Everyday something new

Hazel is growing so quickly now and it seems like she is doing something new everyday now. In the past two weeks she has become much more interactive and talkative- she has conversations with ceiling fans, door knobs and all sorts of interesting objects. Lately she has also begun to enjoy singing- particularly when Jered sings to her and bounces her on the exercise ball we have. We are slowly learning more and more about her personality and it seems like she is a very laid back but curious little girl. She is content to sit in her swing and look around or even lay in her bed and coo at her mobile. She does like to socialize and loves to watch people while they talk and especially while they eat.

We have started to settle into a bit of a routine with her, although it still does vary at times. Most days she wakes up between 6 and 8 am- eats and then either plays and stays up for an hour or goes right back to sleep for an hour or two. From around 10 until 2 she is generally awake most of the time with maybe a 15-20 minute nap thrown in for good measure. She still eats about every 2 hours during the day, so she will eat, then we play, then she has some quiet time just hanging out in her swing or in the stroller or carrier while I get stuff done around the house. Most days she goes down for an afternoon nap sometime between 2 and 4 pm. This nap usually lasts an hour or two (if we’re lucky)- then it’s more play time, quiet time and eating with some diapers thrown in for good measure! Around dinner time she usually gets hungry- we feed her and then eat our dinner while she plays on her play mat and has a bit of tummy time. After dinner we usually head out for a family walk- sometimes we take the stroller, other times we carry her in the Baby Bjorn (which she absolutely LOVES now that she can face the world!!).

Hazel absolutely adores being outside- she loves to sit in her stroller and look around at everything outside- sometimes she even starts laughing and cooing when she finds something or someone that is particularly interesting to her. We usually walk for about 30-45 minutes. About a month ago our walks with her were short because she would get fussy if we stayed out too long- now she enjoys them thoroughly. When we take her out in the Bjorn she loves to look up at the tall trees in our neighborhood, they usually elicit at least a coo or two every night!

After our evening walk we come home and continue our night-time routine. We try and give her a bath every other night, so if it’s bath night we go upstairs and do the bath, if not we usually stay downstairs and have a bit more playtime before bed. After a bath and diaper change she has her last big meal of the night and then we put her in her crib for the night. 6 out of 7 nights a week she is in bed asleep or extremely drowsy by 9 pm. Amazingly she has settled into a routine of sleeping between 7 and 9 hours a night, usually waking up anywhere between 5 and 8 am, sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes a little later. She hasn’t woken up for a middle of the night feeding for about 10 days now, so we think she has settled into this pattern, at least for now! It is nice to be able to get a consistent stretch of sleep- we were really getting worn out on only 3-4 hours at a time, those first 6-8 weeks were so hard when it came to sleep deprivation!

Tonight we went out for Mexican food and Hazel sat and watched us while we ate and was perfectly content to just sit and stare at her hands almost the entire time. Because she was so content we decided to extend our outing and head over to the bookstore to read a few magazines at the cafe. While we were there she continued to stare at her hands, but we also watched as she learned something new- she started reaching for the little rings that are attached to her car seat. We could almost see the wheels turning in her mind as she would stare at her hand and then back and forth between her hand and the rings- eventually she was able to reach for the rings and bring them to her mouth, it was a pretty cool thing to watch!

Tomorrow I go back to work for the first time without Hazel- I will be gone from 8 am until 3-4 pm. I am anxious to be away from her for that long as it will be the very first day that I will be away from her for more than a couple of hours at a time. I’ve already packed my bag and her bag and I think we are pretty much ready to go, but I’m still not sure that I’m ready to go! Wish us luck tomorrow as I make my way back to school and start the fall semester- I know I will be having some pretty major separation anxiety!

