June at 6 Months

What? Six months already? She'll be one before we know it!

Rob and I recently were talking about how June hasn't changed much. Yes, she is very different from that tiny newborn, but since about three months has seemed to look and act the same even though she has, of course, made the normal developments. I feel that finally, this month, that is not the case. Here are some new things about our baby:

She is sitting up! By total surprise to all of us, one day I thought I'd better start helping her learn so that she was more ready to start solid foods. Turns out she didn't need my help - she sat all by herself! I don't totally trust that she won't fall so we don't let her sit without us or pillows all around, but for the most part her balance is awesome and she doesn't need the support.

Instead of reporting, yet again, that she is losing her hair I get to announce it's finally growing back! It's coming slowly and I didn't even realize it at first (Rob's mom made the discovery) but it's looking blonde! I do not know why that excites me so much and I worry that I'm jinxing the blonde just by mentioning it. I guess because she's been so dark haired I'm super curious and excited to see how what blonde June looks like. I loved that Henry was so light at one time and to have another baby with the same blonde... but wearing pigtails - that's such a fun possibility.

June isn't babbling much at all, she's pretty quiet. She's happy and cooing but the only syllables are when she's complaining about being tired or hungry. That's when her sweet, "dadada" is heard.

Can we talk about the outfit she's wearing in her photo? It's a vintage romper I found at a thrift store shortly after we found out we were having a girl. I knew I would be getting a lot of baby girl clothes and so I was going to try to hold off buying clothes but I couldn't not buy this when I saw it! It's a unique peach color and has great vintage details (she's covering up a little mouse applique), but mostly I love that it's something my mom could have put me in when I was a baby in 1979.

Her growth has slowed a bit. She gained only 14 ounces since the last time she was weighed two months ago and the average baby gains a pound a month (she weighs 14 lbs). I had been noticing that she still seems so small and I've loved it! I'm excited about all the ways she's growing up but I've felt blessed that I still get to enjoy cuddling a small baby. But I've been encouraged to let her nurse longer and reduce distractions while nursing. I'm bummed that we're already at the phase of needing to nurse in another room, away from a crowd. Even then, just making eye contact with June while nursing her makes her smile and stop eating.

We've been back from our Christmas trip home to Seattle for a couple weeks now. Everyone there was smitten with our baby girl. She really can't meet anyone without them remarking about how sweet she is and how big and blue her eyes are. We love her!

June at 5 Months

How cute is our June!? She is just all smiles these days. I know I say that every update, but really, she is just so happy. The smiles are now joined by laughter and happy "screeches." I'm starting to see that she may be the extravert I am - getting all her energy by being in the company of a lot of people. Two recent examples of this are when we were on the airplane on the way home to Seattle. She was so happy during the flight, looking at and "talking" to the passengers all around her. As soon as we got off the airplane she broke down, crying and tired for the first time. I also just had a get together with friends that I took her to. It began past her typical bedtime and was almost three hours long. I brought her thinking that she would get tired and I would nurse her to sleep while I visited with my friends. Nope, she was at her happiest the entire three hours and then as we left, being the last to leave (because I'm the extravert like her!) she started crying as soon as that party was over and fell asleep on me on our walk to the car! Silly baby.

Just like our trip at Thanksgiving, we are excited to be home for Christmas for a couple weeks where we can show her off to family and friends and where she can get constant attention. We left when she was only five weeks old, so of course she's a very different baby for them to get to know now.

June is giving me a run for my money in the napping department. Actually, nothing too difficult - just the back-and-forth that I think is common when starting out with sleep-training. It's just so easy to slip into "bad" habits of nursing her all the way to sleep a couple times, then she begins to depend on it, which makes it a struggle to get her to sleep in the first place and also stay asleep. The other problem is just that extravert issue - the world and the people in it are too exciting, she doesn't seem to want to miss it in order to nap!

She's starting to hold onto toys better and manipulate them in order to put them into her mouth. She plays with her Sophie giraffe, a tag blanket, a small plush bunny and an oball (I had to look it up in order to know what it's called). But, like I reported last month, she's still just as happy holding onto and chewing on a burp cloth.

June has suffered her first cold this month. It's been two weeks and running, which seems like a long time. Her cough sounds bad but doesn't wake her up at night, although it does sometimes get in the way of falling asleep.

It's official, she's totally balding (again, I think I report this every month). It's hit an ugly stage, I think, where it's beyond baby balding and in the realm of old-man-who-just-should-just-go-ahead-and-shave-it-off-already.

