A Relaxing Saturday

Just a relaxing afternoon.......reading books.....petting the dog......you know, the usual.

Hate/Love Relationship

First string bean hated the bouncy. Now she loves it. It's nice to be able to put her down there to make meals, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, etc. She's happy to take naps in there or just hang out. Now that she's a bit older and starting to be more aware of things around her, I've added the activity bar. She enjoys looking at that and drifting off to sleep. Today I went to a mom's group and when I came home settled her into the bouncy so I could get her bottle and my lunch going. When I turned on the activity bar she got the biggest smile on her face. It warmed my heart. It's nice that the little things make her happy at this point and she's excited to see 'old friends.'

It's Getting Hot in Here...

About a month ago the a/c went out upstairs. Our neighbor came over to bring a gift for little one and she mentioned that she was having the a/c company come out to do some work for her. We quickly crashed her party and asked if they could come to our house as well, which they did. A cool house that very same evening during the summer months- heaven.
Until this past weekend. When tater tot and I came back Monday night, we realized that the a/c was out again, signaling a more serious leak somewhere in the system. Finding a leak is not an easy task and, therefore, expensive to fix. Luckily, I have a very handy husband who can research and diy anything. He's been on the case and in the meantime we're camping in the living room.
I have to admit that it's actually good for my sore back to have her higher co-sleeper downstairs and be able to put things like her bouncy seat up higher. It's difficult to navigate around during the day, and I wouldn't want anyone from the neighborhood coming around just now, but for a person with a sore back who can't bend over that easily, especially holding a 10+ lb. baby, it's been a blessing in disguise. We're just lucky that the house has two units so the downstairs remains comfortable while we get the upstairs figured out.

Cousin Love

The cousins were great about bringing baby girl things of theirs to play with. Of course at this stage playing with means more like looking at, but she actually really liked looking at this doll. She's starting to get more interested in things around her and was happy when big cousin would stop by.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Honey and I take turns holding Sweet Pea while we eat dinner since she hates the car seat so much. On the way home we stopped for dinner and I snapped some pictures of my cuties. I noticed in this one that they both hold their heads the same way. Or maybe it's the angle of their eyes? Either way, did the girl inherit nothing from me???

Meeting Uncle Daniel

Hubs came to pick me up so we could make the drive back home yesterday. On the way home we were able to stop off and have lunch and a bit of a play date with Uncle Daniel. Little Piglet was a little upset to begin with because she was hungry, but Daniel came to the rescue and fed her while we ordered our lunch. Way to jump right in and help out:) Luckily, she didn't repay the favor with copious amounts of spit up or something worse.
To make the stop a bit longer and let us stretch our legs, we went walking on a trail for a bit with her and the puppy. She went in the carrier and chilled out while we had a nice little walk. We're looking forward to coming back in a few weeks so she can spend more time with him and her future aunt. And the stop must've worn her out, because she slept through rush hour traffic, through the next big city and didn't wake up until we stopped for dinner. That's mama's good sleeper:)

A Family Pic

The girl cousins with their grandma. And Huck. I think Huck misses being the center of attention. There are times when the camera is out that he literally comes over so he can get in the shot.

The Calm Down

My little honey bun was a bit upset and a bit sore after her procedure. Luckily, a little bit of children's tylenol did the trick and we didn't have to use too much or too often.
The rest of the time she was just getting a bit fussy in general. I think she was all out of whack from traveling and the Dr's visit. At my parents' house, the best place to put the changing station was on top of their dryer. Since she was fussy we tried turning the dryer on during one of her diaper changes....it worked like a charm. Unfortunately, we have stackables at home so we won't be able to continue there. Boo- I always love finding more tricks for calming her down.

"The Procedure"

When we arrived at the dentist's office to have the tongue and lip tie revised, Little Miss was very hungry. They told me to wait until after the procedure to feed her, but after hearing her wail in the waiting room, they let me feed her a bit before starting. This is a very angry baby who's only been teased with milk. They made her wear these very special, very little, very cute glasses during the procedure to protect her eyes from the laser. Because she was in my arms the entire time, this was the only picture we were able to get. The good news is that it was a success! Now to get onto feeding properly...

Feeding Frenzy

One nice thing about going to Chicago for the procedure was that I could stay with my parents while up there.  Fortunately, my niece and nephew were also there visiting.  We were able to introduce Pumpkin to her older cousins.  They were very interested in helping with her.  The first morning we were there I let them help me feed her.  You can see one cousin looked less than thrilled about it, but I promise that he did ask.  The other cousin was much more comfortable.  Overall, they did a great job and were great about bringing her toys to look at and come up with ideas to entertain her.

