Palmer Family Chronicles: Abigail is Two Months Old

Abigail, your little personality is beginning to emerge. You are starting to smile, coo, and make all sorts of sweet baby sounds. You stay awake a lot more during the day and are very observant. You love to have people talk to you. Anna Ruth and Sumner keep you entertained for sure! You love, love, love mirrors. There is one behind your changing pad, you have a play mat with one hanging above you, there is one on your swing, and one in the car. I never noticed Sumner or Anna Ruth paying any attention to the mirror on their swing or the one in the car. In fact, I really didn't even know there was on your swing until I noticed you smiling at your reflection. The minute I lay you down your eyes immediately go to the mirror and you are memorized. Weeks ago before you started smiling you would just stare and stare. Now you smile and coo at yourself. Same thing in the car... You love staring at your reflection in the mirror hanging behind your car seat. You love mirrors so much I bought a small one that props up so you can look at yourself during tummy time. Unfortunately I haven't done the best job of making you do tummy time, but I am going to try to do better. You are such a sweet and easy going baby. Here are a few more things about you at 2 months old:

- You still sleep in the rock and play beside our bed, swaddled.
- You still drink about 4 oz every 3 hours. You are a very slow eater. You get so sleepy so I have to constantly keep waking you throughout. It typically takes you 30-45 minutes.
- When you were about 7 weeks old you started sleeping for longer stretches at night. Typically I put you to bed by 8 pm, and you wake up around 2 am, and again around 7 am. Before you go to bed I give you a bath and rock you to sleep with a bottle in our room with it dark and quiet.
-You started smiling a little before you were 6 weeks and now you do it all the time. When something really makes you happy you kick your feet with excitement.
- When you were 7 weeks old you started getting a red rash/dry patch around your eyebrows. It got worse and started looking infected so I sent pictures to her nurse practitioner at her pediatrician's office. She said it was Seborrheic dermatitis, which she said is similar to cradle cap. She said to use Selsun Blue for about two weeks. It cleared up pretty fast (1-2 days) but I am continuing to use the Selsun Blue because you skin is still very red and I am worried it will flare back up if I stop. You skin has also gotten very dry so I am using eczema soap and lotion. I looked back and Anna Ruth started having her skin issues when she was 7 weeks old, also.
- You are very expressive with your face. When something confuses you, or if you don't like something, you squint your eye brows together.
-Unfortunately you are not exempt from the acid reflux curse your siblings had as babies. Yours started out almost right away with silent refulx. You don't spit out a lot, instead I can hear it come up and you usually make a bad face and either choke on it or swallow it back down. Your pediatrician started you on Zantac when you were about 4 weeks old. We gave it two weeks, and when your symptoms seemed to get worse (because you were beginning to cry through feedings and eat less) I took you back to the doctor. While you were getting weighed the nurse actually heard you get choking and was able to give the doctor a good description about what was going on. He listened to your lungs and said they were clear, thank goodness, but that he thought you needed to be on Prilosec, too. After about two weeks, we were able to see an improvement in reflux.
- You are wearing 0-3 months clothes and size 1 diapers. You are just about to outgrow both.
- At your 2 month wellness visit you weighed 12 lbs. 11.5 oz. (80th percentile) and were 22 in. long (25th percentile). They could not believe at how much you had grown!

Dear Abigail,
Happy 2 Months! Time is already flying by! You are such a sweet baby! You are by far the "easiest" one we have had! You are so content and easy going. That's a good thing, too because with you being the third, we are much busier and you get drug around a lot more than Sumner and Anna Ruth did as babies. Luckily, you don't seem to mind. In fact, you act like you enjoy all the sights!
Words cannot describe how loved you are. Of course, you are loved by your daddy and I, but you are so blessed to have the BEST brother and sister who love you more than I ever thought possible. There hasn't been a single time either of them have acted jealous of you or like they wanted to "send you back!" Instead they ask about you all the time, think about you for everything, and hug/kiss you constantly. I cannot wait to see how much more your bond grows as you grow. I love you, Abigail! As high as the sky, and the ocean is deep, and more and more, and more!
Love,
Mama

This is Anna Ruth's baby doll carrier. She asked me to put her in it, so I did... But only long enough to take a picture to show her how small she was one day.