Monday, November 19, 2012

4 months old!!

So I started this post over a month ago and never published it...so here are several weeks of Lexi rolled into one post. About 2 months ago we discovered that Lexi has a dairy allergy so I have been on a dairy free diet  ever since. Anyone who knows me, knows how horribly difficult that is for me! And it's not just avoiding dairy products like milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream. I can't eat anything that has ANY milk (including butter) in it. Read the labels on the food you eat today and you will realize how difficult that is. Making it through Halloween without eating any Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin Eggs was absolute torture! And now with the holidays coming up, Ryan had to research Thanksgiving recipe alternatives that didn't use milk or butter. Good thing he was motivated to do that research, otherwise I would have just had whole grain pasta for my Turkey Day meal.

Lexi has her 4 month check up last week. She weighed in at 11 lbs 8 ozs and measured 24.5 inches. Tall and skinny still. She is sleeping really well still, going 9 hours at night between feedings with no problems. We'll start introducing solid foods in the next month or two!

9/5/12
9/12/12

9/19/12
9/26/12
10/3/12
10/10/12
Dress up time!
10/17/12
10/24/12
Posing with the pumpkin Grandma Kristensen grew for her!
Checking out her baby pumpkin
Lexi was a giraffe for Halloween, just like her best friend Girard the Giraffe! She wasn't a big fan of wearing that costume though.
10/31/12 on the Halloween quilt Mommy made for her!
Our scary pumpkin family
Daddy and Lexi on her 1st Halloween!
Lexi's first Halloween
11/7/12 hugging Milkos the cow
Enjoying Sunday football with Daddy and Milkos
Posing in her Christmas hat. A Christmas hat that will probably not fit by Christmas.
Yummy, plastic!
11/14/12
It's funny that just looking through these pictures you can see how much she has changed in just 2 months time! I can't believe how quickly she is growing!!

Friday, September 7, 2012

2 months old!!

Lexi turned 8 weeks old this week! Which unfortunately meant vaccination time for her. Yesterday she got 3 shots in the thighs and 1 oral vaccine. She howled pretty hard for about 30 seconds after the shots, whimpered for a few minutes, then fell sound asleep. I cried, it is so hard to watch someone hurt your little baby girl! She was a little grumpy the rest of the day, but is acting completely normal today. I bought some acetaminophen to have in case she developed a fever or was acting painful, but luckily we didn't have to give it.

At her appointment Lexi weighed 9 lbs 7 oz and measured 22 1/4 inches. While I am concerned she is not gaining enough weight, the pediatrician insists she is doing great. Her head circumference (15 inches) and height are in the 50th percentile and her weight is only in the 25th. The Dr declared her tall and skinny. Considering Ryan and I both had chicken related nicknames as infants (we were BOTH called Chicken Legs oddly enough. Ryan was also called Droopy Drawers) it doesn't surprise me that she is on the thin side.

She smiles all the time when looking at Mommy and Daddy. She is vocalizing quite a bit now and she really likes it when we talk back to her in her own language! She's got pretty good head control now. When she is being carried she prefers to be carried in a sitting position or over our shoulders so she can look out and see the world! She also really likes to stand up! (with a little assistance...) Her legs are getting pretty strong!

The Dr also said she is old enough to sleep 8 hours at night. Before her appointment we were up to 6 hours. So I decided to give it a shot last night. And sure enough, she slept soundly for 8 hours! She woke up after she heard Ryan and I getting up and she was all smiles! Now I just need to teach myself how to sleep through the night again...
Tummy time is serious business, Mommy! 7 weeks old - 8/29/12
Mommy can't resist the chance to go monochrome...
Nice and clean! She still loves bath time!
Chillin in her bouncer with her bunny buddy
Ryan leaves for a 10 day work trip this weekend. We are really going to miss him!!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

6 Weeks of Lexi

Things are finally starting to settle down here at Chez Kristensen. Lexi is doing fantastic. At her first check up she weighed 6 lbs 15 oz. By her 2 week check up she weighed 7 lb 15 oz! At her last pediatrician appointment (she's got a heat rash) she weighed 8 lb 14 oz!
She spent most of her first couple of weeks sleeping. We had to wake her up to feed her.
We had quite a scare about 10 days after Lexi was born...late one night (just as it was time to feed Lexi of course) I started to bleed really, really badly. So we rushed to the ER and found out that I had a small piece of retained placenta. The ER doctor assured me that it would pass naturally, gave me some meds to stop the bleeding and told me to follow up with my OB on Monday. The OB told us if it did pass naturally it was likely I would hemorrhage. So I ended up having a D and C the following day. Everything has been hunky-dorey since then!
By 3 weeks Lexi was starting to spend more time awake and was quite alert! Her smiles at this point were still gas, I'm sure. But I loved seeing them regardless!