 

Road Trip!

On Friday my mom and I drove Sugar Pop up to Chicago so she could have a procedure done. Driving what would normally be an 8 hour drive with a baby is an entirely different experience. I'm starting to get frustrated with the amount of restaurants that don't have a changing area for babies, or a very dirty one. We've taken to using the car if at all possible. Here's Grandma trying to get her all changed in the car, also an adventure with the angled seats. All in all, the trip took about 10 hours, but we only stopped for gas once and went through a drive through. All other stops were baby dictated.

Growing up too fast

These are two of Sugar Pop's outfits that her daddy and I claim as our favorites.  And they're two that she's getting too long to wear.  I know that we had a long baby (90th percentile, remember?), but this does seem too quick to have to start putting clothes away.  And she has tons (probably literally) of clothes we haven't had a chance to put her in yet.  I'm either debating on starting one of the biggest newborn fashion shows with every diaper change or starting to pack some clothes away for a rainy day.  Have to simmer on that one, but not too long or she'll outgrow the next batch as well.

TGIF

Anna is very happy that it's Friday. Today she gets to hop in the car for a short 8 hours to visit family in IL. She'll also get to have her tongue and lip ties corrected this weekend. That's a lot to look forwards to when you're only 7 weeks...

A Taste of the Islands

I recently came across this picture on a different camera and wanted to be sure to commemorate this occasion. Last month Anna had the chance to meet and hang out with her friend from the islands, Sayrah. While she spent most of the evening sleeping, when she woke up and got to cuddle in Sarah's arms, she was so thankful that she did her impression of a Thanksgiving turkey. Notice the legs folded up and the bend of her arms. Turkeys, geysers... what can't this girl impersonate?
She was so happy to meet her friends, that she went to a party for them the very next day. It was her first big outing and a fun time. So much fun, that she spent a large portion of it overindulging (on milk) and then having to sleep it off.

Tongue tie or no Tongue tie?

That is the million dollar question. There's been no question that Little Miss and I have been struggling in the feeding department. Nearly two months in we still can't seem to get it right and round the clock pumping sessions are very wearing. We've now seen 2 local lactation consultants who claim that the bambina has a lip and tongue tie, which can interfere with successful nursing and cause other issues, such as speech problems and tooth decay, if left untreated. The problem is that I went to both a local pediatric dentist and ENT who say that it's either nonexistent or not worth releasing. So what to do? We may be traveling to a dentist who specializes in this somewhere else in the country (Chicago, perhaps?) which has insurance repercussions. Or we may take more time to continue to try to find someone locally who can do this and stay in network as her mama is convinced this exists. Ahhh...parenthood.

Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself, Peanut

Happy Father's Day!

One of the best gifts I ever gave my dad for father's day was the gift of time. There was nothing that I could think of to buy him, so we loaded bikes on the bike rack and spent an enjoyable afternoon riding along Lake Michigan. It was really fun for both of us and really stands out as a special memory. For my first Mother's Day, hubs arranged a picnic lunch for our new family in a local park- I loved it. So for his first Father's Day I wanted to establish a tradition- giving the gift of time. We took Sweet Pea to a local state park and went for a hike. Not only was it her first one, but she slept the entire time. Because of the carrier, her hat, and the fact that she was asleep, we weren't able to get any pictures really showing the two of them together, but imagine a beautiful little girl sleeping peacefully on her daddy underneath that hat. And then when we got home, I let him loose in the garage so he could work on his projects. I'd like to call the day a success- I hope he'll feel the same.

My Little Bookworm

If there's one thing you should know about Grandma, it's that she loves to read. Loves it. She could easily live without a television as long as you didn't threaten to take away her romance novels. I learned growing up that books are one thing that my mother has no budget for, so going to book stores with her was really fun. She's already trying to get Butter Bean interested in reading. Last night they had a marathon reading session. They went through tons of books and baby just sat there and patiently listened while enjoying the pictures. I do hope she'll enjoy reading as much as her grandma and I do.

Hola Chica

String bean got lots of cute yellow clothes before we found out we were having a girl. Lots of them have little chicks on them. We find that she wears these a certain amount while hanging out at home. (It's sad when we go out and people ask us the gender, so I try to dress her up in more pink then.) Huck wanted to offer up his toy to show that they match, so we took a picture to remember all the chicks in the house.

The napping house

Peanut was quite the handful yesterday- we think that she's going through her 6 week growth spurt- and we were all still feeling the effects today. Once we got home from Tot Shabbat I ran upstairs to take a nap. When I came down the stairs this is what I saw. Turns out even puppy was worn out and tried to bury his head in the pillow to sleep.

