Our growing girl August 11, 2009

14 weeks… “Look ma! No hands!” November 10, 2009

I tend to start writing each week’s blog post over the weekend. This weekend, though, we were celebrating David’s 26th birthday. No time for blogging until this morning. All you eager beavers may have been slightly disappointed, but I trust you’ll find this post worth the wait!

After about a week of scouring eBay, Facebook and Craig’s List, we finally landed ourselves a Bumbo seat. It only cost us $15 (instead of the retail cost of $40), and Abigail seems to be a fan. It’s a good thing we didn’t spend all that much on it because by the end of the weekend, she was doing pretty well sitting up without it.
.

This was taken last Monday, 11/2. First day with the bumbo.
.

This was taken last night, 11/9. She stayed upright like that for a few minutes. She’d sat up in David’s lap before, but never for longer than 15-30 seconds at the most.
.

So we decided to see how she did without Daddy’s lap. Still pretty good! Our little tripod. Amazingly enough, this all happened during her fussy time (post bath, pre bedtime meal), hence the pacifier.
.

Definitely glad we didn’t pay full price for that bumbo seat since it looks like we won’t be needing it all that much longer (outside of maybe using it as a highchair/booster seat at restaurants). Can’t believe she’s doing so well sitting up already. It seems like she learns something new every week. And she started the sitting up/tripod thing just in time for David’s birthday—a pretty cool birthday present if I do say so myself.

Another thing she began last week? Eating her hands. All. Day. Long. We were wondering if she’d ever realize that she had control over those things, and it looks like she’s getting there. Apparently they’re tasty. Just this morning, I put her back in her crib after she woke up early, and she cooed and sucked on her hands for an hour without falling asleep for a second. That’s a first.
.

Munching away while in her swing. This was last Tuesday, but as of late, she’ll try to devour both hands at once.
.

On Wednesday, I went on a stroller walk with Joanne—a neighbor in our apartment complex. Her little boy, Graham, is about three weeks behind Abigail and is such a cutie. Both babies slept most of the 3-mile walk—abnormal for Abigail these days; she prefers her crib it seems. Anyhow, the weather has finally started to cool off, so we had a gorgeous day for walking around the YMCA’s trail. Sunny and breezy in the 70s. Beautiful!

While feeding Abigail around 4:00pm that afternoon, my mind wandered. I mean really, ladies, you can only gaze into your baby’s eyes for so long until you start planning out the next part of your day in your head while nursing—or catch a quick nap. Anyhow, I knew I had friends coming over in about 45 minutes and was planning out what I needed to do before they arrived: finish feeding Abigail, straighten up the den, make a pitcher of lemonade, change Abigail’s dia—wait. It was then I realized she hadn’t pooped in over 24 hours. She must have heard my thoughts and while eating, made up for those 24 hours in one movement of the bowels. My word. Another outfit thrown in the trash.

**Commercial  Break: New and expecting parents: do not spend much money on clothes. It’s just silly. You’ll end up saving some soiled garments by the use of Shout or a Tide-to-go pen, but some messes are just beyond repair. I don’t fret when I know I spent like $1 for the onesie she was wearing. Just a bit of advice.

It was then that I admitted that she’s outgrown size 1 diapers. Ugh! I now have somewhere around 200-250 size 1 diapers that she’ll never get a chance to dirty. Good thing I saved my receipts. I’ll return what I can and donate the rest. Size 2, here we come!

Wednesday night, we had some friends over—the company I mentioned earlier—who just found out that they’re pregnant. I’ll keep their names off of here since I’m not sure if they’re keeping it a secret from anyone. Regardless, they came over to talk baby with me. It was a blast! She is planning on a natural labor and delivery and wanted to hear about my experience. Those who have gone through a natural birth would agree with me, I think, when I say that it’s an incredible thing to relive. I love sharing that story—especially when it helps to clear away the myths surrounding it. They’re coming back over this week for more. Too fun!

On Thursday, Abigail and I headed back to the Lake Mayer play group and had a wonderful time. Before leaving, though, I strapped Abigail into her car seat and watched as she coughed and shot milk out of her nose. Another first!

Back to the play group…the weather was gorgeous again, and Abigail seemed to enjoy more of her time this week. She had some great tummy time and even rolled over at one point. It’s fun to see her and the other babies interact. I’m sure she’s wanting to be as mobile as the others!
.

Abigail and Ellie (6-7 months…can’t remember!) hanging out.
.

On Friday, after another day of only one poop (Thursday), she made up for it all day long. Thanks, darling. Anyone else run into that? Does it have anything to do with growth spurts? I read somewhere that if they’re in a growth spurt, they won’t fill their diapers as much because they’re using most of what goes in their body to grow. Truth in that?

Anyway, it was a weird day and night. After five days of sleeping from 7:30pm-6:30/7:00am, she woke up twice Friday night and early Saturday morning to eat. She hasn’t done that in weeks and weeks. She woke up twice on Saturday night too, but settled herself back down by the time we decided to go in and check on her. I’m starting to wonder if she’s napping too much during the day thus affecting her night sleep. She usually takes a total of 4-5 hours of naps. Maybe we should scale that back…or put her to bed later. Parenthood is so much trial and error, isn’t it?

On Saturday morning, Abigail woke up in a super mood. Maybe she just knew that we’d be starting Daddy’s birthday celebration weekend that day. Who knows?
.

Yes, this photo was staged. She’s kneeling and balancing against the rail. Anyhow, she rarely smiles at the camera. She’d rather stare at it. So, she was smiling here before I held up the interesting shiny gray thing.
.

David and I aren’t big on getting each other presents—partly because of the pressure involved and partly because our top love languages are quality time and words of affirmation. When we found out that David had the weekend before his birthday off work, I asked him to decide what he wanted to do. He chose to go to the National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Saturday morning with Abigail and to the Melting Pot Saturday night with just me. And he requested a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing—but we’ll get to that later.

