No more pumping!!

Yesterday I decided to start weaning Abby. I have not really enjoyed the breastfeeding experience and had planned to wean her before I head back to work in March. Since I have enough breast milk frozen to last another week or so I went ahead and stopped yesterday after talking with my doctor at my six week postpartum check up. Dr. DeHoff made me feel a little less guilty by reassuring me that she has already benfited tremendously from the breast milk that she received these first few months. Furthermore, I just could not see myself at work pumping and staying on the same schedule. Little did I know it would be so extremely painful for me to stop the feeding and pumping. I was up most of the night agonizing and taking ibuprofen for the pain. In fact I looked at Heth at one point and said I'd rather birth a child right now. It felt like someone was cutting into me and poking me with pins and needles. Thank heavens the pain was finally bearable this morning and has continued to subside. I can't tell you the freedom I already feel not having to breastfeed or pump. More power to those that can keep it up, it just was not for me. If we end up having another child he or she will probably be lucky if I breastfeed for the first few weeks. It's amazing how obsessed I was with the feeding and pumping and now I feel totally liberated.
Last night Abby had one of her fussy nights. Its as though nothing was going to make her happy for about an hour and half. Heth stayed up with her and she finally went to sleep after 11 or so. She is such a happy baby during the day and sometimes at night she turns into what we call the wildwoman. Crying and screaming regardless of what you do. Everything I've read says that their nighttime fussiness peaks at around six weeks, so hopefully she will be over this phase soon. She continues to smile and make new sounds everyday now. She is especially alert in the early morning when she seems to smile the most. Every day I look at her and she is just growing so fast I can't believe it. She has this little adorable round face now with little pudgy baby legs and belly. I need to take some pictures tomorrow to add to the blog so you can see how much she is growing. I have only two weeks left with her until I return to work. However I am so excited that my mom decided to quit work and keep her for us full time this year and next year. I can't imagine leaving my sweet girl in the hands of a stranger and so thankful that my mom will be able to care for her. Abby loves her grandma already!

One Month Check-up

Yesterday Abby had her one month check-up with Dr. Craig. She weighed in at 10lbs. and was 22 inches long. I can't believe how much she's grown already. She was in the 80th percentile for both height and weight- at least she's growing porpotionally :) I was also surprised that she didn't cry at all for Dr. Craig. He checked her out and he even commented on how alert she was for a 5 week old baby. Now her problem is not wanting to take naps in the afternoon. She really wants to stay awake and make sure she doesn't miss anything. Then she gets so exhausted by late afternoon that she starts sleeping longer stretches of time. I told Heth tonight that this is hopefully moving her into more nighttime sleep which translates into more sleep for us. I can't wait til the day that she is sleeping through the night. Most days I'm not too tired but it's just not the same if your sleep is interupted every three hours or so. Last night Heth let me sleep a little longer because I was so tired. He said I woke up at one point and heard her crying and said, "No, no, that's a good baby, shhh, shhh", and then went instantly back to sleep. I don't recall even hearing her or waking up. We both laughed because Heth did something similar several weeks ago. Now we have decided when you're talking crazy in your sleep like that you need some rest and we'll let the other person sleep.
Today my mom kept Abby for a few hours while I made an unsuccessful attempt at shopping for some clothes. I have next to nothing that will fit me right now. Yesterday I finally came to grips with the fact that it will take me longer than I thought to lose the pregnancy pounds. Those were nine glorious months of french fries, Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, cheerwine slushies, and milkshakes. Who says being pregnant is that bad? Now its back to Lean Cuisines, grilled chicken, veggies, salads, and a workout routine. Hopefully by the summer I'll be close to my prepregnancy weight. I have lost about 25 pounds and have at least 17-20 to go. So, with that being said, I need to buy a few things to hold me over until I shrink some more.

Play and Smile

I was finally able to catch Abby smiling while she was playing today. She has become more aware of her surroundings over the past week or so and likes to play and watch herself in the mirror on her play mat. She also loves to move her arms and legs around- I think she is going to be a very active little girl. Tomorrow she goes for her visit with Dr. Craig. Hopefully she doesn't have to get too many shots. We'll keep you updated on her visit.

The bird and the snake

Every day this week after I have left for work, Cindy has been awaken to the sound of pecking and scratching at the window. The first day it startled her since she knew I had left for work and no one else was, or should be, in the house. She quickly discovered the reason for the noise.

