An Abrupt End

Just as we have started to settle into our new home and let the stress levels subside we are socked with the latest wrinkle in plans. For the last week or so Lacy has been much more cranky than usual. We couldn't understand the issue. Then she started being really restless when she was nursing. On Sunday we decided to weigh her and found that she had not gained any weight in almost a month and that she may have lost a few ounces. Alarmed I decided to find out how much milk I was producing at each feeding. I became even more alarmed to learn that I was producing BARELY a half of an ounce at each feeding! Lacy had to be starving!!!

Immediately I switched to formula to make sure that she was getting what she needed, much to my dismay. I researched online how this could happen and how my supply could have dwindled so quickly. Apparently, high levels of stress can cause this to happen and for those of you who has talked to me in the last month knows that the move was stressing me out big time! I think that the disarray that was our house, the shifting of our schedules and saying goodbye to family took its toll on me and my milk.

I have been trying since Sunday to increase the supply, but everything I try isn't helping. I am still pumping in order for her to get at least one bottle a day of breastmilk, but it takes me 4-5 pumpings to get a 3-4 oz. bottle for her! The good part is is that she is now happier, sleeping longer, and getting her weight back up. It is a real disappointment for me as I enjoyed nursing and I wanted to keep it up for as long as I could, but I don't think it is in the cards for me. My supply just can't meet her demands. I continue to keep monitoring my supply, and am hopeful that it will come back, but my optimism is tempered by all the articles and self help blogs that I have read.

Only time will tell, but I am happy to have had a full three months of nursing her.

Day 6-We arrive!!!

Well, we made it! After 8 days we are finally here! It was a pretty easy trip, probably not as easy as a 6 hour plane ride, but we were able to do it at our own pace and visit family and friends along the way. Lacy is still trying to adjust to a new time zone and that has been a bit tough on us as it requires a 3am wake up! Just as we were getting her to sleep through the night we have to start the process all over.

We got to Sausalito around 11am this morning and Lacy, Harley and I got to lay eyes on our 'new' home for the first time. What an amazing view driving into Sausalito...breathtaking! I feel so lucky to be able to live here for the next 2 or 3 years. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the sky bright blue, the aromas incredible...it smelled as Ryan likes to say "like Longwood Gardens on crack!" We grabbed some lunch on the main drag in town and soaked in the scenery. Lastly we waited in our completely bare house from 1-5pm for Comcast to come and hook us up. Looks like Comcast is just as inefficient in California as they are in Northern Virginia. They showed up right at 5pm!

Tomorrow our stuff comes and then the real work begins!

Day 5-Utah, Nevada and California

California here we are! We have officially made it to California, and are holed up at the lovely Residence Inn in Roseville. Today brought us an interesting day of driving. We started out driving in heavy rains and winds past the Great Salt Lake and then on into the Salt Flats of Utah. Pretty interesting sight if you have never seen it. Nevada brought us desert, but with driving winds and chilly temps. Lacy had her diaper changed during a wind and sand storm and she laughed right through it while Mom and Dad froze to death. I don't really recommend driving through Nevada...not much to see. Once we crossed through Reno into California, the scenery picked up. We were magically transformed into the mountain resort and outlying towns of Lake Tahoe. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. We will have to take a trip this summer or next to spend more time there. From Lake Tahoe it was only about 60 miles to Roseville. Lacy was excellent, as per usual, and had only a bit of a spell once we came down the mountain into lower elevations. It ended as soon as Mommy jumped in the back seat and made silly faces!

Tomorrow we have an easy drive to Sausalito. We, unfortunately, won't have our stuff until Friday, but we have to meet the cable guy tomorrow and do a walk through of the house. Tomorrow night we will be staying in downtown San Francisco and hopefully we will be able to get out and enjoy the sights. Looking forward to exploring Nob Hill.

Day 4-Colorado, Wyoming and Utah

Greetings from Salt Lake City! We arrived here late this afternoon, 4pm local time, and checked in to our room. What a great day for driving! The weather was sunny and we could see for miles for this whole leg of our journey. I was really apprehensive about this leg of our journey as it would take us up and down through different elevations and through the mountain range that houses the Park City, Utah ski resort. I worried that Lacy would have problems acclimating to the change in elevations and would have problems with her ears. We didn't hear a peep out of her the entire journey. She was a champ. It was a very easy day. Not only that but Ryan was in heaven seeing all sorts of wild life on our route through Wyoming. All in all a good day. Tomorrow our destination is Sacramento. Only a few more days on the road.

We had a great time in Denver and wished we had another 3 days to spend with our Colorado family.

Day 3-Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado

Well, we made it!  The first leg of our journey complete.  This was our longest day, but Lacy was a true champ.  We rolled into Denver around 4:30 pm local time.  The ride was smooth, but God, is Kansas boring.  It was hard to keep our eyes open with nothing to peak our interests but dry, dusty land and abandoned farm houses.  Colorado, however, didn't disappoint.  We came in on a great day with bright blue sky, very few clouds, and 70 degree temperatures.  No humidity. Ahhhh.....I miss this!  Tomorrow is supposed to be 79 degrees and Sunday 80 degrees.  Dad, Jane and Sean were home to welcome us in and we enjoyed a nice home cooked meal.  Lacy showed signs of fatigue at the end of our journey and has been a bit of a pill with her lack of sleep and her lack of bowel movements (again!).  Luckily, we have 3 days of rest before we hit the road again.  Keep you posted once our journey continues.

