Ivy Mae - already 2 months old!

In the blink of an eye, my youngest baby is already 2 months old. P-A-I-N-F-U-L. There is a lot in this that makes me sad. For one, that time just flies way too fast. And secondly, how difficult of a baby Ivy is. Don't judge me for this latter part...if you have kids, think back to newborndom, and if you don't then you have no room to even side glance at me. Ivy is tough. And it makes enjoying my last baby very, very difficult. And this makes me very, very sad. The pictures I take and post don't show her screams, because who wants to see that?? And anyways, I am seriously juggling her little body trying to find any position I can to make her happy and cannot take pictures at the same time. But she screams A LOT.

We had her 2-month doctor's appointment today and discussed Ivy's screams at length. Long-story-short, Ivy has a pretty significant case of reflux. She doesn't spit up a whole lot all the time, but it has caused extreme fussiness and painful, difficult eating, thus causing her to not gain weight fast. She is a tiny peanut, only 9lbs 4.5 ounces, putting her in the 7th percentile. She is actually quite a bit smaller than Keagan (my preemie) was at 2 months. She is long though, 23-1/8 inches, and in the 78th percentile or length! The doctor doesn't seem concerned about her weight, as she is gaining and growing, but he is hoping that medication will help her have less discomfort so she can eat more and gain better, and also decrease the screaming. So Ivy is now on two medications for relux. My poor peanut!

Here are some sweet pictures from the past month. This baby may have turned our worlds way upside-down, and may have wreaked havoc on the other kids lives, but Man! do they love their baby sister. In all the difficulty that we have experienced with Ivy, one thing remains steady and that is all three of her siblings' love for her. When I sit down to nurse or rock Ivy, I always have a toddler coming in for kisses and baby snuggles, or a big boy asking to hold her or trying to get smiles. And I can already tell Ivy's love for her big brothers and big sister is mutual.

Ivy didn't miss her first 4th of July! We were fortunate enough to watch an awesome fireworks display from our front porch put on by neighbors two houses down! She slept through the entire thing. As did Maclyn-in her bed. And Josh had to work. But I was so happy that our neighbors put on this display because I wanted the boys to see fireworks!

In the past month we have gone on many walks. Ivy hates her carseat anytime we are in the car (because screams must sound better when we are all enclosed in the vehicle and can do nothing for her) but she does great on walks! Go figure. I am so glad, though, because my exercise is the one thing that helps me destress. Plus, I gotta lose this baby weight!! I love to go on walks with all of my littles, we do all kinds of talking and I feel like I learn a lot about them when we go. And sometimes, both the girls nap!! BONUS!

This past month Ivy has started to get much more vocal and is becoming very smiley (when she isn't screaming, obviously). You can also see she is starting to get a little chunky around her chins. I love it!! She has awesome dimples (the right side is more prominent) and she smiles with her eyes!! It is adorable.

Ivy had her first boat ride this past month as well! She does really well on the boat, especially when we are riding. It takes effort to get to sleep and stay asleep when we are just out and parked, much like if we were at home. But I would rather be rocking a baby on a boat than in my living room any day of the week!

Ivy's newest swaddle. I had hoped this would be the miracle, it was not. But it is a good swaddle and she looks cute in it! I have about 5 different swaddles that I rotate through hoping to find the miracle sleep inducer.

Ivy only endures tummy time now, and we have to be creative. If I lay her on her tummy on the mat, she cries within seconds. So tummy time is usually on our knees or chest. While Ivy's tummy time tolerance has gone away, she is getting much better with diaper changes and baths and doesn't scream every single time! This is a plus especially for diapering and changing clothes. So I have begun actually putting clothes on her versus just jammies.

Ivy still won't take a pacifier. I am not giving up though!! We will make her a paci baby eventually. haha! It was such a great thing with Maclyn, that I really hope we get Ivy interested in one. For now, I am the pacifier. We try to get her to take it all the time, and it usually causes her to gag or get angry.

Much like her siblings, Ivy loves to snuggle her daddy in the mornings. One morning after a VERY sleepless night I walked in to see this...melt my heart.

And here is a sweet smile late, late one night while I was trying to get her down. It just so happened she wasn't screaming, but the smile indicated that it was going to be a long night. And indeed it was.

And when we have super long nights, Ivy ends up in the bed with me for her early morning feeding because I literally cannot maintain an upright position. So she snoozes and nurses in the wee hours of the morning.

Something kind of ironic, or maybe baffling, is that Ivy actually sleeps great. Generally in 6 hour stretches. (I said generally, nighttime is still an unknown for us) The problem is that she just doesn't go down to sleep well, at bedtime or after she gets up in the middle of the night to eat. So we have spent up to 3.5 hours trying to get her to go to sleep. We end up in a viscous cycle of nurse-burp-spit up-rock-nurse-burp-you get the idea. And we cannot get her to settle down. And most of the time she screams. SCREAMS. And I get a little crazy.  But during daylight hours, when I see sweet faces like this one, I can keep it together.

While Ivy is in a tough phase right now, I know this too shall pass. And I know I am going to miss the sweetness of a newborn (minus the sleeplessness and incessant screaming). So I am trying my hardest to enjoy it. I may need to go back and review this post every day because looking at these pictures is making my heart swell. And she is actually asleep right now, snoozing well, in the rock-and-play beside my bed. (Rock-and-play was just implemented...the bassinet doesn't angle enough and was making her reflux -and our nights- worse.)