5 weeks & growing

Stella is 5 weeks old! We went to the doctor yesterday and she is a growing girl. The last time we had been to the doctor was at her two  week visit. At that visit she had not gotten back to her birth weight so the doctor recommended still waking her through the night. Well we no longer need to do that!!

 Here are her current stats...

weight-9 lbs 7 oz  50th %ile

length-22.5" 90th %ile

I cannot believe she gained that much in three weeks! What a porker! A lot has changed in 3 weeks. She is getting formula at her last feeding of the night and her middle of the night feeding. Formula sits a little heavier and helps her sleep a little better. We are also doing this so I can take what I am pumping at those feedings and stash it. She is no longer nursing. We got thrush and it was just too painful for me. Luckily I was able to pump through it and am now exclusively pumping. While I was in Chicago Grandma helped me make a hands free bra so I can pump hands free! That is how I can blog right now. My plan is to try to pump until after Christmas and start slowing down before school starts. For me it is really hard and I just need sleep. I will need to be able to sleep through the night before I go back to work. So if I can still pump a few times a day and still get enough then I will do that, if not I will be done. That is just the way it is for me and sometimes it is hard for me to come to grips with, but a healthy and happy momma is better for all!

Enough about nursing and pumping. Stella is such a great baby! We are so lucky. She only cries when she is really hungry or tired. Right now she is sleeping in 4 hour stretches through the middle of the night. She has started smiling at us. It is not always, but enough! I just love that. She has started to coo just a little bit. She is more alert and staying awake a little longer than before.

Nora is doing well too! She loves her baby sister. Tonight we start counting down the days until Santa comes. Everything she sees on TV she wants. We went through the toy catalogs and she wanted to circle just about everything. We were coming home on Monday evening from somewhere and she saw christmas lights and asked where ours were. She wants our lights up! We are going to do it all this weekend. She asked about the tree too. I am really excited for Christmas this year. I think it is going to be so much fun!