At first Lexi was not a fan of tummy time, but she is starting to hate it less. She seems to like it more when she does it on the boppy pillow instead of just on a blanket. It was during tummy time that she first discovered that her fist tastes rather yummy!

By 5 weeks old her smiles are for real!! It just melts my heart when she smiles back at me. She is starting to verbalize a little. Occasionally when she is playing in her gym she will let rip a little happy squeal of delight.
Finally to the present. Lexi turned 6 weeks old this week. She smiles regularly when she sees Mommy or Daddy. Her newest development is rolling over onto her side all by herself. She does it while she is stretching, so I don't think it's on purpose yet. But she is pretty pleased with herself when she does it! She is enjoying her playmats/gyms even more now. She can easily slip her arm in the fish hanging off the octopus on her Baby Einstein gym.

Here are some more pictures from Lexi's first 6 weeks -
Lexi napping in the hospital, just one day old!

Lexi and Daddy hanging out under the play gym.

Our first family portrait!
Baby faced Lexi

Big sister Buttercup, Daddy and Lexi hanging out

Lexi pondering the meaning of life, while getting her diap-diap changed. She's a very deep baby.

Lexi, super excited about her first modeling gig - the purple hippo hat was a present from our neighbors, the Zariktas.

Rocking out in her cupcake onesie. She looks good in black!

Mee-maw came out to visit for Lexi's 1 month birthday!!

Isn't she the most beautiful baby ever?????
Lexi has been sleeping pretty well at night. We are managing 4.5 - 5 hours between feedings at night. She naps well in the morning, but by afternoon she is only taking short cat naps, and then spends the evening fussing and lightly napping. But today she took her first full late afternoon nap in her crib. She slept almost 2 hours!! She loves bath time, yet hates having her face wiped off.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Alexia Maryn Kristensen is here!!!

I apologize for the delayed blog post, but life got pretty busy as we welcomed our baby girl into the world on Wednesday, July 11th at 2:04 pm!!! She weighed in at 7 lbs 2.2 oz and measured 20 inches. She is absolutely perfect!! We've spent the last week at home just loving our little Lexi.
We arrived at the hospital on Tuesday around 2 pm to begin the induction. It was a slow going process as contractions didn't start in earnest until around midnight. I made it to 6 am before asking for an epidural, and it turns out I was 10 cm by the time I got the epidural at 9 am (apparently the anesthesiologist technicians are in high demand on a labor and delivery floor). The doctor let me sleep for a few hours after getting the epidural before we began pushing. And after 2.5 hours of pushing we were holding our perfect little girl!

Sorry for the short post, but I'm anxious to hold my little girl again!! Stay tuned, more pictures to come soon!

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Week 38 and sneak peak at the nursery!

Hello all! We have reached week 38 here, in the Casa de Kristensen. Hopefully only 2 more weeks at the most! At our appointment on Friday I was disappointed to find out that I wasn't dilated, but softened at least. I realize that doesn't mean anything and you can be 0 cm one day and have your baby the next, but it would have been nice to know there is some progress going on! She has certainly dropped lower, as I have to go to the bathroom all the time. We have another perinatal appointment on Monday so we will see how big is. Hopefully not too big!
THE LAST BUMP SHOT - Week 38
Week 34 compared to week 38. Bigger and lower!
And now on to the nursery sneak peak. There is a surprise hidden in one of the pictures. Who is going to be the first to see it?

Dresser/changing table
Crib
Recliner and handmade bookcase
Closet organizer
Baby stuff and lots of diapers!
Better view of the bookcase. It was made to match the crib and dresser, right down to the wainscoting backing that matches the sides of the dresser! Very happy I came up with the idea for the angled sides!
Daddy and Grandpa building the bookcase!
Nothing much else going on here. Just waiting. Poor big sister Buttercup had to have a broken lower canine pulled this past week. So all the chew bones have been put away to avoid her opening up her stitches. Oddly enough neither dog has noticed that yet.