I feel bad that this is all I have to report on for this new month, but I can't think of anything else to say.

We love having a five month old in our house again and think our particular five month old is the best!

June at 4 months

Sorry June. It takes us three days to take your picture and write these posts. You're a second child, you'll be used to the mild neglect soon enough.

On November 17th June turned four months old. What fun four months is! She continues to be a happy baby, always eager for someone to look at and talk to her (maybe it's the second child neglect again?). We've begun sleep training and although it's not a walk in the park, she is doing better than would be expected after the few days since we started. We have had to hear her cry when going down to bed or in the middle of the night (poor sweet baby) but only for a couple days or inconsistently and her "cries" are more calling out than full on crying. Which just means it's more bearable for her parents.

Have I mentioned yet that June has the cutest chubby legs and belly? I don't think you can classify June as a "chubby baby" but after our skinny skinny Henry, it's so fun to see her little rolls on her legs and to cuddle with her and her chubby belly.

She has begun to enjoy holding toys and bring them to her mouth - her Sophie Giraffe and her taggie blanket are what I offer her but her favorite is actually just a burp cloth. I think she can hold onto it best. She also loves to grasp onto my hand and hold it at her mouth to suck on my hand or fingers. I like that too.

She's strong - loves to stand and doesn't mind being on her belly because she's able to hold her head up for a little while. We can sit her against the couch cushions and she can stay upright for a long time. New possible positions seem to add to her continuing to grow into a more and more complacent baby.

Her Grandpa and Grandma Nyland visited us last week. I was so excited to finally show her off to family after months since anyone has seen her in person. She charmed them, just as I knew she would. She's not the most photogenic at every opportunity, but in reality she is so so cute and beautiful. Big blue eyes, an always smiling open mouth (as the above picture captures). Or maybe I'm just her biased Mama:) I'm looking forward to next week when I'll see Alicia and her family along with our good family friends for Thanksgiving in Idaho and be able to show her off for the whole weekend. And it's only one month until we fly home to spend a couple weeks with all the rest of our family! Honestly, what I'm most excited about is for everyone to get to know our adorable happy baby girl!

June at 3 months

Our happy baby has returned! Right after her two month update on this blog where I mentioned what an easy baby she is, she developed a sore on her lip that got worse and worse. I didn't know how it would heal since it was constantly being bothered by nursing, spitting up, and her rubbing it with her hands. It was obvious that it was painful for her. Now, finally, about a month after it formed, it has begun to heal. It's now even more apparent how much she was hurting because, now that it's better, she's back to being cheerful pretty much all of the time.

She really is so much fun. She is so easy to get to smile- just smile at her and she returns with the biggest smile of her own! She remains pretty chatty, but mostly with just Rob and I (I can't usually get her to "talk" to anyone else). Speaking of Rob - she loves her daddy! If he's around she just stares and waits for him to look at her, she'll also follow him around the room with her eyes, it's sweet and also comical.

June is still our good sleeper, although wakes up more than I last reported. This is due to falling asleep earlier at night. If we can get her to nap around 7:30-8 for even a half hour then she'll last until 10 or so at night and then only need a feeding once. But, without that nap she's pretty tired by 9pm and then I know she'll be up twice in the night. Oh well, it could be worse.

I think I've figured out that she's not quite the comfort nurser that Henry was. In fact, if she's mad then trying to get her to nurse can often make her even more angry. The other day I accidentally hit her head on something and she was so upset, but would not nurse. After a number of attempts I tried what I know always makes her happy - I took off her diaper. She quickly became happy, talking and smiling. I wonder how not being that into nursing, besides when she's hungry, will play out differently than it did for Henry. It's so funny how much she loves to be without her diaper on. We take it off most nights for the last hour or so that she's awake. The second it comes off she gets super wiggly and begins scooting herself all over. She's at her happiest - she must just love the sense of freedom!

The only other new thing that I can think of her doing this month is that she holds her hands together, like in the picture, and puts them in her mouth. Before now if her hands made it to her mouth it was a sign that she was hungry and now she does it all the time. Oh, and she doesn't hate the car so much. I'd better be careful saying that, because it's a brand new development, but she didn't cry the last few car rides we've been on. It's life changing.

We love our little blue eyed baby girl! Now that she's begun to develop a fun personality, we're anxious for the coming months to see how that continues to develop.