So off we went on Saturday to check out the NWR. It’s a huge natural refuge for all sorts of birds, fish, and alligators in addition to more Spanish moss than you’d ever thought could land in one place. I packed a picnic lunch for us, but due to the large amounts of gnats, we just ate on the trunk of the car. Sadly, the NWR wasn’t the best place to bring Abigail at this age, so David made a note to check it out later sans baby.
.

David checking out the plant life. Abigail was passed out in our K’tan by this point.
.

The road ahead of us while picnic-ing on the trunk of the car.
.

Later that afternoon, we dropped Abigail off with Kevin and Sherry Landfried (Kevin is David’s boss) so that we could head out to the Melting Pot for dinner. And what an incredible fondue dinner it was! If you’ve never been there, go. It’s that simple.
.

Before the feast! So happy to have a really nice dinner date. A shift from our normal Jersey Mike’s date night!
.

Midway through our meal I thought to take a picture. Mmm! We did the “Big Night Out” four-course meal—cheese fondue (with bread, apples and veggies to dip), salad, a surf and turf entree (lobster tail, shrimp, filet, chicken, sausage, strip steak, ravioli, potatoes, mushrooms, and broccoli) to dip in our coq a vin fondue marinade…then…
.

…chocolate fondue for dessert! That’s the yin-yang fondue—white and dark chocolate. Delish!
.

When we got back to pick up Abigail, the Landfried’s reported that she’d been great. It’s amazing how much we new parents worry about leaving our baby with someone else only to find out that the baby was totally fine. Dating each other is definitely more important than any hangups we have with leaving Abigail with sitters. Thank you, Kevin and Sherry!

Sunday was a laid back day as we tried to digest the massive amount of food we had for dinner the night before. Abigail finally got back on her nap schedule after a few days off, and we got to just have fun as a family. We met up with Jason and Amy Smith (met Amy through MOPS) that afternoon. It’s so nice to spend time with other parents of preschoolers. We all speak the same language!
.

Smiling on Daddy’s shoulders. Too bad she’s too short for her smile to show!
.

On Monday, David opted to take the day off of work (first time he’s taken a personal day since we moved to Savannah) so that he could have a day to himself. I suggested this idea weeks ago, but he debated until Sunday night. Anyhow, he opted to sleep in a bit, go back to the NWR, spend nearly two hours at the gym, and eat a yummy dinner made by moi complete with that cake we talked about earlier.
.

 Smiling at Daddy before dinner.
.

Too bad this is the only picture I got of dinner. I made breaded ranch chicken with broccoli potato supreme on the side (believe it or not, it looked exactly like the picture—woo)! So tasty! David complimented his meal with some of our Biltmore Estate wine.
.

Birthday boy with the birthday cake. My first attempt at making homemade icing. It tasted amazing, but was a pain to spread! Any suggestions from other folks that have done this before? I used this peanut butter icing recipe and actually used more milk than it called for to make it a little more spreadable. To no avail!
.

It tasted great regardless of its patchy appearance!
.

We ended the night by starting to watch, The Legend of 1900. But with all movies as of late, we resigned to watching it over the course of this entire week as we have time.

Coming up this week, lunch with my big sister from the MOMS club (had to reschedule), my first run with the jogging stroller at Daffin Park, another Lake Mayer play group, and dinner with Carrie and Chuck (and little Madison). Should be fun!

Abigail’s close ups November 3, 2009

Jana Candler of Jana Candler Photography took some amazing pictures of Abigail while we were in Greenville not too long ago. Check them out, and be sure to watch the slideshow at the bottom of that link. Jana does incredible work!
.

13 weeks…DST and Halloween November 3, 2009

Abigail will be three months old tomorrow. We’ve learned so much about her so far but know that there’s a ton more to absorb and observe. She’s constantly changing and learning new things. She melts our hearts!

As for today, she’s thirteen weeks old, and this past week was pretty awesome. The laughing has continued, but only in short spurts. At least now David’s heard it too; I have a witness!

On Tuesday, Abigail and I headed out to a play group in Georgetown with other pre-walkers. There were a couple of babies right around Abigail’s age, so the other mamas and I set up a communal tummy time area for all three babies to check each other out. It was pretty funny to watch, honestly.
.

Dash (8 weeks) is in the green, Mackenzie (4.5 months) is in the pink pants, and Abigail’s on the Clemson blanket. Dash was giving Abigail the stare down. Or maybe he just knows a pretty girl when he sees one!
.

After having date night in last week because of David’s work schedule, we chatted about how much we both missed the gym. We used to work out together 4-5 times a week whether going running around the islands or strength training at the YMCA, and as of late, it’s been sporadic at most that we work out at all. I’ve been doing what I can at the apartment during Abigail’s naps, but it doesn’t equate to sweating it out on a regular basis.

Starting Wednesday of last week, David and I have been alternating gym mornings. We go at 4:20am, and I know that sounds like torture, but as you’ll see later in this post, we’re getting plenty of sleep beforehand. It feels so great to be back in more of a routine, and while we know that Abigail could change her sleeping patterns at any moment and throw us off, we’re enjoying the consistency for now.

Wednesday also marked another MOPS meeting—my favorite one to date. Peter from Brighter Day Foods came to speak on health and wellness. He was a veritable encyclopedia of information about supplements, pro-biotics, vitamins, extracts…you name it!

A couple of interesting tips I took away: to calm down hyper kids, feed them nuts (especially pecans) or give them an epsom salt bath. Both methods infuse them with magnesium, a natural calmer. Also, Vitamin D should be one of your best friends. For kids too! Kids should take 400IU for every 25 pounds (adults need 5,000IU a day). Yes, you can get Vitamin D from the sun, but you need 30-45 minutes of sun exposure to as much skin as possible in the winter to get your needed amount. Supplements help! David and I are now on the Vitamin D train.

Anyhow, if you’re in to natural remedies to ailments, boosting your immune system homeopathically, and finding creative ways to feed your kids healthily (and more!) his store’s website has an online resources section that’s super helpful. Big fan!

