So I never had an intention of taking a hiatus from blogging about Valentina... but having her home *finally* just took precedent over everything in life... including sleeping, eating, showering, and of course, blogging. HA!! Every time I squeeze in 10 minutes for a luxurious shower, I mentally draft a blog update, and I kept thinking, "Man, I wish there was a way I could blog by talking, instead of having to sit and type, which is nearly impossible (for me at least) when nursing/ bottle feeding a baby). And yeah.. there is such an invention.. It's called a phone, High Speed. SO... Valentina is in her bassinet (which she is almost outgrown!) Victor is about to jet off to his new film company, Bianca is at school (3rd grade!) and I am pumping. HAhAhahah somethings never change.....
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| oh we love our vitamins |
Life with baby is AWESOME. The first few nights were a little rough, mostly because I didn't know what to do! But I quickly realized that Vivi pretty much only complains for one main reason: she is hungry. My mama was here the first week Valentina was home (did I even write about this? I don't even remember... But I will just recap everything since she came home...) In the first month it was a little difficult to figure out a schedule, Valentina was so used to the 24 hour hospital life, but she has adjusted beautifully, she sleeps pretty well at night (always a solid stretch of sleep from midnight to 4-5 AM, has a diaper change and a bottle, then back to sleep til 7-8 AM, diaper/ bottle, and then another hour or two nap. But she is AWAKE WAAAYYYY more than your "average" newborn...
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| i like to sleep in mama's arms |
Technically, Valentina has two ages: her Chronological Age (how old she is since the day she was born) is almost 5 months old (October 8th!). Her Adjusted Age (her age based on her due date- July 29th) is just a few days over two months old. (Baby was born at about 27 weeks 6 days, gestational (inside my belly age), which made her about 12 weeks, 4 days premature.) I am writing this all out for my own understanding, as it gets somewhat confusing and complicated, when people ask, "How old is baby?" If I'm not in the mood, I simply say, "She left the hospital two months ago."
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| mama's dress! thank you great-grandma glenda for my awesome punkrock headband! |
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| vitamin face |
She is a joy. She is an easy baby. She makes me tear up once a day. She is just a perfect little doll. Just three days ago, we were snuggling and "chatting" and she broke out into this HUGE gummy grin and started laughing and laughing and laughing. I started crying. It was amazing.
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| Uncle Robby came for a quick visit when returning back to the US from his trip to the UK... We went out for sushi in Lisbon... Chopsticks tutorial with big sister Bianca |
We have attended our weekly Baby Massage classes, we go for walks in Seixal, I have even ventured off to the supermarket by myself with baby, the mall, etc. I am strategic with my planning, I have to feed her, pump milk and GET OUT of the house if I wanna have a slightly-less-stressful adventure... but I keep a lukewarm bottle in my purse, for emergencies... I have a HUGE diaper bag, because you know, I need 10 diapers to go to the grocery store for an hour... 5 blankets of all different warmth/ texture. 4 pacifiers, nursing cover, nipple shields (haven't used those in over a month now) extra clothes, etc... I haven't had any use for anything in the diaper bag once we are out (though I know its probably too early) but I am a packrat and I have to carry the tardis/diaper bag with me wherever I go. Oh and not one but TWO changing pads... Plus the disposable ones too, just incase said bathroom is too dirty for me to handle... And burp cloths. Lots of burp clothes. Bibs. (Don't use those much.) :D
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| daddy got a haircut to match me |
When baby was in the hospital, she was on a schedule of a 3 hour cycle. She was fed every 3 hours, diaper changed every three hours, vacuumed every three hours etc (unless she needed it sooner, etc). I can only think of ONE time, MAYBE twice, when Valentina woke up from a deep sleep, cried for a diaper change, NOT to eat, and back to sleep. She cries when she is hungry, and sometimes for snuggles. She doesn't really have to cry too often for snuggles, Vic and I are kinda obsessed with snuggling her... 87 hysterical, terrifying days..... Speaking of which...
I still owe a huge THANK YOU to the doctors, nurses and auxiliary nurses and staff at the Hospital de Santa Maria. I am working on translating my Thank You Post to you all into Portuguese... A proper thank you is in order, and I want it to be 100% perfectly clear to all of you... <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
I have full intentions of continuing to blog about our life, about Valentina's development etc. Keeping up with Grow.Baby.Grow. was a great therapeutic outlet for me, and having so many people reading and commenting and emailing, the support and strength we have received during our crash-course into parenthood has been a true lifeline. I have a 'zillion things to get done today (as always...) and I will write more this afternoon.
Valentina has two doctor appointments today at 2. In the last two months, we have had several weigh-ins, two sonograms of her perfect brain, our 4 month old vaccines, and blood drawn. Baby is now over 9 lbs (4 kilos!!) and I will report her exact weight this afternoon... Her last weigh-in was over 2 weeks ago, and we are growing like a weed so I'd say definitely over 4 kilos!!
Breastfeeding situation: I was right when I initially thought that baby wasn't "strong" enough to nurse completely. She latches on and nurses like a champ, but after every nursing session, I offer her a bottle of breastmilk. Two months ago, she would devour the whole bottle, like she didn't consume ANY milk by nursing. Now, after she nurses, she will have maybe 20 ml of milk? Which isn't much at all... So we are *almost* there, in terms of complete nursing, no more bottles... Which means hopefully less pumping, cleaning, sterilizing, preparing, organizing for me..... And maybe once a day I can squeeze in a catnap?? yEAH right..... but its a goal to work towards... AhhAha
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| chillin in the kitchen. |
Ok.. Future blog posts to catch you up on:
1- this afternoon's doctor appointments
2- obnoxious amounts of photos that look exactly the same from the last 2340 photos I posted
3- 'edna gutter skates again: i am joining a new roller derby team here!
4- pumpkin!/ cooking- i am back in the kitchen cooking and baking
5- my search for a halloween costume for baby HEhEHehehheehhehe
6- valentina- sleep vs. awake: how she is victor's DNA 100%
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| ok so here she looks like victor.... HAhaha <3 |
ok... I hear Petunia waking up...YAyay I am so happy we are back to blogging!! <3 <3 <3
:) i'm glad you're back. Lot of love from this side of the river :)
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