Ella: Two Months

Another month gone by with our littlest miss! This past month has been so much fun with our girls – getting to know Ella more by the day and celebrating her first holiday season. Now as we start the new year, I know my maternity leave is shortening by the minute. Here’s what’s been going on with month two of Ella!

Ella at two months:

• Weight – her doctor’s appointment is tomorrow, but I know for sure she’s over 10 pounds, possibly close to 11 pounds. She’s pretty solid and loves to eat!
• I think she’s gotten longer, but again, doctor’s appointment is tomorrow and we’ll find out!
• Her eyes are still blue, and her hair is growing in more by the day and still brown!
• She’s wearing 3 month clothes, but a few of them are already getting snug. I’ve put away her newborn things already and am about to pull out the 6 month stuff. Since we’re not 100% sure if she’s our last or not, I’m going to keep my favorite clothing items and consign the rest.
• She gets a lot of discharge from her eyes lately, so I suspect she has a clogged tear duct like Abbie did. Thankfully I know it isn’t a huge deal since I’ve been through it, but some days it’s worse than others and her eye almost gets stuck shut until I loosen the gunk!

• She is a champion nurser. I had such a hard time with Abbie and Ella is just the complete opposite. She loves to snuggle up with me and nurse, and I’m so, so proud that all she’s had so far is breastmilk. I do have the formula in the house if we need it (and I feel we might when I go back to work), but we haven’t needed it so far!
• Ella is a dream sleeper at night. Seriously. She goes down at about 7:30 to 8:00 every night and sleeps a minimum of 5-6 hours, but has even done as much as 9! Thanks for the sleep, sweet girl – it makes things so much easier on us! Her naps are a bit tougher – she usually does a few 45 minute – 1 hour naps and one long 2-3 hour nap. I’m going to attempt to get her on more of a schedule in the next month in anticipation of her going to daycare, but we’ll see how it goes.
• Giving us lots of big smiles, coos, and even some giggles. She smiles at me mostly because I’m the milk machine, but Daddy got her first giggles, just as I expected. He’s really the fun parent…
• She still despises dirty diapers – wet or poop. She’s still in size 1 disposables at the moment. I pulled out the cloth diapers a few weeks ago to start them on her, but noticed the elastics really needed to be replaced again. Thankfully, my mother-in-law is handling that for me (thank goodness – thanks Ann!) and we should be switched over to cloth later this month!

• Still loves riding in the car seat and sometimes falls asleep shortly after I strap her in if I rock her back and forth. So crazy.
• Tolerates the bath better now, but admittedly I’m really lazy about giving her baths. #secondchildproblems
• Still not a huge fan of tummy time. I also keep forgetting about it though because she can hold her head up so well! She’s also rolled to her side a few times!
• Momma’s girl all the way, although she’s got eye for big sister all the time and loves to lay next to her.
• This month she celebrated her first Christmas, Hannukah, and New Year’s!
• Nicknames: Miss Ella, Ellabear, Ellabella, Miss Thing

Life with Two:

Abbie is still the biggest fan of her baby sister and has this amazing ability to calm her when she’s crying. They are just so sweet together and I’ve loved watching their relationship grow so far.

I mentioned last month that Abbie was still adjusting, but that has definitely gotten better this month, just like I thought it would. We’ve tried to really find the small moments we can give her one-on-one attention, and that definitely helps.

Postpartum:

I’m feeling pretty good! I had my 6 week check up a few weeks ago and got the all-clear to resume to normal activity, including working out. Then the holidays happened and I didn’t really work out at all. I figure it happens and now that the junk is out of the house and I have no excuses for the next 6 weeks of maternity leave, I have no reason to not hit my goal of being back at my pre-pregnancy weight by the time I go back to work – that means losing 9 pounds in the next 6 weeks, which I think is doable.

Ella being such a good sleeper is definitely contributing to how well I’m feeling – it definitely makes a difference in your mindset and health. I still haven’t started to lose my hair yet, and my feet are definitely a size bigger, but it is what it is at this point! I’m heading out to get new sneakers later today and I’m hopeful that’s the motivation I need to get these workouts started! I have a Beachbody On Demand subscription (don’t worry, I’m not selling it or anything), and I’m hopeful those workouts will be fun and easy for me to do.

That’s a wrap on two months with Ella – I know the next month is going to fly by and I’ll be writing her 3 month update before I know it!