June's birth story

June was born nine days late. The first week that she was late was tough because I wanted to meet her, wanted to stop being pregnant, wanted my family to have more time with her before we moved, but mostly because waiting to have a baby feels like "limbo" - you can't really plan anything. You kind of just sit around and wonder if today/tonight will be when she comes. After that first week I decided to change my attitude and be grateful that I still had time alone with just Henry and grateful that I was feeling really good at the end of my pregnancy. It's amazing how simply changing an attitude can change a situation.

... and then she came!

I had gone to have my 41 week prenatal appointment and while there the midwife stripped my membranes and checked to see about dilation. She said there wasn't much to strip and guessed she would come really soon (although I guess that's an easy prediction to make when a woman is 41 weeks pregnant:). Henry had gone with Alicia and her family to Tacoma for the afternoon/evening and so we decided he would just spend the night with them. Rob and I took advantage of a night alone and went to eat some spicy thai food and see a movie. It was nice to have that time together and know that Henry was just as happy spending lots of time with his cousins.

Whether it was the membrane stripping, the spicy curry, or just finally being ready, I woke up around 3am to contractions. I could tell this was "the real thing" but they weren't too painful at all. I told Rob that I was having contractions but to go back to bed for now and I would wake him when they worsened. About 15 minutes later he got out of bed, and 15 minutes after that... BAM! The contractions were BAD! It was crazy seeing how fast I labor - with Henry I just figured I slept through my early labor, now I realize my "early" labor goes super fast and I go from a 1-2 on a pain scale to a 7-8 within a really short amount of time.

Because my labor with Henry was pretty fast and knowing that most women experience labor going faster with each subsequent pregnancy, I had been worried about how fast it would go. I asked each midwife I saw for advice and they each said, "just come in as soon as your contractions get painful." That really simplified things - no worrying about how far apart for how long, just come when I really hurt. Well, despite the advice, I still waited too long. I'd say we were home for probably another 20 min or so (making the bed - you know, important stuff) before we got in the car. By the time we got to the hospital, I was crying after each contraction and just like I remembered with Henry, I didn't know how I was going to make the short trek from the car to the elevator. Hugs and encouragement from Rob was the only way I made it!

When we checked in with the receptionist I was leaning on her desk with my head down and crying. Rob gave our names and she called the nurses. It was funny because in most cases you go into a "triage" room where they determine if you're really going to be giving birth or if they need to send you home. But on the phone we heard, "nope, she's for sure ready. It's pretty intense." Luckily it was in the middle of the night and was pretty empty there because the nurse quickly got to me and somehow I was able to follow her to my room. On the way I told her that I really wanted an epidural and kept stating that as she asked, "are you sure?" and told me there might not be time. Even though I knew she thought I should just go for having the baby right then, I was really happy that she still advocated for me by pushing to get the anesthesiologist there right away. Also funny, I had three or four nurses rushing to get me into bed and ready - one giving me an iv (is that was she gave me?), one asking me questions, one helping me get out of my clothes and maybe another (?) that found that I was 9 cm dilated and 100% effaced!! Although I'm grateful they were all there urgently getting me ready, that chaos was just not what I had envisioned or hoped for this birth.

The anesthesiologist arrived quickly (thank goodness - with Henry it took 30 minutes to get one available!) and told me that I would start to feel some relief with each contraction but that the baby would probably come before I felt the full effects. Receiving the epidural hurt a lot more this time, at least more than I remembered with Henry. I didn't mind much, it was a different type and location of pain, so it was welcomed.

Luckily he was wrong. The epidural ended up slowing the progression of labor, which I think is common? We were glad about that because everything else slowed and calmed down. Alicia and my mom arrived shortly after I stopped feeling pain and Rob's parents were even able to get to the hospital. Honestly, it got a little boring in the meantime. The midwives (one plus an intern) stayed with me most of the time and I kept thinking how bad I felt about all the time they were in my room since nothing was happening. They wanted to wait until I came to the full 10 cm. I can't remember the time for all of this, but I think it was about 8am that they planned to check again, which was not long after a shift change for the midwives.  Which maybe is why they wanted to wait - so they could make a clean switch without me being in the middle of labor?? That's my assumption, at least. The student intern stayed but we got the new midwife. I really liked having multiple midwives, actually, because they are all wonderful. In fact, the next day while recovering at the hospital the midwife who came on staff was the midwife I got to know well during all my prenatal classes so that was lucky!

