Check out my Abs

As it turns out, I call Abby “Abs” a lot more than I ever thought I would. It just comes out. She is also Abbers, Abster, Bug, Beautiful Bug (this one Spencer uses a lot), Pooper, Miss Pooper, Mayor Poopenmeyer- really anything with the word poop in it, because she does that really well. She is also Miss Abigail, (there is a Jamaican nurse in her doctor’s office who calls her Miss Abigail, so this is said with a Jamaican accent… it sounds much better that way).

Miss Abigail is 12 weeks old today. That means two things: 1) She is almost 3 months old (!) and 2) it is officially my last day of maternity leave. I don’t go back to work until Thursday, but I am now available to my pharmacy or others who might need my help if I feel like it and it works with our schedule. I am working part time and during hours that Spencer can be home, which during the summer works out well as the pharmacy is always slower in the summer. I am starting out with only a few shifts. This month I have a 5-9 shift this Thursday, this Saturday and next, and I volunteered for another 5-9 shift next week at another pharmacy. I’m pretty nervous because the longest I’ve ever been away from Abby since she has been born (aside from her time in the NICU) is 2 hours. I am also nervous because she is exclusively breastfed, and she has been having trouble taking a bottle… I am a little worried she’ll just go on a hunger strike for the 10 hours I’m at work on Saturday. We’re working on it.

At 12 weeks, Abby is such a joy. She is more and more active and alert when she is awake and she is sleeping a lot more at night. She smiles a lot, especially first thing in the morning when we get her from her crib and when we change her diaper. We love trying to get her to smile and are entertained by her almost all the time. She also has started smiling a lot when we put her in her car seat, which she used to hate.

She has been drooling quite a lot too, as you can see

She LOVES Spencer and smiles more for him than for me, I think (I am only slightly jealous, but I am with her all the time, and he is not.) She holds her head up very well, often she will stand on my lap when I am trying to burp her and peek out over my shoulder very stiff and very tall, like one of those meerkats. (Did anyone ever watch Meerkat Manor? I never did but that’s what she looks like). Always looking around, very aware and seriously interested in the back of the glider. She has been doing that for several weeks.

She is also a very good sleeper at night now. This last week or two she has started to sleep about 9-10 hours straight through the night. I enjoyed the full nights’ sleep once or twice until I realized that I could benefit from pumping during the night -since she no longer wakes up to eat -so that I am not too engorged in the morning, and I can stock up my breast milk for going back to work. For the last few days she has been eating around 9 pm before going to sleep about 10 or 10:30, and waking up at 7 or 8. Am I crazy for getting up to pump when the babe is actually sleeping at night?

Make me feel better about volunteering to wake up at 3 every morning please.

Today we will be working on eating from the bottle more, and we are definitely taking a walk or two outside at some point. That is another favorite. She is also quite the talker. I'll have to show you sometime. Happy 12 weeks, Abs! We love you!