Day 2-Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri

Day 2 is done.  We arrived in Blue Springs, Missouri at around 3:30 pm local time.  Apparently, for all you American Idol fans this is the home town of David Cook (my personal choice to win it all and actually sell records).  Lacy did excellent yet again.  We are blessed.  She didn't get a lot of sleep, but she enjoyed looking at the passing scenery.  I can only imagine what that looked like to a baby.  We also kept her occupied with this rather large, extremely colorful, ridiculously busy stuffed peacock.  She loves it and will stare at it and smile every time she sees Mr. Peacock.  Ryan during one of his shifts in the back with Lacy created a fort out of the combination of her car seat and her blanket and she loved it.  Lacy would look all around and smile.  She is sound asleep now and shows no signs of waking up.  Tomorrow it is Denver or bust!

Day 1-Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky

Day 1 complete and we are no worse for wear! It was actually a really easy day. Lacy did so well.  Much better than we had anticipated.  She was a very happy baby most of the way and only gave us a hefty cry when we were driving through the mountains of West Virginia.  My ears were hurting, I can only imagine how hers were faring.  As soon as we leveled out she was just fine and back to sleep.   We are stopped in Lexington, Kentucky and enjoying arriving early, relaxing and taking a few cat naps of our own.   

Goodbye Tiny House

Our adventure has begun! After our last weekend in Pennsylvania celebrating Mother's Day and Lacy's baptism, as well as, saying tearful goodbyes to our family we drove through a steady downpour of rain to return back to 'Tiny House'. It is all bittersweet as it is so hard to say goodbye to old memories and our first house, but we are so very excited for our new life in San Fran.

Ryan and I put Lacy to sleep as soon as we arrived home (around 9pm) and worked on organizing what was left of our life so the movers wouldn't pack everything away. We ate leftover pizza on paper towels on our mattress on the floor with no bed linens. It was so cliche...like something out of a movie. Believe it or not....Lacy slept through it all and didn't wake up til 7am! That is (if you are counting) 10 hours! That is her longest continuous sleep since Day 1. We are definitely on to something here.

This morning, I packed up the baby and the dog and left 'Tiny House' for most likely the final time and headed off to our hotel room while Ryan supervised the packing. We did this in order to give Lacy a chance to stay on schedule and have a normal day rather than juggling her in and out of sleep while the movers packed around us. And so, our adventure has begun. We will try to keep you abreast of the daily adventures we encounter on our trip (if the drive doesn't exhuast us too much!).

One final note...it was such a joy to spend our last weekend up in PA. It was so fitting that it was Mother's Day and the day of Lacy's baptism. We were so happy to have all our PA family and friends all in one place to say goodbye. We will miss you all so incredibly much. I am having a really hard time saying goodbye as the past 3 years has been so special being so near after being so far for 10 years. You guys truly were a huge support to me while I was pregnant and Ryan was travelling so much. Ryan and I will never forget that time. I want Lacy to see you all as much as possible so please come to visit often and Skype us regularly. Love to you all. PS...sorry for all the tears on Sunday!

Could it be?

As you can see by our last blog that Lacy is growing steadily. Still in the lower percentiles for weight, but what does that truly mean anyway. She is a healthy and very happy little girl. We are at 10 weeks, and it seems (could it be true?) that she is on her way to sleeping through the night. Sunday night we seemed to turn a corner and she was sleeping 7 hour stretches. This has lasted through the week as well. Granted we are still waking up at around 4am, but that certainly beats waking up at 2am, 4am, 6am, etc.

Of course, now that she is on a schedule we are going to throw her for a loop as we cross through several time zones on our way to California. Our plan as of now is to leave this coming Wednesday and drive 8 hour days stopping in Lexington, Kentucky, Kansas City, Missouri and last stop Denver. We will stay in Denver for three days visiting with Dad, Jane and Sean and my college friends and then we are off on our last leg of the trip. The last leg will include stops in Salt Lake City and Sacramento.

The house is currently in shambles with mattresses in the dining room. Chairs overturned and stacked on top of boxes. Baby miscellany scattered throughout the house and making me crazy when I am searching for something completely necessary at that moment. The stress level in the house is high with so much needing to get done and very little time. We have two nights left in 'tiny house.' We head up to PA on Friday for a one last hoorah with the PA families. Lacy gets baptized at Ryan's family church on Sunday followed by a luncheon at the Taylor's house. (pictures will follow)

Most likely we will write again once we are situated in the house in Sausalito or at our stop in Denver. To our East Coast family we will certainly miss you.

Lacy Day's Stats

After Lacy's two month check up we have updated stats.

At 9 weeks:

10 lbs 9 oz
22 3/4 inches long