Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Two Fun Weekends

Last weekend Jason, Matilda, and our friend, Justin, went camping at Village Creek State Park out near Beaumont.  I wasn't ready to camp overnight with Mabel yet, so she and I just joined for the day. 


We hiked a mile or so to the park's swimming area.  Matilda said this was her favorite part of the weekend.  Mabel and I just rested in the shade to stay cool.



Matilda had such a great time camping!  I hope Mabel loves it as much as she does.


Trey, Mel, and the kids joined us for Memorial Day weekend.  On Saturday, we took the kids to the zoo.  They had a good time playing in the splash pad.


My parents joined us at our house during the afternoon.  The kids tried to stay cool and played with water in the backyard.


 We love having them visit!

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Mabel's First Month



Stats: At her two week appointment, Mabel weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces (27th percentile) and was 20.75 inches long (78th percentile).  She's grown out of her newborn clothes and is filling out her 3 month clothes already.  She seems so big to me, so we weighed her last night and she is already 9 pounds! 


One thing you might notice is that she has a birthmark along her hairline.  It's a benign tumor called a Nevus Sebaceous, and is pretty rare (0.3% chance of occurrence).  There are some pretty scary rare diseases associated with it, but given it's size and placement, our pediatrician and the dermatologist are pretty confident that it will just be a cosmetic thing.  The size of it will grow along with her.  It may have some appearance changes through puberty (become warty) and has a ~1% chance of becoming cancerous during adulthood.  We were given several options regarding removal, one of which is to leave it alone for now, so we'll cross that bridge later.


Sleep:  Sleep is typical for a newborn.  Seems like she has sleepy days and nights and then more active/ awake days and nights.  Sometimes we get nice back-to-back 3 hour stretches, but sometimes (like last night) the longest stretches we get are 1.5 hours.  Those nights are tough.


She is the loudest sleeper ever.  Tons of grunts, snores, etc.


The easiest way to get her to sleep is to put her in the Ergo wrap and walk around.  Otherwise, she likes rocking in our old squeaky wood rocking chair.  She's mostly sleeping in the Rock-n-play or the Ergo wrap.


Eat: She's eating like a typical newborn as well.  Nursing is going well, thank goodness.


We've also tried bottles.  Usually about every other day with just an ounce or so.  She doesn't love them, but she is drinking from them.  Hopefully she'll continue to take them!


She does have pretty bad reflux.  She gets hiccups after every meal, and she'll throw up an entire meal every other day or so.  Makes laundry loads of fun!  The doctor said that so long as it's not affecting her eating and growth, they typically don't treat it since she'll grow out of it in a few months.


Play/ Milestones: Other than eating and sleeping, Mabel enjoys being in the Ergo wrap.  I think she also enjoys taking baths. 


We have set up a movement mat in the living room with some black and white prints and a Munari inspired mobile.  She enjoys it (in limited quantities).


Other than her fussy "witching hour" (which can be anywhere from an hour to four hours in the evening), we enjoy her funny faces and generally chill attitude.


We love family time with Mabel!


Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Summerday

Matilda has dubbed any day over 80 degrees "Summerday".  She has loved playing in the backyard, and has asked us to fill the kiddie pool several times already.  Lots of fun!



Morning at the Beach

Matilda's been asking to go to the beach lately... like daily.  We made a quick trip to Sylvan Beach in La Porte.  It's a tiny little beach.  I probably wouldn't go there on the weekends or even the summer when kids are out of school because if you get more than a handful of people out there, it'd be crowded.  But, it was only 30 minutes away and fulfilled Matilda's desire to 1) get in the water and 2) build a sandcastle.  The only thing on her to-do list that she didn't accomplish was finding a big shell.  I guess we'll need to head to Galveston soon to fulfill that wish. 

Mabel napped in the Ergo wrap the entire time, so her first trip to the beach was a success.  :)