Tater Tot's first tot shabbat

Today we loaded little Lentil into the car and took her to my old work. She was amazing and slept the entire time and looked really cute. I wish that I remembered to take pictures of her with the teachers, but I forgot. I had something that I had to take care of, and Grandma took Munchkin to her first Tot Shabbat at the school. She reported that baby loved it and had a great time before falling dead asleep. Grandma asked for a picture with the Shabbat candles and wine to commemorate the occasion. What's even better, Tater Tot took a marathon nap afterward.

The reinforcements for the calvary have arrived

After a great week, Mamaw had to leave last Saturday. Because my back was upset to the point I still couldn't pick up Tater tot, my mom needed to come down to help with the 'heavy lifting.' They hang out all day and Grandma makes up songs that are so catchy that I find myself humming the melodies in my head hours later.

float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

I took this picture to show off my cute little bumblebee. She looks rather threatening in this pic, no? Reminded me of the Muhammed Ali quote...

the beginning of a lifelong friendship

Now that my acorn is starting to get a bit older, she'll tolerate short periods on the play mat. Yesterday I put her down and laid down beside her to keep her company when Huck came and laid right between us. Wouldn't you know that Sweet Pea found him (or his cow spots on his belly) fascinating and reached her hand out towards them. Huckster doesn't need to be asked twice and immediately got in a better position for a belly rub from baby, and she actually obliged (as best as a 6 week old baby can). They stayed on the rug together for much longer than I would have imagined. Hopefully they'll be best buds, even when she gets old enough to take his toys and explore his dog food bowl.

Lucky girl

Tater tot is lucky that her mamaw and papaw live relatively close and are able to come visit to spend time with her.

Thanks for a great week!

Little Miss had a great week with Mamaw.  Mamaw has the special tough.  Anytime baby is fussy, you just need to hand her over and within 5 minutes, she'll be peacefully snoozing away.  Baby likes to sleep for Mamaw, burp for Daddy and fuss for Mommy.  We were so fortunate to have her here for the entire week helping, especially once my back went out.  Today Papaw came to pick Mamaw up:(  While it was good to see him and we were happy to get pictures of them with Little Miss, it's always sad to see them go.  That's the downside of living away from family.

Sleeping Beauty

Little Miss is a champion sleeper. I'm serious- if there were a competition for sleeping babies, she would easily win. Last night she ate a bottle at 9:30, slept until 5:30, woke up for another bottle and diaper change, then went back to sleep until 9:00. We're talking gold medal here. This is especially nice because she and Daddy graciously moved out of the bedroom and into the living room for a few days since I hurt my back and needed to spread out in the bed. It's so nice coming downstairs in the morning, being greeted by this sight, and having time to eat breakfast in peace.

The cavalry has arrived

On Saturday something wonderful happened- my mother in law arrived to help with the baby for a whole week. Don't get me wrong- hubs is great- but now that he's back at work, having someone around to help while I'm pumping, or desperate for a nap, or trying to eat a meal in peace, is absolutely wonderful. And this afternoon when i was super tired and trying to power through the grocery store, it was she that was able to locate some of the items on the list that would have taken me ages. And she dealt with the fussy baby in the backseat who was crying and screaming- both ways- because she hates the car seat. Thank goodness for grandmothers.

Daddy's Little Girl

Aren't my cuties just so....cute?? She's starting to give little smiles and really use her face for cute expressions. She's definitely going to have Dad wrapped around her little finger.

Miss Popularity

One of the things you quickly learn as a new parent is that people aren't necessarily interested in coming over to see you- it's all about meeting the baby now. Today our friend Caroline was able to make it over. She was able to play and interact with tiny tot for a while before she became too fussy and got handed back to mommy. It was a nice visit and I think that Sugar Plum wants to be great friends.

Busted!

Little Miss has really strong legs and likes to stand up. I like 2 things about this picture.
1. She totally looks like she's being caught in the act of something.
2. You can see how small she is when compared with her daddy's hand.
Now that she's already a month old I'm really starting to realize just how fast it goes. And while I miss my sleep, I appreciate this phase and the positives that it does bring. She gives me lots of downtime and it's still pretty easy to pack her up and get out of the house quickly. She snuggles so nicely and plays well with everyone. And she doesn't fuss or complain (too much) with all the stuff we do her. Now if she'd only sleep through dinner so we can enjoy it in peace...

My Little Burrito

Several people gave us baby swaddlers as a gift. Now that we're trying to put her down once she's actually full, she loves them. Put her in a swaddle, turn on the noise machine and give the girl a paci to suck on for a bit and she's out for the entire night. We're lucky parents to be at this point so early on.