We had our front windows on the house treated a few years ago to help reduce the the amount of heat the was coming in from the afternoon sun. As a result, the windows now have a reflective quality, just like sunglasses have mirrored lenses. Apparently a robin has deceided that there is another bird who looks just like him or her and it does not like it. I finally got to see the bird in action this morning and let me tell you, it is quite annoying. At 7am this morning I was standing in my front yard in my pajamas, no shoes and my cowboy hat. I was waiting to throw the hat at the bird if it returned but after five minutes of freezing I headed inside. As soon as I was inside I heard "peck" and I looked up to see the bird once again at the window. The next solution was to throw tennis balls at the window in an attempt to scare the bird away. It worked for a while but the bird still returns.

Cindy and I had the idea to try and get rid of the bird for good. We went to Target today and bought a plastic snake. It's bright yellow and about two feet long. I used my golf ball retreiver to place it on the window sill in hopes of using the birds natural instincts to keep it away from the window. For his sake, we hope this works. The next step may be a more permanent solution, in the form of a pellet rifle.

"Opossum"

Abby is my little "Opossum." This is the nickname I have developed for her over the past few weeks. I know opossum are not very lovely creatures, but looks are not what gives her this nickname. She gets the nickname because she plays "opossum" with me quite frequently. Sometimes when Cindy or I feed her, she will drink one or two ounces of formula and then "go to sleep," only to wake up in a few minutes screaming at us for not continuing to feed her. Sometimes she likes to get in her swing or lay on our chest and play like she's asleep. I have found this usually this happens between midnight and 4am. Just about the time you think she is asleep and you try to place her in her crib, Miss Abby decides "It's not quite time to sleep." Other nicknames have come and gone over the past few weeks, including pumpkin, Driver 8 (when she is feeding and needs to burp I tell her to "Take a break Driver 8. I have no idea why) and angel but none have stuck like "Opossum." So, until she figures out what a opossum is and begins to resent me for calling her one, she will be our little "Opossum."

Abby's 4 Week Old 4AM Smiles

Last night I went into get Miss Abby as she was waking up around 4AM to find a happy little baby girl. She was wide awake and ready for her bottle. As I was getting ready to feed her I was talking and playing with her and she smiled at me 3 times!! I couldn't believe it. I was thinking it would take her a few more weeks before we would see her beautiful little face light up. I was so excited I went in and woke Heth up to let him know. The last few days I noticed she would give me half smiles but this was the real thing. It made that 4 AM feeding all the more worthwhile. I know there will be many more smiles to come in the days ahead.

Abby's Weekend With Aunt Erica, PawPaw and Cousins Brody and Bryleigh

This past weekend Abby got to meet her aunt and cousins! Erica, Brody, Bryleigh and PawPaw Kendrick all came to see her on Friday and stayed until Monday morning. We all hung around the house, Brody and Heth did a lot of playing on the golf course, Bryleigh strolled around in her little walker all weekend, and Abby did her usual, eat, sleep, poop. We were glad that she got to meet her family. I can't wait until Bryleigh and Abby are a little older so they can play and hang out together. Some of the best times I've had were with my cousin Stephanie and I hope she will also be close to her cousins even though they live in Alabama.

I got out Abbys Baby Einstein play set and tried it out this weekend. She seems to really like looking around at all the objects hanging and the bright colors. Yesterday I am almost convinced that she made a little smile and tried to laugh. She is definitely making a lot more of her baby noises now. I tried to weigh her today and I think she is at least 9 and 1/2 pounds already. I can't believe how fast she is growing. Today I put on a little outfit that I brought her home from the hospital in and it looks like she's got on capri pants. It was a happy and sad moment for me. I want her to grow but I still want to think of her as my little baby girl. Heth and I were talking tonight about how these last four weeks of our life have been so different but now we can't ever imagine life without our Abby. After praying and waiting for so long God created a little girl that is perfect in every way for us.

The first days back at Work

Well, the first few days back at work have come and gone and things have gone very well. It was hard leaving Cindy and Abby on Wednesday morning but Cindy was such an angel and let me get about 7 hours of sleep the night before. This made the return to the office much easier and helped me focus on getting back into the swing of things.

Abby is doing great as she closes in on week #3. She has kept all of her brown hair and her little belly button is healing nicely. Her eyes remain a slate colored gray but Cindy tells me this should change in the next few months. Cindy and I are both getting a bit of cabin fever since we haven't ventured out too often since she was born. Other than leaving for work and doctor's visits, we have only ventured out a few times to vist family. Needless to say we are both ready to be able to take her out for a few walks in the neighborhood or at the mall.