April 17-23 Thirteen Weeks Old!

     Sunday night a miracle occurred! Lily slept from 7:40-4:40. NINE HOURS IN A ROW!!!! It was amazing! I got up a few times in the night to check and make sure that she was ok! Then, believe it or not... she did the same on Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday nights! Oh holy night(s)!!! I was thrilled! She is getting her sleep together and boy, does it make it easier on mommy!
     Monday was dinner with the "gang". We brought Lily to Dempsey's. Of course, she remains an expert at waking up and demanding to be held the minute the food arrives! She slept for about half an hour while we visited and waited for the meal to arrive. The moment it did, "Waaaaaa!" I played the responsible parent and took her outside for a little while. We sat on a bench and watched the traffic go by while Lily calmed down. We joined our gang back in the restaurant and the rest of the meal was smooth. Before having Lily, it would drive me nuts when parents would sit while their baby screamed and disrupted the entire restaurant. I understand that now, but still think I should try and fix the reason she's upset.
     Monday and Tuesday were both Granny days. Gran reported that she did not sleep much at all. She had no more than a brief cat-nap either day. I wonder if that contributed to her power-sleeping at night. The books say good nappers are good night time sleepers. Lily seems to go through phases where she either is up all day, or wants to sleep all day. Last week, Granny had forgotten her camera at the house. When I looked at her pictures, she had so many of Lily! It is clear how much she loves her and how lucky Lily is to have her. I remember spending so much time with Granny when I was a little girl. I'm glad Lily gets to know her too.
     Wednesday was Pappy day! They spent some time outside, which Lily loves! That night we all went to Roberto's for Pappy's birthday. It was terrific! Lily was great. We rode together and Mimi sat next to Lily. Lily was very good at the restaurant and did not pull her usual, "Oh-the-food-is-here. Hold-me." thing. Yay!
     Thursday was a big day for me. I was in New Orleans until 8:00 that night on the 8th grade trip for work. It was Mimi day, but also sod day. Sod was delivered during the day and Eric had arranged for Tara, Great-Nanny, Curtis, Mr. Cliff, Mimi, and Katie to pitch in to get it laid. Katie watched Lily while the others laid the sod in the prepared back-yard. Apparently it went really well and was all down in about two hours. Katie hung out with Lily in the house. At one point, Katie text me a video of Lily looking up at her duck and having a conversation with it. The duck has been there her whole life, but she is just really discovering it this week. (Also this week, she has discovered the joys of her hand and tongue.) They came to get me from Highland Road Home Depot at 8 when the bus arrived. I brought Lily onto the bus to meet the kids and teachers that had gone on the trip. She was so bright-eyed. The best part was when I introduced her to my student with autism. He immediately exclaimed, "Baby Lily!!" and began to laugh and laugh! He then pointed to her bow, "Bow!!!" and she grabbed his finger. He thought this was the best. That was the best part of my day!

     Friday we took Lily to Natchez, Mississippi to meet Eric's dad's family. She was born on Pappy's mom's birthday. January 21. Mrs. Lucille thought this was grand and enjoyed meeting her. Also met - her two cousins! Addison, her three year old cousin, thought that she was terrific! Addison kept coming up to love on her. She was very gentle and sweet. Tonja, Eric's aunt, had cooked a wonderful lunch. We ate and visited late into the afternoon. It was such a great Good Friday!

    Saturday was BBQ at the Dupuy home. We headed over around noon. It was great! Several of the the teachers that I am friends with were there and it was their first time to meet Lily. Of course, she was loved on! She was a bit whiny, but no abject screaming. I am trying to exclusively feed from the breast this week to increase production, so I had to excuse myself twice to feed her. Breastfeeding is going ok. I am hoping to produce more as I am having to supplement from my frozen stores from before I went back to work. I really don't want to have to go to formula at all. I am really hopeful that being off this week will boost milk production and get me through until the summer when I'll be home with Lily every day. I am still having residual issues from the mastitis. Pray for recovery! Full recovery!
     Anyway... we hung out for most of the breezy, beautiful day. We tried to take Lily "swimming" in the baby pool, but she did not like it at all! I guess she likes her water a balmy 100 degrees! We have a little baby bath thermometer to gauge her bath water, and the pool did not measure up I suppose.

