The Third Prayer

This has been an exciting week and there is so much to talk about.  I couldn’t decide which was the most exciting so these are in no particular order.

Mary Rene said “pa pa” this week which is the name she calls my dad.  She hasn’t called him ‘pa pa’ in person yet but she repeated it after I referred to him.  So besides dada and mama/mom/ma, this is the third person’s name she has said.

My milk supply is starting to go down.  I only know this because Mary Rene has decided to start double nursing in the morning and at night.  She used to be content nursing from one breast at a feeding but now she needs both.  I’ve also noticed that she is nursing more frequently which makes me think that she needs more milk to keep her satisfied during the day.

On Friday I noticed that Mary Rene was having a problem nursing and she kept repositioning her mouth until she found a comfortable spot.  At first I thought it was related to my pregnancy.  But when it happened again on Saturday, her mouth felt different to me.  I instantly realized that Mary Rene’s problem was she didn’t know how to nurse with her new teeth!!!  So Sunday morning on the way to Mass, I  had her open her mouth really wide and to my surprise, three new teeth!  Her new teeth are one top cuspid and the two bottom first molars!  Those suckers are huge.    No wonder she had a runny nose all week and felt like crud.  Can’t blame her at all.  (Oh, and I must say, I was right and she was teething and it wasn’t a cold.)  When I saw the molars I noticed that they were only partially through so we probably have at least another two weeks until they are completely through her gums.  Which means, two more weeks of being clingy, crabby and upset.

Mary Rene hasn’t been falling asleep nursing lately, probably due to the lower milk supply.  In addition, we moved the rocking chair out of our bedroom about two weeks ago so we have had to put Mary Rene to bed differently.  These two factors have created a much, much, much better sleeping situation for us.  I must say, I wish we would have moved the rocking chair out of the room months ago!  Now all we have to do is lay Mary Rene down in the bed and she will roll around for about 20-45 minutes until she gets comfortable before falling asleep.  Approximately 15-20 minutes of that time she is nursing so it really is only about 20-30 minutes that she is trying to put herself to sleep.  Yes, I said it, she is putting herself to sleep.  It may sound like a long time, but before we were rocking her for nearly 20-30 minutes to put her to bed.  So laying next to her and watching her do it herself is much easier.  Eventually we hope that we can leave the room and she will put herself to sleep without us being next to her.  Baby steps people.  Baby steps. 

I am happy to report that Mary Rene slept through the night four times this past week.  It would have been five nights but she woke up at 6 a.m. so I can’t really count that night.  I think changing the way we approach dinner has really changed her sleeping habits.  It is so nice to wake up the next morning and realize that you were able to sleep through the night.  (Minus my two trips to the bathroom.)

Mary Rene has the cutest little curls and they are even more adorable when she gets out of the bath.

I call that Crazy Lady hair.  I brush it in all different directions when she gets out of the bath so I can see what that hair will do.  Too cute for words.

Finally, Mary Rene has a new pediatrician!  I am so excited and she gets to meet him on March 3rd.  I’ll devote a whole post to this and why I made the decision to change doctors.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 9:58 am and is filed under Family, Mary Rene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.