Morgan 3 Months

Weight & Height: She is about 15 pounds now I think. We have her 4 month appointment at the end of next month for official weight and measurement :)

Eating: Eating 4oz of formula every 2-3 hours. In the morning she will usually have 6 ox of formula though because she sleeps through the night without needing a bottle.

Nursing/Bottles: We are completely done with our breastfeeding journey. I wish it had been an easier experience for us and that I could have continued to provide her breast milk but solely pumping was getting exhausting and since I decided to stop I have been able to be a better mother to Morgan and have more time for her because I'm not pumping 8x a day!

Sleeping (naps): She normally takes a small morning nap and then a longer nap in the afternoon. She took a 3 hour afternoon nap at daycare the other day.  

Sleeping (at night): Wow how far we have come with sleeping throughout the night...she will go to bed between 7 and 8pm and sleep till about 5:30am. Sometimes she will wake up around 3 or 4am and we will just put the pacifier back in her mouth and then she will go back to sleep. This weekend she slept till 7am and it was awesome! She has this new sea dream soother for her crib and she loves to watch the fish dance and move before going to sleep. We can put her in her crib awake and she will put herself to sleep.

Clothing: She fits into all her 3 month clothes now and can fit into some 6 month clothes although they are a little big still.

*I am aware her onesie "3 month" decal is not he wrong way...that was a major mom fail, I wish I could blame it on lack of sleep but I actually got a lot of sleep last night and I was just distracted haha

New this month: 

• Morgan loves to tell us what she thinks and is constantly making noises and babbling. 
• She loves to grab everything..from my hair and my glasses to her bibs and blankets, Morgan will grab everything in her range!
• She loves to run her had up and down her changing unit on the pack n play she loves how the fabric feels haha
• She loves bouncing up and down on my knee and starts to smile and giggle.
• Holding her head up like a champ and sitting up really well.

Nicknames: My girlfriends started calling her "Mo" and Matt and I continue to call her peanut :)

Morgan likes:

• Still loves her activity mat and now can grab and kick the thinning animals 
• Chilling in the mob by wrap and being held
• Her crib sea dream soother 
• Her swing
• Starting to recognize the colors and objects on the TV and loves watching the Mickey mouse club show
• Napping with daddy on the couch after work and daycare
• Sucking on her hands, she will find her thumb eventually!

Morgan dislikes:

• She dislikes having a wet diaper and lets us know :)
• Laying down for too long, she prefers to sit up more now

The pros and cons of being a military wife

Don't get me wrong I am extremely grateful for all our service men and women and I am so proud of my husband for all that he scarifies. I will be the first one to defend the military and I am grateful for the opportunities and lifestyle it has provided us. However, not everything is rainbows and butterflies and when the military makes most of your decisions for you, it can get frustrating.

The Pros

• We have the amazing opportunity to live in England for three years. We are within driving distance of Scotland and we can hop on a two hour plane ride to get to most countries in Europe. 
• Housing allowance- the military will pay for housing and utilities. When you live on base you don't even see a bill when it comes to rent or utilities so it makes it super easy and it's a great benefit living in the UK not to have to worry about that cost since its already so expensive here!
• The opportunity to move...a lot! Right now Matt and I are enjoying not staying in one place for too long. I love the fact that after three years in England we will get to go somewhere else and explore new things. 
• Healthcare- I think the military healthcare system is great and I have always had pretty good experiences with all the doctors I have encountered. I love that you don't have to worry about getting a hospital bill or paying for a prescription. It was so nice when I had my daughter Morgan not to have to worry about any added expenses.
• You meet a lot of great people and develop strong friendships. Also, after multiple moves you start to have friends all across the country which is great for traveling :)

The Cons

• While the constant moving is great, it also comes with inconsistency that can make it difficult to get a job or stay with a company for very long. Most of the time military wives are over qualified and underpaid for the position they work in. When you are constantly moving you will usually take the first job offered to you because it can be so difficult to get an offer in the first place. When employers know you are in the military they know you might not be around for very long and don't want to invest their time and money in someone who might not be around in a year. 
• You have to learn to be flexible and give up a lot. With my husbands job he can get called on a trip at a moments notice so a lot of the times our plans have to change. I learned the hard way to always get travel insurance! I booked a non refundable trip to Paris once and my husband ended up being on call that weekend and we lost all our money from the trip, yikes!
• The air force is number one. The spouse and rest of the family will always come second and I have learned to be ok with that. There are many nights I don't know what time Matt will be coming home from work and I will try and wait for him to eat dinner just for it to end up being cold or not eaten at all. Matt also has worked different shift schedules which can add stress to the fact that we might not see each other Monday-Friday and that can be difficult.
• You are usually far away from friends and family. The military community is close so you learn to make your friends your family and holidays are spent with your neighbors or other families from your husbands squadron. However, it does not take the place that many holidays and social occasions are missed or spent apart from your family members.  
• The constant reminder in the back of your head that deployments are never out of the questions and there is also a possibility Matt could be taken away from us for months. 

