Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Addison at 7 Weeks!

July 15: 7 Weeks Old!

In the past few weeks, Addison has seen and met almost her entire family! So since everyone has met her and now know her "personality," here's some updates!

Smiling
Addison has begun to smile! Of course, since the day she was born she'd make little smiles every now and again, but it would be immediately followed by a frown so we figured they were not the real thing.
Well, in the past week or so, we've noticed these smiles appearing as a response to us talking to her or making faces at her or her looking at something. And, instead of these smiles fading into frowns, the smiles stay for a few moments and get even bigger. No laughing yet - but we're anxiously awaiting that new developement!
We haven't figured out a sure-fire way to get her to smile, but once we do - you'll be seeing a ton of smiley Addison pictures!

Sleeping
Against all advice I've ever read, Addison spends more time sleeping in between Tim & I in bed than in the pack 'n play which is next to the bed. She begins her night sleeping on Tim's chest until 11-ish, when he puts her in the pack 'n play.
Sometimes she does stay sleeping for a couple hours until she wakes to feed, but sometimes she wants to eat right away. After she eats, I hold her on my chest to burp her and sometimes I fall asleep holding her there. If I don't, and put her in the pack 'n play she begins to cry almost immediately so I give in and bring her into bed again.
She is not sleeping through the night, but usually she'll sleep for 2-3hrs between feedings - sometimes even 4hrs.
I know, I know, there are dangers and stories all over advising us not to do this. But we are as safe as can be. She sleeps on a pillow so neither of us are going to roll over on her, plus we sleep with our arm over belly/legs so she can't roll away. We are working to remedy this...but the hardest thing other than HER not liking it is that it's just so damn cozy snuggling and sleeping with our Silly Baby!

Eating
She's still a champion eater. She nurses for usually 45min and still sometimes longer and then wants to eat again 2hrs later. Sometimes, if I'm in a time crunch, I do cut her off after 20min or so since she still tends to doze on and off throughout the feeding.
She is good taking pumped breast milk from a bottle as well as formula, the couple times we've had to supplement formula in for her when I'm not around.

The next couple weekends we have nothing on our calendar, followed by a very busy month of August so we are going to enjoy time close to home and the summer weather by taking plenty of walks and relaxing by our pool. They say fresh air is great for a baby AND me so I want to take advantage of that!

6 comments:

Andrea said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andrea said...

Don't worry about the sleeping thing. Kathlynn slept in her crib but Edward almost never slept in his. He was always in the bed with us and it was wonderful! Do what feels right and what works for you guys and don't worry about what anyone else (including the "experts") says.

MyMuse said...

You really only hear about a parent rolling over on the baby when they have been drinking heavily. At least that's what i have noticed from the stories on the news. I'm glad nursing is working out so well for you, and that she also takes formula if needed, which is awesome. That's ideal since you have the advantage of giving her breastmilk, but you also have the freedom not to! I have noticed in the recent pics of her how smiley she is. I'm sure with parents like you and Tim, she is bound to be a happy baby!

Monica O'Neill said...

Whew! That makes me feel better! Here I was worried that I was already a terrible parent. But at least with this "wrong-doing" it's not neglect! Actually, it's giving her EXTRA love :)

Monica O'Neill said...

Yea...and I'm a very light sleeper. I wake up when Addison breaths loud..and I'm always in the exact same position as I was when I fell asleep.
Last night, I think she was constipated??? But for whatever reason she didn't want to be anywhere but laying on my chest. So that's how I sat all night on the couch AND slept! So I really wished she could go in the pack n play cuz I really wanted to sleep on my side!! Oh, well...it's nice to know she loves me that much :)

Miss Organizized said...

I think being in drum corps trained you for all the sleeping in strange spots/positions! But like everyone said, do what feels natural!