     All in all, it was a wonderful day. We took Lily home and then Collin called. We ended up meeting him for dinner at Oscar's pizza shop. Then we came home and put Lily to bed. Saturday night was another of her 9 hour sleeps. Wonderful!

April 10-16 Twelve Weeks Old!

     As far as weeks go, this was a pretty good one. Lily is still doing lots of growing and learning new things all the time! I can't believe how big she is getting, but of course it's all relative and when we bring her out in public, everyone makes comments about how tiny she is! I don't know her exact weight as its been a while since her last dotor appointment, but I think she's rounding out near the ten pound mark now!
     This week was a little different for us as Eric left on Tuesday and didn't return home until Thursday. He had a business meeting in New Orleans for a few days. Of course, I was not alone. On Tuesday we walked after school and Lindsay joined us. She hung out while I showered and we ate dinner together and got Lily to bed. Then, when Nanna was done with her cake class, she came to spend the night. Tuesday night, Lily decided that eating every two hours would be fun! Mommy did not agree, but Lily's mind could not be changed! So, not such a restful night at all!
     Wednesday was another walking day, however I was whipped from the previous night! I came in from work, fed Lily and went to take a nap! Lily went walking with her entourage! I woke up at 6:40, ate, fed Lily, bather her, and went right back to bed! Sometimes being a Mommy is tiring work!
     Thursday daddy came home!!! Boy were we glad to see him! It was also dinner with the gang night and so we headed out to Frankie's Dawg House (highly recommended, btw) for some amazing, gourmet hot dogs! The weather was absolutely perfect and we sat our on their patio for quite a while. Lily just loves being outside! In fact, every day this week when I came home from work she was outside sitting on the front porch with her grandparent of the day. Even Friday, when I got home, we went to sit outside. She's such a cool baby!

     So, about Friday. I left work half a day to return to the doctor. I am still dealing with mastitis issues and am fervently praying that they resolve without an surgical intervention. Anyway, I got home to Lily early and sat outside with her. We sang songs and read a few books. Then she went down for a nap. She had been with Eric all day, as he had this Friday off. He reported that they had a great time and that Lily had been a pretty happy baby. He said that they had a LOT of eye contact and good cuddling. This made me SO happy because earlier in the week, Eric had gotten upset when he couldn't console her when she was having one of her scream-fests. They are getting it together!
     Friday was Daddy and Mommy date night!! Tara agreed to look after her after work so that we could go to the very early movie. Then we had dinner reservations for 7 and headed home. My mom had taken Lily after she got off work, but wasn't back yet. I was a little upset about this as we've been trying really hard to keep Lily on an 8 o'clock bedtime schedule, but I guess it all worked out. She finally fell asleep around 9:40 and slept until 3am. Progress.
     Saturday was prep the backyard day! We are putting down sod soon and needed to level out the backyard with fresh dirt. It was all hands on deck and Mimi watched Lily. She came out now and then to check our progress and went walking in the neighborhood with Mimi while Pappy, Nanny, Daddy, and I dug, shoveled,  and trucked in more and more dirt. What a day!

April 3-9 Eleven Weeks Old!

     Boy was this a week!! If there has ever been a week to really appreciate the support of a wonderful family, this was IT! This was a pretty hard week for Mamma Dixon!

