Sunday, February 27, 2011

Happy One Month Birthday Adilyn!

Our precious baby girl is one month old today!

Here is a little preview of the many pictures that we took for her one month birthday:


 It was an adventurous day to say the least.  More on that tomorrow.  Addy and I are both worn out right now....


 Happy birthday baby!  We love you so so so many millions!


Saturday, February 26, 2011

4 Weeks Old!

Addy is 4 weeks old now, and will celebrate her one month birthday tomorrow!  Time sure is flying!  She is already so different from when she was born less than one month ago.  It's amazing how much babies change in such a short time.  We are really trying to cherish every moment that we spend with her because these days will be over before we know it.

In the past week Addy has really started smiling a lot more, and I am loving that!  It melts my heart to see her smile.  She has also been starting to coo, which is so sweet to hear.  She has been tracking Mike and I with her eyes, and will even turn her head slightly to the sound of our voices!

 Another interesting thing is that her cord is still attached!  Yup, four weeks old and it hasn't fallen off yet.  We keep it dry and exposed to air, and we recently started cleaning it with alcohol in hopes of hastening the process.   But, nope.  She's still hanging onto mama ;).

Still having some problems with daytime crankiness when we aren't holding her, but she has definitely been getting better.  All in all, I'd say we have a pretty fantastic baby (not that I'm biased or anything :) ).  She still has only been getting up once a night between 4 and 5AM. 

We've started Addy's nightly routine this past week, and it seems to have been helping her get to sleep faster.  I set up a small space heater in our bathroom about a half an hour before bath time, then we bathe her around 10PM.  (Still sponge baths of course because that cord refuses to fall off.)  After the bath, I feed her, we read her a few books (not that she pays any attention at all yet), and then we put her down for the night.  She has been falling asleep within 15 minutes and then sleeping until the 4-5AM hour. 

Mike has been doing all of the early AM feeds (since he is still off of work), and then putting her back down in her crib, and she'll sleep until 8-9AM.  I'll take it!  I'm in for a rude awakening now that Mike is going back to work this coming week.  The early AM feeds will be my job now.  Although, maybe it won't be too bad; I am always up around that time anyway because I am uncomfortable, so I have to pump.  It's been easier for us to give her pumped milk for those middle of the night feeds because she eats faster and isn't constantly falling asleep.  It makes the whole process a little bit easier, and allows all of us to get back to sleep quicker.  We'll see what we end up doing now that I'll be feeding her at night.  It probably won't be quicker anymore if I have to pump and then feed her.  We'll see.

What else happened in Addy's fourth week of life?  We took her to a BBQ party and she was a stellar guest.  Very quiet; didn't cause any commotion....she slept essentially the whole time.  Other than that; not much is new.  Life has slowed down a little bit for us now and we are loving it.  We take walks around the neighborhood, play under the activity mat, eat, sleep, and poop.  It's wonderful!

Here are some pictures from our fourth week with Adilyn Marie:


Started our bath time routine



Morning playtime under my mobile





Caught a semi-smile!


Ready for my walk!


Baby girl will be one month old tomorrow!  We can hardly believe it!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

I Win!

We put up the standout photos on the wall today and let me just say.....


I WIN!

Here's a close-up:


That's right.  The photos ended up in the living room where they will actually be seen by visitors.  I think they look great, and Mike actually agrees.  It adds a homier feel to the living room....as do the pack and play, bouncy seat, and infant swing that recently made their debut in the living room as well.  I know all of the "baby crap" that is taking over our house is driving Mike (the king of no clutter) crazy, but that's what happens when you have a baby.  He is starting to adjust to the paraphernalia, which is a good thing because it'll just keep coming and coming!

Today was Addy's 4 week birthday and we took her out for sushi to celebrate.  Ok, maybe we took ourselves out to sushi and toted her along, but same difference.  She did great again, thank goodness because once again, we left the perfectly packed diaper bag at home.  This time on the kitchen counter.

4 week pics coming tomorrow!


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Flying with an Infant

Yup, that's right.  Call me crazy, but I will be taking Addy on her first flight just three short weeks from now.  By myself.  No Mike; just me and Addy.  To say that I'm nervous would be a huge understatement.

My grandparents go to Florida for the winter every year, and every year I go and visit them.  I just assumed that this year would be an exception, what with having a newborn and all.

Nope.  With the persistent persuasion of my family, I have decided to man up and take my daughter with me to what I hope continues to be an annual trip to Florida.   I have always loved spending time with all of my grandparents, and I especially look forward to spending that time in warm, sunny Florida. :)  Except that it isn't usually warm when I go.  Or sunny.  But that's beside the point. 

