Bringing Home Baby (The first 6 months)

So, we get home with our sweet Kaylie, and the first night was HORRIBLE, I mean I'm talking TRAUMATIZING!!! We had this plan to put her in her crib right from the beginning....no sleeping in our room and absolutely no sleeping in the bed with us! We were so naive!! The first night we put her in a crib and I slept on the extra bed in the room with her, after this traumatic experience, she spent the next 3 weeks sleeping in our room and many nights in bed with us.....we were in survival mode and just did whatever worked! The first 3 weeks were very difficult, between the hormone and life change caused anxiety and the fact that I was not producing enough milk and was going to great lengths to try to increase my milk production, I literally thought, many times, that I wasn't going to be able to do this mom thing. At every feeding I was breastfeeding 20 minutes on each side, then pumping for 10 minutes on each side, then supplementing with a bottle of formula. So, basically I was only getting about an hour and a half of sleep at a time. 3 weeks after she was born, my in laws came in town from Alaska....this was a huge turning point for me. Having them around all day every day for a week helped ease my anxiety considerably! This was the week also that I decided to stop going to extreme lengths to produce milk and just work with what I had and supplement with bottles. This was life changing for me at this point! I also decided it was time to put Kaylie back in her crib, and I finally had the confidence to do so. After 4 weeks of not knowing what I was going to do each night to get her to sleep, I finally had a plan. She did wonderfully the first night in her crib! She only woke up to eat once! After 2 weeks in her bed (about 6 weeks old) she slept through the night....and we've never looked back! Now, she will sleep until 8:30, 9:30, sometimes 11:00 in the morning! It's HEAVEN!!

Oh, funny story I should share about those first few weeks when she was sleeping in the room with us....one night I had woken up to feed her and change her diaper. Because of all the weight I lost while I was pregnant, my wedding ring was a little big and would slide off my finger very easily. After feeding her, changing her, and putting her back to bed, I noticed my ring was gone. I looked all over the bed for it, but I couldn't find it. I figured it had to be somewhere in the covers, so I thought I would just wait until the next morning to find it. The next morning, the first thing I did was search the entire bed and surrounding areas....the ring was no where to be found. So, I got Kaylie and went in to change her diaper before I did some more searching. I opened up her diaper and guess what I found....yep, my ring, stuck to her tiny little tush. I'm talking STUCK to her tush....an imprint was left behind when I pulled it off. I laughed until I cried....no wonder she was so fussy that night! Ha!

Ok, so these first 6 months with Kaylie have been so amazingly wonderful, she is learning so much everyday and growing like a weed!! She hasn't quite rolled over yet, but she is sitting up by herself (most of the time) and she is learning how to grab her toys (which go straight into her mouth when she gets a hold of them). She is smiling ALL THE TIME and has recently started to truly belly laugh. She loves her daddy the most, I mean her face literally lights up when ever she sees him. She looks at him like she doesn't look at anyone else, it is the sweetest thing! I went back to work about 8 weeks after I had her and we have an amazing woman who has been willing to watch her during the day. She lives just up the road and she loves Kaylie as if she were her own....could we ask for anything more. Thank you, Molly, you are truly a blessing from God! Kaylie has already been on a plane ride (at 3 1/2 months) and will be going on another one in about a month. She is just the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. If you haven't met her, you should! She is the prettiest, cutest, sweetest, smartest, funniest, happiest, best baby ever in the history of ever....but I might be biased ;)

So this is our first 6 months...and I can't wait to share our journey from here! Stay tuned, it's going to be a fun ride!