So the nap drama continued last week. Abigail would wake from naps 30 minutes after going down. I couldn’t figure it out! She would have great wake time for 1.5-2 hours, go down, and then get right back up. I did a little poking around and found a wonderful resource for other mamas implementing Babywise with their kids: Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. The author has used Babywise methods for all three of her kids with great success and created an online directory of sorts to answer pretty much any question you may have.

While reading through, I found info on waking from naps early. The suggested fix? Put the baby down 15 minutes earlier and see if the nap length changes. Find the optimal amount of waketime for your baby and stick with it. So I followed the directions but put Abigail down 30 minutes early (after one hour of wake time). She slept 1.5 hours. I tried it again with her next nap. Same thing. Breakthrough!

Naps have been awesome for nearly a week now. Out of fear that sleeping too much during the day will keep her up at night, I give her a long morning nap (1.5 hours), run errands during her next nap time so that she just dozes in the car on and off, a long afternoon nap (1.5 hours), and her usual short evening nap (30-40 minutes—it’s always been this short). So far, so good.

On Thursday, I headed out with Abigail to a new play group at Lake Mayer. It was a lot of fun to meet other moms of babies under one year old. Abigail was the youngest by about three months, but I enjoyed seeing where she’ll likely be in three months—into everything!
.

The group. Can you spot Abigail? Lounging in the shade.
.

After a lovely time at the play group, I thought it’d be a great idea to pick up a pumpkin—two days before Halloween. Oops. Mission failed. I did find a little orange gourd at Publix for $0.99 and figured I can call it an “Abigail-sized pumpkin.” David and I were hoping to carve a pumpkin in such a way that we could stick Abigail in it with her legs poking out of the front. Ah well.

Friday, I made my weekly trip to Tradewinds to meet up with other MOPS moms. Lucy’s daughter, Kaleigh, was the only really mobile baby there and went from carrier to carrier greeting the other babies. Too cute.
.

This was a few minutes before Kaleigh grabbed Abigail’s feet and squeezed while trying to stand up. Abigail was none too pleased.
.

We had yet another awesome weekend as David didn’t have to work Saturday or Sunday. What a blessing! We made the best of it by heading out to Outland Island Wildlife Center with Chuck, Carrie, and Madison on Saturday afternoon for Hoots and Howls—their special Halloween event. While walking around, we got to see a couple of cougars, some red foxes, and a huge assortment of birds (from hawks and eagles to cranes and owls). At the end, we got an up-close look at a Barred Owl:
.

The owl’s name is WaHooHoo—it’s a Native American term for owls. Too bad Abigail opted to check out the owl handler instead of looking straight ahead. Great photo of David and the owl, though!
.

Right before leaving Oatland Island, David gave Abigail an early driving lesson:
.

So glad we don’t have to worry about her driving anytime soon! And yes, the car was firmly in park.
.

That night, we opted to go to FBCI’s “Trunk or Treat.” We’d never been to one before, but it’ll be something we’ll likely do in the next few years if we aren’t in a neighborhood with trick or treating. Basically, people decorated the trunks of their cars, dressed up, and handed out candy. All the cars were parked on a field behind the church—well lit and secure. We saw a bunch of our pals, but only stayed about 30 minutes since Abigail was fading fast.
.

Getting Tigger all suited up!
.

Hooray for consignment sale costumes! And yes, I’m sticking my tongue out—whatever it takes to make her smile!
.

Ready to go—outfit completed with her orange candy bag. Another little creative venture. I have them occasionally. This time it was compliments of the MOPS meeting; they supplied all the tools.
.

At trunk or treat. Abigail was ready for a nap, but at least she looked toward the camera!
.

Halloween night marked the beginning of daylight savings time. I used to always look forward to gaining an hour of sleep, but neither David nor I had any idea of what it would do to Abigail. We had been wanting her to get to bed earlier at night, so we decided to use DST to our advantage. She had been on an 8am-8pm schedule (first meal at 8am, last at 8pm), but with DST, we planned to move her smoothly to a 7am-7pm schedule.

Success! She slept 10 hours and 10 minutes on Saturday night waking up at 5:50am for her random early morning meal. Went back down until we woke her up for her first meal at 7am. On Sunday, we put her down at 7:30pm, and she slept until 6:15am! I opted to go ahead and feed her as though it was 7am which meant only five meals instead of six. I’ll be sure to update with how that went. Not sure if she’ll end up waking up in the middle of the night to get that sixth meal or not. Hopefully not!

In closing, here are a couple of pictures of our stretch monster. When we wake her up, she’ll stretch and stretch and stretch for nearly five minutes straight. It’s hilarious!
.

Right after waking up.
.

Right after a feeding. Guess she’s got to get limber after laying in one position so long?

12 weeks…and a babbling brook October 27, 2009

Another fun week for the books!

After two nights of randomly waking up in the middle of the night and self-soothing, Abigail’s back to sleeping 8-9 hours, waking up to eat, and going back down for two more hours. We’ll start working on getting rid of that early morning feeding next week after we see what Daylight Savings does to her schedule. Oh boy!

We had a great date night this week getting take-out from Basil’s and eating at the apartment while the Winfrey’s hung out with Abigail. We can’t emphasize enough the importance of parents having a night away from their kid(s) to have quality time with each other and uninterrupted conversation. It’s amazing how relaxed you can be with each other when you don’t have to worry about keeping the baby entertained or asleep. Remember, you were with your spouse before the baby showed up, and you’ll be together when the baby’s grown and gone. Put time into your relationship now!

Well, Abigail’s gotten really great at following us across a room and giving the stare-down to anything in her sight range. Most recently, she’s gotten into the mirror on her playmat. Looking at it made something click in her head. We only thought that Abigail was babbling before. Now, she’s going crazy with it—30-45 minutes straight at a time. Too funny!
.

Following Daddy’s hand while looking stylish in her hodge-podge outfit!
.

