I Blinked

I blinked and my daughter turned 4 months old. Somewhere between the cuddling and kissing and rocking and holding, our Belle started sleeping through the night (or darned near close to it), rolling over, reaching for her dada, giggling and smiling, and completely filling our lives and hearts. It has happened that quickly. I promise. They will tell you not to blink. Try to believe them.

March For Babies

Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. I'm supporting March for Babies because I want to do something about this. And I need your help.

Making a secure donation is easy: just click the 'donate now' button on this page. Thank you for helping me give all babies a healthy start!

The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

http://www.marchforbabies.org/personal_page.asp?pp=4803860&ct=4&w=6088278&u=KRichmond

Annabelle - 2 Months

I know I haven't been posting much, but I have been way too busy lately. In fact, I might be taking a sabbatical from blogging...but more on that later.

This past month has been so crazy! I went back to work when Annabelle was 7 weeks old. I could only do that and leave her because my best friend is her babysitter! And I know that if there's anyone that can come close to loving her like I do, it's her.

Annabelle has been doing so great at her daycare. She sleeps and eats right on schedule! And I get a picture of the day update of her smiling and wiggling around - her two favorite things.

Things I want to remember:
- Annabelle eats every 3 hours almost on the dot. Sometimes we have to wake her up, but she's always excited to eat when we do.
- She started sleeping in her own room and crib at five weeks old, and after a few nights she was sleeping so wonderfully! We feed her a bottle for the last feeding and she eats on and off from about 8:30 to 9:30 or 10. She usually eats anywhere from 6-8 ounces in that time. Then we snuggle her, say her prayers, and lay her down. And most nights....wait for it....she sleeps around 6-8 hours! I know! The first night she did this was actually my first day of work. It has been such a blessing to me that I get sleep at night so that I can function at work and then still have energy to play with her all night. She is so completely precious and cuddly at night.
- She still loves to eat and is very fast. She takes a bottle in just five minutes. And she nurses for only 6-8 minutes. She loves to eat, just like her momma.
- She stays awake now for about 45-55 minutes. She loves to lay flat and look up at something - like on a playmat. Or she loves to be propped up on her boppy or on our legs and just smile and talk. She is so vocal!
- One of my very favorite things is getting her awake from her nap. When you walk in her room to get her she gives the biggest smiles and starts to wiggle all over. She even has reached for us a few times - I don't know if this is on purpose, but we pretend it is.
- She doesn't cry much at all - sometimes in the middle of a nap she might cry a little, but she's not really awake or goes right back to sleep. I worry when she does cry because she has never been a fussy baby.
- Her two month appointment is on the 15th and I can't wait to see how much she weighs and how tall she is!

One Month Photo Shoot

Annabelle is one month old! I wanted to record a few things each month. I went ahead and made those little signs through one year because I knew I wouldn't do it each month unless I was prepared.

Things I want to remember from this first month:
- Annabelle eats every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. If she sleeps longer than that, I wake her at 3 hours and 15 minutes to feed her.
- A few nights she has slept for four hours at a time! But she's only done this a few times. Most of the time she is fussiest at night...from the evening nap through about midnight. We are working on it though, and tonight she is moving to her crib for the first time (say some prayers for me...this kills me but she's five weeks old and I believe after a couple of nights she will sleep better this way...don't worry, we have the most amazing video camera that is glued to my hand any time she's in a different room.)
- She doesn't take very long to eat at all! She loves to eat and I think she chugs her food. I bottle fed her a few times to be sure she was actually eating enough since she's so fast and she eats about 3 ounces in five minutes. It's crazy!
- Her wake time is getting a little bit longer, but I still struggle to keep her awake for very long. She loves to sleep during the day, but I think if I could keep her up a little longer before her naps she would sleep better at night. That's what we are working on these last couple of weeks before I have to go back to work.
- She loves her dada! So so much. Any time he makes a sound she looks around for him. It breaks my heart, it's so sweet.
- She is already out of her newborn clothes (tear) and wearing 0-3 months. She's so long and chunky. It gives me so much comfort to know she is gaining weight and growing, but how much did I cry when putting away her newborn clothes...

Annabelle has been the most fun these past five weeks. We can't believe how blessed we are. I can't remember my life without her and I don't want to. She's absolutely perfect.

One Month Old!

Sweet Baby Belle is already one month old today. We can't get enough of this little (big) girl. She is so much fun every single day. She is already settling in to somewhat of a schedule. She is eating and sleeping wonderfully. I could complain about a few fussy times or the lack of sleep, but it's impossible to do when I look at this tiny blessing. She is the very best thing ever! And really, since I've cut dairy, she's rarely fussy at all and has only cried a few times. This makes me feel really bad about the times she did cry because I know it was because her stomach was hurting her.

Right now she really loves to be held and look up at you and to talk. I ramble on and every once in a while she coos or "talks" back to me. I love her wake time so much. She also loves to be read to. We take turns reading to her and she really seems to look at the pictures. She also loves bath time. She loves the warm water and really relaxes.

She takes at least one nap a day in her crib and one on us :) I try to only hold her for one nap a day because I don't want her to get used to having to use one of us to get to sleep, but it's so hard. She is absolutely precious and snuggly. She has been napping anywhere between 35 minutes and 1 1/2 hours at a time. Every once in a while she makes it to two hours. And at night she has been amazing! She will usually give me at least one 3 hour block of sleep throughout the night, if not more!