I feel like the bond that children have with their grandparents is so special and important in their lives.  My sister and I are blessed to have four amazing grandparents.  For as long as I can remember I have looked forward to seeing them, and have cherished my time with them  They played with us, took us on fun adventures, and in general, spoiled us rotten.  What kid wouldn't love that?  And to this day I look forward to every opportunity that I have to see my grandparents.  I really hope that Addy develops that same bond with her grandparents.  Knowing all of them and how much they adore her already, I'm sure that she will.   On this trip she will get to see a lot of her extended family (aunt, grandma, and great-grandparents!),  and that's the main reason that I want to take her.  We don't live near any of our family, and don't get to see them nearly as frequently as we would like to, so I want to give her every opportunity to be with them that I can.

It's bound to be a blast, and that's why I've decided to put my nervousness about flying alone with an infant aside, and take her on this fun trip!  Maybe it'll even be warm and she can show off her bikini body ;)

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Addy's Third Week

Our little princess is three weeks old and she already believes that she is just that.... a princess.  This past week she has decided that she will not tolerate being put down.  Sigh.  That's right.  We have a little girl who wants to be held all....of...the...time. 

It was like a switch went off after all of the family left.  Addy was like "Wait a minute, why am I not being held constantly any more?"

Mike and I are trying to get her back to being ok with her bouncer and her swing, but it has been a rough couple of days.  She has been so cranky whenever she is awake, and it's exhausting. 

At first I thought maybe she was having gas pain or something (which sometimes I think she does), but often times as soon as you pick her up she stops crying.   Ding ding ding!  We have a spoiled baby girl on our hands.

So today we decided to try to get her on some sort of routine.  She isn't taking adequate naps during the day, and we think that has definitely contributed to her crankiness.  So we are taking the advice of a book that we read called "Babywise", and we're going to try to get her on a eat, activity, sleep schedule.  Meaning that I will not nurse to sleep, which was what was happening before; but then she would only sleep for a half hour or so. 

After I nurse her we are going to try to keep her awake for a little while by putting her in the bouncy seat, swing, activity mat, etc.  Then put her down in either her crib or the pack and play for a nap.  Today is the first day that we have used the pack and play for sleep purposes.  We had only used the changing table part of it before now.  When we wanted her to sleep we'd put her in the swing or the bouncer, but we're going to try using those things for awake time.  We'll see.  We'll try anything at this point.  Anything but holding her 24/7.  I refuse to have a baby that refuses to be put down.  We WILL figure this out somehow.

So right now I am sitting outside on this gorgeous day with the baby monitor next to me (using that for the first time today also) and Addy is napping in the pack and play in the living room.  Fingers crossed that she sleeps longer than 30 minutes. 
A little bit later we are going to venture out to the Sawmill Taproom with Addy in tow to meet up with some of Mike's friends from work.  I'm pretty proud of us for bringing her out as much as we have so far.  Lunch on Monday, out to Staples and then the Olive Garden yesterday for soup, salad, and breadsticks, and now the Sawmill today.  She has done well so far.  Got a little bit cranky (shocking right?) by the end of lunch yesterday, but not too bad.

I will say that Addy has still been a rockstar with her nighttime sleeping.  She usually goes down for the night between 11PM and midnight and she sleeps until sometime between 4:30 and 6AM.  Then she's back to bed until about 8AM.  Not bad at all for a newborn.  So, like my mom said, we can handle anything during the day as long as we can get some sleep at night :) 

Here are some pics from the week:

Addy and Daisy....best friends already!


Cuddle time!


Mommy's turn!


Love that little face :)







Talking a walk in the Baby Bjorn


Comfy cozy with Daddy


Ahhhh, a successful nap in the pack and play


Enjoying the beautiful weather in my bouncer


It was so gorgeous outside, I just had to get a picture.  It's amazing what an effect nice weather can have on your mood.  Despite the frustrations of this week, it's days like this that make me take a breath of fresh air and think "Life is good!".  And it is.


Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Look What Arrived at Our Doorstep!

Check out what we got today!  Tina, Mike, and I picked out these pics and ordered them as standouts for the living room wall.


I just opened them out of the package and set them on the coffee table to get this pic.  They are still covered in plastic wrapping and I'm not sure if this is definitely the order they will be in on the wall, but you get the idea. 

Mike and I have differing opinions on where to hang them.  I ordered them with the thought that we could arrange them (like above) on the living room wall where they would be prominently displayed for everyone to see. 

Mike thinks that is tacky and says we should hang them in the den. 

I say, "But then no one will see them, so what's the point?"  We have barely any pictures of our family hanging anywhere in the house, and I know that when I go to people's houses I like to see their family photos.  Plus, I've been wishing we had more ever since we moved in.

