My Secret Weapon...

against chubby baby neck crease yuckies: probiotic powder!

Neither of my other children really had that problem but while they were big babies (9lbs12oz and 9lbs 3oz at birth) they were also long and not roly-poly like Sophie is. I always washed her creases in the morning and at night but that darn neck crease always got so red and I hate to say it: gross. It was cheesy and smelly and not very pleasant. I tried washing and drying it more often but that seemed to just irritate her. I tried cornstarch which we all know just feeds yeast so obviously that didn't work. Then I thought I'd try some of the probiotic powder that I had in the freezer (Reuteri brand) and it honestly cleared it up almost completely overnight. It was completely gone by day 2! Just sprinkle a little bit on and wash it off in the morning.
Works like magic!

12 weeks already!

Sophie Maddelyn is 12 weeks old today. I'm doing the best I can to savour every mili-second as she's most likely our last baby but it seems every time I blink, she's grown an inch or changed in some way!

Sophie at 12 weeks:
~ can hold her head up 90 degrees when on her tummy
~ has great head control
~ is starting to grow back all her newborn hair that she lost
~ Coos and baby talks
~ smiles all.the.time!
~ thinks her hands are the best playthings ever
~ on average, wakes up twice a night to eat
~ grasps for toys in her reach
~ kicking with her feet
~ thisclose to rolling from back to front. (I think the big cloth bum gets in the way, lol)
~ weighs about 12lbs (was 11lbs 15.5oz at 11 weeks)
~ is starting to create a daily rythm for herself.
~ loves to "sit" and prefers to face out to observe her surroundings
~ tends to really only get upset when she's overly tired
~ even though we've never adjusted our noise level when she's been asleep and she's been used to sleepign through normal family noises since birth, she now wakes up to the slightest sounds.

Wear Your Baby!

I really hope that babywearing doesn't get a bad wrap now that Infantino recalled their bag slings. Baby wearing advocates have never supported the use of those bag slings because of their dangers so hopefully babywearing will continue to rise in popularity with the general public!

Anyways... onto what this post is really about: I need a new baby carrier!! Even though my husband bugs me about my cloth diaper and babywearing obsessions, I honestly do need a new one.
When Parker was 7 days old I bought the cuddlywrap by Peapod Creations and I loved it. He was a very unhappy little man who was diagnosed with GERD so being in an upright position was really helpful plus he felt more secure being close up to his momma. Still to this day (at 22 months) he loves to be carried. I still use the cuddlywrap now that Sophie is here but meh... I'm not loving it as much as with Parker. I think because I am constantly changing positions chasing after Parker, it's losing it's stretch way quicker. It seems like it's fine for a bit but then if I take her out and then back in it goes all wonky and gets uncomfortable. And she's only 2 months old...I can't imagine carrying her in for more than another month or two.
I also have an upMama ring sling that I really like and use often. I originally bought it when I was pregnant and could no longer wear Parker in the Ergo. But it wasn't comfortable to side carry him and for some reason it made my belly go numb when he was in it. Sophie really likes it but only when upright in it (she does not like the cradle hold at all). But my darling husband was trying to be helpful and washed my sling in warm water and then dried it in the dryer. So while it still fits, the tail is really short and it just doesn't fit as great as it did pre-shrinkage!
Then when Parker was maybe about 6 months I bought an Ergo and it was a huge improvement from the pocket sling I was using (I'm not a fan of pocket slings as they are hard to fit to your body exactly) it still wasn't The One. It would fit great if there was just one more strap in the back or if the strap that buckles on your back was a bit lower. It sometimes felt like it was slipping off my shoulders. Plus this carrier was SO not attractive on a plus size momma, instead of holding me in like I would have preferred it highlighted and enhanced my momma belly. Not what I was looking for at all!
So now here I am looking for something new. I'm thinking either a woven wrap or a mei tei. I think the woven wrap would support me the best and have all the benefits that I love so much while not getting all stretched out like the stretchy wrap does. But the downside to that is that it's a pain to put on... with a busy toddler I want something a bit quicker to put on. So that leads me to thinking that a mei tei carrier would be best. Easy, supportive, super cute but just like the ergo, not the best for my body type.
Decisions, decisions....

2 months old already!

How did that happen?! Little Miss Sophie Maddelyn is 2 months old (plus 2 days as of today) and she weighs 11lbs 2.6oz.

She has her first visit with our family Dr. on Monday to check her weight. Between weeks 5 and 8, Sophie has only gained 3oz. At our 6 week m/w appt, our m/w said to check her weight again in a week and if it isn't a substantial gain to take her in. Well, I missed week 7 so I took her in on Monday (2 months exactly) and since there wasn't a decent weight gain in that two weeks, I made an appointment.

I'm worried that the Dr. is going to blame tandem nursing for her slow weight gain but my supply seems to be as strong as it's ever been. In fact, when Parker nurses more often like when he was sick, my supply increased big time. Sophie is different from my other two in how she nurses. She doesn't like to comfort nurse, doesn't like to fall asleep at the breast either. She's just there to eat and that's it which makes it hard when she's very uspet and I'm trying to comfort her as nursing my other two would always be the way to instantly stop the fussiness and tears. So I get that's why she's not gaining a pound a week at this stage like my other two were!

Anyways.... here's hoping for a decent weight gain at the doctor's office on Monday!