A new adventure

As if having a baby isn’t enough of an adventure, Jered and I have decided to up the ante a bit and try to live a “greener” life. After realizing how much more trash we were putting out each week since Hazel has been born we started to do a little research on cloth diapers. The research we did actually started before Hazel was born when we looked into gDiapers- an alternative to disposable diapers that is somewhere in between cloth and disposable. We got a starter pack of gDiapers in May and had them on reserve until things got a bit easier with Hazel (those first 6 weeks we were in pure survival mode and didn’t even want to mess with anything that might possibly mean more work for us!).
We tried out the gDiapers, and after a few big messes, started to get the hang of them. Now, if you are at all offended by discussions of baby poop stop reading now- if not, continue on. Gdiapers basically are reusable cloth covers that you put a little liner and diaper insert in. When the diaper gets dirty you take the diaper insert to the toilet, swish it around and flush the whole insert- nothing to throw away. You can wash the liners and the little pants if you have any leaks (and in the beginning I had plenty of those!).
Gdiapers are great, and we’ve decided they are going to be a diaper option for when we go out, since it’s a whole lot easier to flush an insert than it is to tote a bag full of cloth diapers around!
Despite being impressed with gDiapers they aren’t really any more economical than disposable diapers as you have to buy the inserts- so while they’re a bit more “green” they don’t save you much green. So the research continued.
I went online and found a variety of different websites that presented an overwhelming amount of information about cloth diapers. To summarize there are about 5 or 6 different options for cloth diapering now- and cloth diapering is no longer limited to giant white gauzey contraptions that you have to expertly fold and pin. Now cloth diapering includes all in one cloth diapers that are just about as easy to use as disposables, pocket diapers that can be stuffed for extra absorbancy, prefolded Chinese or Indian diapers that are folded and secured in covers, and a bunch of others that I don’t know much about. If you’re interested in learning more about any of these diapering options I would highly recommend visiting  Pinstripes and Polkadots and checking out their FAQ.

After doing some fairly extensive research and taking a few deep deep breaths (there was a lot of fear involved in this process, trust me!), I ordered a couple BumGenius 3.0 all in one diapers and a dozen pre fold unbleached Indian diapers with two diaper covers. Once we got the diapers in the mail we had to prewash them (for more info on the prewashing process check out the FAQ mentioned above). The prewashing process was a day’s work in and of itself- thank goodness you only have to do it once! We also wanted to set up our entire system before we even tried them on Hazel- we didn’t want to put a diaper on her and then not know what to do with it when she was done with it! After setting up diaper pails upstairs and downstairs (we just use lidded trash cans with washable laundry bags as liners) we got out the diapers and gave them a try.

So… how did it go? Well- I am impressed, cloth diapering isn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. It doesn’t take much more time or effort than a disposable diaper, and we are putting out less trash every week. Don’t get me wrong, disposable diapers are great in many ways- they are so convenient and they generally work very well- but cloth diapering has surprised me- it is less inconvenient than I thought it would be, and I feel good about not throwing diapers away all the time. If you’re at all curious about what this switch has been like for us- send me an e-mail or give me a call, I’d be happy to tell you all about it!

2 months today

And she’s already taking pictures of herself
Last night she slept 10 hours straight through!!! I could get used to this!
Thursday is a big day for Hazel, but an even bigger day for her brand new cousin who is scheduled to make his or her arrival that morning! We will be at the pediatrician getting Hazel’s first round of shots and anxiously awaiting the phone call from Aunt Joanna and Uncle Matt!

Hazel and her Mobile

She really really loves the giraffe mobile in her Pack N’ Play. The first part of this video was taken about a week ago, the second half was shot yesterday- she now makes noises when she’s excited by something which we think is pretty awesome.

Mobile from esther benoit on Vimeo.

New Videos

We’ll start by posting this video of Hazel hanging out with Jered. This really shows how big she’s gotten in the last few weeks!

Hazel and her Daddy from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Come back tomorrow for a video of Hazel mesmerized by her giraffe mobile!

7+ hours of sleep = a newer, better mom

Hazel slept for 8 hours last night and went 8 and a half hours between her last meal of the night and her first meal of the morning. I went to bed at 10 and woke up at 5:30 am. It was amazing. I hope it happens again. I have been awake since then and feel more energized than I have in a long long time. Hazel is currently napping in her swing and I’m sure she will wake up hungry and ready to play. I am hoping play time will wear her out for a repeat 7+ hour night time sleep tonight!

In other news here at the Benoit household, we have been spending a lot of time over at Omi’s house (Omi is the name we’ve decided on for my mom). Aunt Sarah has been in town visiting from Colorado so we’ve been spending quite a bit of time with them this week. Saturday was Sarah’s birthday and yesterday was Clayton’s birthday. Hazel has been celebrating with us- Saturday we all went to Olive Garden (and Hazel even got to eat her dinner while we were at the restaurant, what a trooper). Yesterday we grilled at my mom’s house and got to meet my mom’s friend’s family. It’s hard to believe that Clayton is 15 and Sarah is 21!!! It has been a fun family filled week- tomorrow Sarah leaves to go home and my mom and Clayton fly to Germany to visit Oma (my grandma). It will be weird not seeing them for two weeks after spending so much time with them- I know we will miss them while they’re gone- it has been nice to go over there for a change of scenery during the week!

I hope to upload some new videos of Hazel tomorrow- so check back often!