     On Monday we had a heck of a storm, as did all of the Baton Rouge area. We lost power while cooking dinner, but were luckily able to finish cooking with residual heat. We ate and decided to turn in early since there wasn't anything else to do in the darkened house. I set my alarm extra early since we hadn't been able to take showers or anything and we headed upstairs.
     We stripped Lily down to her onesie as it was getting warm, and tried to sleep. She was up a lot during the night and since the bottle warmer needed electricity to heat bottles, I had to get up with her each time. More and more throughout the night I kept feeling bad. My legs, neck, and back ached. My joints were sore. My breasts were swollen and painful. I attributed it all to lack of sleep and it being warm in the house. Finally, the power returned at 1:30 and the rapid cooling of the house made Lily cry with cold and I felt even worse. Again, I attributed this to the temp in the house and lack of sleep. When the 5am alarm sounded, I reluctantly got up and prepared for work.
     I didn't make it long! I ended up calling the wonderful nurses in the lactation department at Woman's Hospital for advice on my increasingly painful chest. By 8am it felt as though someone had punched me in the sternum and my entire chest was so painful that the slight jarring caused by walking to a meeting was painful. Lactation advised me to call the doctor at once, that I had mastitis, an infection of the breast. Ugh. I spoke to my boss and left for home.
     My wonderful Granny has Lily on Tuesdays so she was home with her when I arrived. She took one look at me and sent me to bed! I was SO GRATEFUL to have her watch Little P so that I could rest. I passed out immediately and waited to her from Dr. Guidry's nurse. No sooner than I'd fallen asleep, the phone rang. I did, in fact have mastitis (along with 102 fever), and needed to begin antibiotics right away. Luckily, I have a wonderful Mommy who offered to help out. She ran over on her lunch break, picked up some poweraid and my Rx, and delivered it to me. I took it, and went right back to sleep. Moving hurt. Breathing hurt. Moving my arms hurt. Changing position hurt. Feeding Lily hurt. Pumping hurt. Basically I was miserable! But... it would get worse before it got better.
     All night Tuesday I felt increasingly nauseated. I was allergic to the antibiotic! I'll spare the nasty details, but it was bad! Again, thank God for a supportive family as Pappy came to the rescue. He arrived when Eric left for work and took care of Lily. I contacted the doctor once more and was told to stop the meds right away, but to take Tylenol for pain and fever, but if it went over 101 to go the the hospital right away for IV antibiotics. Well then.
     I continued the Tylenol regimen all day and the fever hovered around 100.6. Talk about make you feel terrible! Fevers stink!
     Finally, Thursday morning the fever broke in an enormous pool of sweat. I felt so yuck! Still sore and painful, I was glad not to have fever or any more side effects of the horrible medicine.
     On Friday I ventured out back to work. I am lucky to have such sweet students. They were glad to have me back and were, of course, well behaved. The day went quickly and soon it was time to go home. This Friday Grampy had Lily for the first half of the day, then Nana relieved him. It was great for Lily to experience all of her grandparents this week! When I got home, mom and I hung out for a while before she needed to go. That was great. She, Lily, and I just hanging out!

     If there is a silver lining in this ordeal, its that it was wonderful to be home during the day with the caretaker of the day and Lily. Granny talks non-stop. I really do mean non-stop! I could tell when Lily was asleep because it was the only time Gran wasn't telling a story, singing a nursery rhyme, or telling Lily about something. It was amazing! Pappy likes to teach her things. This week was how to spell Mississippi. They do exercises and go for walks around the yard and porches. Mimi is a cuddler and is one of the most patient people I know! What an incredibly loved-on baby!!! She is going to have such wonderful linguistic skills after having such an array of dialects speaking to her all the time! On Tuesday and Wednesday Nanny, Great-Nanny, and Mimi took Lily walking. What a lucky little girl!

     This weekend was MUCH better than the week. On Saturday, Lily took in her first LSU tailgate and game. It was Spring Game time and Eric is on the net crew. We were lucky to be offered Press Box seats, so Lily, Tara, and I headed up to the Press Box and watched the game from there. It was amazing! The view was terrific and the air conditioning was even better! Lily was great. She was calm and happy. She did a lot of looking around and taking it all in. We had her in the baby backpack for a lot of the time. She really loves that thing!

     Sunday we met friends for brunch. After brunch, Tara had volunteered to take Lily to Mawmaw's house so that Eric and I could get a bunch of running around done. He has a bunch of important business meetings this week in New Orleans, so he needed slacks. Oil change. Grocery Shop. Pick up a bridesmaid dress. Etc. Lots to do. Tara reported that Lil was great for the first part of the day, then had a screaming-kicking-red-in-the-face tummy tragedy. Unfortunately, this carried on into the night. Poor Little Love. I PRAY for this tummy craziness to pass!!!

March 27-April 3 Ten Weeks Old!

