Chloe is 2 months

Just like her big brother was at this age, she is growing and gaining weight well. It's surprising how small Isaiah is considering he was pretty big and chunky the first few months of his life. 

Chloe is generally a happy girl unless she is hungry. She holds her head up well during tummy time. She is starting to coo when you talk to her. She always stares at her Kuya Isaiah. She loves to be held and prefers our bed to her rock and play or swing. She has only taken one short nap in her crib ever. I have a feeling she will be strong willed by how challenging she sometimes can be especially during her witching hours. She melts my heart even during the sleepless nights with her beautiful toothless smile. I love my little coco-nuts, my Chloe-girl, my Chlo-Chlo, my Chloe-love. 

Social smile

I am convinced the social smile develops to keep mamas sane through the sleepless nights. 

Chloe is reverse cycling. She will take the minimal amount of pumped breast milk during the day while I am at work and nurse all night. I was hoping that since I have a stretch of 4 days off that I could get her back to doing her long stretches of sleep at night. I doesn't seem to be working. Last night Chloe nursed at 8:30pm, 11:30pm, 2:00am, 5am, 6:30am. I think she also may have nursed at 3:30am but honestly can't remember. 

Mama is tired. 

Nursing strike

**my previous post was written yesterday. About the reverse cycling. Now it's the exact opposite.**

Chloe went on a nursing strike last night and this AM. Refusing to nurse even though I knew she was hungry. At 9pm she nursed fine. Woke up at midnight crying. Refused to latch on an nurse. Milk everywhere. Give her a paci and she passes out. 4:00am she is crying again. I know she is definitely hungry. Continues to refuse to nurse. Milk all over myself and the bed again. Michael forces her to take 2oz of pumped milk in a bottle. Passes out. Then wakes up at 6:30am. Crying. Upset. Offer the boob. She refuses. Takes the paci and falls asleep again. 9:30am. Wakes up. I know she is hungry. Won't nurse. Give her a pumped bottle. Takes 2oz. So a total of 4oz for over 12hrs. Not good. Examine her. Look in her ears but my otoscope sucks. Take her to an urgent care.  Wait an hour to be seen. Luckily they don't make us wait in the waiting room since she is so young. We wait in a room. I try to nurse her again. Still refusing. See a doctor who is trying to convince me that she needs IV fluids. I decide to try to nurse her one more time. She latches immediately and nurses. She get a flu swab and a urine cath to check for a uti. She is really upset so I offer the other boob. And she latches again and nurses just fine. 

Maybe she is coming down with something. Maybe she doesn't feel well. Or maybe she is just LOCA. Coco-NUTS! When we got home she nursed fine again when she woke up. But the next time she woke up, she refused to nurse for 5mins before I finally shoved most of my boob on her mouth. I think this is going to be a LONG night...

Like mother, like daughter

That moment when your daughter gives you a look that you know you've given to others a million times. That's a cool feeling. 

Back to work

I'm back to work. No more snuggling in our pjs all day every day for me & Chloe. Returning to work was bittersweet. In one sense I was ready to go back to work. To use my brain and skills again. To talk to adults. On the other hand I would miss my quiet moments with my baby girl. 

It's been a transition as one would expect. Chloe stopped her long stretches of sleep at night. *insert super sad face* At first she was wanting to nurse every 2hrs at night. Exhausting! Now she is going every 3hrs sometimes 4hrs. I pray that she goes back to those 5-6hr stretches. That was really nice. 

Right now her Lolo Rolly watches her during the day. He is really good with babies so we are blessed. 

Yes, we put the big, not so attractive recliner in the living room. Lolo is used to having one and finds our couches too deep and difficult to get up from. Leather recliner in the living room. I hate the way they look so I remind myself it's only temporary. When my Tita Kamie comes from the Philippines to take care of Chloe in a couple of months, it's going back into hiding in our room until we get our real house and it can then go in the playroom or man-cave along with the million toys we have scattered in the living room now. 

Ain't that the truth!

Longest stretch.

6hrs 25 min. This is the longest stretch of sleep Chloe has done so far. For some reason she seems to sleep longer after Michael gives her a bottle at night vs. nursing. Not sure why because when I pump I make as much, usually more than she drinks. These stretches are definitely not consistent though. 

Had a lunch date with Maris and Bella today. Was hoping Chloe would sleep through lunch but she didn't. At least I got to eat, one handed, and catch up a little. 

I had my 6wk postpartum visit today. I've lost 21lbs since giving birth and have about 10-15lbs more to lose.

Lovely lips

When Chloe was about a week old, her lips turned a dark purple. Don't know why. I was slightly worried about it but didn't think it was really anything bad. I texted a few friends from residency pictures of it, and they agreed that it didn't look pathologic. 

A few weeks later, Chloe has lovely lips.