Happy Baby

What a happy baby I had this afternoon. She is just so sweet I can hardly handle it! All the smiles made her a little tired, so we took a nice afternoon nap together. A perfect start to the weekend.

A future so bright...

The weather this week has been so warm and summery... I love it! Baby A and I have been walking, walking, walking.

2 Months

Baby A is 2 months old today!


This past month she has become so much more alert. I think I say this every week, but really, she is. I can't believe it! Taking her 2 month pictures today I noticed yet again. She likes looking at faces, especially Mommy and Daddy, and she also likes lights and ceiling fans. We found that out visiting grandmas last weekend. I think we'll have to spend more time playing in Baby A's room this week because Daddy put a ceiling fan in for her.



We also saw Baby A's first smiles this month. They're still a little harder to get out that I would like, but we're seeing smiles pretty much every day. For some reason she's especially smiley in the mornings, something she certainly did not get from Mommy.


Baby A has gotten a bunch bigger this month. I'm curious to see how much she weighs at her check up tomorrow. I'm guessing around 12 lbs. She has been a pretty good sleeper this month. Daddy gives her a bottle around 9:30-10 at night, and then we put her down to sleep, and she wakes up (most days) around 5-5:30. Again, not something she got from Mommy. She is quickly outgrowing the 3 month clothes, and has started wearing some of the 3-6 month and 6 month stuff (I'm having a lot of fun with all of the summer dresses, although I have a preference for those with the little undies built in).


We went on our first out of town trip this month to St. Louis by way of Lodi. Baby A went on her first trip to the zoo while we were in St. Louis.

Mondays...

There is no time of the week that I am more thankful to still be home with Baby A than Monday mornings. Our weekends are busy! We've only had one or two weekends that we haven't had visitors since Baby A was born, and those weekends there is plenty to get done. It is so nice to have relaxing Mondays at home with Baby A insteado of waking up and rushing around to get to work.

The sunshine and warm weather finally returned on Friday, after a week of rain, wind and cold. I was so happy to be able to get outside for walks all weekend. I also spent a few hours outside on Saturday weeding the flower beds in the front yard. This week sometime I need to get our garden and window boxes planted. Good thing the weatherman says it should be in the high 70s all week!

Sunday my dad and family came up for a visit. Grandpa R is quite smitten with his little granddaughter. It is very hard to get him to share her when he comes to visit. And because Grandpa R had to drive the whole way up here, he was pretty tired, so he and Baby A took a sweet nap together.

A Few Favorites...

I've seen this on a few other blogs, and thought I would throw my two cents in as a new mom. These are some of the things that I have found to be especially helpful during Baby A's first 6 weeks with us.

1. Swing

We actually have 2 swings, a big one that we keep in our bedroom upstairs, and a smaller one that stays on the main floor. While I like having the big one upstairs for at night (and am thankful that our friends let us borrow it considering Baby A is still sleeping there most of the time), I absolutely love the small one. It is so nice to be able to pick it up and move it wherever I am. I put in the bathroom when I take a shower so I can get to Baby A if she starts crying because I'm taking too long. Or I put it in the kitchen when I'm cleaning up or making dinner. I love it, and so does Baby A.

2. Boppy Pillow

I also use my Boppy pillow constantly. I use it when I'm nursing all the time, but I also use it to prop Baby A up when we're playing on the floor, and for tummy time. My mom said she used to use Boppy pillows to help kids sit up when they weren't totally stable yet (Baby A isn't quite there yet). When Baby A was born I only had one cover. I quickly learned that one cover is not enough. It is a very good idea to have multiple covers in case of any baby accidents.

3. Swaddler

While I was pregnant, I read The Happiest Baby on the Block. Reading what Dr. Karp said, and talking to friends with young kids, I thought Baby A would be swaddled up all the time. She had other ideas. She doesn't particularly like to be swaddled, and is a pretty content baby, so the only time we really swaddle her is for bed (unless Uncle Brett is here- he untied her every chance he got). We got a few of the Halo Sleep Sacks that we tried a few nights, but didn't have a lot of luck. My favorite is the Kiddopotamus swaddler. It works so well, and Baby A looks so cute as just a head sticking out.

4. Baby Carriers

Little Baby A very much likes to be held. Some days I have things that really need to get done, like homework for the grad school class I'm trying to finish up, and Baby A very much wants to be held. That's why when E got home from work last night I had Baby A strapped in the Baby Bjorn and I was typing on the computer. And why when he got back from the Twins game later that night she was in the sling (kind of like this). When I go to my mom & baby class, I strap Baby A in for the long walk to the classroom, and then keep her there as long as she's content. I just started using these more, but I know I will be getting more and more use out of them all the time. I think the Baby Bjorn will be especially helpful on our travels later this month. I'm also considering a Moby wrap, but that may have to wait for baby #2.

Of course there are many other things that I use and really like having, but those are some of my favorites. I hope it's helpful!

Tired Little Girl

Last year for Christmas E got me a "fancy" camera (as I call it). My hope was to learn to use more of the features before Baby A was born, but that didn't quite happen. Last week I was just playing around with it and ended up with some really sweet pictures of Baby A as she was drifting in and out of sleep.

This is what I spend my days looking at...

6 Weeks

Baby A hit the 6 week mark last Thursday.

The sweet little sweater Baby A was a gift from A's great grandma Sue. I have a dress she made me when I was a little one that Baby A will wear for the holidays this year. I love having some handmade pieces to save for Baby A.

Unfortunately, E and I had to take Baby A in to the doctor last week because her belly button hadn't healed all the way. She had a umbilical granuloma. They put silver nitrate on it to help it heal. It didn't seem to bother her much, but it was pretty hard on me.

Happy Mother's Day (2 Days Late)

I've been meaning to get this up since last weekend, but have not gotten a chance. So, now on Tuesday, I'd like to say I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day.

I celebrated my first Mother's Day with a low key day at home with E and Baby A. It was nice and relaxing. It was a weird feeling to realize, again, that I'm sombody's mom now. And I couldn't ask for a better daughter than Baby A. I really love being her mom!

Thinking about my first Mother's Day, I also thought about how amazing my own mom is. She truely is one of my best friends, and I hope one day Baby A and I have as close a relationship as I have with my mom. She has taken such good care of me from when I was a little, to now, helping me with my own baby. Besides being a wonderful mom, she's a fabulous grandma too. I love you mom!

Baby Faces

Baby A has been showing us more of her personality in recent weeks with her precious little baby faces. There are a few of my favorites I haven't been able to capture on camera, in large part because they tend to come out when she's nursing. These include her baby bird face, turtle and old man. Here are a few I was able to capture...

sneezy
tongue outmischievous
and i'm going to call this her first smile caught on camera, but really i think it might be the start of a sneeze. we are seeing some real smiles though, and they make us SO HAPPY!

My Little Family

We had a visitor today, so I took advantage of having an extra person here to get an updated family picture. I love that everything is blooming already! Isn't my neighbor's yard nice? It makes me think Baby A and I need to spend some serious time working in the yard this week.