Growth Spurt...Again?

I think we are smack dab in the  middle of yet another growth spurt.  When we were at the pediatrician right after Lilly was born, she told us to expect growth spurts at 1 week, 2 weeks and 6 weeks.  I think.  Maybe there was one at 4 weeks, too?  Anyway, I feel like my child goes through one every other day.  Just when I think we're getting into a routine she throws me a curve ball and wants to eat every five seconds. 

Take, for example, Monday.  Monday was a good day.  We went to the doctor, they told us we were doing a great job, and assured me that I wasn't over (or under) feeding her.  The pediatrician also told us that at this point, Lilly shouldn't be able to hold any more than 4 oz. at a time.  Which is tricky because, just the night before, she took 6 oz.  Yes, you read right, 6 oz. in a feeding.  Well I guess it was 4 oz. and then another 2 oz. an hour later when she was fussy and I'd tried everything else before giving her another bottle and she sucked it down like I was starving her.  We told the pediatrician this and she said, wow, must be a growth spurt.  Yeah, who you tellin' sister? 

All day Monday and most of the day yesterday went the same way: she'd take her 4 oz. and then an hour or hour and a half later she'd be hungry again and would eat around 2 oz., then sleep.  Sometimes she would sleep for 2 hours and then want her full 4 oz. bottle again, and other times she'd sleep for 3-4 hours and then only want 1.5-2 oz. when she woke up.  I swear I felt like she was going to drain my milk all in that one day...I started pumping every three hours on the dot just to try to keep up, even though I was already 3 bottles ahead (yes, she was eating that much).

Another weird thing: her sleep patterns were off compared to normal.  Take, for example, Monday night.  She fell asleep at 9:00 p.m., which is typical - she normally goes to sleep between 8-9 and is up again between 11-12 for a feeding.  Sometimes after that she'll go until 3-4 before she wakes up again, other times she's up right at 2, but waking up once/night is pretty typical for her.  Dan and I were tired on Monday, so we did a few things we needed to around the house and then decided to go to bed early, around 10.  She was asleep in her bouncy chair, so we just took it into our room, figuring I'd get up with her between 12-1 and she'd go to her bed after that feeding.  She did not wake us up until 3:00 a.m.  It was glorious.  The angels sang, and I was giddy with a preview of what more than 3-4 hour of sleep at a time feels like.  Granted, I must have eaten something that didn't sit well with her because she was super gassy and didn't go back down until 4:30ish and was up again at 6:30, but whatever.  I was praying to God that this wasn't a fluke, that she was starting to get the hang of longer stretches of sleep...but it was a big fat joke because last night she was back to her normal up every 3-5 hours routine (closer to 3 last night).  I swear she was laughing about it, too.  Ha-ha, joke's on you, Mom.  And the feedings were still off - she took 4 oz at 8:00 pm, 2 oz at 9:30, 4 oz at 1:30, 3 oz at 5:30.  She is all over the place and I can't keep up.

I beg you, growth spurt, give the Baum household a break!  She seems to be doing a little better today, but is still pretty gassy and fussy.  I need to figure out what I'm eating that she hates. 

In other news, when Dan was trying to be helpful by opening and unpacking all baby shower gifts he threw away all instructions.  Our bottle warmer is acting up, and I called customer service to ask about it to find out that we've been using it incorrectly.  Awesome.  They gave me a few things to try and will replace it if nothing works, but in the mean time homegirl has been having to drink cold milk and she is NOT amused.  It's okay, though, because she's cute.  Evidence:

My sweet, sleepy girls!

Now, if only she would sleep like this at night...for 10 hours..we'd be all set.  I realize I am being an overachiever and she's only one month old.  The pediatrician said her sleep patterns are much better than most one-month-olds they see, but really I say it's all Lilly's fault for spoiling me on Monday night!

Also, Miss Pat helped us solve our bath dilemma!  Yesterday, Lilly had three blowouts before lunch time - and by blowouts I mean MAJOR, like outfit changes and full wipe-downs with baby wipes, so finally when I prayed thought she might be done, we decided to take a super early bath.  Miss Pat read the blog about how she doesn't like being cold, and sent us a bath luve duck.  It is made out of towel or wash cloth material, but you put it in the water with baby to keep them from getting cold during bath time, like so:

Genius, right?  You can get a frog or a fish, too.  And how cute is that picture?  Anyway, Lilly loves bath time, but normally she only loves it for 5-10ish minutes until she gets cold.  Yesterday was her longest bath yet, and she didn't want to get out!  In fact, she cried when I took her out.  Thanks Miss Pat for helping us love bath time even more!

So, the above random post is what's going on around here.  I promise to blog the newborn pics soon...still trying to decide on a picture for her birth announcements.

Happy Hump Day!

Sarah