Laugh Until You Cry, Cry Until You Laugh

Has it really been 4 months since I last updated? There just doesn't seem like there is enough hours in the day now that I have returned to work. Lots to catch up on, yet, I fear this will be a short, to the point post.

Our little Ivy Bean is 6.5 months old now. She is sitting up like a champ, just started solid foods (which I am making homemade), she has 2 bottom teeth and we are still breastfeeding! At her 6 month appt she weighed 17lbs 10oz and was 26.5 in long. 75%tile for both. And she has a 25% head circ. Big, long body with a little head LOL. She is rolly polly, squishy and full of smiles for everyone!

Not the best sleeper/napper. Daycare says she is their shortest napper of all the babies. And we had a heck of time with her sleeping at night around 4 months til 6 months. She was up about 2-4 times a night on average. Sometimes more! It was awful. I waited til 6 months to introduce solids due to the new recommendations. Ever since we started giving her solids 2 times a day, she seems to be sleeping better. In fact, last night she slept from 8pm-6:45am when I had to wake her up. Who knows how long she would have kept sleeping for.

Ivy's personality is so fun. She certainly lets you know when she doesn't like something, she's tired or hungry. But most of the time she flashes that smile to anyone! She is so fun and interactive.She doesn't want to miss a thing which is probably why she has trouble with sleeping. She is very much a people baby. She doesn't like to sit and play by herself for long before she is demanding you to pick her up or join in playing with her.

Over all, I can't picture what life was without her. We just love her so much. Brings so much joy into the house. I went back and read some of my old posts, back when we went through our first IVF pregnancy and the loss. It still brings tears to my eyes reading the pain we went through. And here we are today with Ivy!

Morgan continues to be a great big sister and super helpful. Now that summer is here, she isn't around as much, so I have been really missing her and missing her helpful hands. Ivy lights up when sissy walks in :)

As always, enjoy the picture overload! :)

Got her kicks on

With Morgan at a birthday party in March

First day outside in a stroller

First day at Daycare

In Nashville for Morgan's cheer competition - April

In line to meet the Easter bunny

Easter morning looking at her goodies

Dressed up for Easter

Kinda standing up

4 month photo shoot with Kari

Meeting Great Grandpa for the first time

Just me and my girls

First swing ride - May

Swinging with daddy

First parade - Memorial Day

Watching the parade with daddy

Sitting like a big girl - 5 months

First Father's Day gift to daddy

Just shy of 6 months. Wanted pictures in front of my pretty lillies

2nd parade - 4th of July

First time in the lake - 4th of July

The morning she turned 6 months old

1st time at the beach - St. Joseph, MI, Lake Michigan - July 11th

Being Ivy's mama after such a long and trying road is indescribable. She has captured everyone's hearts in an immeasurable way.

She is such a good baby. I always hated the question, "Is she a good baby?" Of course I'm not going to say no. No baby is a BAD baby. I think there may be difficult or high maintenance babies, but not bad. But she is neither difficult or high maintenance. She really is a laid back, fun, and content baby. Yes, she cries. But really only when she is super hungry or super tired. And on the rare occasion when she has been in her car seat for too long.

Our first week home is such a blur. We were so sleep deprived. I'm not sure Ivy ever slept at night. Just during the day in which we didn't take advantage of and nap. She definitely had her nights and days mixed up. It took us 3 weeks to figure out what exactly she would sleep comfortably in. A lot of the times I ended up having her sleep on me. It was the only way we were getting any sleep. We thought that she didn't like to be swaddled. So we kept her arms out. We tried a bassinet, pack n play bassinet/cradle thing and her bouncy seat. I finally went out and bought a Fischer Price Rock n Play based on reviews from several of my mommy friends from my group on Facebook. She was a day shy of 3 weeks when I got it. She liked it. It's what she has continued to sleep in to this day. But she was still sleeping in 2 hour increments to feed round the clock while my mommy friends were saying their babies were well on their way to sleeping through the night. We were no where close to that. I was beginning to wonder what I was doing wrong. Why wasn't she sleeping longer than 2 hours?

Around week 6 is when she started to sleep a little longer. Like 3 hours here and 4 hours there. But nothing consistent. One day I decided to tuck her arms in the blankets we tucked around her. It was the magic combo! She just turned 7 weeks. That night she slept 8 solid hours! I woke up in a panic making sure she was still breathing. Unfortunately I didn't sleep very well. Not only was I worried she wasn't ok, I was coming down with a head cold that lasted almost a week. Ivy was finally sleeping better but I wasn't. John came down with the flu shortly after my getting sick, so we quarantined him to our bedroom for a week and Ivy and I slept out in the living room for a week. That was tough but it had to be done to keep Ivy from getting sick. Once everyone was over being sick, we moved back into our bedroom and I decided to try out her Halo swaddle blanket and swaddled her arms in. She continued to sleep good. Since then, she has been sleeping about 6-7 hours, eats and falls back asleep for another 3 hours.

Last week (week 9) I decided to see if she would nap in her crib. I bought something called a Magic Sleepsuit. It helps babies feel secure in a larger sleeping area, helps transition them from being swaddled and buffers their natural reflexes that sometimes wakes them up. The first time I tried it, she napped for 3 hours!! She hasn't napped that long since but still naps about 1-2 hours in her crib. So that's success. Now I just need to see if we can get her to sleep at night in her crib. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that quite yet. She's still my baby and I like to have her close. Plus it's easier to feed her.

Ivy was a very alert baby from the day she was born. I have a picture of her at home, 4 days old, looking like she was so much older than she was. She has continued to amaze people at how alert she always is. Like she knows "What's up" in this world already. Almost as if she already has an old soul about her. I believe in people born with souls of lost loved ones. I haven't said it but one time in passing but some days I feel like our little Ivy is maybe the soul of one of our grandmas who have passed. No one else has to believe it, but I do. I'm sticking to it.

Ivy was smiling pretty early on, too. Some people could argue but a mama knows when their baby is smiling more socially than just gas. It was inconsistent but definitely started around week 2. Even more consistent during week 3 and by week 4 it was definitely happening every day. And she graces us with smiles all day now. Such a happy baby.

Today she is 10 weeks old. And Morgan is 10 years old. Even though the age gap wasn't our plan, it was God's plan and He knows what He's doing. Morgan has been a tremendous help. Ivy loves talking to all of us but nothing is more sweeter than seeing both of my girls interacting with each other.

At Ivy's 2 month appointment 2 weeks ago, she weighed 12lbs 14oz. So she's got to be 13lbs by now. And she was 23 1/4 inches long. She is in the 95% for her weight and 75% for length and she has a very average head. This girl was in size 2 diapers at 6 weeks and she is already in 6 month clothing. She is a big girl. Lots to love :)

I return to work in 1.5 weeks. Where has the last 10 weeks gone? I have loved and cherished every sleep deprived day, every smile, every coo, every diaper change. She truly is heaven sent and I'm lucky to be her mama.

Now for the picture overload....

First time Harleigh got to meet Ivy. She was super curious