I simply c.a.n.n.o.t. believe it, but another month has flown by and I’m only a few days late with this post! This week we had Juno’s 4 month check up on Monday and she turned 4 months old on Wednesday. Juno has officially graduated from the newborn phase and she is looking more and more like a “real” baby (not so newborn-ish) every day. She is smiling like crazy, loves to laugh, holds her head up like a pro, is grabbing and holding onto things, she will look at us and smile when we talk to her from across the room and she will stay on her tummy holding her head up for much longer without immediately rolling over onto her back. My oh my. Our hearts simply continue to grow each and every single day. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again … we are so, so, so in love with our girl! We sometimes look back and remember when Juno was growing in my belly and we didn’t know if we were having a girl or a boy. We always say, “could you imagine if she was a boy?” Of course, throughout our whole pregnancy we didn’t care in the slightest if we had a boy or a girl, we just hoped and prayed for a healthy baby, but now that she’s here and been with us for 4 months, I can’t imagine not having a girl … it’s like she was always meant to be apart of our family, which she so clearly was!
Juno Elizabeth is 11 pounds 5 ounces. She went from the 3rd percentile in weight to the 4th! Whoah! Baby girl, slowww down, you’re getting SO big! She JUST started wearing size 2 diapers and is still wearing 0-3 month clothes for the most part, but some of her 3 month clothes are starting to fit her. We finally were able to take the newborn insert out of her carseat. She is 23 and 3/4 inches tall, which means she’s grown almost 6 inches since she was born. She had to have a quick ultrasound this week on her hips since her little bum and thigh creases were just a smidge unaligned and hip dysplasia runs in our family. Thankfully her ultrasound showed that her hips are all good so no harness for us … yay! She is long and lean, although we are starting to see a chin roll every once in a while and her sweet cheeks seem to be filling out more and more. She has her daddy’s big blue eyes and we are starting to think that she is looking more and more like him. Her hair still might be turning red, but that’s still up in the air. She still has a little blonde patch of hair on the right side of her head and she is totally rocking a very cute but funny bald spot on the back of her head.
This past month we have had some big changes. I went back to work on the Friday before Spring break, March 15th. I was supposed to start on a Wednesday, but the good Lord above gifted me two extra days by sending down a big snow storm. Hallelujah! Needless to say, my first two days back to work were MUCH easier than I thought they would be. Ha-ha! So, I ended up going back for one day on a Friday when I was able to wear jeans and sweatshirt —Thank you casual Fridays — which was the best because I had been worried about having to put on real clothes after 3 1/2 months of yoga pants and then I had a week off for Spring break where I simply snuggled my girl for one more week all day every day - in my yoga pants. I’ve now had two weeks back since break and it’s been pretty good so far. My mom, sweet Yaya, has watched Juno everyday and Juno simply lights up and smiles at Yaya when I drop her off everyday. That alone makes working so much easier! I will admit that I’m tired exhausted and a little lot worn out. Going 9 to 10 hours a day without seeing my babe is hard, but, on the other hand, it does feel nice to have some routine, to see my colleagues everyday and to get back into the groove of teaching. So far the hardest part of going back to work has been managing pumping while I’m there. I’m prone to clogged milk ducts and I get them frequently anyway, but they are definitely worse when I have to pump a lot. So much so that I came down with mastitis mid-week. Not fun. Being a teacher, it’s hard to find the time and the space to pump frequently, but when I don’t that’s when the clogs take over. I’m having to spend every spare minute that I don’t have students or a meeting or am not making copies or running around the school like crazy person pumping. I only have 7 more weeks until I can cool it with the pumping and hopefully these dang milk ducts will find some relief. The other hard thing about being back at work is finding a routine for the morning. Every morning is different because every night is different and we have to be out the door at 6:40 for the day. We have to give Juno her reflux medicine in the morning and then wait 30 minutes to an hour to feed her so it’s been a bit of a puzzle to figure out. So far it looks like this … reluctantly jump out of bed at 5, give Juno her medicine, spend 15 minutes calming her back down and trying to get her to go back to sleep, pump while getting myself ready, wake Juno up at 6, change her, feed her and get her ready for the day. All the while my awesome hub is making my lunch, blending a smoothie for me and filling up my water bottle for the day. Then we load up the car, say goodbye to daddy, I drop her off at my parents’ and head to work to get there by 7:30. Phew, it’s a whirlwind. Juno has been so good and has adjusted well to being away from me everyday. She has eyes for her Yaya and has found a new groove when she is there. She usually takes a good morning nap for her, has been taking her bottles with no problems, and the two of them can usually snag an afternoon nap together before I am done with work. I’m also pretty sure (actually I know) that she has more toys over there than she does at home so she loves it there! My sis, Auntie KK, is still on maternity leave so she goes over there with her two babes quite a bit and my mom and sis take all three babes on walks to the park and spend time together. I get the cutest pics sent to me throughout the days.
Last month we were deep in the throes of figuring out some tummy and reflux issues with Juno. The sweet pea would just scream and scream all day long, but I’m happy to report that she is feeling SO much better! While she still can throw a good fit, she now lets us put her down throughout the day for long periods of time, she is so much happier, she usually only screams now when she’s tired or hungry and she is pooping every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Hooray! Oh how our lives have so drastically changed — am I really blogging about poop? Mercy! We changed her reflux medicine, which helps so much more despite how awful it is to give it to her - she HATES it because it’s unflavored and disgusting - and giving up dairy and soy in my diet has helped so unbelievably much.
Another big change this month is that we moved Juno to her own room! She now sleeps in her big girl crib and at first she was rocking it! The first night we put her in her room, she only woke up once and the second night in her own bed she slept ALL night. It was absolutely AMAZING! We started this switch over my Spring break in hopes that I could get better nights sleep now that I was working, and for the week of Spring break it worked. Ever since then though I think she has begun the 4 month sleep regression in full force and lately our nights haven’t been so great. Last night she was up at 1:45, 3, 4 and up for the day 6 o’ clock. Some nights are great while others aren’t and all I can say is that I’m so grateful for the comfy recliner in her room. I need to crack down and get better at being consistent when she does wake up in the night, but it’s so hard when she’s so sweet and snuggly.
This month Juno still loves walks in her stroller, car rides, and bath time - she loves to kick and splash! New this month she has learned how to make many new sounds, she tries to mimic all the funny sounds that we make and she has a newfound love of her fingers. She sucks on them all day long. She loves reading books, especially her farm animal book that makes all the animal sounds, and she loves to be talked to, bounced, rocked, and held.
We couldn’t love this little one more — now to see all that the next month has to offer!
This month we tried to get a picture with all three cousins— we did the best we could. I hopped in for a few photos with my girl as well! Can you even handle the big cream bow in some of these pictures? One my first graders gave Juno that bow when I came back to work … so stinking cute!
