Two Months

Gretchen turned two months old on July 11th, 2011. Our little girl isn't so little anymore. She had her two month appointment with the pediatrician on July 13th, 2011, and it went very well. Here's a rundown of what occurred:

- Basic Check Up (eyes, ears, mouth, back, and overall body look over)

- Vaccinations:

-Hepatitis B

-Polio
-Pneumococcal Disease

-Diphtheria, Tetanus & Pertussis

-Rotavirus

-HIB

She did very well with her vaccinations. She drank the oral vaccination like a champ, and took the other two with very little crying. She fell asleep shortly after the vaccinations and slept a good portion of the day. She did develop a mild grade fever at night, but we weren't concerned due to her smiling and happiness that she was able to exhibit. She did act fussier than normal, but wouldn't you after having all of those vaccinations? Ouch. Luckily, the nurse consolidates the shots into two different injections instead of several individual shots. By the next day Gretchen was acting more like herself (towards the evening). All went well and she's doing great.

I wanted to share her stats at birth along with her stats at her two month appointment to show how much she is growing:

Birth Weight: 9 lbs., 4 oz. (she left the hospital at 8 lbs., 10 oz -- completely normal to drop weight at birth)

Birth Height: 21.5 in.

One Week Weight: 9 lbs., 2 oz.

Two Week Weight: 9 lbs., 14 oz.

Two Week Height: 21.25 in. (Clearly she didn't shrink, this is just what they recorded. All they do is trace her outline and measure that, so a wiggly baby would be hard to measure accurately.)

Two Week Head Circumference: 14.02 in.

Two Month Weight: 14 lbs., 4 oz.

Two Month Height: 23 in.

Two Month Head Circumference: 15.51 in.

As you can see, Gretchen is one healthy girl! We are so blessed and happy.

Another major change that occurred this month was we went from nursing to formula feeding at 8 weeks old. It was a hard choice for me, but Gretchen and I were struggling and she wasn't eating enough in a day. Obviously it wasn't impacting her weight gain, but she would cry for hours at night due to latch and letdown problems. I finally decided, after struggling with lactation consultants, that we would try formula. It wasn't my first choice, because of the health benefits that nursing provides to babies or the financial responsibilities it requires. In fact, bottle feeding formula is harder in almost all aspects, especially maintenance (cleaning the bottles, preparing them, giving them, etc.). However, it's what works best for our family, and we're finally able to do things and be happy. I didn't notice how much nursing was stressing me out until I stepped back and looked at the overall picture. I'm happy that I can now focus on my family and enjoy our time together. As we all know, time flies by way too fast.

Some major milestones that occurred in the past month were:

- Gretchen smiles and laughs, especially when we do silly things (a funny face or sound).

- Gretchen can almost roll over.

- Gretchen has discovered her ears and the back of her head, so she spends a lot of time bending her arm and reaching to the back of her hair.

- Gretchen plays on her play mat with her toys (grabbing, swinging, batting at them) for nearly an hour.

- Gretchen can mimic your facial expressions (Nate was making a fish face and she was trying it a few hour later when no one was really looking -- I caught a quick glimpse).

- Gretchen talks and can repeat what you say (i.e., we say "ah-goo" and she will say it back in her adorable voice).

- Gretchen sleeps through the night from 9:30-10:30 (anywhere in between) and sleeps until 5:00 - 6:00 in the morning!

- Gretchen blows spit bubbles like it is her job (still really cute, ha).

- Gretchen has quite the strong grip and will hang onto things tightly for long periods of time.

- Gretchen can sit in her Bumbo chair (it's a little chair designed for small children to help with sitting upright) for a few minutes at a time (it's best not to have her in there for long periods of time until she's a supported sitter).

- Gretchen tracks objects.

- Gretchen looks when you speak and recognizes familiar faces.

We have also been able to bring Gretchen out to eat multiple times, shopping for long stretches at a time, and even to a pool party this past weekend (the 16th). She slept the entire drive (1.5 hours there, 1.5 hours back) and was VERY good while we were there. It's nice to be able to live our lives and bring her with us. For the longest time we thought that we'd have to change everything and stay inside a lot. Fortunately, we have overcome that first difficult month and are making the best of it all.

There are other milestones, I'm sure, but those are the big ones! Gretchen will be having some photographs taken this upcoming Friday, July 22nd, with Darling Photography (the same photographer that took her newborn photographs). I'll be sure to post those as soon as I see them.

Evidence that Gretchen has mastered the act of blowing a spit bubble:

Gretchen and her Daddy that loves her oh-so-much:

Gretchen and her Mommy that loves her oh-so-much:

Gretchen modeling her new strawberry dress that Daddy bought:

Gretchen with her Grammy Sawyer and cousin Marissa:

Gretchen had the opportunity to meet her Great Grandmother Page this week, as well as her Great Grandfather, Hal (not in the photograph). This is a four generation photograph of my Nana Page, Mom (MiMi), Me, and Gretchen:

I don't think I posted the other four generations photograph I have with Gretchen's Great Grandmother Perry, My Mom, Myself and Gretchen:

Stay tuned for some new photographs from Gretchen's Darling Photography photo shoot that Gretchen and I are going to on Friday, the 22nd.