth - 18 7/8"
6 months - 24.5"

Diaper size
1's but just starting to move up to 2's - especially at night.

Clothing size
Lots of 3 months, 3-6 months. Footie pjs she is in 6 months.
We are going to Florida next week and she can finally wear some of the things people got her for this past summer (0-3 month dresses) I tried them on her last night - they still fit!

Feeding Schedule
I weaned her off of breast milk onto to the hypo allergic formula (A.limentum) starting at her 6 month birthday. As of two days ago, she is now completely off of breast milk (I stopped pumping on Dec 5th and have used up all of my freezer stash.) This is her current schedule:
8am - 7oz bottle; 10am - 3 tbsp oat cereal with 1 tbsp fruit; 12noon - 6oz bottle; 4pm - 6oz bottle; 6pm - 3 tbsp oat cereal with 1 tbsp veggies; 8pm - 7oz bottle.
She has tried a lot of fruits and veggies. So far, she isn't a huge fan of fruits - loves all the veggies. Peas seem to be her favorite! She is super cute eating them too!

Sleep
Peyton sleeps through the night. We put her in her crib - out of our room- when she turned 5 months. She goes down anywhere from 8:15-9pm and sleeps until 7-7:45am. There are the few occasions when she's still sleeping at 8 and we have to wake her. And of course there are times when she wakes up in the middle of the night - we do let her fuss for a few minutes and most of the time she just goes right back to sleep. If she starts to cry, I will go in and rock her.
She still naps like a champ. She takes a 30-60 min nap in the morning; a 1/5-2 hr nap in the afternoon and a 30 min catnap in the evening. She is pretty consistent on the eat, play, sleep schedule.

Daily Routine
Peyton goes to daycare 4 days a week. I know they do a lot of activities with her - we are always getting little projects that have her hand and feet prints on them. When she is home with us, other than the feeding and sleeping schedule is on, there really isn't any daily routine. We play together, go shopping together, read, etc. I let her play independently for at least 30 mins a day, so she knows how to entertain herself. The only other routine is bedtime - bath, reading or singing, eating and then I rock her a minute or two and then put her in her crib.

Hair/Eye color
Eyes are brown. Dark brown. Her hair is coming in light brown, but who knows what it will turn out to be. I was a platinum blonde as a kid and C has black hair ... we'll see.

Favorite toy/entertainment
Peyton loves her ExerSaucer. She has a few toys she plays with a lot. And she loves her taggie blanket.

Milestones
Rolled over from back to belly - Early Nov
Sat up unassisted - Mid December

Gets up on all fours and rocks - December 20
Started solids 4 days before 6 month birthday
Says "ba-ba-ba" - this happened for the first time Christmas morning (such a great gift as I've been trying to get her to say bababa for weeks)
Scoots backwards - December 24
I swear it's something new everyday and it's wonderful!

Here are some photos of my little munchkin ...

Don't mind the mess - baby and dog toys all over the place ... Peyton loves Sammy so much but as you see, he wants nothing to do with her.

I love my baby girl, but man do I look exhausted! LOL

She is such a happy baby. Laughs and smiles ALL the time!

I will do a separate post on Christmas, but I had to share this photo. She is so happy amongst her new toys!

Thanksgiving

I haven't posted in a while - partly because I've been neglectful of writing down the everyday, the milestones and such and partly because my g-mail acct was hijacked and blogger "removed" my blog. I spent days reading online on how to get it back and it looked like it was paperwork after paperwork. I was willing to go through that all because this is the only place I wrote down the ins and outs of my IVF and pregnancy. BUT after I switched my email password and a few days later, I tried the link again and ALAS it worked! It's almost like it was a sign that "hey you better get back on here!"

So I felt the need to write today - it's not going to be a long one - because I need to do some cooking. However given it's Thanksgiving, I have A LOT to be thankful for this year. First and foremost, I'm obviously thankful for my little peanut. She is seriously the best thing I've ever done. She is my best friend, besides my husband - sometimes, there is no one I'd rather be with on any given day. I love watching her grow and learn things each day. Like when she learned to roll from back to belly - it was like a light switch. She just did it once and then was like to herself "hey, that's not too hard" and continued to roll straight across the living room. I'm thankful for the past 6 months and looking forward to each and everyday.

I'm thankful that my pregnancy was pretty easy. I have nothing but fond memories of it (besides the breech and slight scare at the very end) I'm thankful that my first round of IVF actually worked. I'm thankful that my husband has been such a huge help and a huge support for me and now our family. He always pushes me to do the things I may be scared to do. He is the perfect man to share my life with. I'm not sure if he will ever know how much I appreciate him.

Speaking of C, he just walked in and said "what are you doing? Shouldn't you be cooking?" Ha - now I'm going to erase the above few sentences ... haha.

To each and every "friend" - real and bloggy a-like ....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Oh and M at Seriously?! - Happy Belated Canadian Thanksgiving!!! I didn't tell you then, but I'm thankful for you too!!!

All things Peyton

Wow - I can't believe it's been almost 3 months since I last posted. I made excuses for not posting while I was home with baby and swore that once I returned to work, I would begin again ... only to be hammered by work the second I walked through the office door for a month straight.

Here is the gist - I miss Peyton. I miss being home with her. She is at an age when the fun stuff starts - she smiles all the time, giggles, "talks" excessively, she knows me, she is starting to know things around her - her hands, feet, toys, Samson, the TV .... and I only get to see this for about 2 hours a day. I go back and forth about feeling like a shitty Mom b/c I'm working 10 hrs a day to realizing that I actually like my job and feel a sense of normalcy when I'm there. Most mornings I say "I'm not doing this anymore. I'm quitting." as I'm kissing her to pieces either leaving her with C so he can bring her to daycare or when I'm dropping her off at daycare. Then I get to work and am emerged into tons of projects and have no choice but to move on with the day. Then when I pick her up - the days when I'm not working late - she is always the last one in her room, I again feel like a shitty Mom. Then I try to jam what would be a full days of loving on her into a two hr window. I'm still having a hard time balancing this - my "old" career-driven life and the life I wanted and am thrilled to have ... as a mom.

OK -I'm going to stop complaining ... I certainly don't want my first post back after 3 months away to be me bitching.

Peyton is doing wonderfully. She is growing - although she is still a little peanut. I think she weighs somewhere in the 11lbs range. We go on Friday for her well visit. She isn't breastfeeding anymore, however I'm pumping all the time, so she is still just getting breastmilk. She apparently has some kind of milk protein allergy (she had blood in her stool) so I've cut out dairy. (not as easy as it sounds) I haven't introduced any formula b/c I just don't want to rock the boat. She sleeps well - most nights - and only wakes up once a night to feed.

I've been taking pictures of her on her "month" bdays so we can compare her growth. It's crazy to see how much she's grown in the past 4 months ...




It's such a huge difference between 1 and 2 months ... She's such a little baldy.

What else - I'm sure there is tons, but I can't think right now. I'm just so tired. I've been working like crazy and last night, P was up several times last night ... I think she caught a cold. She is super congested and whenever we laid her down, she woke up. So C ended up holding her some of the night and she eventually ended up in the middle of our bed around 5 am.
Anyhow - I'll try to get on here more often. I feel like I'm so out of the loop ... even in my own life!!!