I think (fingers crossed) that I am winning this battle, but I'll let ya know where the photos end up.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had our first outing with Addy today!  A lunch date with our friend Ted.  It was a gorgeous, sunny, 70 degree day in Raleigh in mid-February, so we decided to take advantage of it and get out of the house for awhile.  That's not to say I wasn't nervous.  Would she cry the whole time?  Vomit?  Explode in her diaper?  Mike packed a diaper bag to be sure we'd be prepared if any of the above were to occur.

Here are some pics from the day:


Getting my pretty Valentine's Day dress on


...and my hat


Ok, I'm ready to go!


Are all of these layers really necessary?


Mom, get this dog out of my face!


Yup, we brought Daisy out to lunch too!  Gotta love this weather...sitting outside for lunch on February 14th!


Heading out for a post-lunch stroll around the neighborhood


Mom and daughter dressed in Valentine's Day red


I'm exhausted.  Can I take this dress off now?


Yup, that's Addy mid-spit up.  I was trying to get a close up of the onesie, and instead got a close up of some partially digested milk.  I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this pic!  Good thing we got the dress off in time!


Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 
Love,
Your favorite wild-eyed girl

P.S.  Good thing Addy was a little angel during our lunch outing, because... that diaper bag that we so carefully packed?  We left it on the dining room table.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Week 2 in Review

Our little Adilyn is over 2 weeks old now and the second week flew by just as quickly as the first.  We've been noticing so many changes in her already from last week to this week.

She is so strong and lifts her head and moves it from side to side like a champ.  Those little legs are really strong too.  She pushes against your hands and can make herself scoot when she's on her tummy that way.  When we hold her in our lap she pushes with her legs and can almost make herself stand up!  It's wild to watch!

We've also noticed this week that she is much more aware of her surroundings.  She definitely tracks us with her eyes at times, which she hasn't done until this week.  Actually the first thing that I saw her track was Daisy.  She loves her puppy already!  She will sometimes focus on toys that we hold in front of her too.  Now, we're not delusional.... we realize that she isn't always looking at us.  She definitely still often has that far off stare going on, with the occasional wild eyed cross eyes.  But I swear there are times when she does focus on us, and that is soooo fun to see!

The Steelers were in the Superbowl during Addy's second week of life, but despite her adorable outfit, they lost to Green Bay :(






Addy's Grandma and Grandpa Hertzler were here to visit this week, and they love her just as much as everyone else (though they will claim that they love her more :) )  We had a nice, relaxing visit with them.  Grandma Beth cooked dinner every night and they went to the grocery store for us, which was great.

Hanging with Grandpa


Snoozin' with Grandma Beth


They are gonna spoil her rotten!


One of the days, when I decided that I needed to get out of the house for awhile, Beth and I got mani/pedi's.  You would think that would be awesome, which it was.... for about the first hour and a half.  But it was the longest mani/pedi in history and by the end I was sooooo needing to either feed the baby or pump, so the relaxation factor was gone and I just wanted the whole thing to be over.  Note to self....pump before you go.

We took some walks around the neighborhood this week, one with my Moby wrap, which Addy and I both love.
Snug as a bug!


The second walk was her first trip in the travel system stroller.  She loved that too!


It was a little bit cold and kinda windy, so we bundled up...how funny is this?  And it's a newborn size!


We brought out the jungle mat that Aunt Sue and Uncle Lee got for Adilyn this week.  We use it for tummy time and play time and she loves it.  (So does Grandpa!)


When playtime gets a little too crazy, she takes a time out to nap on the jungle mat

How cute is this face????


Daddy and Adilyn after a late night feed.  So precious it melts my heart.


Someone is getting a little cranky, so it's time to wrap this post up.  Here are the "official" two week pics.  It took awhile to get one that I liked, so I'm including a few of the takes.  There were several more than this, but I'll spare you having to look through all of them.  Check out her mittens; we call them her paddles because they are so big on her!

The extraneous 2 things on the sides of this picture annoyed me....plus she looks terrified


Got a semi-smile...but cut the sign off and Mike's leg is in the pic


There's that wild-eyed girl that we love!  This one is my favorite...good thing, because Mike was so over positioning her for the pictures by this point. 

My response: "Oh, I'm sorry.  Do you need to be doing something else?"  Which, of course is a joke.  We've both just been hanging out here with Addy, and neither of us are busy with anything else.  Except maybe playing Nintendo games on the computer.   Mike discovered this during his stint on paternity leave, and to say he has been slightly obsessed is an understatement.

Family shot:


Happy 2 Week Birthday Baby Girl!  Mommy and Daddy hope you've had as much fun in your first two weeks as we have!