On Thursday, I got my hair cut with Abigail hanging out alongside. She started babbling when we got there and hadn’t stopped an hour later when we were heading out. She kept it up while we were at Target a little while later to the amusement of quite a few other shoppers. Sound sure does carry in that store. Hilarious!

Before the haircut, we went to storytime back at the Wilmington Island library. Much smaller and much calmer than our Bull Street experience a couple of weeks ago. Yikes! I took a quick picture of the room and of Miss Katherine (our new storytime leader).
.

Too bad Miss Katherine doesn’t look all that happy here. Oh well! There were about 10 kids to the left of this picture on the smiley face rug. A nice-sized group, I think.
.

At 4:30am Friday morning, the three of us left Savannah to head up to Greenville for the weekend. Why so early? Because Abigail sleeps when it’s dark out. Hurray!

We made a stop in Columbia on our way up to visit with Blythe and her brand new baby boy, Hendrix. It was pretty funny to compare Abigail and Hendrix—two and a half months apart. Hendrix was 6lb 15oz, and Abigail was somewhere around 14.5lb. What a difference nearly eight pounds makes!
.

We had a great time visiting! Blythe and I have known each other since we were itty bitty babies too. Pretty amazing that we’ve come full circle and now have babies of our own.
.

We got to Greenville a little while later and hung out with my parents for most of the day. It’s so neat seeing them fall into their roles as grandparents. Although it’s still weird to refer to them as “Grandma and Grandpa” when talking to Abigail. “We’re going to see Grandma and Grandpa Schwartz, Abigail! Aren’t you excited?” I’m sure we’ll get used to it at some point.
.

Abigail smiling at her Grandpa
.

That afternoon, we got a real treat. Jana Candler (www.janacandlerphoto.com) did a photo shoot of Abigail and got some family shots too. Abigail was pretty cooperative considering we woke her up from a nap to take the photos, and we cannot wait to see how they turn out. Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to post a link as soon as the images are online! Thank you, Jana!

My Mom’s parents came over for dinner and to meet their third great-granddaughter. It was pretty neat to see them interacting with Abigail—especially when Granddaddy McGee pulled out his Kermit puppet!
.

Fun with Kermit the frog!
.

Four generations—Abigail’s about two seconds from a nap in this picture
.

On Saturday, we initiated Abigail into our annual apple picking tradition at SkyTop Orchard in Flat Rock, NC. We had a beautiful fall day, lovely fall colors, but no apples. The orchard was still open, but all of the trees were bare. Usually this particular orchard is full of apples until mid November, but no such luck this year. Regardless, we had a great time walking the orchard and bought a couple of bags of apples along with a half gallon of apple cider. Delicious! We also stopped by the Biltmore Mansion’s gift shop (didn’t want to pay the $55 per person to get through the gate) to pick up a couple of bottles of wine. Can’t wait to open those!
.

Family photo at the orchard. It was in the low 60’s with 15mph wind. Sunny and beautiful!
.

I love, love, LOVE this photo of David and Abigail. She’s so happy in the sling on Daddy!
.

Abigail flying through the trees!
.

Funny thing is, she’ll likely be standing on her own by that sign next year. How cool!
.

On the way home, Abigail slept a little bit, but for the most part, she chatted up a storm. That and blew a ton of bubbles. Anyone else’s baby blowing bubbles all the time? Normally we’re on hand to wipe them away, but for the first half of the drive, we were both up front while Abigail cruised in the back. We heard the bubble noise going on and on. Eventually, I went to the back to check on her…
.

Yes, that’s a long strand of bubbles—complimented by a pretty interesting expression. She never ceases to amuse us, that’s for sure.
. 

Once we got back from North Carolina, we watched the first half of the Clemson game (GO TIGERS!) and headed over to Zack and Kristen Taylor’s to watch the second half and get all caught up. Their place is awesome. It makes us want to be in a house that much more! They came over to my parents’ house to meet Abigail. So fun to see them interacting with her! Unfortunately, we didn’t think to take a picture. Arg…

On Sunday, we went to NewSpring Church. As always, it felt great to be back there and made us wish we lived closer so we could be members again. We’ll have to wait on God’s timing. Anyhow, on the way to church, Abigail blabbed and blabbed and blabbed. She makes some pretty funny faces whiles she’s figuring out how her mouth and tongue and voice all work together.
.

She sucks in her bottom lip all the time now. Not sure what that’s all about.
.

Saying something like “ahhouhhheeouuhhooo.”
.

While at NewSpring, we experienced a first—Abigail’s first nursery trip. If we had to pick any place for her to go to a nursery, NewSpring is at the top of the list! It was a little weird to drop her off with strangers, but she did great and napped while there. Later in the day when we went to change her diaper, we found a big “Changed with KidSpring love!” sticker on the diaper she was wearing. Too cute.
.

I snapped a quick picture after we picked her up. This was the birth through six-month area.
.

We got to see quite a few familiar faces as well—Ben and Patsy Glunt (Patsy did my wedding makeup), John and Shelley McGuirt (I babysat for their precious kids when they were babies…now they’re so big!), Jen Hall and her mom, and Odie and Erin Woods. The Woods have been some really awesome mentors for us. We met them while NewSpring was still meeting at Anderson College’s campus when David and I were just dating. They mentored us as we got engaged and married, and now as we’ve become parents. We didn’t get to see their kids (Cutter and Daisy), but we know they’re super cute and growing way too quickly!
.

We love these guys. They were working in the second and third grade kids room. NewSpring really knows how to do church for kids. There was a stage on the side where they have a worship service and plenty of activities to keep them busy afterward. Too neat!
.

After church we ate lunch with my parents and got back on the road. Just around five hours later, we were in Savannah and couldn’t have been happier to be home. Abigail always gets a little off schedule when we’re traveling, so it’s a relief for everyone when we’re back!

