Andi and KC + Amelie makes 3!: Where does the time go?

I must confess, having this blog is making me feel a bit of deja vu. I fear I've neglected it like I used to neglect my diary as a kid/teenager. I used to make these grand plans to keep a detailed journal, only to get caught up in life and forget to actually write things down. Well, here's hoping I can do better, for Amelie's sake, because I don't want half of these entries to all start with "I'm so bad at keeping up with this!" I'll try to work my way back to catch up eventually (so be on the lookout for mystery posts popping up in the middle!), but for now I'll focus on going forward. I will say, though, that she is only 2 months old, and I don't think in 20 years she'll hate me for not documenting in detail every fussy evening during her few weeks of the Unhappy Hour phase.

August 29, 2012

2 months, 4 days old

Which brings me to why I'm actually able to write in this blog right now - she's asleep! And has been for over a half hour! And it's 7:15pm! Wahoo! At exactly 2 1/2 months old, we are on night 2 of no Unhappy Hour/Witching Hour, and I am hoping that it stays. For those of you who are fortunate enough to be asking yourself, "What the heck is unhappy/witching hour??" I'll enlighten you. It's when your darling angel baby decides that even though all her needs are met, she is gonna cry her fool head off until the right combination of magic tricks are put into play to get her to stop... for 2 minutes. Then she'll decide that she wants a different combination. And maybe she'll fall asleep... for 2 minutes. Then she'll start back at square one ;) This goes on for at least an hour, if not more. Some people are unfortunate enough to have this cycle for 4 hours during the middle of the night! Experts say that Unhappy Hour peaks at about 6-8 weeks, and usually disappears between 3-4 months. For us, it definitely peaked at 6-8 weeks, and has since tapered down such that it isn't an every day occurrence, and when it does happen we're usually able to console her pretty quickly and get her to sleep. Dr. Karp's 5 Ss have been a huge help. (Many thanks to Toni for lending us her copy of Happiest Baby on the Block!) Even if she does wake back up and start fussing again, KC and I have pretty much become pros at getting her calmed within a few minutes. Though I must say, those brief moments where she cries a lot do feel like eons, and break her mamas heart! Here's hoping it completely disappears before we go to Michigan in less than 2 weeks. Amelie will be 12 1/2 weeks then, turning 3 months on the day we fly back. That would put her on the early end of the spectrum, and mama would be pleased!

Amelie has started to mellow back out a bit, which we are thrilled about. When she was younger, she was a very chill little girl. We bragged about how she took her heel sticks (blood tests) like a champ and didn't even cry! Nurses marveled in the hospital at how easy going she was, and we were pleased when visitors lamented the same in the early weeks. But then we had a bit of a rough patch starting around 5 weeks where she became a bit more needy. Since I knew I would be going back to work, I was OK with holding her all the time, and didn't give a hoot about dishes piling up or "getting things done." Thankfully, KC has been awesome at picking up my slack around the house (love him!!). Then I went back to work, and things took some getting used to. Thankfully, I was able to go on a reduced schedule (at least through the end of this month), putting in 3 days of work in 4 days time. KC also moved his 'weekends' to Monday/Tuesday, so we would both be able to get a bit more sleep. This way he's available to help me with the night shift on two work nights, and I'm home during the day on the weekend to let him sleep longer. We watches her while I'm at work during the week, and goes to bed when I get home between 1 & 2pm (work starts for him at 11 each night). I think we're finally getting into a groove now, and I hope to start getting more on top of things like this blog. SO, allow me to get to what you're really here for... pictures!

September 3, 2012 (Labor Day)

2 months, 9 days old

Hanging out in a pretty dress