Betsy: 2 Months

Our little girl is a little on the chunky side.  At her 2 month check up she weighed in at 11 pounds 13 ounces.  She’s 22.5 inches “tall” and has a head circumference of 15.5 inches.  Height and head size are close to average, but her weight puts her in the 80th percentile.  Still in size 1 diapers.  Wearing mostly 0-3 month clothing, but some of those are getting a little tough to snap!  We sure do love our chubby baby.

Our wonderful pediatrician says Betsy is healthy and looks great, so that was good news.  She said that based on when she’s fussy and her general behavior it’s not reflux (thank you, Lord!) and is probably just tummy troubles.  She suggested we try her on probiotics.  The only problem with them is that they typically take 3-4 weeks to help, and Betsy may outgrow her problems by then anyway.  So we may never know if they helped, but it makes me feel better to be doing something for her.  She is still pretty challenging.  In some ways I feel like things are getting better.  Either she is feeling better or I am learning how to deal with her better.  Most likely a combination of the two.  Regardless, things are better.  Not great, but better.  And I am thankful for that.  I’m also thankful that this is probably a GI related issue and will probably resolve itself by 3 or 4 months.  I am hoping it is closer to 3 so that we can thoroughly enjoy Thanksgiving with the Zinneckers and Christmas in Woodstock.  I am worried that if she is still this hard in December the flight to Albany and the week of “vacation” will feel more like torture.  On the bright side, we will be with loving grandparents for both holidays who don’t mind her crying as much as we do.  At least that’s what they tell me.

While the days are hard, the nights are typically pretty good.  She’ll sleep at least 3 hours in a row, sometimes more.  There have even been some 7 hour stretches of sleep.  I have rarely shared the entire stretch of long sleep with her either because she starts those stretches at 8 in the evening or she will start to make noises an hour or so before she actually wakes up and I can’t seem to go back to sleep after she starts to make noise.  Another great thing Betsy does is go right back to sleep after she eats in the middle of the night.  I don’t have to do much after she eats other than burp her, change her diaper and wrap her back up in her swaddle blanket.  Thank you, Betsy!

In the last month we’ve done a lot.  We took Betsy to a wedding of some friends from Amarillo, Tyler and Beth Ann Topper.  Congratulations you two!  Carson got to stay in Houston with Gramma!  They had a blast.  Thank you, Kate.  The wedding was in Midland, so Betsy took her first flight!  I went to a bunch of trouble (and spent the extra money) to get her birth certificate and we ended up not even needing it.  Of course.  But she was an angel on both legs of the flight.

She even slept for a huge chunk of the day on Saturday which allowed Ben and me to run a couple errands together and eat lunch out without having to rush or bounce around a baby the entire time!  She was less of an angel during the rehearsal dinner and reception.  I spent an hour in the bathroom of the country club nursing her.  They had a lovely cushy couch in there and I got to visit with people as they came in and out.  So I was comfortable and got to socialize a little even though I was away from the party.

Betsy and Carson got to see Great Grandpa Marvin, Mormor and Grandpa for a couple days in Round Rock.  This was one of the few times Great Grandpa got to hold her while she wasn’t crying.

Grandpa was a lot of help with Betsy and Carson while we were there.  And so I will say it again.  I do not know how in the world people raise kids on their own.  They are stronger people than I am, for sure.

Papa Steve turned 60 on October 31, so we got to go celebrate in Austin the weekend after his birthday.  We even got to go out to dinner without kids on Saturday night!  It was a real treat and we had the luxury of knowing Carson and Betsy were in great hands.  I don’t think I worried even once about them.  On Sunday a bunch of family came to their house for lunch.  It was a wonderful weekend.

Here’s a sweet family photo.

And then there’s this.

Ellie and Thomas are great cousins.  Betsy and Carson are lucky to have them.

Lots of thanks to Aunt Claire for toting Betsy around many times during the weekend and getting her to fall asleep on multiple occasions!

And here are a few more pics from the last month.

Mormor took us out to Chick-fil-a.

Sleeping

Bathtime

Hook ’em

Happy girl

Surprised girl

Another visit from Mormor

Family photo.  How Carson really feels about his sister.  

All I can think of here is “Talk to the hand!” and I know how much that dates me.  I’m almost 30.  I’m a mom.  I don’t know what the kids say these days, but I know that’s not it!