Monday was rather uneventful except for the fact that Abigail laughed! At least, that’s absolutely what I heard. I have no witnesses other than myself, but I was goofing around with her when her smile got bigger and bigger and bigger (like she was about to explode with happiness) and out came the cutest little noise I think I’d ever heard. She did it two separate times, but not since. Can’t wait until it happens again!

We’re looking forward to Halloween this weekend when our little girl gets all dressed up as Tigger. It’s the closest thing to a Clemson tiger we could think of, and the costume was on sale. Wahoo!

In closing, a rather funny picture. Abigail is a great sleeper and doesn’t move all that much once she’s asleep. This is what she looked like after a nap last week when she slept on her hands. It looked like she’d be slapped around or that her hands were hot irons or something. She wasn’t crying in this picture, just scrunching up her face because of the bright overhead light.
.

11 weeks…Always be prepared October 20, 2009

This week wasn’t too terribly eventful, but we did do some stuff and have some fun along the way.

Abigail gets into babbling fits a few times a day, and while we know that one day we’ll be wishing she had an “off” button, for now we’re doing anything possibly to coax those fun noises out of her tiny little mouth. Her preferred locations for conversations? On the changing table, while getting dried off after a bath, and in her bouncy seat with her beloved stuffed animals.
.

Mid-babble and mid-flail, hence the blurred photo
.

She’s still occasionally rolling over, but we’re pretty sure it’s still sort of by accident since she does it so sporadically. When she does land on her back, we cheer, and she looks a bit stunned. Then she sees our smiles, and all is right with the world.

For date night this week, we took Abigail with us to Jersey Mike’s subs. It was pretty fun to have her right there with us flashing her beautiful gummy smile whenever we glanced her way. That’s not how we’ll do date night normally, but once or twice a month, it’s nice to go out to eat with her.

Any other SAHM’s out there notice that most all mom-baby activities happen during morning nap time? I feel like most every event I want to go to with Abigail is right around 10am. She eats at 8am, has 1.5 to 2 hours of waketime, then naps. Maybe when she drops a nap it’ll be the morning one. Who knows?

MOPS is one of those things that goes through nap time (9:30-11:15am), and Abigail hardly slept while we were there. Luckily she took a fabulous 2-hour afternoon nap allowing me to curl up with a new book, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code author). Great fictional thriller! I finished it within the day. Yikes!
.

Random carrier smiles. She was smiling at me, but it’s hard to get a straight-on picture of her smiling; the camera distracts her. So I held it out to the side.
.

Thursday and Friday were pretty low key as we had a bunch of rain storms come through. Abigail and I did head over to Tradewinds to meet up with some MOPS moms Friday morning, but spent the rest of the day inside playing/napping.

David had the weekend off, though, and we made the most of it. Saturday morning, we headed over to the Greek Festival downtown. The last time I ate Greek food was…yeah, I can’t remember. It was pretty tasty though, considering. We split a “combo” plate of food, and our favorite part was the spicy meatball dish. Can’t remember the name. Sorry!
.

Family photo while in line for food.
.

Abigail sort of hung out in the sling during the Greek festivities. They had musicians and dancers and vendors—oh my! All in all, a fun time.

Saturday afternoon, I went by the lactation consultants’ office at Candler Hospital to pick up a breastpump. I had been using a Medela hand pump, but was never really a fan. It cost somewhere around $40 and wasn’t all that efficient. The pump that I’m renting from the hospital retails for $1,600. Whoa nelly! There’s a huge difference between the two, let me tell you. I’m wanting to stock up the freezer so that we don’t have to worry about having food for Abigail on date nights or ::gasp:: our first overnight away from her. Haven’t planned that trip yet, but we’re looking forward to it. Maybe for our three-year wedding anniversary in February!

On Saturday and Sunday we did something that we hadn’t done since before Abigail was born—rented and watched movies. Granted,  it took nearly 6 hours to watch 3 hours of movies (watched during her naps), but it was still worth it. We checked out Duplicity (Clive Owen and Julia Roberts) and New in Town (Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick, Jr.) and loved ‘em both. It’s amusing how something so simple becomes a luxury post-baby!

Yesterday, I met up with some MOMS Club moms at the mall to hang out and let the kiddos play. There’s a softplay playground area near JCPenny where all the mobile kids can run and jump and climb and scream and whatever else they feel like doing while the moms hang out.
.

The softplay area at the mall. A little while after this picture was taken, there were 15+ kiddos romping around!
.

Abigail decided to fill a diaper as soon as we got there. I figured I should go ahead and change her so that she didn’t have to sit in that mess for the next couple of hours. While changing her, she opted to go again, and it went all over her and her outfit.

Here’s how the title of the blog ties in. I always have a super stocked diaper bag for incidents just like this. But alas! Somehow, after Ohio, I completely forgot to put a spare outfit back into the bag. So post-diaper change, I had a naked baby—aside from her diaper, a pair of socks and a hat. If it were a normal (hot) Savannah day, I wouldn’t have had any issues with her half-clothed state, but it was chilly today. Being in a mall, I strapped her up in my sling and headed to the clearance rack at Baby Gap. Five minutes and $2.99 later, she was cozy in a new long-sleeved onesie. Maybe she soiled herself in order to get some new clothes? Clever girl!
.

Snuggled up and ready to go after our Baby Gap trip
.

As far as sleeping goes, Abigail did something neat Sunday night. She went down at 8:40pm, and woke up at 3:15am. Why is that neat? Well, we opted to let her fuss just to see, and a few minutes later, she put herself back to sleep and slept until 6:00am. Woo hoo! It’s encouraging to know that she can self-soothe in the middle of the night if needed. Hopefully she’ll be back to sleeping straight-through again soon.

Coming up this week? Lunch date with my big sister (MOMS Club sets you up with a mentor mom/big sister) downtown, storytime at the library (missed last week because of nap), and a trip to Greenville to see my family, introduce Abigail to her other set of great-grandparents, and to go apple picking in Hendersonville. Cannot wait!

10 weeks…And some firsts October 13, 2009

Reached a few fun milestones this past week—first shots, first plane ride, first time sleeping somewhere other than home, and several others. Read on for the scoop!

