2 months, 12 pounds, and 8 hours!

Zoey hit several milestones this week! She turned 2 months old on Sunday and weighed 11 lbs 14 oz (which is close enough to 12 lbs for the title of this post!). And to celebrate, she went 8 hours between feedings last night -- woo hoo! Of course, I woke up in the wee hours with the worst engorgement I've ever had, but we managed it and hopefully my body will adjust soon. Zoey had about three nights in a row where she only went about 4 hours between feedings, then Saturday night she went for 6 hours, then last night it was 8. We'll see how this new schedule shakes out in the nights to come...

Mornings have been so much fun with her. She wakes up in a great mood and just smiles at everything. This morning Jason spelled me while I went to take a shower. He & Zoey just hung out together, laying on the floor, walking around, dancing a little bit... Then when I was all dressed and ready, it was Jason's turn. He was holding her and not a second after I pulled the burp cloth from his shoulder to transfer to mine, Zoey spit up all over him. The timing was impeccable.

Zoey has been holding her head up really well lately and is also pushing with her legs more and more. Tummy time is going better, too -- she went from really hating it and crying right away, to tolerating it for much longer. Her favorite place for tummy time is on the quilt that her Great Grandma Helen made for her.

We had a nice holiday weekend, went to friends Audrey & Sarah's house for a BBQ on Friday evening but skipped out on the fireworks so that Z could get to bed. That's how it goes now, her sleep schedule reigns supreme. (It's OK though, because we were pretty tired too.) The rest of the weekend was relaxing and the weather not too hot.

Jason has a job interview on Wednesday with an ambulance company -- keep your fingers crossed for him! If he gets through this one, then he will have a second interview.

We hit a snag in our search for a pediatric care provider, as my insurance (Regence Blue Cross/ Blue Shield) does not cover naturopathic care. This means that in order for insurance to cover any of Zoey's checkups, we would have to go with an MD or a nurse practitioner. This isn't a bad thing, but we prefer naturopathic care. I have a health savings account, which means that Zoey and I together have a $3000 deductible before insurance kicks in anything. So regardless of the type of provider we choose, the first $3000 of expenses are going to come out of the savings account either way. If I go with a provider that is not an "eligible provider" with Regence (like a naturopathic doctor), then the money we spend does not get applied to that deductible, which is the downside. However, it's not likely that Zoey and I together will need $3000 worth of medical care in a 12-month period -- yes, it's possible, but unlikely. I'm healthy, and Zoey does not have any health issues that would amount to medical bills like that. So we're considering just going with a naturopathic pediatrician anyway. Often times, providers will give a discount to people who are paying out of pocket for care, so it may turn out to be cheaper anyway. We interviewed one naturopath a couple weeks ago before I learned that Regence wouldn't cover NDs, and we're working on scheduling an interview with another ND as well as an MD that many of my clients have used (and love). Maybe we'll end up with a hybrid model of care, where we see an ND for well-baby care and an MD for sick-baby care and vaccinations...

I put together a parenting group last week, made up of my favorite midwifery clients. We had our first meeting on Wednesday in the park, and it was wonderful. There were seven of us who got together with our babies and just chatted for a couple of hours about things like sleep and how to cook with babies and sleep and healthcare providers and breastfeeding and sleep... We've continued our conversations online since we met, and it's such a great group of smart women. I feel lucky to know them. And it's kinda cool that I caught most of their babies!