I can't remember what we did in the meantime - I know we finally spilled the beans about names we were considering (June, Sybil, Lane and Drew). Everyone liked June and Lane the best, I think. We also took bets on how big she would be. Since she was nine days late we guessed eight pounds and over.

So when it was finally time to push it was very relaxed and calm. They had me do a "practice" push which would help them determine how ready I was and they exclaimed that it was a really productive push and that she was ready to be born! So, with everyone standing around, they told me when a contraction was coming so I could push. Everyone was very excited about what each push accomplished, but for me it was a little frustrating because I was pushing with all my might but didn't feel anything. Luckily it didn't go too long and I didn't get a chance to get too frustrated or exhausted. This was very different than with Henry because although I had an epidural with him as well, it had begun to wear off so I knew when to push and could feel the pressure so I felt a little more proactive. Even during the pushing it was so so calm. Between contractions we would chat a little and a couple times the midwife would calmly state, "oh, we missed one, let's wait for another." One amusing thing that happened at the beginning of the pushing was due to the midwife suggesting that they not break my water. It hadn't become broken on it's own and she felt that sometimes, left whole, it can create a cushion for the baby and prevent tearing. But, she warned, sometimes it pops on the way out and can spray everywhere. And that's what happened, although not very dramatically - but I heard a gasp and laughing from everyone before I knew what happened.


So, finally I was told that just one more push would do it and then I felt the awesome "woosh" of her coming out. They put her on my chest and, just like with my first birth, I was surprised and excited about how tiny she was (7 lbs. 2 oz, 19 3/4 inch long) I was also excited to see how much hair she had and I remember thinking and maybe even saying how pretty she was. I think I remember crying too (and I didn't with Henry). She didn't cry much and not much the rest of the time in the hospital. The few times she cried I laughed because her cry was so cute!

I told Rob he could go ahead and decide her name was going to be June - that was a top choice for a while and his favorite. Her name isn't after anyone, we just liked it (that's how all the first name options were). The night before he had told me that he didn't like Drew, and that was probably my top choice. Except that Henry had been referring to her as June for a while so I think I did know that would be the name we would settle on. We had a few middle names, but each middle name worked with a specific first name so once we knew her name was June we knew her middle name would be Beatrice, which is Rob's grandma's name. Grandma Bea passed away a few years back, I even was able to meet her.

That's the story of how June Beatrice Nyland came into our family on July 17th 2013!

The waiting (after the epidural, I think. I just can't imagine there being time before for a picture)

Our weight predictions. We were way off!

Our beautiful new baby girl!

playing on the floor

June loves to be on the floor looking around, smiling, talking, and kicking.

Nine weeks old.

June at 2 months

I love this picture. Our goofy girl.

June had her two-month well child appointment today. The doctor told me that June seems more like a three month old to her which confirmed what we already knew about her - our daughter is gifted :) Mostly, she just seems exceptionally social - smiling, cooing, watching our every move, and getting upset when we're out of the room (she can stay happy for the most part - but it does surprise me how much she notices when we're not there).

She continues to be a good sleeper. A few weeks ago I didn't know the tricks to get her to fall asleep and stay asleep for naps. It seems like a swaddle is the answer, and since I've utilized it for naps (not just at night), she takes great naps, sometimes one that lasts 3-4 hours in the afternoon. She wakes up just once every night and then easily is put back in her crib after a short feeding. Having her and Henry in the same room has been no problem at all. Sometimes in the morning I have to quickly get one waking child out of the room before they wake the other, and when they're both up on the early side I wonder which is the guilty party that aroused the other. I usually suspect June.

No interesting update on her birthmark. She's been on her meds for almost a month and all it seems to have done is stop any spreading. Which is fine. We wonder what it will be like when it's completely gone, since we're so used to seeing the redness of her lip and chin. Her eyes are definitely turning blue, which I take as a personal victory that both our children have my blue eyes!

The other day I was thinking about how young she is and how easy it has been to incorporate her into our lives. Having a newborn makes some things tricky, mostly working around her naps (because I love her to nap at home where I can get things done, but also because I hate being out and about with a fussy baby), but for the most part the transition to two children has been really smooth.

She's acclimated to her new life in Provo. Just kidding, of course we wouldn't be able to tell that. But I think as a family we feel quite settled. We're missing family, especially missing them being a part of June's life when she's this little.