We learned this past week that once you set a bedtime routine/schedule with your baby, never stray from it if you can avoid it. Abigail rarely eats from a bottle, so it takes a fair amount of prodding to get her to really eat a full meal that way. On Tuesday for date night, she gave the Winfrey’s a hard time when dinner rolled around and didn’t eat much of her bottle at all. That equalled a hungry, hungry and tired baby at 9:00pm when she normally is full and ready to go to sleep. The night that followed was zero fun. For the first time ever, she was up four times in one night. Never again, folks. She’ll be gulping down that bottle next week! She’s got to learn somehow.

The rest of the week was made up of great sleeping nights—back to 8- to 9-hour stretches, waking for a feeding, and back down for 2 to 3 hours. So glad to be back in that groove!

On Wednesday, Abigail had her 2-month check-up. This consisted of the usual stats-update: 14lb 2oz (she’s moved up to the 99th percentile! Grow baby, grow!), 23.5″ long , with a 16″ head. She’s moving on up, folks! In addition, she got three vaccine-shots and one vaccine syrup for rotavirus. Abigail did better with her shots than I did as I’ve never ever heard her yell out in pain. I had my back turned to her at that moment so that she could only see the nurse and so that I could be the “rescuer” after the shots; I definitely started to cry. At least I know she won’t remember them at all!

The syrup-based vaccine was supposed to be the “treat” after her shots. Quite the opposite! She didn’t like it at all—it’s supposedly sugary in flavor—and began to gag and cough shortly after the nurse squeezed it in her mouth. The gagging continued for minutes. Yes, minutes. Saliva was steadily flowing out of her mouth as she gagged and occasionally coughed. A few minutes later, while over my shoulder, she christened the floor (we were in the newly constructed wing of the pediatrician’s practice) with her entire breakfast and whatever was left of that syrup. Poor baby. It took another 20 minutes in the car and in the Target parking lot to work up the rest of whatever it was. It’s almost like she got worked up and some of the syrup went down the wrong “pipe.”

She’s all better now, though. A progression, in photos:
.

She had no idea what was coming…just hanging out on the exam table
.

In the car after shots. In dire need of a nap!
.

At home on the changing table. “Shots? What shots? I have these nifty Tasmanian Devil band-aids!”
.

On Thursday, Carrie and I went with our little girls to check out the Bull Street library’s story time. Yikes! There had to have been 20 to 30 kids there with their moms. Whoa nelly! Abigail just sat in her carrier with wide eyes the whole time—likely based on the absurd noise level. We’ll be sticking to the Wilmington Island library’s story time from now on. It’s much more intimate and lower-volume. Whew!

Also, when I mentioned that Abigail’s pushing up like a pro, I meant that now everytime she’s on her tummy, she pushes up as far as she possibly can. She used to hate tummy time, but now that she’s so adept at getting her head off the floor, she’s not too upset when we flip her over to her tummy.
.

Notice the lovely drool spot on the sheets!
.

When she’s really going for it, her legs fly up like in the picture above. Too funny!
.

Friday was a real treat. I started out at Tradewinds with the MOPS moms and got to share my exciting “sleeping-through-the-night” news. Yee haw! Later, Kristy was in town and met up with me and Carrie for lunch over at Carrie’s place. It was so great to see Kristy as she and Travis are living up in Chapel Hill, NC while he works a one-year fellowship in radiology. She had some smiley time with Abigail before naptime. And right before I left, Carrie gave me Madison’s Bebe Pod to try out with Abigail. Too much fun!
.

The last time Kristy saw Abigail, she was 9-days old! A lot has changed since then!
.

Trying out the Bebe Pod (like a Bumbo seat)…not too sure…
.

…ok! Maybe this is fun afterall!
.

The real big set of firsts came in the form of a pseudo spontaneous trip up to Columbus, OH to visit with David’s parents, grandmother and brother. David’s mom, Karon, was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago and had surgery last Tuesday to take care of the situation. We opted to head up north to give her some fun distractions during her recovery. What a blast!

That said, we had to take Abigail on a plane. Our pediatrician wouldn’t say that we could or shouldn’t go; instead, he mentioned that he’d be, “extremelyhesitant” to take a two-month-old on a plane. So would we, normally. But we really wanted to be with family and support Karon in her recovery. We took every precaution we could think of from having sani-wipes in the diaper bag and keeping Abigail in a sling to keeping Abigail under my nursing cover and having her suck on something during takeoff and landing to help with the pressure on her ears.

Stressful? The first leg was. I fed Abigail during takeoff—bad idea, apparently. While laying on the boppy and eating, she spat up everything she’d eaten so far—all over her left side, my tummy and lap, and the boppy. Oops! We didn’t make that mistake again. For every other takeoff and landing, she got her pacifier! Outside of that incident, though, Abigail did great. She slept some, ate some, and relaxed for the rest of the time. Taking a 6am, Saturday morning, flight out of Savannah was a great way to get this trip off the ground. Abigail’s a lot calmer in the morning hours than the afternoon/evening.
.

Burp time with Dad
.

Family photo! Where’s the baby?
.

Lounging under the nursing cover (thanks, Mary! LOVE it!) on the Boppy. Props to David for rocking the floral nursing cover.
.

Once in Ohio, we had a great time with family. Abigail had a tough day on Saturday—due in no small part to all the new sensations she experienced on the plane—but was able to sleep through the night that night. We were thrilled that she did so well sleeping in a new place in something other than her crib.
.

All smiles with Grandma Mertens
.

Meeting Great-Grandma Harley
.

It was a ton of fun to see David’s family interacting with our little girl—the first grandchild for his parents and the first great-grandchild on his side of the family. How neat! We hung out at the house for a good portion of our time there, but also ventured out for a stroller walk in Three Creeks Park and checked out the Columbus Curling Club’s open house. Second only to the time with family, David and I were super thrilled about the beautiful weather (and changing leaves)! It stayed in the 50s-60s during the day with zero humidity; it was 90 the day we left Savannah. Oh how we miss the northern fall temps!

