6 months! How this time flies by, as always! But it's been an absolute blessing with this little girl. I never imagined such a sweet addition to our family. We had her 6-month appointment yesterday, and here are her stats:
Weight: 12 lbs 14 oz = 3rd percentile!
Length: 24.5 inches = 6th percentile!
Head circumference: 16.7 inches = 50th percentile! (This girl has a big bean!)
We are so happy that she's consistently on the charts now, and her growth has continued well. The doctor was very happy, and doesn't need to see her back until 9 months. We have another follow-up appointment with the GI dr. at the beginning of November, during which I have expectations that they will say she's okay, and only maybe needs periodic follow-up or checking of her liver enzymes and such. Whatever the heck was going on with her seems to have subsided (or at least is being controlled through her feedings), so we're happy and crossing our fingers for now!
We started giving her some fruits and veggies, of which squash and pumpkin are her favorites. She's not a huge fan of carrots. We'll be making a big batch of various things this weekend, so we'll have a variety to keep introducing. She loves to eat, which is great because she'll fit in well with this family's food habits!
She's sitting up well by herself for short periods of time, getting better each day. She babbles like crazy - more than Preston ever did - so it's neat to see how her personality is coming through, and is so different from her brother. I think she's going to be even more of a spit fire than him...
She's just such a sweetie, our real tiny joy. Love her. :)
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Yikes, two months?!
Oops! Looks like I've totally forgotten (read: been avoiding) my blog for, like, two months. I suppose that means I should get back to it and update some on our lives!
I have a Rose-centered post coming up, in honor of her 6-month "birthday," so I will leave all Rose updates to that. But she is doing well!
Since it was August when I last updated, I will look at my calendar to assist me in what the heck we've been doing... Let's start with me, once again serving as a small group facilitator for the Medical Ethics and Palliative Medicine course at MCW. I was asked to serve as a facilitator last year, and apparently I did an okay job because they asked me back again this year. My group (9 2nd-year med students) is a good one, and I've really enjoyed it. Because the other facilitators have not been able to attend each session, I've found that I am also able to keep the group going all on my own sometimes, which makes me very proud. I never wanted to be a teacher - and I still don't - but this is pretty close, and it makes me happy that I can actually do it! The class comes to a close next week, with the students participating in the OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination). They must pretend to be the doctor delivering bad news to a patient (us). It is really interesting to see how these young students are prepared for something like this, or how much they need more practice!
Okay... upon examining the calendar, that brings us already to the end of September, in terms of things going on. It looks as if we've been pretty boring, but I swear between Skip's two jobs, his band, my band and keeping up with the ongoing projects in our house, we've been busy. Managing our time and learning how to function on little sleep (both of us, for different reasons) has been really hard. For a little while there, I was having a harder time with it than Skip was, and was honestly feeling pretty down in the dumps. Nothing terrible, but really nothing was making me particularly excited. I was able to see a few friends here and there, but was still often just so exhausted that all I wanted to do was veg and sleep. Trying to figure out a reason - besides adjusting to new 2-kid parenthood - was futile. So I just trudged on. I'm not going to lie, it has been tough. I love LOVE my children and my husband, but I've read that post-partum depression often hits working mothers a little later than those that may have more time at home. I can attest to that. I realized that I was only away from work for a total of 8 full weeks, and then back a couple days a week after that. And this is back to a job that I enjoy, but have a hard time staying focused with. Not to mention pumping... oh pumping. Some people say it's a wonderful time to be able to think about your baby while you're away from them, yadda yadda yadda... Well, yes, I agree with that, to a certain extent. However, it's also been a time for me to see that I'm not producing enough milk to completely sustain my little girl, and that's been so hard. I know formula is something that she has needed to supplement her calorie intake, but it hadn't been something to fully support her until I started back at work. That makes it really hard for me not to resent my job, when I know it's being away from Rose that tanked my milk supply. I went through the same thing with Preston, but with Rose it's been harder for some reason. Maybe because I know that this may be the last time I get to do this, so wanting to stretch it out and be as successful as possible is in the back of my mind. Who knows. Overall, in terms of my mental health, going back to work has been both a blessing and a curse. I've liked that I get time away to be an "adult" and interact on a professional level, but I've hated the fact that I miss my babies growing up SO fast. Managing those emotions has been really tough, but it's getting better.
It helped that we've had some time to spend away from home, one trip of which was out to California to visit the "other" Mannings. We were glad to finally have a chance to get out there to see Tom, Erin, Sawyer and new "Baaaaby NOVA!" (as Presotn says). Flying with two little ones was certainly an adventure, but we handled it okay (not going to lie, though - we had a couple of alcoholic drinks on the plane ride home!). Once we got out there we were able to visit Davis (including the wonderful farmer's market), Napa Valley, and San Francisco. The weather was gorgeous, too. Sawyer and Preston had some interesting "dynamics" here and there, but we know that boys will be boys, and both are still getting used to having another little person in their lives to contend with. All in all, we had a nice time, and are looking forward to being able to get out for another visit - now that we know how to travel and what to expect with two little ones!
As a sort of wind-down from the vacation, we took an impromptu camping trip up to Kettle Moraine State Park on Friday night. I always camped as a kid, and have since done some on my trips "down south," so I had the bug. We packed up the car and headed up there, only to arrive in the pitch black, with no available firewood. So Skip dropped me and the kids off - in the dark, in the forest, in the cold... while he went to find the very-necessary wood. I'm not going to lie, that was about the most desperate I've ever felt as a parent, that hour that I was alone with them. 99% of the time Rose is super chill, but of course she picks this time to scream the ENTIRE time that Skip was gone. I was at my wits end, because I didn't want to wake up the other people in the campground, or lose Preston (thankfully he had his light-up shoes on, so I could see him flashing wherever he was). Needless to say I was pretty damn relieved when Skip got back! We had a great dinner cooked on the fire, then stayed up pretty late eating marshmallows and unwinding with some delicious New Glarus beers. It was a short night, since Preston was up with the sun, but we will definitely do it again soon (and remember to zip the entire tent, so the Evil Red Dog doesn't get out into the wilderness in the middle of the night!).
