3 Months

Natalie is 3 months old already! 

She is such a smiley baby...especially right when she wakes up in the morning :)

First trip to the zoo with our friends Alyssa and Jonah!

Her carseat is the one place that I can put her when she falls asleep where she won't instantly wake up.

Natalie is the most relaxed and easy going baby. She smiles all the time. Lately she has been sleeping anywhere from 5 to 8 hour stretch at night. She generally only wakes up once between 4 and 5...sometimes she will wake up twice...it just depends on how her day went. I am starting to feel more rested when I wake up in the mornings. It feels like we are finally getting on some sort of a schedule. :)

Likes: 

-Bath time

-Being Naked

-When we sing to her

-Sleeping

-Eating

-Standing and sitting

-Being in her stroller

Dislikes:

- Not having our attention

-Being hungry

2 Months

Well my sweet baby is 2 months old already (well almost 3 now...I am obviously a little far behind). It is crazy how fast time goes by. It makes me sad how fast she is growing, but at the same time the older and bigger she gets the more fun it is. She is starting to interact with us so much more.

Natalie usually isn't cranky, but this morning she was...and I couldn't help but take a picture. lol

Poor baby...right after she got her shots. :(

She was pretty cranky and clingy the day of her shots and the day after :(

At her last doctors appointment:

She was 11lbs 3oz...she gained 2lbs exactly in a month!

And she was 23in long!

She is 50th percentile for weight and head circumference, and in the 60th percentile for height!

Natalie likes: 

Bath time - I recently stopped using her bath seat and just let her lay in the bathtub, which she likes so much better.

Sitting and standing - she like acting like a big girl. lol

Being held

Sleeping (while being held)

Playing on her play mat

Natalie dislikes: 

Being hungry

Sleeping in her crib

Not having my attention

Natalie is such an easy going baby. I feel so blessed. The only time she really fusses is when she is hungry. She is waking up about once a night to eat...on occasion she will wake up twice, but usually only if her day was a little off. She doesn't quite have a routine yet, but I think we are getting there. She usually takes a morning nap and a nap in the afternoon...the times vary. She actually still hasn't woken up for the day yet, which is kind of nice...it is rare that I get some alone, quiet time these days. 

Natalie is generally always happy...she smiles all the time, and in the last couple weeks she has started "talking" to us more. It is the sweetest thing :) I love being her Mommy. 

First Few Days

The first few days she slept and ate a lot. She eats like a champ! When she left the hospital she weighed 6lbs 5 oz, which is a normal amount of weight loss for a baby. When we took her to the doctor when she was 3 days old she had already gained an ounce...which is awesome for a breastfed baby!

This was after a bath and she was still pretty peeved. lol

She fell asleep with her mouth open as I was trying to burp her. 

Going Home

We ended up going home the day after she was born...a day early. I was eager to go home and to figure things out on my own. Natalie came a week early (yay!), so my house wasn't quite clean and ready for her to come home. My parents and sisters were kind enough to go an pick things up for us, and they brought our dogs home as well. 

Waiting to be discharged

Going Home!

Our little family

First Visitors

My family ended up being her first and only visitors in the hospital because we ended up going home a day early. 

Natalie Michelle Howlett

March 8, 2014

Born at 9:38am (after 15+ hours of labor :/)

6lbs 11oz and 19in long

A few hours after she was born :)

Snuggle time with Mommy

She looks like her Daddy here :)

38 Weeks

Baby Size: A Pumpkin

Sleep: I don't sleep well at all...I think I got up like 4 times last night.

Clothes: I wear mostly maternity clothes.

Cravings: None this week

Aversions: None

Symptoms: Heart burn, super exhausted, swollen everything

Exercise: Walking 

Movement: She moves quite often

What I'm looking forward to: Meeting our little girl

What I miss: Being able to see my feet

Gender: It's a girl!

What's been happening: This last week was my last week working, and it was quite the relief. I was so ready to be done. 

I also had a doctors appointment on Friday, and it went way longer than expected...my blood pressure was way too high (160/100), and I was so swollen everywhere...but my doctor didn't even address that, which I thought was weird. My blood pressure is back to normal now...I have been checking it every day, I guess that's the nurse in me. lol But anyways...I had to do a biophysical profile because the day before she hadn't been moving as much. So we get in the little room and they hook me up to the machine, and then they leave us in there. The lady came in like 30 minutes later, and the machine had apparently never started working. So she took us into the ultrasound room while someone looked at the machine. We ended up being in the ultrasound room forever because our precious girl didn't want to wake up. They had to bring this thing in that looked and sounded like a taser. When she put it up to my belly it would vibrate, so essentially it was suppose to be a baby alarm clock. But, she still didn't want to wake up, so after a lot of turning from my back to my side several times the lady got what she needed. We headed back to the other room and sat in there for another 25 minutes to redo the first part. The lady came in like every 5 minutes because she was paranoid that the machine wasn't going to work again. 

But after all that, the good news is that baby Natalie is completely fine. :)