    
     This week, Lily made ten weeks old! It is unreal how in ten weeks, your life can change so thoroughly! I can no longer imagine life without or before Lily. It seems like both the fastest and shortest ten weeks of my life! When I am with her, I want to look and her and cuddle her. When I am away, it feels like a piece of my heart has been left behind.
     Eric and I talked yesterday about how strange it is for us as a couple. When we are with Lily, its all about her. When to feed her, bathe her, cuddle her, put her to sleep, etc. We are getting into a much better groove now of putting her down to sleep early so that we can have some quality time together. When we leave her with Tara or one of her grandparents, we almost feel guilty about being pleased to "get away" for awhile, but enjoy each other so much. It is definitely crucial to have this time as a couple and have made certain that at least once a month, we have a mommy & daddy only night out.
     Lily has made several big jumps this week!!!!! For the first time in her life, I heard her laugh yesterday! It was just one little chuckle, but was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard! We were in the car heading back from New Orleans, where we'd gone Friday night so stay with Rory and Rene, and I was making silly noises and talking to her. The books say to smile really big at babies to get them to smile, and that's what we've been doing. I was smiling and cooing and all of a sudden, she laughed!!! It was amazing! She's smiling more and more and although you have to work for it, it's so beautiful and worth it!! She's such a sweet baby!
     Also this week, we is gaining more control of her hands and has discovered the joys of sucking her thumb. Sometimes its a couple of fingers, sometimes her whole fist, but more and more often just her thumb. I know we may be up for a challenge later in her life when sucking body parts becomes frowned upon, but for now it is Just So Cute!
     She can also stand and support her own body weight! We, of course, have to hold her really carefully, but she will stand for quite a while supporting herself. Its amazing! She really likes it too. Sometimes when she is fussy, that's all she wants - too stand up and look around.
     Looking around - Boy is she curious!!! She wants to look at everything!!! Although the books say that her eye sight is probably pretty poor, she loves looking at bright things. She loves windows, lit aquariums, her mobile, and the tv. Its not that we sit her in front of the tv, but if it is on and she's in the room, she likes looking at it's brightness.
     Also, this I just saw yesterday. She rubs her eyes with tiny fists when she is tired! It is so darned cute! Of course... I think that just about everything she does is cute!!
     Sleeping patterns are becoming somewhat more predictable. This is not an every night thing, but over the course of time, we can tell a difference. She has recently slept 6-7 hours at night! Ahhhh, sleep!
     THIS WEEK -
Sunday and Monday nights were ROUGH! On Sunday night I literally saw every hour on the clock. She was cold. She was wet. She was unbundled and cold again. She was hungry. She lost her nook. All. Night. Long. I was pretty useless at work on Monday, but got through it of course. Monday she made two monster poops, so I thought - erroneously - that she would sleep that night. Nope! Up again. By Tuesday she felt sorry for Mommy and chilled out quite a bit. That was nice. That was the night she slept 7 hours! It was a God-send! I didn't know she was capable of that! It gives me hope for sleep in the future! Wednesday night Mimi stayed and did her feedings so I got even more sleep. Wednesday nights are a gift! It's the one night a week that I know I will rest! I am so grateful for Wednesdays and Mimi! Thursday evening we went out to dinner for our weekly ladies plus daddy night. Poor Eric, he's always the only man in the group! Lily is so good at restaurants! She knows just when the food comes and will arouse from a solid slumber to want to be engaged. Every time! It's like she knows that the food is being served and that people will want to eat. Ahhh well.
     Friday we left straight after school to head to New Orleans to stay with Rory and Rene. It was amazing! God blessed us with a traffic-free ride so we made better time that we usually do.

     We were there in no time and Lily was terrific the whole way down. I was a bit concerned about her sleeping well on Friday night as she was not in her crib with her mobile, but she was a rock star! We'd brought her vibrating chair with us and she slept there right next to the bed. Of course, sleeping next to a snoring man sans c-pap machine and a grumbling baby did nothing for me and after I did the 1 am feeding, I left and found somewhere else to sleep! Lily continued to be great! Eric got up with her for the next feeding and I got some rest.

     Saturday we saw all our friends! Tara, Eric, Lily and I spent the morning with Rory and Rene at a couple of kitchen and bathroom showrooms and then headed back to B.R. On the way past Gonzales, we swung by Collin and Jenna's place. They are renovating a really cool older home with tons of space and storage. It's looking great! Then, that night we went to the Torrance's for a crawfish boil.

Unfortunately, Lily did not come to that. She'd had a loooong day and wanted to stay home. Nanny and Lily stayed in and rested. Or tried to rest. Lily was quite fussy, but did calm down eventually and slept pretty well. I got up with her for the 1 am and 5 am feeds to let Eric get some rest. To reciprocate, he got up with her at 8:30 and let me sleep in a bit. We are certainly getting our weekend routine down better!

     Today, Sunday, has been very nice. We've been pretty low key. We went out to lunch with Mawmaw, Pawpaw and family and went to Winn Dixie, but other than that we've been here at home. I think that Lily needed a day in!