Week 128 motherhood – baby smiles, breastfeeding in public, licking fist

Two-month-old doctor checkup

Week 128 motherhood of a 2-year-old-and-5-month-old toddler and 2-month-old infant:

Feb 23: We had the baby’s two-month-old appointment today. She weighs 5,040 grams or 11.11 lbs now! Yay! We were correct about her being 11 lbs. (For comparison purposes, I checked my records and the firstborn’s weight at two months old was actually 10.27 lbs. So just slightly lower than her sister. But then again, the older one weighed less at birth.)
The pediatrician asked me how feedings were going. I told him that breastfeeding continues with me feeding her every two to three hours during the day. During the night, the first stretch is about five hours and then it goes to three or four hours. We change her diaper every two to three hours and that she poos every three to four days. He said this is normal. Since she’s gaining weight and her height and head circumstances looked good and on track, he said to continue with the breastfeeding as I am doing now. He asked if I was giving her vitamin D daily and I said yes. He showed us her chart and she’s officially right on the 50 percentile mark. I thought that she might be at a higher percentile since the firstborn was also touching the 50 percentile mark and this baby is chunkier, but they both seem to be around 50 percentile for weight and height.
He asked if she’s started to smile — yes. He asked if she can track movement — yes. He asked if she has started to babble — a little bit, yes. So everything looked great and he wasn’t concerned about anything.
There were three immunizations today: Two via injection on the thighs and one taken orally. I had completely forgotten about the oral one. I remember how the firstborn struggled with the oral medicine and didn’t want to take it at all.
When the nurse came into the room to give us the oral medication, I braced myself for the struggle that the baby would have with the medicine. To my ultimate surprise, this baby gobbled up the medication that DH squeezed into her mouth from the little plastic pipette thing. I was so surprised. She finished the entire portion in less than 30 seconds. What a trooper! And so amusing to me to see the difference in how each baby took the medication.
When the nurse came in to do the injection, when she was prepping for it, she accidentally stabbed the needle into her own hand… oops. She left to room to clean herself up. DH then held the baby’s knee and thigh down. I remember how hard this felt the first time around to watch because the fragile baby was receiving her first injection. This time around, it felt so routine and I didn’t feel anxious for the baby at all.
The baby cried after the first injection went in and cried louder for the second injection (since it’s supposed to be the one that hurts more). But then we consoled her and that was it. She stopped crying after that. What a brave girl!
The next appointment is in two months’ time when she will be four months old. It’ll be the same appointment where the ped does a basic check-up and then she’ll go through with the same three immunizations again. Time will fly when we get to that point; it’ll be spring!
Due to the wintery snowstorm and freezing rain we had yesterday, DH took the 2 yo out to the backyard to play with some snow. She asked for the red spatula to scoop the snow. Grandma gave her a white plastic tofu tub too.
The past two days, the 2 yo woke up around 9:30 a.m.ish which usually means she won’t nap at all. She’s slept enough so there is no need for an afternoon nap. It’s only if she wakes up at 7 or 8 a.m. that we can get her tired enough for a nap. She continues to sleep through the night (most nights). Yay!! So it took two and a half years (and a new sibling) for the firstborn to sleep through the night finally.
We tried to get passport photos taken for the baby today, but the photographer at the Pro Passport Photo wasn’t able to successfully get a proper photo. Sigh. I think it was a combination of the photographer not taking advantage of the limited window of time before the baby got impatient and not snapping enough photos and not alerting DH earlier that his fingers were in the photo that we weren’t able to get a photo that satisfies the strict passport photo requirements. It’s annoying because now we have to find another time to do them.
I didn’t like how after the photographer asked us what the baby’s name was that he questioned why we gave her that name for a girl. He needs to get with the times and understand that not every female needs a “girl” name or a feminine one. It’s such a traditional and old school way of thinking. Also, it’s not his business what we name our child and he shouldn’t be giving his rude opinion. I think we’ll be going to another place to get her passport photos done next time.
Today, DH was taking a shower and the 2 yo was eager for her dad to come out. She actually crawled down on to the floor and peeped through the slit of the door lol… She was able to see DH’s feet underneath the door. It was so funny.
DH and I were able to carve out time and we finished the Korean show called “Physical 100”. Yay for some TV time after the 2 yo has gone to bed and the baby was boobed to sleep too.
Really glad that grandma lives with us so that when we need to go for appointments like today, she can take care of the toddler.
The baby makes such funny facial expressions sometimes. Me and DH like to laugh at them sometimes.
Still trying to get the baby to do tummy time every day. In fact, that’s something else the pediatrician today reminded us about: To do tummy time to strengthen her neck. Maybe he was able to tell that her neck is kind of weak…
Last week, I noticed that the baby can nurse for as little as 3 to 4 minutes and still be full for up to two hours! That’s amazing. This means that she is starting to suck more thoroughly such that she can be satisfied in a shorter period of time. Yay! It’s so time effective for me. Such a time saver to not have to sit there for a long time to nurse her. (However, half the time, I’m sitting there scrolling on my phone anyway which I enjoy.) In fact, there were a few times when I thought I would have some precious peaceful scrolling time on my phone but she would waken from her slumber and then move around and start crying. I felt interrupted.
