First of all, Happy 1 Month Birthday to my baby girl! My sweet friend from church, Rudda Ward, has offered to make Klaire a new onesie every month for her first year. Isn't that SWEET? I thought this one was adorable. I'm looking forward to seeing the one for February. I am making a commitment to take her picture on every one of her "month birthdays" and blog about her. This month, I even took her to the doctor for a weight check JUST so I could blog about it!
On Klaire's one month birthday she weighed 11 lbs 3 oz and was 21 1/2 inches. The weeks before Klaire's one month birthday had gotten really hard. She was fussing after every feeding, and I could seem to do nothing to console her. Looking back, I can hardly remember those weeks because I was so stressed out. There are few things more stressful than hearing a baby cry (A LOT) and not being able to do anything about it. Everything was going through my head...is this colic? reflux? intolerance to breastmilk? is she not getting enough? is she getting too much? is she just really tired? is this gas pains? After talking this over with my mom, Linda Cain, and the nurse, I decided (on her one month birthday, exactly) to start pumping my breastmilk and bottle feeding her. I had come to the conclusion that she was having gas pains after her feedings and I thought that may have been because I had a really fast milk flow and she was gulping in too much air. I hoped that with a "slow flow" bottle we'd have more control over that issue and it may help her. It totally did! She was practically a new baby by the next day. I was so thankful I didn't have to switch her to formula and her fussiness could be cured by something so simple.
The switch came at a great time because the next day we were planning to go home and visit family. I had been really stressed up until that point about going home because she had been so unhappy. I was imagining that no one would get to hold her and I would spend most of our time in another room nursing her or trying to calm her down. Not so at all! She was the sweetest baby. Everyone had a turn at bottle feeding her, and got to hold a calm, relaxed baby! I was so grateful that her tummy troubles seemed to be better! I said a hundred times while visiting with my family that this was the first time I felt like I could really ENJOY her. I really did enjoy her, and by the time I came back home a week later, she and I had a whole new bond.
When I returned home, a week ago, I attempted to add dairy products to my diet. Up until this point, I had not eaten anything with dairy in fear that she would have the problems that Korben had. I'm not convinced by any means that she is "lactose intolerant" but I definitely noticed a difference with her fussiness level and she had some very nasty diapers that the nurse told me meant "dairy sensitivity." So, I am once again off of dairy products. This is not very easy, but worth it to keep her happy. Food is difficult for me right now. I'm back on Weight Watchers. My favorite foods when I lost so much weight with weight watchers last time were foods that involved dairy. Also, weight watchers is all about HIGH FIBER. That is fine with me, my stomach can handle high fiber. However, I can really tell after eating a lot of certain vegetables that Klaire's tummy can't handle it very well. I can't win for losing! I hate that the healthier the food, the harder it is probably going to be on her tummy! I desperately want to lose weight, but breast feeding makes me SO hungry and it is tough choosing the "right" foods without eating TOO much fiber. Difficult balance.
The past few days have just been wonderful with her! She is starting to smile a little bit and even make some sweet cooing noises. I love that she will actually allow me to put her down for little periods of time (2 weeks ago, I couldn't put her down without her crying) so I can play with her. She will sit in her bouncy seat and fall asleep in the middle of our commotion sometimes, and I think she is even starting to like her swing. It is getting easier!
She is beginning to like baths! The last bath I gave her she didn't cry at all, which I took to mean that SHE LOVED IT!
She fits perfectly in all of her 3 month clothes. I know this means that 3-6 month clothes will be next. I can't believe that! She never even really fit in her newborn clothes! She still fits in a size 1 diaper. And speaking of diapers, I think we go through at least 15 a day. Praise the Lord for people who have given us diapers and wipes.
Here are the pictures I took of her on her one month birthday. I don't feel like they are very good because I know how much cuter she is in real life. However, all of these were taken when she was still incredibly fussy when I put her down and I am choosing to post the only pictures I managed to take without her screaming her head off. I'm hoping we can get some better ones on her two month birthday!
