The Big Smile

I guess I forgot to put up this picture. I just love it, I get one of these almost every morning before she eats! And the ceiling fan gets a lot of them, too. If only I could capture her talking to us to post on here. It's great!

Flying Solo

Well, Mackenzie and I are doing it by ourselves now. Until Tuesday when Jodie and David come. We seem to be managing ok. We've only cried 2 of the 3 nights we've been on our own and last night was only for about 20 minutes. I've learned a thing or two about keeping her calm.... hanging out by the running dryer and swaying her back and forth seems to help get her to sleep.

We manage to take an outing almost every day. Yesterday we went to the Post Office to mail Daddy a care package. We just got to the front of the line and he called, so we drove around for an hour and then went to a different Post Office to mail the package. (They have these annoying signs at the Post Office that say "No Cell Phones" so I hopped out of line.)

Otherwise, we manage to stay pretty busy inside the house. Whether we are watching daddy on t.v., having tummy time, eating, cleaning up the dog hair, trying to take a shower, giving baby a bath, taking a nap, or checking email, we don't have a lot of time for other stuff right now. It's absolutely amazing - I never knew time could go so fast doing such repetitive stuff.

Today we are heading to Ft. Bragg for a spouse's coffee at Sports USA. We are supposed to wear our team colors, mine don't fit, so Mackenzie will be the only Husker Fan sportin' colors today (thanks to Aunt Marlene).

Which means I have one more minute to finish my lunch and then I need to get everyone ready to head out the door. (Yes, this can take an hour!)

Screaming Fits!

Well, Mackenzie has decided that she really likes to stay awake during the day, pretty much all day. For awhile she was napping for about 3 hours in the middle of the day - like 12 - 3 and honestly, I hope she goes back to doing that because when she doesn't get that nap, she manages to have a 45 minute cry session to blow off the steam from the overstimulation of the day.

This has happened I guess Saturday night (at 3:00 a.m. - thank you Aunt Carla for coming to my rescue) and then again last night starting around 8 and ending around 9:30. I can handle it if it's early in the day (and maybe now I can handle it a little better at any time just knowing that it will end because she can't scream like that forever) but there's nothing in the world like the feeling that your child needs you, and there's nothing you can do to console her. Its' heartbreaking to just let them cry it out, but I guess that's how they blow off all the steam during from the day.

She has done lots of amazing little things in her 5 short weeks out of the womb. She began smiling a couple weeks ago, and I'm waiting for the conscious giggle (she's done it in her sleep a number of times, and it is the cutest noise I've ever heard). When she smiles, her whole face gets into it - it's a wide, open mouthed, ear to ear grin! I'll try to get a picture to post soon!

Apparently she has learned a lot about the world, too. The other day, she started fussing when I put her in the baby bjorn facing in. So, I folded it down and faced her out and she seemed to tolerate it much better. She's not really quite old enough to "ride" like that, because it requires a lot more neck control than she has (even though she's pretty strong in the neck). Anyway, last night Carla and I went for a short walk around the neighborhood and I tried putting her in the baby bjorn facing in, so she would nap a little.

She decided that she didn't like being in like that, and began fussing a little bit. So, I open one of the sides and it seems to make her happy, so we take her out, turn her around and she goes on the walk facing out the whole time. As soon as she could see what was going on, she seemed as content as could be. She seemed to be able to see the rooftops of the houses, and she would turn her head back and forth the entire time we were on our walk. She checked out the trees, the houses, and the sun. Then, when we walked by this empty lot, she started fussing because she couldn't see anything.

Carla and I just laughed in amazement, and decided she's a smart little cookie who has decided that she is pretty happy to be here on earth and as long as she is, by God, she's going to see it! And not just a little at a time, all of it at once! I guess I can see why she's not as fond of riding through the neighborhood in her stroller. She has to lay down and she can't see anything.

She also spends time each day watching videos of Daddy reading books to her. She hears his voice and starts looking around for him. You can tell she recognizes him and his voice (I'm pretty sure she can see him on t.v. when she's up close) and is looking around for him wondering where he is. I took one of the tapes that he made awhile back for me to play to my tummy, and played in and layed her under one of his smelly t-shirts the other day. I got out of her sight line and just rubbed the back of her head. Hopefully that will help bond her to him. Thank goodness we can do such things.

A Schedule?

I hope so! Mackenzie slept almost 6 hours last night! YEAH! She gets into this fussy fitful state around 9 or 10 at night. She doesn't cry or whine, but she physically fights off the sleep that is trying to overtake her body. It's crazy - her arms twitch and move violently about, she lets out cries and grunts that sound like she's frustrated about something, and then with lots of shhhh ing and rubbing her head, arms and back and nurse her a little bit. If that doesn't work, mom bundles the baby up, puts a pacifier in her mouth and goes into bed and lays down with her until we usually both fall asleep. This is definitely the method we use at 3 a.m.

I can't believe how big she's getting, too. Her 0-3 months are getting small, and some of her newborns never fit to begin with! I am amazed at how quickly she's growing and changing! I need to take a picture and post it and will do that when I have another minute or two.

Sleeping - yeah!

For the past 3 nights, Mackenzie has slept for 4 1/2 hours at a time, minimum. Tonight, she fell asleep at 11 and woke up at 3:45. I have to say that I am excited because in my view, 3 or 4 nights in a row shows a trend.

Last night, she was starving before she wanted to go down, and I had nothing in the reserves to give her, except what I had pumped in the morning. (I seem to have an overabundance of milk in the early morning, so I pump and I guess that's what she'll be eating at night.) So, she ate a good bottle, fell right asleep and slept. And slept, and so did I!

YEAH!!!!! It's nice to get good, solid sleep like that. As hard as it is to feed her every 2 hours during the day, getting the little bit of extra sleep at night sure is a nice reward!

What's Happening Here

So, imagine nursing a baby every 2 -3 hours during the day, spending an hour each time and then either trying to put her to sleep or napping with her or trying to get something to eat the rest of the time.......

Like I told Mom today, this is exhausting, and I'm not even exhausted yet!

She says it will get better! :)