Dear Alyssa – Months 1 and 2

Dear Alyssa,

You turned 2 months old yesterday and I can’t even believe it! I wrote these letters to your brother during his first year so I’m going to do the same for you. We took you to the doctor yesterday and you weighed 12 pounds 12 ounces and were 24 1/4 inches long. That’s 87th percentile for weight and 99th percentile for height.

I looked back at Squish’s 2 month recap and you’re not quite as big as he was….he was wearing 6 month clothes at this point and you’re still in 3 month and a few 3-6 month…but you’re holding your own! He was also on formula at this point and you’re still successfully solely breastfeeding! I had a lot of trouble with your brother and I’m thrilled it’s going so well this time around – even if it is a lot of work! You look just like Squish did as a baby…it’s crazy.

They say every kid is different and that couldn’t be more true in our house. Your brother was sleeping 4 hour stretches at night soon after he was born and didn’t cry all that much unless he was hungry. You’ve been a bit more work. For the first six weeks, you never slept more than 2 hours at a time. You would eat at 12, 2 and 4 and your brother was getting up at 5, which made for one tired mama. Luckily, just when I was about to reach my breaking point at 6 weeks, you started sleeping a 6-8 hour stretch at night. Thank you!

If we had to describe you in one word, it would be dramatic. You’re demanding, you’re loud and you cry ALL THE TIME. All the time. Especially the first 6 weeks. If you were not sleeping or eating, you were fussing, crying or screaming. And nothing helped. We tried walking, bouncing, pacifier, swinging, loud noises, soft music, reflux medication and more.

Luckily for us again, at the six week mark things got a little better. You still scream a lot every day, but there are at least a few periods where you’ll sit quietly. Things are best in the morning or worst in the evening but we’re working on it. We’ve found a few things that are starting to calm you down, like the Ergo, bouncing on an exercise ball and the hairdryer.

You love sitting up and facing out and you like to be moving. You hate pacifiers. For the most part you do pretty well in your carseat since car rides usually put you to sleep. You’re not on much of a schedule, partly because I really just let you do your thing…and partly because your brother kinda runs the show. You do a lot of sleeping in your carseat in the kitchen or at the gym, in your swing or just on the floor while your brother is playing.

You’ve celebrated your first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.

You’re officially 2 months old and at this point you tend to nurse yourself to sleep around 11 or midnight and sleep until anywhere between 5-7 am. You’re usually asleep again by 9 or 9:30 and tend to take a pretty good morning nap. Afternoon naps are sporadic but typically you sleep from 3-4 until about 6. Your witching hours are 7-11pm and you also tend to clusterfeed. During the day you can easily go 3-4 hours without eating but at night you want to eat constantly from 6-11ish. I do my best to follow your lead and just let you do your thing.

Despite being a bit overly dramatic, you’re a very sweet girl. You like to snuggle with me and you’re starting to smile and coo. You’ve got very good neck control for your age and are very strong. When you arch your back and cry you can almost flip yourself right out of your carseat or swing if you’re not belted in. You love watching your brother and although he doesn’t show a ton of interest in you, he has held you a couple times and will tell me to pick you up if you’re crying.

Your hair is still dark so we’ll see if it turns blond like your brother’s or not.

I can’t wait to watch you keep growing, sweet girl! Mama loves you!

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