Thursday, April 29, 2010

First Family Photo

Right at the spot where the boy and I were married. My how things have changed.

Wow. We made that.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

weekend in the woods

We spent this past weekend at my parents house in the woods and it was lovely. Millie got to meet her aunt, cousin, great-grandparents and also celebrate her Bebe's birthday. It was quite the weekend for the little lady.






Miss Eight

Little miss is 8 weeks old. EIGHT. She celebrated by sleeping 7 consecutive hours last night. SEV-EN. Rhymes with HEAVEN. I may have woken up a few times before that just to, you know, make sure. It was such sweet relief after a few straight nights of waking up every 2 hours or so (although she still held onto her 4 hour "first leg" of the night thankfully). She's also been basically sleeping all day, so I'm guessing we're finishing up another growth spurt. Grow Millie GROW. (sidenote: we went in for the "weight check" with doctor paranoid and she weighs 9lbs! When the doc came in he was all, "So, why did I have you come in for a weight check? She's perfect!" And I was all, "uh IDK buddy but thanks for freaking me OUT!" GAH. But also, YAY.)

She's been smiling and laughing lots. Little kinda silent laughs, but laughs just the same. I cannot even begin to describe the bursting joy I feel when she smiles at me. Or laughs at something silly her daddy did. It just totally and completely ROCKS my world.

Her fussypantsmcgeeness has not exactly disappeared or anything, but it seems to be showing up less and less these days. So that's nice. She still feels the need to tell us when she approves of the current activity or not. A lot. And sometimes quite loudly. It's clear she's a lady with opinions, that's for sure. I can't imagine WHO she got that from...

She has now officially taken 3 bottles! Two from her daddy and one from me. I was worried we would have a hard time getting her to take one since the first effort was total fail central. But no need to worry--she's all about it. Bradley said that she won't look at him while she's eating (see evidence below), which is hilarious to me for some reason. Then I was worried that she would get nipple confusion and reject me and my boobs. But, again, no need to worry. She seems to have it figured out juuuuuuust fine. (This mom worry thing is OOC [out of control]--I really need to reign it in. EESH.)


She's, without a doubt, the coolest thing ever.

Monday, April 19, 2010

6 Weeks Plus

So, yeah, once again I am a bit delayed with the postings around this here place. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where my time goes these days, but I can assure you it's well-spent with my little lady. Amelia turned 6 weeks old last Wednesday. Here is evidence of the cuteness:

She continues to melt our hearts with her gummy smiles and she's starting to "talk" to us quite a bit. We love her stories (although the ones at 3am go a leeeeetle bit long and we must remind her to "find her endpoint," as Miss Sarah suggests). Her little voice is adorbs to the max though so I really can't complain.

The day after she turned 6 weeks, she went and gave us something spectacular: 6 solid hours of sleep. In a ROW. If only we had gone to bed at 8pm with her...but we were still thrilled! And then she did it again the next night and I almost died of joy. And then the next night, well, it seemed she didn't like all those consistent hours of sleep. So we'll have to wait and see what happens, but it's still good to know that she has the potential to sleep that long. I have to continue to remind myself that she's 6 weeks old. There is no routine, no schedule. She's just doing her thing and I am doing my best to read her cues and signals and provide whatever it is that she needs at that moment. I mess up a fair share, but I'm learning. But she's my bunny and man-oh-man am I blessed.

Some things she digs:
- bath time (she more than digs it, she adores it)
- butt bumps (preferably in a rhythmic pattern)
- lights (still)
- art (potential artist in the making)
- sleeping in the sling
- lying on her changing pad
- her sleep sheep (still)
- sleeping on her daddy's chest
- being perched up high on our shoulder
- holding her head up
- early morning QT with mama and/or daddy (she seems to be a morning person, just like us--yip!)
- her monkey clementine
- long walks and blue sky

Some things she doesn't dig so much:
- getting out of the tub
- the process of getting into the sling
- the process of getting dressed (mostly just the over the head and the arms into sleeves)
- sitting alone (she's okay for a few minutes, then... not so much)
- hiccups
- swing, bouncy chair, etc....aka my freedom
- nursing in the car (or at crowded parks where the wind is blowing like mad and the "hooter hider isn't "hiding" so much)
- being burped
- mama picking at her dry skin, ear wax, toe jam, etc. (but who would like that?!)