So that's about it in a nutshell for the past 2 months. More to come on Rose in the next week or so, as she turns 6-months (good Lord), and has her 6-mo Dr. appointment next week. I'm hoping this little girlie has cleared the 12-lb mark!
I have a Rose-centered post coming up, in honor of her 6-month "birthday," so I will leave all Rose updates to that. But she is doing well!
Since it was August when I last updated, I will look at my calendar to assist me in what the heck we've been doing... Let's start with me, once again serving as a small group facilitator for the Medical Ethics and Palliative Medicine course at MCW. I was asked to serve as a facilitator last year, and apparently I did an okay job because they asked me back again this year. My group (9 2nd-year med students) is a good one, and I've really enjoyed it. Because the other facilitators have not been able to attend each session, I've found that I am also able to keep the group going all on my own sometimes, which makes me very proud. I never wanted to be a teacher - and I still don't - but this is pretty close, and it makes me happy that I can actually do it! The class comes to a close next week, with the students participating in the OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination). They must pretend to be the doctor delivering bad news to a patient (us). It is really interesting to see how these young students are prepared for something like this, or how much they need more practice!
Okay... upon examining the calendar, that brings us already to the end of September, in terms of things going on. It looks as if we've been pretty boring, but I swear between Skip's two jobs, his band, my band and keeping up with the ongoing projects in our house, we've been busy. Managing our time and learning how to function on little sleep (both of us, for different reasons) has been really hard. For a little while there, I was having a harder time with it than Skip was, and was honestly feeling pretty down in the dumps. Nothing terrible, but really nothing was making me particularly excited. I was able to see a few friends here and there, but was still often just so exhausted that all I wanted to do was veg and sleep. Trying to figure out a reason - besides adjusting to new 2-kid parenthood - was futile. So I just trudged on. I'm not going to lie, it has been tough. I love LOVE my children and my husband, but I've read that post-partum depression often hits working mothers a little later than those that may have more time at home. I can attest to that. I realized that I was only away from work for a total of 8 full weeks, and then back a couple days a week after that. And this is back to a job that I enjoy, but have a hard time staying focused with. Not to mention pumping... oh pumping. Some people say it's a wonderful time to be able to think about your baby while you're away from them, yadda yadda yadda... Well, yes, I agree with that, to a certain extent. However, it's also been a time for me to see that I'm not producing enough milk to completely sustain my little girl, and that's been so hard. I know formula is something that she has needed to supplement her calorie intake, but it hadn't been something to fully support her until I started back at work. That makes it really hard for me not to resent my job, when I know it's being away from Rose that tanked my milk supply. I went through the same thing with Preston, but with Rose it's been harder for some reason. Maybe because I know that this may be the last time I get to do this, so wanting to stretch it out and be as successful as possible is in the back of my mind. Who knows. Overall, in terms of my mental health, going back to work has been both a blessing and a curse. I've liked that I get time away to be an "adult" and interact on a professional level, but I've hated the fact that I miss my babies growing up SO fast. Managing those emotions has been really tough, but it's getting better.
It helped that we've had some time to spend away from home, one trip of which was out to California to visit the "other" Mannings. We were glad to finally have a chance to get out there to see Tom, Erin, Sawyer and new "Baaaaby NOVA!" (as Presotn says). Flying with two little ones was certainly an adventure, but we handled it okay (not going to lie, though - we had a couple of alcoholic drinks on the plane ride home!). Once we got out there we were able to visit Davis (including the wonderful farmer's market), Napa Valley, and San Francisco. The weather was gorgeous, too. Sawyer and Preston had some interesting "dynamics" here and there, but we know that boys will be boys, and both are still getting used to having another little person in their lives to contend with. All in all, we had a nice time, and are looking forward to being able to get out for another visit - now that we know how to travel and what to expect with two little ones!
As a sort of wind-down from the vacation, we took an impromptu camping trip up to Kettle Moraine State Park on Friday night. I always camped as a kid, and have since done some on my trips "down south," so I had the bug. We packed up the car and headed up there, only to arrive in the pitch black, with no available firewood. So Skip dropped me and the kids off - in the dark, in the forest, in the cold... while he went to find the very-necessary wood. I'm not going to lie, that was about the most desperate I've ever felt as a parent, that hour that I was alone with them. 99% of the time Rose is super chill, but of course she picks this time to scream the ENTIRE time that Skip was gone. I was at my wits end, because I didn't want to wake up the other people in the campground, or lose Preston (thankfully he had his light-up shoes on, so I could see him flashing wherever he was). Needless to say I was pretty damn relieved when Skip got back! We had a great dinner cooked on the fire, then stayed up pretty late eating marshmallows and unwinding with some delicious New Glarus beers. It was a short night, since Preston was up with the sun, but we will definitely do it again soon (and remember to zip the entire tent, so the Evil Red Dog doesn't get out into the wilderness in the middle of the night!).
So that's about it in a nutshell for the past 2 months. More to come on Rose in the next week or so, as she turns 6-months (good Lord), and has her 6-mo Dr. appointment next week. I'm hoping this little girlie has cleared the 12-lb mark!
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