This past week our Olivia turned two months old!
We didn’t have our first appointment with her doctor back here in Wisconsin until Olivia was about five weeks old. At that appointment, she weighed 9 lbs 9.5 oz (43rd percentile), measured 21.5 inches in length (49th percentile), and had a head circumference of 14.5 inches (43rd percentile). Then the doctor wanted to schedule an extra appointment between one and two months because they hadn’t been keeping their own stats until five weeks. At that appointment, she weighed 10 lbs 6.2 oz (39th percentile), measured 22 inches in length (44th percentile), and had a head circumference of 15.16 inches (72nd percentile). We’ll have her two-month appointment next week, which will include her first round of post-hospital shots.
The biggest event from the past month is that we had Olivia baptized. Yes, it was a whole thing to push through on baptizing her before her adoption is finalized. We did for Tommy as well, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Due to the current situation, it was a very small gathering with both sets of our parents and the godparents and no reception or anything afterward. While I would have liked to at least gotten together with everyone who was there afterward, honestly, it was really cool having such an intimate group at the church. The few people who were there really enjoyed being able to see the whole thing up close.
Changing Olivia’s diapers and clothes and giving her baths has gone much more smoothly the past month. If she’s still fussy after her basic needs have been met, nine times out of 10, she wants to be swaddled or held. Previously, I never understood how people had toddlers who needed transition swaddles. But I can definitely see that being Olivia down the road. Her head control and general interest in tummy time continue to blow me away. My only frame of reference is Tommy, who couldn’t have been more different. But both her doctor and our social worker have been very impressed, which gives me some validation that she is a little ahead of the curve.
We’ve just started getting real smiles from Olivia, which is the best thing ever. It’s not a secret that the newborn months are not my favorite. I’ve done my best to embrace them with my own kids, but they are still so tough. Getting occasional smiles and more meaningful interactions really helps. Tommy gets a lot of the biggest smiles and interactions, which is not surprising because he’s so social and so crazy about her. In addition to our general attempts to make her smile, it’s fun to see her respond to her routine more and get excited about being swaddled at night or ready for her next feeding.
Olivia is up for the day around 7:30 or 8:30 and remains more active in the morning and sleepier in the afternoon. Tommy doesn’t like to be alone in the house (and by alone, I mean anywhere without a grown-up) or away from the baby. Olivia doesn’t really want to be put down away from me either, which makes it tough for her to get longer stretches of sleep during the day, especially because Tommy is so active (i.e., running, jumping, roaring, etc.). Olivia loves to sleep in the car and often stays asleep in her car seat once back in the house. So I maximize those opportunities for longer sleep whenever possible. I push for her to get in a longer stretch while Tommy naps in the later afternoon as possible. At this point, I’m still using that time to catch up on laundry, dishes, and other things around the house and have not been working on the blog or much of anything else.
Currently, Olivia is still wearing newborn pajamas and some newborn pants. Otherwise, she’s moved up to 0-3 or 3-month clothing, in some cases even 3-6 month onesies. When we ran out of newborn diapers right between one and two months, we moved up to size one diapers and haven’t looked back. Thankfully, she’s not scratching nearly as much anymore because she’s too long for most of the newborn onesies with the fold over cuffs now. As the weather gets a little warmer, Olivia is able to wear more my favorite Tommy onesies from this age, which I love so much.
Olivia is holding steady at eating four ounces every two or three hours. At one month, it was usually every three hours at night. Now it’s generally four or five hours at night, which means just one middle of the night feeding, usually around three or four a.m. When she wakes up before then, she has very little interest in eating and just wants to be held. It’s so rare that she doesn’t completely finish off a bottle. She’s still soaking through a bib and a burp cloth with most feedings. Her burps and dirty diapers remain pretty epic, and I’m still running a ton of laundry.
Sleep at night is slowly getting better with Olivia. It feels like a two steps forward, one step back sort of thing. We’ll have a good night here or there, and then inevitably, the next night will be rough again. Three to six a.m. is the toughest stretch. About half of the time, she doesn’t really settle after her middle of the night feeding until around 6 a.m. As it often takes so long to feed and settle her again in the middle of the night, I sometimes have a hard time going to sleep again for a few more hours, even after she falls asleep. But she is slowly sleeping longer stretches on her own at night without being held. She’ll often go four or five hours before she wakes up hungry or just wanting to be held. Here’s hoping things continue to improve over the next couple of months.
You can find all of Olivia’s updates as well as my Tommy baby/toddler updates, general family updates, and other family-related posts in the family section of the blog.
