Abby Rolls Over!

Abby hit a milestone today! She rolled over!
Nate and I were packing for our trip to Seattle so I put Abby on her tummy on her activity mat and walked away to grab a few items. When I came back Abby was on her back. I figured she'd fall over so I put her back on her tummy and took a few seconds to talk to her. As I was chatting Abby starting rocking back and forth and eventually made a big enough movement that she rolled over. Hee! My little girl is so awesome. I can't wait to see more of this milestone in the days/weeks to come!

Abby's First Easter

Abby's first Easter was a great time! We hosted Easter dinner at our house which meant a big crowd! There was my parents, my sister, her boyfriend, and my niece from my side of the family. From Nate's side there was his parents, grandparents, aunt/uncle, two cousins, and a cousin-in-law. All in all there were 17 people in our house for dinner. Wow! It turned out great, though. Everyone brought at least one dish to share, we ate dinner in the garage (only room in the house big enough to sit everyone), had dessert while we were all spread out in the house, and even had an impromptu Easter egg hunt. Abby didn't participate this year due to not even crawling yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing her hunt down eggs next year!

Picture on Christ the King's altar after Easter Mass

One of the fun aspects of this holiday was finding an Easter dress for Abby to wear. Originally my sister and I wanted to get matching Easter dresses for Haylee and Abby but after visiting seven stores (and only finding two sets of dresses that would fit both sizes - of which I wasn't willing to spend $60 on a dress that she'd outgrow in a month or so) we decided that on the day of Easter Abby would wear the poofy dress that I really liked while Haylee would wear whatever she wanted, and then we'd do after Easter pictures in coordinating dresses. So look forward to a future post with those pictures!

Abby talking in her pretty Easter dress. I loved the poofy skirt!

 It'll be interesting to see how next Easter goes. I'll get to buy an Easter basket, another Easter dress, maybe dye Easter eggs, and have a hunt. I really don't want Abby to grow up too fast, but it will be fun when she gets to the moving stages where we can participate in these holiday traditions!

Abby with her Akers' girls (Aunt Katie, Grandma, and Cousin Haylee)

2 Month Checkup

Abby had her 2-month checkup today and she did FABULOUS!!! My little girl has grown so much.

                         Birth           1 Week         2 Months
Height              19.5 in.           19.0 in.         22.0 in.
Weight            7 lbs. 0 oz.     6 lbs. 9oz.    11 lbs. 6 oz.  
Head CM            --                  33 cm           38 cm

In other words I've got a short, chunky girl on my hands! She's got these little skinny legs and this Buddha belly with a double chin going on right now. Actually, she reminds me of the Akers' men. Short, chicken legs with bellies. I have a fond memory of my Great Uncle, Uncle, and Dad standing in a row and they all looked the same. These skinny little legs below bellies. :-) (Gotta throw in that Dad doesn't look like this any longer as he went on a diet and now looks amazingly fit!)

The actual appointment went pretty well, too. Abby's meeting her milestones for smiling, cooing, holding her head up, hearing, and tracking with her eyes. As for the shots...well, after talking with Nate and doing a bit of research we decided to get her on the recommended schedule of vaccinations. I had originally refused the Hep B shot in the hospital and was interested in doing Dr. Sears' alternative vaccine schedule, but in the end Nate and I decided that we didn't really have enough opposition to the CDC schedule to go away from it. I was concerned how today would go but Abby did beautifully. We did the drops with only a bit of crying (I was nursing previously and she wasn't happy to not have her milk) and only a few minutes of crying after the three shots (I tried putting her back to nursing after the drops and before the first shot, but once she got the first shot she wasn't happy - so we held and cuddled her and let her cry). Then she settled down with only a few whimpers and promptly fell asleep. I'm glad I got in a bit of nursing while we were waiting for the doctor to join us otherwise I might be tempted to wake her to nurse again. For now I'm letting her sleep, though.

Let's see...what else. I'm going to work on getting in more tummy time (pediatrician says she favors one side over the other as she's got the makings of a small flat spot) and getting her to bed in her bassinet/crib without falling asleep on Mommy/Daddy first. Also, up until now I've been feeding on demand but I'm going to try to get her on a more routine schedule. I love our feeding time but Abby's gotten in the habit of snacking instead of eating so our morning consist of sitting to nurse almost every hour to hour and a half. I know she can go longer than that between feeds as she's sleeping between 4-6 hours at night. So we're going to try to feed more on a schedule during the day so I know that she's getting the nutrients she needs (and the mommy comfort time) without forcing me to hang out on the couch all morning long.

All in all my little girl is just as perfect as can be!

Thankful for Thank You's

The other day, as we were dropping off/picking up mail, I made a joke to Nate about finally being done writing all my thank you notes for all the wonderful baby gifts people had given us. Then we opened our mailbox and there was yet another gift! I jokenly laughed that thank you notes were like Mary Poppins' bag there was no end in sight! Nate responded with the neatest comment. He said that isn't it pretty awesome that we have to write all these thank you notes. You know what, it IS pretty awesome that I have been writing so many thank you notes lately. Each note I write is a small indication of the love that people have for us as each note signifies a small act of kindness or gift that we have received.

So instead of procrastinating on writing my thank you's I'm going to look forward to doing each one from now on. A small reminder of how blessed we are!