Sometimes I still look at her with stars in my eyes and cannot believe that she's ours. She's mine. She's with us. Forever and for always.

Okay then. Pictures!




Saturday, April 10, 2010

One Month Visit with the Doc

Which actually occurred at 5 weeks 2 days but whatever. He's a busy man.

Here she is in the waiting room, my Bunny McGee. That is her nickname. Well, one of many, many that I have for her. Nicknames, I love 'em.


On this trip I learned that she does not, in fact, love the car or her car seat. About 5 minutes from home she decided to tell me all about her distaste for it. I had to pull over and nurse her in a Dunkin Donuts parking lot (without buying ANYTHING). She still wasn't too pleased when we started again but quickly fell asleep regardless.

Miss Millie Bean is now 8 lbs and 3 oz (15th percentile) and 22 inches long (75th percentile)--she's TALL, but the doc thinks she should be gaining a bit more. Which of course has thrown me into what I will now be referring to as WorryWartfFest 2K10. I basically almost cried and forgot all my other questions for him (even though they were written in her cute little book that I carry with me everywhere). It's just, well, it was just hard to hear that I'm possibly not providing everything she needs. I mean, feeding her is basically my only job and somehow I'm fucking that up. So that was nice. However, he reminded me that he's not concerned for her (she is gaining well within the "normal" range) but more concerned for me because of how often she's feeding (for the past few days she has been nursing every hour or two except she's been sleeping normally at night since we got home from our trip). My internet research led me to believe she was experiencing a growth spurt (she had ALL the symptoms). But he just wants to "be sure" so we're scheduled to come back for a "weight check" in two weeks. I wanted to "be sure" never to see him again, but I got over it.

ANYWAY. The boy continues to remind me that she's happy (except for when she's fussypants...I mean, she is a baby afterall) and healthy. Plus, I mean, we did just go on a massive road trip adventure which maybe messed with her schedule just a bit. Anyway, I love her to pieces ohmygosh SO many pieces and I just want to give her the world.

In other news, today we spent the afternoon on the roof deck and she is in LOVE with it up there. Good thing since that is pretty much where we spend our days whenever the sun is shining and it's over 65 (which, granted, is not all that often in Chicago). So I'd call that a WIN. Don't you just want to squish those cheeks!! (Not a question because OBVIOUSLY you do.)

p.s. I honestly cannot believe how much pink I dress her in. I mean, seriously. I don't own ANY pink. Well, maybe one shirt. But still! I SO did not expect this.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Week 5: SMILES (& A Buncha Fuss)

Amelia turned 5 weeks old yesterday and holy hell are things changing (uh, again). Apparently babies change a LOT. I'm not sure you knew that. After we returned from our challenging but oh-so-rewarding voyage across the universe, Miss Millie Bean SMILED! Like a real SMILE! Right at us. I'm so happy that Brad was able to be home for it and we both got to experience that incredibly joyful moment. In fact, he even videotaped it! But I don't know how to download it yet, so yeah. Sorry.

In other news, our babe is experiencing another (one of many to come) growth spurt. The past three nights she's taken to waking every, oh I don't know, two seconds to nurse. And not only that, but she's a fusspants mcgee. Up until this point it seemed like she was easily consolable when upset. It may have taken us a few attempts to figure out what was awry with her pretty little self, but she would settle. And now? Well now not so much. She just seems mad sometimes. And even when she's clearly EXHAUSTED she is FIGHTS sleep like it's her goal in life not to sleep. It breaks my heart to see her so upset (also, breaks my SELF). I just want to make it all better. So anyway, with the frequent nursing, the frequent night-wakings, the lack of regular naps, and the increased fussypantsness, I'd say we've got a rapidly growing baby on our hands. A google-diagnosis, if you will.

Exhibit A: cute 5-week-0ldExhibit B: cute jammies now transformed into cute 3/4 length sleeve jammies

Exhibit C: cute cuteness smiles

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

4 Weeks- One Month

So, I missed the 4 week and one month posts, but I have a good reason--we were driving to and from Pensacola, Florida so we could celebrate as our bestests got MARRIED. But anyway, here is Millie at 4 weeks old being a little traveler:

And here she is at one month old at the BEACH! Which she love love loved. So yay for a beach baby.