Bath Time!

Things have been getting a little easier in the last few days with Montgomery's night time colic. I read that dairy products can be a factor in colic so I cut out all diary from my diet to see if that would help. I dont know if that's actually helping or if she's just slowly growing out of the colic. She still gets a little fussy at night but she's not doing it for as long and she goes to sleep a little easier. I love cereal and yogurt so no diary has been really hard!

I took this photo this morning. Montgomery was being a bit fussy and I was still in bed so I just plopped her down on my thighs and she went right to sleep in about 5 seconds! She looked so darn cute that I had to take a photo. I managed to hold my legs up like that for a good 30 minutes before I finally gave in and had to move her.



These two photos below are from bath time - an event that Scott is in charge of and Montgomery seems to love it! I love watching the whole production.

Magic Socks

On Tuesday night the AC went out in our house so we went over to stay at Sandy's while she's out of town. Montgomery started getting fussy around 8pm and didn't stop until almost 1am, so I can safely say that was our worst night yet. We had every single baby contraption in the room - the swing, the infant seat, the vibrating crib, the Boppy, the swaddling blanket, the rocking chair - all of which worked individually for about five minutes before she went back to crying. She finally fell asleep and woke up again to eat a few hours later.

I spent a lot of time on Wednesday trying to decipher what might trigger these bouts of colic fussiness. Was it something I ate? Was she sleeping too much during the day? Was it my milk? Was it the formula? I've experimented with different theories over the weeks and I can't seem to pinpoint anything specific.

On Wednesday night we braced for a repeat of of Tuesday night. She started to get fussy around 9:00pm, but low and behold, she was only fussy for about an hour and she went to sleep (thanks to the vibrating bouncer) by 10:30pm. She didnt wake up to eat until 1:45am, afterwhich she went right back to sleep until 4:45am when I fed her again. We got to sleep!!! Yea!

Of course this 180 degree turn in behavior had me racking my brain as to what I had done that day or eaten that would make things different. When did I nurse her? Did she get any formula? How much had she slept? Did I take her for a long walk? Was she overstimulated? Then I realized something - on Wednesday night I put socks on her tiny little feet! Not cute baby socks - she kicks those off in a heart beat. They were ugly white athletic-style baby socks that she cant kick off. It MUST have been the socks. They are magic socks. (OK, I'm grasping here but at this point I'll believe anything.) Is it bad to have your baby in socks 24/7?

Last night she was fussy until about 10:00pm and went to sleep (courtesy of rocking in the infant car seat carrier) until just after 1am. She had on the MAGIC socks. She slept again until 4:45am! But I guess the magic was wearing off (or the sock need to be washed) because she got fussy and didnt go back to sleep until 7am. We relocated to the new glider in the living room to try to give Scott some rest.

Some might argue that maybe her feet were just cold, but in our defense, we usually have her completely bundled up in a nice warm blanket when we're trying to soothe her or put her to bed, so that theory doesn't seem to work either.

Here is a photo of "Naked Baby" (as we affectionately call her) in the vibrating bouncer with the magic socks on.

A Lot To Be Thankful For...

The last few days have been fairly uneventful. Montgomery has been sleeping fairly well giving me 2 - 3 hour increments of sleep through the night between feedings. She still has at least one or two metldowns during the day but we try one of the calming techiniques and something usually ends up working. I swear Scott has become the "baby whisperer" - he can almost always get her to calm down within a few minutes.

She is getting stronger every day. If I lay her on her stomach she can now pick her head up and move it from one side to the other. Her little legs can kick hard too! I can't wait until she is just a little bigger so I can start putting her in some of the adorable outfits she has. This child has more clothes than I do. Right now, she's just "naked baby" all the time though since she really just fits into onsies, which are fiarly boring.

We had some friends out to the ranch yesterday for my birthday, which was lots of fun. My Dad took this photo of us - he managed to catch me actually SMILING with my awful braces on. Only two more months and I get the braces off!!!



I am officially 35 years old today! Despite all the usual stresses of life - bills, finances, baby crying... life is pretty good and I have a lot to be thankful for. I have great health, a wonderful husband, a job, a car to drive, a roof over my head, food on my table, friends and family that I love and love me, and most of all, a happy, healthy beautiful baby girl.

Things I Love About Motherhood

1. Taking all the tiny little clothes out of the dryer to fold

2. How she curls up in a little ball and falls asleep on my chest. I can sit like that for hours.

3. Watching Scott give her a bath and then watching him carefully brush her hair once he’s dried her.

4. The way she raises her eyebrows as high as they can go and stretches out as far as she possibly can after she finishes eating. It’s the epitome of contentment.

5. A smile on her face, even though I know it’s just from passing gas.

6. Front row parking for people with kids at the HEB Central Market in Cypress.

7. Planning for her future…

Our First Mother's Day

At 5am this morning I found myself sitting on the floor of my bathroom, hooked up to the breast pump and feeling like a milk cow in flannel pajamas. This is the part of motherhood they dont put in those Mommy books you get when you are pregnant. They make it sound like you'll have some bonding experience with your breast pump. I am sure other Moms are familiar with this experience. Beyond the whir of the pump, I was listening to Scott try to soothe Montomgery in the other room. He's not having much luck. I had already been at it for an hour before i handed her off to him. She was a perfect angel up until about 4am, when she woke up to eat and decided it was time to get up for the day and cried until about 6:30am.