Abby's Second Injury

Thank goodness I have a tough kid because for the second time in less than a week I've caused an injury to Abby. The first was last Saturday (which I didn't get a picture of) and was created when I was rushing to feed Miss Abby. She was in her carseat and I was hurrying to get her out as she was crying. Without thinking I whipped her diaper bag off my back, forgetting how close I was to her, and smacked her in the face with the bag. Oh, boy did she scream! She also got a sweet shiner under her eye. I felt really, really bad especially as I hadn't paid close enough attention to the clock to know when to head home for feeding time so she was starving.

The second injury happened today when I was trying to feed her. She was hungry but wasn't latching on well so I went to grab her head to position her correctly when my thumbnail scrapped her forehead. I thought I might have gotten away with her not noticing but after a few seconds she noticed the pain and let me know it.

I think I'm starting to think that feeding her is a hazard to her health!

Abby's second war wound. A nice scratch above the eye.

2 Months Old

Abby has now been in our lives for two whole months! I can't believe how much she's grown! I have no idea on stats as her two month check-up is next week but I know she's grown as she weighs a lot more when I hold her with one arm and her bottom no longer easily fits in the crook of my elbow when I'm feeding her. Here's a (short) picture show of how she's changed.

Abby all smooshed at birth.

Month 1 - Less smooshed but significantly yellower.

Month 2 - My smiling baby girl!

'They' Told Me

* Warning! This post contains talk about poop. You've been warned.

So 'they' told me it would happen. Every Mom I've talked to who breastfed has mentioned to me to not be alarmed if Abby didn't poop every day as breastfed baby's can go multiple days and even over a week without pooping. However, everyone also warned me to beware when pooping commenced again. I took their words to heart but nothing can prepare you for when it actually happens! Abby hasn't pooped for the last 2-3 days so I wasn't concerned but figured I'd get a decent poop sometime soon. Oh, my goodness! I did NOT expect what came out of my little girl. 'They' weren't kidding when they said beware! 

I was holding Abby when I heard the unmistakable sound of her pooping. I waited the obligatory 10 minutes (I've learned that otherwise it's multiple diaper changes only a few minutes apart) and then picked her up to take her to her room. After feeling a wet feeling on her bottom I thought she might have leaked through a bit. When I actually saw the damage I laughed and then ran for my camera!

Here's what I saw upon opening her sleeper. I had to be careful I didn't rest her head in it when I sat her back down after trying to see how far up her back it went. After a few wipes with wet ones it became apparent that Abby was getting her bath early today.

All happy and clean after her bath. Normally Daddy gives baths so this was a fun and special time for the two of us.

And all is right with the world again after a yummy feeding section. I love the drool of breastmilk running out of the corner of her mouth!

A First!

For the first time EVER Abigail is asleep in her bassinet! I'm so excited! Normally she only sleeps in my arms or in her swing. Occasionally she'll take a long cat-nap in her bouncy seat but that's pretty rare. I LOVE having her sleep with me (we are still bed-sharing at night) but it was getting to the point where I wasn't able to do much of anything at home since she needed me to be still and quiet while holding her. It was becoming a mad dash of picking up and tossing a freezer meal in the oven right before Nate got home so the house looked decent, but spending the majority of the day hanging out on the couch watching TV so she could sleep. I'm hopeful that with her accomplishment of sleeping in her bassinet (in the master bedroom) that I'll actually be able to get some deep cleaning and real meal planning done.

Of course, in the twenty minutes that she's been down I've checked on her six times. I guess it's not only Abby that needs to be reassured that Mom's here and all is well. :-)

Thanks to Caren for the tip on using rolled up blankets to give her the feeling of containment that Mom's arms usually gave.

I love that even in sleep her hands are cocked and ready to move!

Abby Discovers the Frog

I put a stuffed frog on Abby's bouncy seat to give her something to watch while I got ready for the day. Every time I came out of the bathroom I noticed that the frog had 'fallen' off the seat. About the fourth or fifth time this happened I decided to hang around after putting the frog back on the seat to see how it kept falling off. That's when I discovered Abby's mistrust of the frog. I love her 'what the,,,?' expression as she watches and gets rid of Mr. Frog!

Happy 31st Birthday to Me!

Yesterday, April 1st, was my birthday! I meant to write this post during Abby's nap but then ended up joining her for a nap myself. :-)

It's funny how birthday's change through the years. When you're little you can't wait to invite your friends over, play games, eat cake, and open presents. In the high school/college years it was about going out together with friends, eating restaurant food, and opening a random present or two. After college, birthdays were about getting all the friends together for dinner and drinks with no presents but lots of cards. My last birthday (the big 3-0) was spent at home watching movies with Nate. We'd just gotten back from our honeymoon and were feeling the newlywed need for alone-time. I figured my next birthday, when I turned 31, would be one shared with friends.

Funny how life takes turns that you don't expect. My 31st birthday was spent with my husband and newborn daughter and I wouldn't have changed it for the world. The two of us ended up going out to dinner at Bonefish Grill where we gorged ourselves on Bang Bang Shrimp and worried that every noise that Abby made meant she was going to wake up and disturb all the other diners. Thankfully Miss Abby did a great job and slept through the entire meal. If this day gives me insight into my birthdays to come I am definitely looking forward to celebrating them!