Week 6...Charlotte June 8- June 14

Charlotte is 6 weeks old today! The time is flying by so quickly :(

Babywise: I'm still working on the setting the wake time and we are still working on full feedings but it is getting much easier. I love having this schedule and knowing how to plan the day. It is so helpful with Clayton as well! We are slowly moving to a 3 hour schedule. I decided to make that move because I was having to wake her for every feeding and I assume that is a sign that she can go longer than 2.5 hours. She was crying around 5:30 every morning to be feed but I wanted a 6:30 am wake up. BW suggested when this type of thing happens to either move up the wake time or wake her earlier than when she cries, feed her and then put her back to bed. I tried the second option but once I was up for 30+ minutes at 4:30 I had a hard time going back to sleep so I went with option 1. Our new schedule is:

6 wake up...then she eats every 3 hours so 6,9,12,3,6,9,11:30(dream feed). She then naps for 2 hours at 7,10,1,4,7 and goes to bed at 9. I feed her for around 15 minutes on each side and then we do an activity or play to keep her awake for at least 30 minutes and then lay her down for nap. She is a routine girl and I can already tell a difference in her when she gets too far off of the schedule.

Sleeping: I talked about the schedule above but she is still sleeping in our room in her Rock and Play and will most likely stay there until we get back from GA in mid July. I don't want her to get used to sleeping alone and then have to room with us and then go back...consistency! She is still loving being swaddled and likes her pacifier to go to sleep. I have noticed she likes a dark room with some sort of moving light to watch...ie..projection from her sound machine. OH and she is officially sleeping through the night (11:30-6)

Diapers: size 1 

Clothes: newborn and 0-3

Weight: Complete guess here but I would say around 8lbs

Eating: Nursing unless having a witching hour and then Jason will give her a bottle to relieve me for a little while.Or when we are in public...I am still having a hard time with that one!

Witching hour: I thought she was suffering from colic or really bad gas. She would cry and cry for hours in the evening so I consulted the BW blog and found this post on the different cries and how to distinguish between colic and gas. And if you are a blog follower at all you know that sometimes you click and click again and end up somewhere way off from where you started. Well after a few clicks I ended up a BW post on Witching hour that sounded JUST LIKE our house from 6-10! I knew that babies/children have a fussy period but I was glad to know there is something that can be done about it. Charlotte loves the noise making the post suggest and also going outside. Although it is difficult to tend to her almost non stop for those few hours we have adjusted some things in everyone's schedule and are now handling it better. One of the most frustrating things though is the cluster feeding, or having to feed every 2 sometimes ever hour during that time. I am sore, Clayton is annoyed and everything else is left to be handled later. I am hoping she is past this soon and we can have our evenings back!!
BW blog says: "Do what it takes to keep baby happy during this time. Do what it takes to get baby to sleep during this time so she doesn't get overly tired and overstimulated. It will all be okay :)" I was so glad to read because I worried that breaking the routine would set us back but things fall right back into place the next day.

Smiling: She has really found this cute smile in the last week and I love it! The best part is that she will smile for Clayton bigger and more often than anyone else. At first I was a little jealous but I see that I want this to be the way they are with each other...melts my heart!!

Rolled over: Charlotte can roll from tummy to back if laying the right way and if she is mad enough!

Pooping: I was really worried about her BM's! She is only going every few days but I have read that that is normal with BF babies...was different that Clayton was for sure!!

Massage: I am still massaging Charlotte every time I bathe her and often during the day to relieve some of her gas.

Tummy Time: She does not love it but I try to do it every day if even for a few minutes. She is getting much better at holding her head up for a little longer than last week.

Hair: Still has really dark hair but is slowly losing it and getting the baby bald spot :(

Baby Bjorn: She LOVES it and I "wear" her to grocery shop, clean the house and any time she is fussy. I read that babies that are worn may be smarter! 

Dermatitis: She had HORRIBLE baby acne when we brought her home and that is clearing up but she still has a little rash that seems to get worse the day she is scheduled to take a bathe...oil maybe?

YBFYWBW Milestones:
-gaining neck control
-expresses excitement by flailing arms and legs and grasping at air...really cute!
-will stop when a new sound is introduced to her surroundings
-loves to sit up (controlled by someone obviously) and look around and seems to really notice things in this position
- can study an object in her hand...usually her other hand
-gets excited and anticipated objects...ie bottle or the boppy which both equal food! This shows memory improvement
-is staying awake for longer periods of time on her own
-really starting to reach for things like the little animals from her mobile in her swing

Me

I have started weight watchers and hoping that will help me lose some of this awful weight!! Once I get "cleared: by the doc I am going to get hard core about the exercising again. 

Clayton

Clayton is still in camp and loving it! We are also going to the library story time followed by Starbucks on Thursdays.

And swimming every chance he gets!

Jason

Everything that Jason experiences with Charlotte is new to him. He missed this part with Clayton because of his deployment so it is really fun to watch him interact with her and learn how to care for a baby over the age of 3 weeks. He is changing command but we will be staying here at Ft Irwin to take another command that is more related to his job field. He has also really gotten interested in working out and weight lifting...pretty inspiring for me to get back in shape...don't want to be that couple!