Months 1-2

The next few months were super hard but for different reasons.  The first month I was just adjusting to motherhood.  The second and third months were hard because Colby just would. not. sleep!  During the day anyway.  Once we got her to sleep at night she'd do some long chunks of sleep but it was getting there that was the problem.  I'm not exaggerating when I say she would be awake literally all day.  It was creepy and stressed me out to no end.  Everyone always told me that she'd fall asleep eventually, and you'd think so with a new baby, but not with this girl!!  She would stay awake sometimes until 1 or 2 am without a single nap alllllllllll day.  I think it was due to acid reflux, but also I honestly just think the sleep part of her brain wasn't fully developed yet, so she didn't know HOW to fall asleep.  The only thing that worked (sometimes) was bouncing her endlessly on an exercise ball.  And then if we got her to sleep, it wasn't guaranteed that she'd stay asleep when we stopped bouncing.  It was miserable, as well as horribly stressful for me.  Those were some really hard times, thank goodness things are better now!

She hated being swaddled, but I thought I'd just try one of these velcro sacs and see if it magically was the cure-all.  These pictures honestly make me sick to my stomach.  She fell asleep in it but then literally like 2 min later she woke up struggling to get out.  I was so frustrated this day I just wanted to throw her out a window ha!  But I didn't.

Billy was hanging out with her one morning (I used to pump and have him feed her a bottle in the morning so I could just get a break from feeding her and being around her for a bit) and he captured these hilarious and adorable pics

 This is one of my favorites as well.  She used to like being up on my shoulder, even when she couldn't support herself very well.  This was one of her first smiles, love it and her crazy hair!

Rare sleeping moment, with hands crossed

Hanging out on my shoulder again, she looks so different now!

Mom, Dad and Jayce came out for a weekend to help/spend time with the baby.  They enjoyed the pool while mom enjoyed the baby.

Another rare sleeping moment, and a funny position too!  I have so many pics of her sleeping because it was so rare I always took pics of it haha.

Jayce holding Colby for the first time

Cutie pie!

I think this was after I made her do tummy time for 10 minutes and she screamed the whole time.  I'm so mean.  She passed out as soon as I put her in the car seat.  I tried this again later to get her to sleep and it didn't work.

Her cool hair haha

Possibly the ugliest pic of her in existence haha!

 Ha we were trying anything and everything to get her to sleep.  She hated this idea.  Oh man we were dumb back then too and didn't know how to use this carrier ha!

She fell asleep in my arms and then we tried putting her in this to see if she'd stay asleep better.  She lasted maybe 10 min.  I'm also sure I did it wrong, but that's a first time momma for ya!

She's embarrassed at all of our failed sleeping attempts

I shunned Billy to the other room to sleep with her at night because I couldn't sleep with her in the same room as me, she made too many noises.  One night after a feeding he brought her into bed with him and they slept together like this.  She won't do this anymore unfortunately.

I think I'll never forget this day because she took like 3 2-hour naps and we were both so confused.  It was so out of character.  It was a Sunday and we stayed home from church and watched movies while holding her.  It was awesome. 

Feeding her a bottle while I went to book club

She sure is cute!

I remember I took this after she took a long nap!  I was so happy and so was she!

This picture.  Ugh.  This shows what every night was like.  This was probably 11 pm or 12 am.  We were both so tired, but somehow she was still awake, just looking around.  The WORST.

I had a blanket over her to make her feel more weighted and she pulled it up over her face

One day our friends Matt and Amy Keller came over to meet the baby.  It was a rough day, I was upstairs with the screaming baby for a while while they were all downstairs.  Amy came up to see how I was doing and I lost it because she had been awake for like 5 hours and wouldn't relax.  I didn't know what to do anymore!  Amy took over and I left.  I came back about 10 min later and she was asleep on Amy and she was sitting in the rocking chair.  Amy had swaddled her super tight, shoved the binky in her mouth and she had fallen asleep.  After that I started swaddling Colby whether she liked it or not, and it seemed to help a lot.  I think that was the turning point in her sleep saga.  So here she is swaddled and sleeping :)

 2 month shots before and after

Trying to train her to sleep flat instead of in the Rock n Play or my arms.  Lasted maybe 5 min.

 Trying to get her to sleep and she gives me this face...stinker

Tummy time and crazy hair!

  This was on our road trip to Breckenridge.  She did sleep well in the car thank goodness!  I'll do a separate post on Breckenridge.

So there's months 1 and 2.  She was a super hard little baby.  I'm glad we're past this stage.  I swear I loved her so much but it wasn't until probably 4 months that I started to really enjoy her.  The beginning was pretty miserable!  But she sure was/is cute!!!