Other fun news from Ohio? Abigail rolled over a few times while we were there. Accidentally? Perhaps. But at least she’s doing it! From tummy to back.
.

Grandpa Mertens and Uncle Kevin in the back. Great-grandma Harley and Abigail in the middle. David and Grandma Mertens up front.
.

We flew back out on Monday morning and spent the rest of the day doing laundry, getting settled, and working to get Abigail happy again. Remember that bad day I mentioned she had on Saturday? She had it again Monday. Perhaps something to do with her ears on the plane or something. Who knows? We know she’ll be back on track in no time, though!

Other fun photos from our weekend:
.

We love all her fun expressions!
.

Bundled up for a brisk stroller walk
.

Back at the house. Ok, ok. I guess she does look a little like David!
.

Oh how we miss the fall color show!
.

Talk/play time with mom in the car
.

Trying out her baby legs for the first time. Too cute!

9 weeks…it’s sleepy time October 5, 2009

We have a two-month old—exciting!

Not sure if it’s too early to call, but Abigail has now slept 7+ hours at night for a full week. She’ll eat at 8:00pm, go down for bed at 9:00pm, sleep until 4:30am, eat, then sleep until 8:00am. Those times fluctuate by about 15-30 minutes, but for the most part, Abigail stays true to that. We couldn’t be more excited! Now if we can just figure out how to get her to skip that 4:30am feeding…

*UPDATE* I wrote the majority of this blog entry Sunday night. We put her to bed at 8:30pm that night, and she slept until 6:00am Monday morning! Then on Monday night, she went down at 8:45pm, slept until 3:00am, ate, then slept until 6:15am. Perhaps her sleep patterns are regulating?

Also, she’s down from eight feedings a day to six. Definitely still growing like a weed, though. David and I can’t wait to get her stats Wednesday at her two-month check-up. We’ve both made guesses about her weight, length, and head size. As much as I’m looking forward to that check-up, I’m dreading it too; Abigail gets three lovely shots in her thighs. I can finally understand what my parents meant by, “This is going to hurt me more than you.” Abigail will forget the pain associated with her shots (honestly; who of you can remember getting shots?), but I doubt I’ll ever forget what it was like to see her go through it. So no, I’m not looking forward to that part of the doctor’s visit. Prayers appreciated!

Abigail had been in a fairly consistent napping pattern, but as the days went on last week, her naps got shorter and shorter with her night sleep staying the same. On Sunday, we tried darkening her room by hanging a blanket over the window. Those shortened naps lengthened right back out. We’ll just have to see if that continues.

This past week was a lot of fun—partly due to all the activities and partly due to the increased sleep we’ve been getting.

We had another successful date night with George and Princess watching Abigail on Tuesday. David and I hung out at Jersey Mike’s for a while, got dessert/coffee at Tradewinds, and then came back to the apartment to hang out sans baby before heading back to pick our little one up. The Winfrey’s are so great with her; we consider ourselves extremely blessed to have friends willing to watch after her once a week—and enjoy it so much!

On Wednesday, Carrie and Madison came over for lunch. The weather was amazing, so after they headed out, Abigail and I went for a nice long stroll around our apartment complex in the cool sun. It’s so exciting that fall is finally starting to come to Savannah. It’s not totally here yet as the past few days have been in the upper 80’s, but at least fall is on its way.

While out strolling, I tried to put some cute baby sunglasses and a hat on Abigail to keep the sun out of her eyes so I could have her stroller canopy pulled back, but she wasn’t a fan of either. By the end of the week, we broke her into the hat as you’ll see later, but the sunglasses (which velcro together behind her head) are still a no go. We’ll just have to keep trying!

Speaking of those fall-like temps, we’ve had Abigail dressed up in footed sleepers for bedtime since last Wednesday. It’s so nice not having to cover her up in a blanket in the crib to keep her warm. We might have to start doing that when winter comes to town, but we’ve got another few months before that happens. The footed sleepers are ridiculously cute on her now that they fit a little better. Maybe I’m a bit biased…

Went to the gym with Princess on Tuesday and Thursday last week and am still really enjoying our workouts. I wish I could keep them up, but with Abigail waking up to eat at 4:30am (which is when Princess and I were meeting at the gym), I’d rather be home to feed her than keep pumping so that David can do it. Plus, he has to be getting ready for work (or sleeping) during that feeding time. As soon as Abigail’s sleeping straight through the night, though, I’ll be back at the Y in the early mornings!

The beautiful weather continued on Thursday, and I met up with Mary and Sati; Carrie and Madison at Daffin Park for a morning stroll.
.

Enjoying the crisp morning air
.

We talked about all things baby, and I loved hearing that Sati is another 95th percentile baby like our dear Abigail. Yay for miracle grow!

Sometime that afternoon, Abigail fell in love. With a stuffed banana and stuffed hippo. Later on, she decided that she also fancied a stuffed monkey and giraffe. While those guys had been hanging in her face for a few days, she only “discovered them” on Thursday. She stared at that banana for a good 10 minutes before starting to coo and smile at it.
.

Yay for Mr. Banana! Next on her list: batting at him. Maybe this week?
.

Tummy time is becoming old-hat to Abigail—or at least it seems that way. She pushes up like a pro. Now if only she’d start rolling over more consistently! That would make things a little more interesting.
.

At least she tolerates some tummy time now. She used to fuss anytime we put her down on her tummy!
.

Pushing up on Daddy. She’ll only lay down against our shoulders if she’s tired. Otherwise, she’s all about showing off her strength!
.

On Friday, I went to the weekly coffee meet up with MOPS before picking up my race packet for Saturday’s race. Once I got home, I eagerly awaited the arrival of my mom. She got to town around 1:30pm to stay for the weekend and give David and I some alone time. Much appreciated!

