AJ's Second Month Update

I said this last time but the month has flown by and already AJ is 2 months old!

This past month has been a real test for us because we have spent the majority of it with a very fussy baby, which is not like AJ at all. Most of it could be because of the first mental leap she went through, but we’ve also had a couple of other things happen in this month that could have caused it.

So without further adieu, let's get into this month's updates.

 

Family Life

Things have kind of changed in the house since our last update. T has gone back to work so for the majority of the week it is just me and AJ at home with Arlo and Daphne. The switch hasn’t made that much of an impact. If I look at things, generally the only day where it gets hard when T isn’t home is Tuesdays and that’s because he has a late start and a late finish, so I’m on my own in the evening that day when I would normally have his help to clean up in the evening and everything.

We have had a couple of firsts though in regards to our small little family. We had T’s first overnight away from us a week and a half after he went back and then a few days later we had our first weekend where T had to work. Both were challenging but they weren’t horribly bad.

Ok, the night T was away was bad because when I wasn’t being woken up by AJ, I was being woken up by Arlo and Daphne.

Otherwise, we’ve adjusted very well.

I’m generally a homebody anyway but I had been hoping that around this time AJ and I would be able to get out and do a couple of activities like Baby Bounce. Unfortunately, I put those plans on hold when COVID-19 started to get worse and we’ve basically been at home unless we’ve had to go do the weekly shop. With my asthma, I fall under the at-risk category but I’m not overly concerned that something is going to happen. No one in my area has been infected by it and I’ve been treating it the same way I treat flu season.

Before COVID-19 became as big as it was, AJ finally got to meet her Great-Grandfather and Great Uncle. I wish she had been a little more awake as I would have loved to get some photos of her with them, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to.

The only other big thing that needs to be reported in regards to our family is that we are a few weeks out from our move. It feels like it has been looming over the horizon for so long and now in the space of a week we’ve managed to get everything organised and ready.

Health

With this month came our first GP appointment for both me and AJ but before that, we had to have AJ’s follow up after she was in the hospital for her virus.

The paediatrician passed her with flying colours. She was hitting all the marks that she was meant to and while she was still sniffly she just suggested we keep going with the saline drops. Its been a few weeks and she’s still sniffly but I’m starting to suspect that she is just like me in that regard as I’m sometimes randomly congested as well. Our GP was happy with her as well and both said that she was flourishing and to keep up what we were doing.

She had her six-week vaccinations and handled them very well. I was surprised with her reaction when she got them, however, as she cried more for them than when she got a lumbar puncture two weeks before. I don’t know whether it was more painful or what. She did calm down very quickly and within five minutes was fast asleep.

Feeding

I’ve mentioned before that AJ only gets upset when she’s not being fed fast enough and this has not changed. What has changed however is her reflux. I was originally going to talk about this in her health second, but it seemed a lot more relevant here.

Due to the panic hoarding that is happening, we had some issues getting the formula that we give her. Woolworths checked out the back for us but there was nothing. We were lucky to still have half a can so we had a couple of days to track something down but it was still frustrating as it looked like the five that Woolworths had on file had been stolen. We decided to check the pharmacy while we were there as we were hoping to get AJ something to help with her reflux. Unfortunately a lot of the stuff there we would have had to talk to a doctor about and then we discovered the formula we had been feeding us had been discontinued.

It was then the pharmacist told us that it may be worth giving a reflux formula a try. While we didn’t have a lot of irritability with AJ as I’ve seen other reflux babies have, the pharmacist said that the one they have in stock would still help with her vomiting. So we grabbed a can and decided to give it a try.

We had instant results in 24 hours.

She went from throwing up half to three-quarters of her feeds to just spitting up. It was completely turn around. Within 48 we had a completely different baby who was much happier and much more smiley than the one we had previously. We’re a week into this new formula and the only side effect that we have had is that she’s a bit constipated. However, we’re working through that and overall her eating at the moment had been amazing!

Sleeping

This month we’ve seen a lot of changes in regards to her sleeping habits. During the day she has gone

from sleeping for an hour to an hour and a half to catnapping. Now at nine weeks, we’re finally seeing an end to that as she’s just had one thing after the other hit it, but we’re still having some issues trying to get her to sleep well.  

At night, she has gone from being able to fall asleep easily to struggling and it has resulted in her not going to sleep until 9pm. I’ve been trying a lot of different techniques to see what works best with her, but I’m not seeing much change. I think a lot of that has got to do with her constipation at the moment so I’m not feeling as if we’ve lost everything that we once had, just that she’s in a bit of pain and it’s stopping her from falling asleep like normal.

However, on the flip side of all of this we are seeing her sleep a lot more overnight. After a dream feed at 10:30pm-11pm, AJ will stay asleep until 3am-4am then after a bottle, she’ll go back to sleep and you won’t hear from her until 7am. So, while we’re still figuring out everything else, her overnight sleeps are amazing.

Development

AJ has had a lot happen this month in terms of her development. She’s gone through her first mental leap that has resulted in a much more alert and aware baby. She is now watching everything around her with a lot more intensity and her favourite things to watch are Arlo and Daphne. She has discovered her tongue, as it has been doing a lot of poking out, and her hands and fingers are also being explored.

Her movement are starting to become a lot less jerky compared to how they were before and she has become quite the little wiggle worm. She still hates tummy time but she can hold her head up beautifully and her chest is starting to come up as well. When she’s not doing that however she is laying on her stomach and pushing her legs. This has resulted in her pushing herself across her tummy time mat. We’ve also witnessed her rolling from her stomach to her back during one of these wriggly moments, so we’re now a lot more on top of her in regards to watching her during changing times and in her swing.

She has also found her voice and is happily making all the noises she can at the moment.

However, my favourite thing that has happened this month is that she is finally smiling intentionally. We’ve had a lot of unintentional smiles over the past few weeks but AJ is finally smiling at people intentionally now and it is the best! I will say I am jealous. While T and I have to work to get her to smile, Arlo and Daphne need only to exist and she is smiling at them.

Mum and Dad

Even with the challenges and the changes that we have had this month, T and I are doing well. We have been working through everything as it happens and other than being a little more tired than usual, we’re doing OK.

T is a man who won’t verbally tell you how he feels, unless it is telling me that he loves me, but it’s been obvious that he’s been missing AJ a lot. So much so, that on the weekend that he was meant to work, he took AJ with him and I had my first baby-free morning in seven weeks. That hot cup of tea that I had after they left was beautiful!

We’re both getting very excited to move out of Sydney and back out to the country. As much as I have loved living up here, I’m still very much a country girl at heart and I’m looking forward to being out and away from all the traffic and everything that comes with living in Sydney. The count down is on and the next time I do one of these it’ll be from our new house!

What’s coming up?

As I’ve stated a couple of times, we have got a big move coming up this month, which means saying goodbye to everyone. On the plus side, we’re going to be moving closer to my family and I’m going to be within 3 hours of them for the first time in ten years.

One of my brothers has yet to meet AJ, so he is going to get the chance to meet her on the Easter weekend. And speaking of Easter, AJ is going to be having her first Easter this month as well, so I’m in the process of working out what she’s going to get, which is a lot harder than I thought for a baby under 3 months.