The Journey of Parenthood…

Week 12 Summary

We were in Hawaii during Tess’s entire 11th week of life so this is picking up from when we got back home 🙂 Tess turned 11 weeks old on Thursday October 16th and therefore her 12th week of life was from Oct 16th – Oct 22nd!

My Hawaiian baby! 

Hawaii: Tess did AWESOME while we were away. Her 2nd wonder week finished up the day before we left so she was a legit ANGEL for Mrs. Charlotte the whole week. Great naps, great night sleep, even great bottle eating! I was mildly jealous that Mrs. Charlotte had the benefit of enjoying Tess at her best 😉 

Nursing: Tess had NO issues getting right back to nursing when we got home. It’s like we’d never been away 🙂 Mrs. Charlotte said she didn’t spit up hardly at all the whole week so I know her spitting up is due to my supply. I found by pumping for 5-6 minutes prior to her first feeding of the day that it helps minimize her spit up! 

Schedule: Tess remained on the 3.5/3 hour combo schedule this week. She nursed at 7, 10:30, 2, 5, 8 and 10:30

Sleep: She slept amazing for Mrs. Charlotte and for that I’m SO thankful. However, Mrs. Charlotte said Tess never cried when she laid her down for naps. This is a baby who ALWAYS cries when I lay her down so that told me that most likely Mrs. Charlotte was probably holding her too long and therefore she wasn’t self soothing to sleep. Our first day back she cried MEGA HARD at each nap and I could just tell she’d forgotten how to settle herself to sleep. I ended up completely stopping any holding prior to naps. I just started swaddling her and laying her down to sleep. My goal was to get her back to putting herself to sleep without needing to be held! 

So now before naps I swaddle and sing to her then hold her while I turn off her light and turn on her fan then put her down fully awake. She seems to be happier about bedtime and much less fussy by doing this! She will grunt or “talk” but is happy until she falls asleep!

She had a bad day the first day we got home. I read somewhere that babies are like dogs: they don’t miss you (or realize you are away) until you get home. So I think that’s what was happening? Because she was very fussy and upset! But the day after, she went back to being normal. 

I started working on making her awake times longer this week. I tried 1 hour and 15 min and she yawned as I was putting her down so I took that as a good sign! 

Her third wonder week started on Oct 21st. This is the leap of “smooth transitions.” Ironic name since  it’s the leap where she stopped being able to transition in her dang sleep! haha! She started waking early in the mornings. Thankfully it was always in the 5 am hour. Zach and I debated if it was due to wonder week or if she was legit hungry. We were thinking maybe since she drank bottles for a full week that her stomach stretched some? 

Swaddle: This week swaddle issues began. If Tess ever is able to kick her leg(s) out of the swaddle then she wakes up (sidebar: I totally, 100% think Tess is a “sensitive” personality type. I mean most babies do NOT have issues if they kick out the swaddle right?!?!). I have been a big fan of the Miracle Blanket for a long time but am SUPER annoyed by how inconsistently it’s made. Some of the ones I own are tighter fit than others. She kept kicking out and it’d wake her up so I started double swaddling her using two Miracle Blankets. I did one like normal then I took a second one and turned it backwards and did it. That way her legs couldn’t escape! I decided to order a Woombie as I know they are impossible for the feet to break out of (more on that next post b/c it didn’t arrive during this week). In the meantime I did my double swaddle technique and then Zach showed me how to make the Miracle Blanket super mega tight so I started doing that instead! 

Bald Spot: The BIG change in Tess from when we went on the trip was her hair loss. She wasn’t balding AT ALL when we left. In just one week it went from great to this:

I was pretty bummed about the hair situation. I mean I expected it but I’d been trying SO hard to not let it happen! Thankfully her head is still very round so I’m not concerned about flatness. It’s so funny how she has so much hair and then BAM! Bald spot! The hair growing in is SUPER light blond so I’m interested to see what color her hair ends up being!

Bumbo: The other big thing from this week was the Bumbo! I could tell Tess was ready for it as she had great head control this week. When I put her in the bouncer seat she started trying to “sit up” so I knew she could handle a little time in the Bumbo. I know there have been a lot of issues with the Bumbo chair…but I love it. And, yes, I sit right beside her the whole time. And, no, I don’t put it up on the table or anything. Here’s a ton of pics of her new seat:

More About Tess:

  • When we got home I couldn’t get over how CHUBBY she looked and how light her hair had gotten! It is also growing so long and so much thicker! And her roots are for sure blonde so she may not be my Pocahontas baby for long!
  • Her nb dresses and 0-3 month onesies no longer fit, although the nb size sleepers still do!
  • She started playing with her tongue a lot this week
  • Whenever she’s awake she puts her hands up to her mouth. My guess is she will be a thumb sucker because the angle she puts her hands seems like it’ll be her thumb that she goes for
  • She started doing an adorable fake cough/sneeze sound!
  • She started having a lot more gas so I talked to Z about maybe taking her back to the chiropractor
  • Tess has CRAZY hair. I tried a system for getting it to lay down where when I bathed her I constantly pushed the hair forward. It kinda worked?
  • I know it’s normal for babies to learn a skill and then stop doing it. I am a little worried that she’s 11 weeks old and hasn’t rolled over in awhile?
  • Her smile is HUGE and does an adorable open mouth gummy grin
  • My favorite time with her is right after she’s done nursing. She sits in my lap and I cover her with kisses and we smile and giggle non stop
  • here’s a video of her talking and cooing
  • She really likes her playmat and will smile and coo to all her toys
  • My favorite body part of Tess’s is her hands. They are SO sweet and soft. I love, love, love to hold them and kiss on them while she’s nursing. 

More pics from this week!

Kye helping me try to get a picture of that cute smile!

cuddling after nursing

Postpartum Update: I WISH I could say that going on vacation allowed me to feel refreshed and well rested but that was not the case! I was exhausted. The waking to pump. The traveling. The sickness. The single-mom life with Zach traveling. I was just WORE OUT. 

I have noticed that with Tess my skin has been SUPER clear. I remember with Britt having a lot of skin issues. Tess has very clear skin too and I wonder if that’s connected?

Sibling Comparisons: Here is Kye’s week 12 summary  I love the video of Kye’s sneezing…child STILL always sneezes multiple times in a row 🙂 I also don’t think he looks anything like Tess? Can y’all believe that BALD head?!?!?

Here is Britt’s week 12 summary Britt was SUCH a better sleeper than Tess. Tess is MUCH more like Kye. I blamed a lot of Kye’s sleep issues on the paci and on my lack of baby wise knowledge but now I realize it was just him because his second little sister is just like him. I’m a little envious of myself when I read about Britt’s great sleep and how well she responded to cry it out. I’m writing this when Tess is 16 weeks old and I’m still trying to figure out how to get her to sleep for a full nap! 

I think it’s also interesting to read that during this week I felt like myself again after having Britt. I do remember many days breaking down crying. I wonder if I struggled with a touch of PPD then but didn’t realize it? The hormones for sure took longer to chill out after Tess too!

Emily Parker
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