Max, our 80-pound brindle Catahoula hog dog, was curled up on the bathmat in front of me, trying desperately to ignore me and sleep in the midst of the chaos. I'm still not sure how such a big dog can manage to get himself into such a small ball. The bath mat is the only soft place in the house for him to sleep on since I pulled up all the rugs in the house to take them to get cleaned. That was three weeks ago though and the rugs are still sitting on the front porch.


Scott gave me the most beautiful, enormous bouquet of flowers this morning for Mother's Day! So sweet. Mo and Pete came out for Mother's Day brunch at the ranch - they brought food and Sandy made a cobbler with all the blackberries we picked. It was delicious! We sat on the porch and enjoyed the unusually un-humid weather we had today. Had a little champagne and then an nice long napy. Mother's Day is good.


This is a good picture of Montgomery's "birdie" face.


My Mom with Montgomery, and my stepdad Pete looking on!

On a Good Day...

There could be two captions for this photo. On a good day, it would be something sweet and wistful about a new daddy gazing at his infant daughter. On a bad day, it would be "Keep me up all night again and you're going to live in the barn!"

Hallelujah! Sleep At Last!

This photo above is what it looks like when Montgomery is trying to squeeze out a fart or a doodoo.

A friend of mine suggested we try a specific formula called Alimentum (by Similac) that was recommended by her pediatrician when her little girl was having similar problems with gas and colic. At this point I was ready to give anything a try so I ran up to Wal-Mart and bought a can of the powder (and it is expensive!).

Montgomery was a little fussy around 10:00pm but we managed to get her to sleep in about 30 minutes. She woke up at 1:00am, 3:00am and 5:00am to eat. I gave her a small bottle of the formula each time and she went right back to sleep. I dont know if this was a fluke (she used to do this regularly pre-colic) or if the formula really helped. She doesnt get fussy during the day when I nurse her so not sure why she'd be fussy at night from me nursing her, but oh well. All I know is that I got to sleep at regular intervals and she didnt cry or scream all night!!

How Do You Get an Infant to Fart?

Last night was another tough one. We thought maybe if we gave her formula at night she would sleep better but that didn't work. She cried off and on from about 8pm until about 1am. I am pretty sure she's gassy - she makes a grimacing face and kicks her legs violently and sometimes a fart comes out and she feels better. But then it starts all over again.

At about midnight I was out in the front yard walking in circles and singing songs to her. Our five dogs were looking at my like I'd lost my mind. Our neighbors probably thought I was torturing the poor child. The fresh air didnt' work. Neither did my signing.

I am not sure who looks more tired in this photo - me or Montgomery. And my face isn't really that gaunt. I refuse to smile for photos while i have braces on my teeth - which make my lips stick out and my face get narrow.

1 Month Birthday!

Today we celebrated Montgomery's 1 month birthday. I think this photo above is hilarious! She looks so mad!! Mo came out with food and cupcakes.

Unfortunately, last night was by far the roughest night we've had so far. Montgomery was fussy and crying pretty much off and on ALL night. I'm not sure if it was something I ate that gave her a tummy ache or gas or if she is just at that age where she's going to be fussy a lot. Either way, Scott and I took turns trying all our different methods to soothe her but not much worked. Finally a blast of the super loud white noise put her to sleep at about 6am.

We also gave her her first bottle of formula today. She seemed to like it. I'll still continue to breastfeed mostly with a bottle of formula mixed in here and there when we need to.

We had a little outing today to South Texas Tack - just to get off the ranch for a little bit. We also put her in the Baby Bjorn for the first time today. She didn't like it at first - she cried and struggled but after a couple of minutes she settled into it and was totally calm. I kept her in it for about two hours!

Why Birdie?

I call her Baby Bird or Birdie because the instant she gets hungry she starts opening her mouth up wide for food, just like a baby bird waiting for Mom to drop in some worms!

Our First Horse Show

We went to our first horse show on Friday in Brenham to see Daddy compete. Not a good idea. It was hot out and we sat in the bleachers for about 5 minutes in our infant seat before Baby Bird got hot and sticky and started to cry. I took her out and tried to soothe her but to no avail and I didnt want to be a distraction to the competitors so we left! She hates being strapped into the infant seat.

So much for our first big outing. I thought for sure the car would soothe her but 5 minutes down the road and she was still wailing! I had to pull over at the Shell station and climb in the back seat and pull her out and rock her for awhile to calm her down!

Yesterday she took her first bottle, so I was pleased to see that that went well! She gulped it down very quickly though, which of course made her have a tummy ache.

This photo above is what i call our "drunken Popeye" look. She gives a half smile and smirk.

Scott and Montgomery

I love this photo of Scott and Montgomery. It makes my heart melt. Scott is a wonderful daddy.