Cuteness

Not much to write about today, but I had to post this picture that was taken when Hazel and I were over at my mom’s last week. This is my absolute favorite picture of Hazel taken so far.

Have a great week!

Our Hazelnut

Today marks Hazel’s 7th week as an outside baby. She has grown so much in the past few weeks, and not just physically! One of the most dramatic changes we have noticed lately is her ability to socialize. She’s not quite hosting backyard barbeques yet, but she is definitely giving us plenty of social smiles (where she smiles in response to our smiles or ridiculous goofy faces). In addition to the smiling, she has also started to grasp things intentionally with her hands. She used to grab at things randomly, but now she will actually grab onto things and not let go until she is done with them!

We seem to be coming up on yet another growth spurt- I’m not sure that this one will be as much of a physical growth spurt as it is a developmental spurt. Hazel has been cluster feeding, which basically means that she and I are attached for most of the day and a good part of the night. Usually when she feeds like this she is also more fussy between feedings and sleeps a lot less. These times are probably the most trying for us, as she is awake a great deal but isn’t easily soothed or settled. Fortunately, when we have experienced these spurts over the past few weeks, they don’t last long. Usually within 2-3 days she is back to her usual calm and content self. I think we are on the tail end of this spurt, since Tuesday her sleeping has been pretty erratic and she has been very fussy in the evenings. She seems to fight sleep all the time. Usually she falls asleep after she’s nursed, but over the last few days she has resisted sleep, to the point where she becomes frustrated because she’s overtired. We are hoping she will soon be over this little spurt of growth- I know I am feeling pretty exhausted! The great thing about these times, though, is that after each growth spurt some new thing seems to emerge. These new things are usually pretty awesome: at around 2 weeks it was the ability for Hazel to be awake for more than 20 minutes without eating, at a month she started becoming more alert during the day and her visual tracking got much better, around 5-6 weeks we got our much anticipated first smile- who knows what is in store for us this time!

Cooing

We have yet to capture this on video, but as of this afternoon Hazel is cooing. She does it while smiling so it’s doubly cute. She is getting so big and changing so much every day. We recently bought a tummy time mat that has all sorts of little toys to get her to try and lift her head more. She really seems to like looking in the little mirror on the mat and she is getting better and better at lifting her head and pushing up with her arms. We are afraid that once she gets the hang of pushing herself up with her arms she will be crawling- her little legs push her forward even without her arms!!

We haven’t been very good about uploading pictures lately, mostly because life with a new baby is fairly hectic and finding the time to upload the photos has been hard. Tomorrow Hazel and I are going to be hanging out at home and we have nothing planned, so barring extreme fussiness we should be doing a substantial photo and video upload. I’ve got my fingers crossed that we will catch the cooing on video!

Sleep

This week has been one of incredible change in the Benoit household. Hazel suddenly went from sleeping 3-4 hours in a stretch at night to sleeping 4-7 hours in a stretch at night. This all started around Tuesday of last week- Hazel started sleeping slightly longer during her first stretch of the night, from around 10 until 2:30 in the morning. This was a huge change compared to where she was a few weeks ago when she was consistently sleeping in three hour spurts throughout the night, and in 1-2 hour stretches during the day. I thought this was enough of an improvement, but Friday night we were in for a real treat. Seven hours of sleep. No joke. We put Hazel to bed after much rocking and feeding and soothing- at 10:45 pm Friday night. The next morning I woke to find the sun was coming up, and it was the first time I’d been up all night- 5:45 am. I cannot describe how absolutely decadent it was to sleep for longer than 4 hours at a time.

We thought it was just a fluke, but last night, despite having our evening routine slightly upended by a date night that lasted longer than we had planned, Hazel did a repeat performance of her great sleep feat- it wasn’t 7 hours, but she slept a solid 5 hours, from 10:15-3:15 and then another stretch from 3:30 until nearly 8. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high about getting this kind of sleep consistently, but I can’t deny that I’m excited that this kind of sleep is at least a possibility now. We learned from our pediatrician that sleeping for long periods of time is related to the baby’s weight- once a baby reaches 11-12 pounds they are able to sleep for 6-8 hours at a time. Before reaching that magic weight they wake up more frequently, most likely an evolutionary mechanism that ensures that babies get nice and big and chubby before they start sleeping the night away! I whole-heartedly believe that size has something to do with Hazel’s latest sleeping habits. We plan to take some pictures today that we hope to post this week to show just how big she’s gotten. I’m sure she’s already 10 pounds, if not close to 11. Here is a video shot recently that shows how much she has changed in just a few short weeks.

Growing from esther benoit on Vimeo.