Overall I would not have it any other way. I am proud to be a military wife and I love my husband for everything he does for Morgan and I. But I am not going to lie once he retires from the Air Force I can't wait to have our freedom back ;)

Can you smell it?.....Fall is in the air!

It is officially Fall time in the DC household! I know it might not "officially" be fall yet but September 1st is the day it is acceptable for me to put away all signs of summer and break out the pumpkin decorations and boots. Things I am already starting to love this fall...

My pumpkin mug

Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin Spice coffee K cups (since there is no Dunkin donuts near us in England, this is the closest I can get)

Source: http://www.theimpulsivebuy.com/wordpress/2012/09/18/review-dunkin-donuts-pumpkin-coffee-k-cup-pack/


Football Season! No need for any more explanation there is nothing better than a Sunday full of good food, good beer and football :)

This Pumpkin Spice Crunch Cake. I found on Pinterest this weekend and made it and oh wow its amazing and super easy to make!! Recipe can be found in the link below, but all you need is box of spice cake, crushed up Heath bars, canned pumpkin and cream cheese frosting.

Source: http://www.ohbiteit.com/2013/09/pumpkin-spice-crunch-cake.html

And lastly, this is my last week of maternity leave, tear! So sad, I am going to miss spending the mornings with this beautiful baby girl!!!

Unnecessary baby items that you don't need!

Before having Morgan I thought I needed every baby item listed on Babies R Us. When making my baby registry I was overwhelmed with the amount of things the website "recommended" for parents. My house is not that big so I had no idea where we were going to put everything but that didn't matter I had to have it all. Poor Matt had no clue what half of the stuff was for but he dare not argue with me about it :) After having Morgan I have come to the conclusion that there are certain items you do not need and will never use. Don't get me wrong we are using a lot of the stuff we have and it is insane how much room all that stuff does take up but there are some items you can live without. 

1) Baby bath tub: Some parents may use it all the time but I found it to be a huge pain. The kitchen sink will work just fine until baby is strong enough to hold their head up, then they can just take a shower with mom or dad. It is much easier and you don't have to constantly fill up the bath tub and clean it. I found it difficult to hold onto a slippery baby in the baby bath tub and I think the shower works much better. 

Source: http://sunvalleymag.com/Sun-Valley-360/Summer-2014/What-Do-I-Need-for-A-Newborn-Baby/

2) Diaper wipe warmer: The wipe warmer is a nice luxury for the baby, however most of the time we change Morgan downstairs and use cold wipes. Also sometimes the wipe warmer can dry out the wipes and it constantly needs to be plugged in. Nice to have but not a necessity. 

Source: http://www.toysrus.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=3242098

3) Crib bedding set: You aren't suppose to put anything in cribs anymore and now they have these "breathable" bumpers for babies so bedding sets are kind of pointless. We can't have anything but a fitted sheet in Morgan's crib because she will somehow get any blankets that are in her crib over her head. 

Source: http://ulxy.com/crib-bedding-sets-boys-girls-ideas.html/cool-grey-baby-boy-crib-bedding-sets-monkey-with-white-nursery-funrniture-sets-with-reading-lamp

4) A bottle rack for the dishwasher: Half the time I clean the bottles by hand with a bottle brush. I try to remember to put the bottles in the dishwasher when I start it but I usually forget. We go through bottles so much I can wait for the dishwasher to get full to get them clean. 

Source: http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Tot-Dishwasher-Basket-Orange/dp/B0038JE61O

5) Lastly, a ton of clothes. Yes I know this is crazy because babes go through a lot of clothes but I didn't have time to get Morgan in everything before she grew out of it! The really cute clothes are the hardest to because they are usually two pieces and its hard to keep Morgan warm when her dress keeps coming up. I prefer onesies but that is just me :) 

Source: http://www.ikuzobaby.com/page/15/

Morgan 2 Months

Weight & Height: She weights 11 pounds and is 22 inches long!

Eating: Morgan's appetite has started to change because some days she can't get enough but other days she will go longer periods between bottles and I can't believe she isn't hungry yet. She keeps me on my toes!

Nursing/Bottles:

She likes to nurse in the morning but that is about the only period in the day I can get her to nurse; the rest of the time it's me and the pump! I think in order to get more sleep when I go back to work I am going to start reducing my pumping so I can stop altogether hopefully in the next couple of weeks. I have enough frozen breast milk for almost another month but then its on to all formula. She takes formula at night so I know she will be fine, but it has taken a lot for me to decide to stop breast feeding 3 months short of my goal. But I couldn't have predicted she would not want to breastfeed and so I am doing what is best for us now. 

