11 weeks old, and 2 weeks behind

so sorry! i know i haven't been keeping up on the info about our little anna jae. it's been a rough few weeks around here. dave's working a lot. i hurt my tailbone in some mystery way and was in excrutiating pain for about 5 days, and i'm still not 100% ok when sitting for a while. anna has been taken out a bunch and thrown off schedule, which clearly does not agree with her. and i'm trying to get back to work. all in all, it's been good but crazy.

our girl is growing bigger every day. i go to a breastfeeding support group on tuesdays, and you can weigh your baby there. as of yesterday (at 11 weeks old), she weighed 10 lbs., 15 oz... basically 11 lbs. i can't believe it! she's getting so big so fast. i guess it's cause she eats a lot -- anna takes in about 5-5.5 oz. per feeding, 6 feedings a day. crazy! she's almost completely out of her 3 month clothes and moving up into the 3-6 month outfits.

we had some issues with really long nursing sessions recently. anna is not known to be a fast eater, even with a bottle. she likes to take her time -- more like her dad that way than her mom. but our nursing sessions went from a long 45 minutes to a ridiculously long hour-and-a-half. it started out as a growth spurt i think, but sort of resulted in a slow let-down from me, which made me stress about my slow let-down, which made the let down even slower. ugh. vicious cycle. but i've been trying to not think about it too much, and the more distracted i am from the situation, the quicker she finishes up. again, not quick, but we're back to about 45-50 minutes on average, which is normal for her.

anna jae is doing so well otherwise though. she has begun sleeping through the night, without awakening at all, and in her crib! and she started doing this at 2 months old, when i hurt my tailbone and didn't want to bend over the swing or bassinet. i used the crib for naps and bedtime that weekend, and she took to it right away. of course, we still have to swaddle the hell out of her, but it's nice knowing that she'll go for 6.5 or 7 hours straight without needing us to soothe her back to sleep. we bought big muslin blankets over the weekend so that we could do a better swaddle on her (she was getting too big for her receiving blanket swaddle and breaking out of everything). works like a charm. and the best part? when she wakes for her first feeding of the day, she goes right back to sleep after she eats, and sleeps until 10 or 10:30. awesome!

anna is a baby that clearly responds well to scheduling, so she does best on a normal day at home where she can take her regular naps (usually after about 2 hours of being up) and be in her favorite surroundings. not always possible, of course, because real life has to occur and mommy needs to leave the house from time to time -- mostly for my sanity. if i can fit in errands or a walk between feedings, it doesn't disrupt her too much. but if we're out for the whole day, and she's in new places, she's too curious to sleep and then gets uber-cranky. and i pay for it for the next 2 days... but she's getting better. and overall she's a very happy baby.

our little girls is a gabber. she loves to talk to us! she smiles and laughs and then has full-on baby conversations with us. it's fabulous. i think she's going to start talking very early.

grandma (and sometimes grandpa) have been coming by once a week to babysit while i work. it's been a good start for all of us. anna had trouble at first doing her usual tasks, like napping, with anyone other than me. even dave was having trouble getting her to settle down for a nap. but she has adjusted quickly to others, and now gives them only the same amount of trouble she gives me. ::wink:: we'll do this for another week or two at our place so that she can be in her own surroundings, and then we'll start going to grandma and grandpa's. i'll be working out there most of the time so that i don't waste time with the commute (and money over the bridge).

ok, i think i've caught you all up. we are going upstate this weekend to visit nana, uncle noah, and aunt olivia. we're excited, but nervous about the ride up there. wish us luck!