And she loves to eat! She has taken a bottle a couple of times. The first one David gave her and it was special for him to get to be with her. I try to let him do that once a day. And the other day one of my BFFs gave her her bottle and this really set my mind at ease. This particular friend is the one that will be watching her every day when I go back to work. This friend is a true angel and a blessing to our family. I have no worries about leaving little Belle with her. It's such a comfort that she will be loving her and taking care of her all day, and now I know Belle won't struggle to eat while I'm gone.

She is a healthy, chunky little angel. I can't believe she's already a month old. If every month is this wonderful, I can't even imagine a more joyful life.

Baby Bell's Birth Story

I feel like I will never forget the day we met Annabelle Kayle Richmond, but I know the details might fade over time. I want to record them here just in case.

On Tuesday, December 4th, I went to my doctor's appointment, hoping I was progressed enough to head to the hospital. I was so uncomfortable and anxious to meet our little girl. The doctor said she would induce me at any time, and I thought I would have taken her up on this, but I knew deep down I wanted to go into labor on my own. And she guessed that I would, and soon. In fact, she told us that if it happened that night to tell the doctors to page her because she wanted to deliver our little one. She wasn't right that it was that night, but it was about 30 hours later!

On December 5th I started having more painful contractions. However, they were spaced far apart and were not consistent. I had a feeling it might be soon, but I didn't know just how soon it would be. December 6th is my nephew's Birthday, my boss's Birthday, and Sister #2 was in Texas...I should have known this would be the day.

I woke up throughout the night with contractions, but just went to the bathroom and went back to bed. At 4:45 a.m. I woke up with one, went to the bathroom, and my water broke on the toilet! For some reason I wasn't completely sure that was what happened, so I tried to go back to bed....that lasted about two minutes. I woke up my husband and decided to jump in the shower. We tried to take our time getting ready, but we were so excited! We got to the hospital by 6 a.m.

The first 2 1/2 hours were very painful. I had decided I wanted to try to not have an epidural. My doctor had told me to get to the hospital as soon as my water broke because she knew my labor would be quick. By the time I got there my contractions were already 2 and 3 minutes apart. I didn't have much time to rest between them. I was in so much pain. I quickly changed my mind about the epidural. :) After I received this help the day was much more enjoyable. Every hour I had progressed another centimeter.

The labor and delivery went smoothly without any help with pitocin. About 30 minutes before it was time to push, my doctor, who had the day off, showed up and scolded us for not having them call her in. We just felt too bad on her day off. She was so happy she made it in time and was there for the entire delivery. When it was time to push, my epidural had run out and instead of changing to a new one, they encouraged me to try pushing and delivery without it. My nurse said I had about a half hour until the effects wore off. If that isn't enough motivation to push, then I don't know what is.

Sweet Annabelle Kayle was born a loud, happy, chubby, and hairy baby at 3:46 p.m. I couldn't believe how I felt about her. Everyone says you are so in love the minute you see them, but it's an understatement. They gave her to me the second she was born and I couldn't stand for them to take her away. They had to suction out her lungs and do a couple of tests and I just couldn't stop staring at her over with the doctor and David. David was too overjoyed to go out and tell our families...he finally ran out of the room to anxious family member and shouted "7, 13!" This is what she weighed. It's all he could get out. He is such a proud dadda.

Annabelle was born with a fever. She had to have tests done. Later that night her bloodwork showed an elevated white blood count. The scariest three hours of our life happened once they came to tell us about this test and take our newborn away for more tests. You can imagine we were a wreck. Finally our doctor came in to tell us she was confident everything was fine (which it was as we would find out later that day) and to give us some peace. They brought our baby back to us with an IV and her arm braced so she could have fluids and antibiotics. It was a long day, trying to learn how to nurse and trying not to worry. Whatever her little body was fighting was beat by that afternoon. She is a healthy and strong baby!

We had a wonderful stay in the hospital, a perfect labor and delivery story, and have loved our little girl every minute of her life. We came home to a house full of food and balloons and signs on Saturday December 8th. I never knew how this would feel and no one can prepare you for it. Welcome to our family Annabelle Kayle Richmond.

On our way to the hospital!

Our first meeting

She has just wanted to be held and cuddled since the beginning

With our beautiful doctor

New Year's Eve

There has been a silly commercial on TV recapping this year in photos. Okay, I wish I could honestly say it's silly, but these post-pregnancy hormones are just crazy and I'm a mess every time it comes on. This year has been the most amazing year of our lives. I can't even explain the joy this year has brought to my life. I couldn't love my husband more. Our friends are the absolute best. And our families are amazing. And now, our tiny little one is here. I am completely overjoyed.

This morning, little Baby Bell got sick for the first time. I've had a lot of anxiety about her getting sick. I spend a lot of time praying that she stays healthy and strong. So this really tested me. And let me tell ya, I failed. I finished feeding Baby Bell and played with her for a little bit. About twenty minutes later I took her in to change her. I laid her down and she vomited all over. I was so scared. I called David. We called the doctor and they told us to watch her and call if she did it again. Well she relaxed and slept on me for a long time. So long actually, that we started to worry. I called the doctor back after four hours (4 hours! she has never slept that long and not eaten) and they wanted to see her. We bundled up on this snowy New Year's Eve and headed to the doctor. Little one woke right up during her exam and ate like a champ. It was perfect timing. They were able to listen to her stomach and evaluate her and she's perfectly fine. I don't know what made her get sick like that, but she's completely perfect. Plus, she's already gained a lot more weight! She weighs 10 pounds 5 ounces already! She is so perfect and wonderful.

Anyway, since she has had a rough day we are just snuggling in and celebrating the end of this perfect year and the excitement of 2013 together. Just me, David, Baby Bell, and Bobo.

Happy New Year Friends! May your 2013 be as blessed and wonderful as 2012 was!