-This month was a little harder than the first month. Around 5 weeks she started getting a lot more fussy and would cry every time I fed her. It got pretty bad, to the point where she would sometimes refuse to eat and arch her back and kick her legs when she cried. Thankfully, a friend mentioned that it could be reflux, so we took her to the doctor. The doctor agreed about the reflux and prescribed some medicine. It helped a little bit. It calmed her down enough that she was able to get through feedings, but she would still cry at the end of feedings until she was burped. At her two-month checkup yesterday, the doctor said she thought Emily might respond better to a stronger medication so we're planning on starting that soon. She was a lot fussier in general this month and it was a little discouraging some of the time. After reading some books and getting advice from friends we were able to help out with that. But the last week has been so much better so I think we might be past her fussiest point. Now, looking back on it, I feel like it wasn't that bad, but I probably wouldn't have told you that in the moment. It's crazy how fast we can forget those things :) And luckily, even during her fussy days, she still had happy, smiley moments that made it all okay. We're glad to see those smiling faces coming out more often.
-Because of the reflux, Emily was eating smaller, more frequent meals for a while. She's eating a little more now, but she's still up a few times at night. She pretty much eats every 3 hours 'round the clock. The past three nights, we've seen a glimpse of better sleep patterns forming. Monday and Tuesday night she went 5-6 hours her first stretch and then about 3 after that. Last night was incredible... She slept 7 hours and then 4 hours after that. And we found her awake in the morning smiling and talking to herself in bed. What a great Thanksgiving gift! We're thinking it could possibly have something to do with her being tired from her shots yesterday, but we're hoping it means good news for nights to come. Her naps in the day are a little shorter and she's starting to become much more social while she's up.
-Toward the beginning of this month, Emily started losing some of the hair on the sides of her head from the way she laid while sleeping. The hair on the back of her head started getting much longer than the rest and it looked like she had a little mullet. All of her hair has started growing out again. It's spikey and really cute. Inside it sometimes looks brown, but when we're outside it's a definite red and it usually shows up more red in pictures.
-She's been mistaken for a boy twice now. One time it was understandable because she was wearing green and I had taken her headband off. The other time was a little surprising. Emily was wearing purple and she had a purple headband on. The lady looked at her and said "Oh, look at him sleeping. He's so cute!" Really? She also commented on how much she liked "his" car seat cover, which has flowers on it and adds to the girliness. I couldn't believe it!
-Emily is a talker! She loves having conversations with anything and anyone. Some of her favorite things to talk to are lights, colorful patterns, the bugs on her mobile, and the dots on the inside of her carseat cover. Sometimes these things are funny to her and she laughs a lot at them (which right now usually comes out as a gurgle sound). She's started using consonants sometimes when she coos. Usually it's still just vowel sounds, but she has used the letters h, k, and g. She focuses a lot better on things and is fascinated by what she sees. She could spend all day long staring at lights. If you hold her up in a burping position, she'll lean back as far as she can to see the lights above you. It's adorable.
-She still loves bath time, and she's actually gotten to where she likes the shampooing part, too. For our bedtime routine we'll have a bath (not every night), put on pjs, nurse, and then sit in the rocking chair for lullabies. She loves rocking and listening to me or Grant sing. Sometimes she'll sing along with us. It does a great job of calming her down enough to get her to go to sleep. She still tries to fight sleep sometimes, though. She'd rather be up with us. One of my favorite things when she's tired (whether it's after she wakes up or when she's about to go down) is that she'll rub her eyes with the back of her hands. If she's swaddled up or in a position where she can't get her hands to her eyes, she'll rub her face against the shoulder of whoever's holding her. It's adorable!
-Some of the things that work best to calm Emily down when she's upset are taking her outside, swaddling her, walking around with her, or giving her a pacifier (not necessarily all of those things together).
-Emily would still much rather be held by someone than left in her bed or a carrier. She's usually okay in her carseat as long as the car is moving. She'll usually cry whenever we get to a stop light and then she'll be okay when the car starts moving again. Sometimes when I try to put her down to sleep she'll be okay for a few minutes and then start crying. The second I pick her up or put her in the big bed she'll go right back to sleep. She definitely prefers sleeping in someone's arms. We don't want to sleep train her just yet, so we'll see how that goes in a month or two.
-She's rolled over twice, but we think they were flukes because she hasn't done it since then. The other day, Grant was getting ready for work and found her laying on her side in her sleep. And today I saw her roll onto her side while sleeping. I don't think it will be long before she rolls over for real and starts doing it on a more regular basis.
We're having a great time with this little girl! We're so glad to see her becoming happier more of the time. She's growing and learning so much every day and I'm sad to see how fast she's changing! But it's also a lot of fun getting to watch the growth in our little baby. We can't wait to see what the future has in store for us and Miss Emily!
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