Oh sweet baby Elise, how do I dare attempt to summarize your first few months of life? From the moment you were born, we've been in love with your sweet spirit, (relatively) easygoing demeanor, and developing personality. No offense to your sister, but I was due a mellow baby, and at first you seemed to be just that. You'd happily hang out with us in those first weeks, proving to me that perhaps a baby is capable of just being for more than 23 seconds, which seemed to be the maximum time the eldest Golding girl could remain content.
You woke up many many times during the night, but-- also unlike your sis-- would typically go right back to sleep after I fed you. Although, for some reason your version of sleep included these ridiculously loud (and rather disconcerting) grunting/straining type sounds that pretty much lasted all night long. Hence your nickname "Chewbacca", or "Chewy" for short. I spent many hours trying frantically to figure out why you were doing that, and you'd be surprised how many results one might get from a google search for "really loud grunting in sleep newborn". And yes, even doctors google that sort of thing. Particularly sleep-deprived, hormonally-altered Doctor Mommies already prone to overreaction. Eventually I convinced myself that the bizarre noises didn't correlate with any signs of discomfort (in fact you usually appeared to be in some form of sleep most of the time), and over the next few weeks your slumber became less cacophonous.
Turned out, labeling you as "mellow" was a bit premature. Around 3 weeks you ramped things up in the high-maintenance department, and if I hadn't already survived the newborn-hood of Her Royal High Maintenance Highness, I might have considered you for the title. You constantly required holding, soothing, nursing, rocking. I literally could not put you down all day long, and even with maximal effort you often still cried. For days on end I was an all-you-can-eat-buffet, as nursing seemed to be the only thing that would consistently appease you (perhaps it was just difficult for you to cry with something in your mouth). You seemed particularly upset after eating (paradoxically, since you always wanted to eat), and your reflux was starting to get worse so I consulted one of my Peds GI colleagues for suggestions on reflux meds. He agreed to start Prevacid and also suggested I consider eliminating dairy to see if perhaps you had a milk protein sensitivity. Back to google I went, and after thorough consultation I agreed that your symptoms might fit.
This is the part of the story where I emphasize how much I love you and will remind you when you are a rebellious teenager of how miserable it was to be completely dairy free-- No milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, hidden dairy (who knew McDonald's fries have dairy?!), no eating out etc-- and how I longed for a piece of REAL pizza. Apparently I am the first person ever to order Mellow Mushroom's Mighty Meaty pizza with vegan cheese. And for the record, crime rates would be drastically lower if the consequences involved eating that stuff in lieu of lesser torture like prison.
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| Or being dressed up as a leprechaun... |
At first you seemed to be doing better with the dairy free fare, so I stuck with it for about 6 weeks, with only minor complaining/whining/pining-for-gelato. But then you started turning back into Cranky McCrankerson, and the postprandial distress came right back. I timidly tested a little dairy (oh, sweet pizza!), and kept my fingers crossed that you wouldn't react. And you didn't! I increased your prevacid dose a little, refilled the prescription (apparently the solubilized form has a very short shelf-life) and you gradually settled down.
Since that 10-12 week mark, you've continued to descend the Maintenance ladder from High to I'd say just above average. You still prefer for me to hold you, but can hold it together in your car seat/bouncy chair/play mat for short periods of independent play. For the record, your sister still hasn't mastered the independent play concept and continues to prefer my undivided attention. More recently you've started smiling and laughing like crazy whenever anyone talks to you, and cooing your little heart out as if you have so much to say but just can't figure out how to get it out quite yet. I suspect you already sense how difficult its going to be to get in a word edgewise in this family.
You started school at 10 weeks, and although I knew exactly what to expect from the first time around, it broke my heart. You've done amazingly well there, and have captured their hearts as I knew you would. You don't exactly nap well (or at all) at school, but neither did your sister, and you're not exactly a Nap Champ at home either, so I just take it in stride when the Nap column on your daily report is disturbingly barren. Sometimes they try to make me feel better and write in 12:10 to 12:20 just to make it look less empty.
Now, at 3.5 months, you're sleeping about 8 hours at night, typically from 8ish until 4 or 5am. I can't complain about that, but if you'd like to stretch that out just a bit in the mornings, I won't argue. You love baths and books and most of all people talking to you and smiling at you. You weigh about 13.5 lbs, and are getting balder every day. At your 2 month check up you were 11 lbs 12 oz and 23 1/4 inches long: precisely the same, down to the ounce and quarter of an inch, as your sister.
And above all, you are so very loved.
