She's a Sleeper & A Smiler!

Although she is now sleeping in her crib every night (yea), every morning Sloan and I have cuddle time and she sleeps in the bed with me. This is obviously way more for me than her, but I like to think she wants to bond with me as well. Yesterday Lee plopped her on what he calls my "throne of pillows" (I sleep with 6 pillows surrounding me every night LOL), and she fell right to sleep. I don't blame her, I also feel my "throne of pillows" is very cozy!

Sloan has been smiling for a while, but I haven't been able to attribute it to me until the last few days. I think in the past it has been more of a gas thing, but I now know for sure she is smiling at me. I tried to capture how dang cute her smile is, but my camera is slow and I never got a really good smile picture. Here are a few of the better ones, but still none of these do justice to how cute her smile is!



The only time in life where a toothless smile is acceptable!

Breakthrough!

So my pediatrician recommended the book "Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp. This has been the best book I have read (and I read a lot of them to get ready for the baby). I wish I would have known about it before Sloan was born as it has made the world of difference. I have gone from Sloan sleeping on my belly all night long to her sleeping in her crib. She also used to have a really fussy time from about 6-10pm and she is no longer unhappy at this time of night. She naps really well and just as of today I have gotten her to nap in her swing during the day so I can actually shower and get some things accomplished, including blogging as you can tell from my 3 new posts (it is amazing to have some extra time on my hands, I never thought that would happen)...HOORAY!!! This book has really changed everything and made it so much easier for me to know what to do to calm Sloan down and make her happy. Please if you are going to be a new parent, or if you have a fussy baby and you don't know what to do, read this book. It may take a second to master the "5 S's" but once you do it really works. I don't even have to use all 5...mainly just swaddling (which I thought Sloan hated as she always fought it, but then realized I wasn't swaddling her tight enough), and rocking or swinging. It truly is amazing! Tomorrow may bring a whole new set of issues and frustrations, but as of today we have had a breakthrough!!!

More Pictures

For those of you that aren't completely sick of seeing pictures of Sloan, here are some more. I know I am a little obsessed with posting pics, but it is mostly for my family that is sadly missing out on her first few months. Anyway, here are some more pics of my adorable little babe!

Sloan's preferred method of sleeping.

She spends a lot of time in the Baby Bjorn.

First day at church.

First family pic...using a timer doesn't always produce the best product.

Sloan loves to stretch!!! I mean how cute is this?

THANKS!!!

What would we do without moms and mother-in-laws? I wanted to post to say thank you so much to my amazing mom and mother-in-law. Lee's mom Sally (also Sloan's namesake) came to Charlotte shortly after Sloan was born to help us out. She did pretty much everything from cooking to cleaning to taking the baby whenever I needed. She planned to be here for two weeks and the day she was supposed to leave I got my first case of mastitis. Being the amazing person she is she changed her flight to stay here and help out. She stayed in the hospital with me for two nights and three days. There is NO WAY I could have done it without her! She ended up staying for three weeks and I was so sad to see her go.

Then my mom came out and stayed with us for a week. Luckily she was here for my second bout of mastitis so she was able to help with the baby while I was feeling like crap. She cooked and helped me clean out a bunch of closets (which was a huge deal as I am starting to feel really cluttered in my tiny house). We also got to hang out and take the baby on her first shopping trip. I am sure it will be the first of many to come! It was so sad to see my mom leave. We had so much fun.

So thank you to amazing moms that helped me to keep my sanity through the last month! There is no way Lee and I could have done it without you both. We love you soooooooo much!

Suggestions Please?

So my beautiful baby girl has a few small issues. She hates pretty much everything that every normal child enjoys. The only way I can get her to sleep is if she is being held on my chest in a somewhat upright position. She HATES, and I mean hates her crib, bouncer, swing, car seat and stroller. Anything where she has to lay down, she hates. She loves the Baby Bjorn though (because she is being held in an upright position). I love holding her and cuddling and would do it all the time with no complaints if I never needed to accomplish anything in my day, or shower, or sleep at night. Basically I can't really put her down for more than about 10 min. I was hoping someone out there has had a child like this and might have a solution. I have never met a child that doesn't like driving in the car. Isn't that really strange or do I just not know what is normal and not??? Oh, and she also hates a pacifier so I don't have anything to sooth her when she is upset.

The other thing is she doesn't love to sleep, and when she does it is kind of a half sleep. The only time I can get her to really sleep is if I am walking her around in the Baby Bjorn. I think I may get her to sleep for about a combined total of 2 hours a day on a good day. I really don't think this is normal for a newborn (or is it?).

Anyway, just thought I would throw these few things out there if anyone has any ideas. I am open for anything so just let me know!

A few More Pictures

It has been really crazy and busy around here. I got mastitis again in my other side (no hospitalization required this time as I caught it pretty much the second I felt it coming on). Anyhow, since I haven't had a ton of time I wanted to at least post a few more pics. I will post more as soon as I have time to download them from my camera!

My New Weekend Home

So I have a new vacation home where I like to spend my weekends. It is an all inclusive (the food is amazing), 4 star location. This last visit I even got a room with an amazing view of the city. It is pretty expensive, but you are waited on hand and foot. No, it isn't a Sandals vacation resort in the Bahamas...it is the hospital. I really like it there, I can't seem to stay away. I have spent the last three weekends there. In fact since I have had Sloan I have spent more time in the hospital than at home. Last Sunday night at about 3am I woke up very sick. I had uncontrollable chills and a fever of 103.9. I new immediately I had mastitis since I have heard my sisters horrible mastitis stories many times. I called and got an antibiotic and started taking it. The medicine wasn't helping and by Sunday late afternoon my temperature was still 103. I called the doctor again and she asked me to go to the hospital. Long story short they admitted me once again. I was given an IV (I mean they didn't even have to make a hole since I have a permanent one from the last two visits) and pumped a bunch of antibiotics and fluids. After 24 hours of nothing working and a fever that was still spiking to 104, the doctors decided this was more than just mastitis. They think I may have gotten some kind of bacterial infection. The doctor said once in a while there are rare cases of mastitis that are abnormally bad. If there is a way to get a "rare" case of something, leave it to me to get it! So I spent two nights at my home away from home and finally got to go home on Wednesday. The most frustrating part is that I pretty much lost all my milk supply I worked so hard to build up. So we are back at square one of doing everything I can to get my milk to come back in. Who ever said child birth was hard obviously didn't breast feed their child. I have never worked so hard at something in my whole life!!!