There are some moments when I wish that the baby could grow up faster so she could play with her older sister and so that the toddler has a companion to play with. However, I don’t like thinking these thoughts because it means I’m not fully enjoying the present and we all know how babyhood and childhoods go so fast and one day they’ll be grown and out of the house. I want to try to embrace and soak in each moment, but sometimes it’s tough. It was easier to soak in the moment when it was only the firstborn around. These days, things go so fast and especially because the firstborn is always needy and talkative and requires our attention. Some days go by so fast and before I know it, it’s Friday again.
I feel like the baby doesn’t really babble a lot yet, but she does make some sounds. She grunts and squeals sometimes and is responding more to us speaking to her. She cries for attention when she’s left alone on the play mat or bassinet or bouncer for too long (normal behaviour).
When I do the “burping song” after a feed, I feel like she really does try to burp out air too. It is always satisfying to hear her burp. The firstborn never burped on her own like this.
March 1: The baby smiles much more in response to us talking to her now. It’s such a cute little smile.
When the baby is in the bassinet at night, I look down at her and I’m surprised that she takes up most of the room already. Soon, she’ll be too tall/long for the bassinet. We tried to put her to bed in the crib but she wasn’t used to the space and didn’t sleep for long. Eventually, she’ll have to get used to it though.
The 2 yo talks to her little sister much more these days. She’ll play with her by moving the animal (zebra usually) on her bouncer to entertain her.
The baby loves the zebra animal on the bouncer. She stares at it and makes noise and smiles too.
This little baby seems to enjoy baths. She doesn’t cry or struggle much when we bathe her. She has a little hanging belly now!
A big thing this week was that I tried to breastfeed in public for the first time. It was also our very first outing with the two kids. We went to a local restaurant for early morning dim sum. It’s crazy how packed the restaurant is on a random weekday; don’t people have to work anymore?!
The timing wasn’t good and I have to say we won’t be doing this any time soon again lol. Grandma expressed a desire for morning dim sum and so we had to be at the restaurant before 11 a.m. to get our orders in for the early morning discount. Because of this, it was actually time for the baby’s next feed, but because we were rushing out the door, by the time we got to the restaurant, the baby was hungry. DH was trying to find a parking spot. I was in the restaurant with the baby trying to select some dim sum dishes quickly to put the order in and the baby was crying beside me in the car seat on the chair. It was quite stressful. I was also trying to sort out the TGTG voucher for my mom on her phone too because it was going to expire that day… so many things going on at once.
During the weekend, I had already ordered the haakaa ladybug milk catcher. So great it only took a day and a half to arrive. That morning, I wore the milk catcher and found a breastfeeding friendly top to wear as well as a cover. I had never done this before.
Our table was right smack in the middle of the room (kind of near the side but we weren’t sheltered at all). There was a table of all men near us (that I’m thankful actually finished eating and left soon after we sat down). I had DH help me with the cover and then I tried to nurse the baby, but she was crying and wouldn’t latch at all even though she was positioned correctly. We put some of my breastmilk into a bottle to feed her, but she just played with the nipple in her mouth. She wasn’t used to drinking from a bottle. DH tried and grandma tried too, but no luck. Poor baby was crying so much.
During this time, the toddler was a bit dazed and probably felt the tension. She was good and sat in her seat the whole time next to DH.
Finally, I went to the bathroom with the baby and chose a bigger stall to go into. I wiped off the toilet seat, put toilet paper on the seat, and sat down (before the automatic flush flushed again) and tried to feed the baby this way. The lighting was bright and unfamiliar and my hair was in the way and the baby just wasn’t comfortable enough to latch. I tried for a few more minutes while people flushed the toilet around us. It was not an ideal environment at all.
I went back to the table and grandma held the baby and rocked her and she ended up falling asleep in grandma’s arms! Phew! I was ready to leave the restaurant and go home to feed her. Luckily, because she fell asleep, we were able to continue eating the food on the table. The toddler was quite well-behaved with all things considered. It was interesting that the table across from us, there was also a table with a toddler and a young infant (6 months old).
That was such a high-stress situation that didn’t need to happen. If we had communicated better and planned our time accordingly, we would have fed the baby so that she was full before we set off in our car to the restaurant. (Also the first time we were five people packed in the car.) Needless to say, I won’t be doing this for a while. Also, I need to learn how to feed the baby in public. She doesn’t seem to like the cover. Perhaps a lighter, more breathable cover will help?
When I got home and took the ladybug milk catcher out, I was surprised to find 15 ml in there. It worked really well! However, I found the grip marks of the catcher on my nipple and it didn’t look good at all. Luckily, it didn’t cut into the skin and there was no bleeding.
We’re getting a little better with getting the baby to do tummy time daily, but it’s still not as consistent as we would like.
This week, grandma has been using the bananagram letter tiles to teach the 2 yo certain letters. She can recognize “O” by making the “o” with the mouth. She can recognize that “W” makes “M” when turned upside down.
The 2yo has been enjoying reading the Chinese fable books with grandma. She hasn’t asked me to read her favourite board books lately.
We haven’t restocked the fridge with any cow’s milk lately because she drinks my milk. We should have asked the pediatrician if this is an appropriate substitution actually. I don’t want her to be deprived of calcium in case my milk doesn’t contain enough of it…
This week, the baby’s started to lick her fist like she’s licking an ice cream cone. We remember very clearly when the firstborn did this too. It’s so cute. It’s a normal and developmental milestone for them to start licking her hands like this.