Sleeping (naps): She usually has a morning nap around 9am and then will nap on and off throughout the day. 

Sleeping (at night): Morgan's bedtime is 8pm and she usually goes down really well now and will sleep anywhere from 6-7 hours straight. We usually wake up around 2:30/3am to feed her and then try and get her back asleep in her crib. She will always wake up at 5:30/6am and want to come into bed with us and at that point we are both too tired to arguer with her :)

Clothing: She is officially out of her newborn clothes and into her 0-3 month clothes. 

New this month: 

• She is starting to smile, especially in the mornings she is the happiest. 
• She is also able to try and communicate with us with her cooing and babbling. 
• She can see her mobile and her toys hanging from her pack in play and loves looking at them. She also loves the american flag on the wall and will stare at it for hours. 
• She is drooling so much and gets every outfit soaking wet. She also loves sucking on her hand. 

Nicknames: Peanut, Morganator...our new one is beast because at night we say "don't wake the beast" :) oh and her uncle Dylan started calling her Morggie. 

Morgan likes:

• Chilling in her big puffy chair
• Being held
• Sucking on her hand
• Being talked to and smiled at
• Her pacifier
• Her activity mat
• Stretching
• Blowing bubbles

Morgan dislikes:

• Still hates being swaddled
• Most of the time she is a very happy baby :)

Morgan 1 Month

Weight & Height: She was 7.5 lbs at her two week appointment but she is growing like a weed so I know she weighs more now. Not sure about height, I will measure her for the next update.

Eating: Morgan loves to eat! Sometimes she will cluster feed and eat a lot at once, or like yesterday she didn't eat for 5 hours and slept the entire time! (It also depends on how much formula and how much breast milk we are putting in her bottles.)

Nursing/Bottles:

I am still just pumping breast milk mostly into bottles but we are getting better with latching and trying to add a few nursing sessions in throughout the day. She still falls asleep after about five minutes of nursing and its impossible to wake her up!

Sleeping (naps): Naping randomly throughout the day. 

Sleeping (at night): Morgan is doing great with night sleeping lately! the routine is normally going to bed around 10 but takes about 30-45 minutes to get her down then she sleeps till about 2:30 when /i have to wake up and pump and feed her and takes about 30 minutes to get back down till about 6:30am. In the morning is grandmas shift :) so grandma takes her into her room until about 8am so I can get some  sleep. 

Clothing: Still hits in her newborn clothes but they are starting to get small on her. She can fit into some 0-3 months clothes and we are about out of the newborn diapers.

New this month:

• She is very aware of her surroundings and loves looking at her mobile in her crib and little toys hanging from her swing. 
• She is also able to sit up in her gumbo seat and can almost keep her head up for awhile!
• Morgan loves sleeping on her side and when we put her on her blanket to do "tummy time" she is able to roll herself onto her side.
• Starrting to smile...may still just be from gas though :)

Nicknames: Peanut, Morganator

Morgan likes:

• Country music
• Her swing
• Blowing bubbles with her mouth
• Sleeping with her hands by her face
• Morgan loves being talked to

Morgan dislikes:

• Being swaddled
• Getting the hiccups, which happens often!

Morgan has arrived!

Morgan Duggan-Childs was born on Tuesday June 24, 2014 at 11:34am at 6lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. My labor started on Sunday evening, I started have stronger braxton hicks contractions and I woke up at 5am on Monday morning and could not go back to sleep because I was so uncomfortable! Matt was suppose to go into work at 8am but my contractions started getting stronger so he called into work to stay home with me. Around 10am we went to labor and delivery where they told us that I would probably going into labor tonight but that I was not ready to be admitted and I should go eat some lunch and take a walk.

I was kind of disappointed I wanted to be able to get the show on the road but instead we went home and took a 2 mile walk to try and get my labor started. I waited about 5 hours before going back to the hospital. The contractions were continuing to get stronger and closer together and I was sure I would get admitted this time. Nope! they sent me home again and said to continue to labor at home because I wasn't dilated enough yet. Long story short we went back two more times before we finally got admitted and  I got the magical epidural! The next couple hours we slept waiting for things to progress and then around 2am the doctor broke my water and it was more waiting around and sleeping till it was time to push. I pushed for about 3 hours, Morgan did not want to come out easy! But she finally made her appearance into the world 1 week and 1 day early :) Matt and I were instantly in love. We spent the next couple days in the hospital and my mom arrived the day were were discharged.

We ended up having to go back to the hospital and spend one more night there for Morgan's jaundice and low birth weight. She was not latching properly when trying to breastfeed and she lost a lot of weight in the 24 hours we were at home. I started pumping and we also started supplementing formula to help get her weight back up. The breastfeeding has been a whole different struggle and I am not sure we will completely get there all the way but I have made it to one month so far so we will take it day by day :)