After a tasty poppyseed chicken dinner (thanks, Mom!), David and I took a sunset stroll around our complex and out to the boardwalk. We stayed out as long as the biting gnats would allow!

On Saturday, we had a lazy morning with Abigail since David was off work—hurray for that! Mom came over to watch Abigail, and David and I headed downtown to grab lunch at Roly Poly, check out the Oktoberfest activities on River Street, and splurge on some Leopold’s ice cream. What a fun date day! While downtown, we saw a ton of other babies in their strollers or in slings and missed Abigail immensely. It’s so funny that you want time away from your child, but as soon as you get it, you want to be back with her.

 .

In one of the squares downtown after lunch. High of 87 that day if you didn’t notice. Go away, summer!
.

Later that evening, I ran my first 5K since Race for the Cure in April. I had no idea what to expect as I hadn’t run more than 1-2 miles since Abigail was born, but I did well—finished in around 26 minutes!
.

Just before the race started. Abigail really enjoyed the sights and sounds—not napping a wink while we were downtown.
.

Looking cute on Daddy’s shoulder. That hat didn’t fit when we took her to the beach a few weeks ago. Now it’s just about perfect. That head’s growing super fast!
.

On Sunday, my grandparents, dad, and brother came down to join us and mom in hanging out with Abigail. Grandma and Granddaddy hadn’t met her yet and hadn’t held an infant since my brother was born. Both facts made for a fun couple of hours. It was so sweet to see Abigail interacting with them!
.

Hanging out with great-grandma Schwartz while wearing a bow from a gift she received.
.

Grinning up at the great-grandparents
.

Four generations
.

Monday was a rainy day, but we’ve been needing one of those for a while—no complaints. Well, maybe one tiny complaint…why must mosquitoes breed right after a rainstorm? It felt so nice out after the rain stopped, so I decided to go on a walk around the YMCA with Abigail in the stroller. Five minutes and three mosquito bites later (on me, not her, thank goodness) we were back in the car on our way home. Better luck next time!

8 weeks…Standing tall—with a little support, of course September 29, 2009

Another week and another slew of new things for David, Abigail, and me to learn—top of the list: patience. Patience has always been the fruit of the spirit that stays somewhat withered in my life. I’ve worked on it, sure, but never have I had to work on it daily. I’m so thankful for the maturity Abigail’s bringing out in me—patience-wise. Whether it’s being patient while putting her down for a nap, or during a feeding when she feels a little more like playing than eating, or when changing her third blown-out diaper in as many hours, I’m slowly coming around!

Notable advancements? Abigail’s been putting her full weight on her feet for a little over a week when we hold her in a standing position. It’s really neat to see her all stretched out like that; it gives a small glimpse as to what she’ll look like walking around. Can’t get ahead of ourselves, though!
.

 

.
In addition, we haven’t confirmed this with the pediatrician yet, but we’re pretty sure Abigail is already teething and has been for about two weeks. What!? She’s a drool factory and will get pretty fussy at times—the only thing that soothes her? Chewing on our fingers or on her pacifier. And just Sunday night, David said that he thought he felt something in her gums while Abigail was gnawing—there are even a couple of white spots. Slow down, Abigail! I don’t know if we’re ready for teeth yet!

And finally, she’s rolling over more frequently from tummy to back and moves all over the place in her crib. She’s an active sleeper for sure! Tummy time is really paying off as she’s gained a lot more head control in the past couple of weeks. Her only problem is when we’re holding her upright and she looks down at something, her head falls forward, and it’s pretty much stuck there. She’ll throw her whole body back in an effort to get it up, though. Fun to watch! Once she’s got total head control, we’re going to buy a Bumbo seat. Should make things a little easier.

We’ve had an interesting week with sleeping, but are proud to say that Abigail is moving more towards consistency. Yipee! Babywise had it right with the sequence of daily events for a baby—feed time, wake time, then sleep time. She naps so much better after being kept awake for an hour to and hour and a half. She also sleeps better at night that way.

Currently, she’s in a holding pattern with her nights where she’ll sleep 5-6 hours, feed, then sleep another 3-4. She can go up to 7 hours at night without food (at least, that’s her longest stretch). No complaints, of course, as we’re loving this extra sleep! We’re starting to experiment, though, to find a way for her to go straight through for 8-10 hours. Stay tuned for updates.

UPDATE: Monday night, we put Abigail down at 9:15pm, and she slept until we woke her up at 4:15am. Fed her, then she went right back to sleep until her next meal at 7:15am. Seven hours! We won’t wake her up tomorrow morning and see how long she goes.

MOPS was back on last Wednesday (it’s an every-other-week deal), and I really enjoyed it. I nursed Abigail about halfway through the meeting, then burped her. Now, when you normally are alone while burping your baby, you don’t really notice how loud the little one’s burps are. Abigail’s are pretty monstrous at times apparently, because she picked a quiet moment in the meeting to let one rip. I was in the back of the room, so of course, all heads whipped around. Heads all belonging to other moms, of course, so all smiling. Too funny!

On Thursday, I checked out a new (to me) event at the local library—story time. Abigail slept through the first half of it or so, but was super intrigued by the latter portion while she was awake. There were around 10 moms (and one dad!) there with their kiddos, and Miss A (can’t remember her name…arg) animatedly read children’s books—making them interactive as much as possible. We also sang songs—most of which had hand motions or required parent-kid interaction. Too bad Abigail can’t clap yet or sing along, but soon enough. We’ll definitely be going back, and I’ll have to take a picture or two of the super colorful room where it takes place.

After story time, it was off to Target to pick up a few random things that we needed. My shopping was finished in less than 10 minutes, but I kept pushing Abigail around as she seemed to LOVE the bright lights, colors, and new sounds. Only eight weeks old and already knows the best places to shop!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful until we tried to go to sleep. We got new neighbors upstairs a few weeks ago, and they’ve been pretty noisy during the day—stomping sounds, mostly. The volume picked up a couple of times at night over the past week, and David went up to ask them to keep it down. I tried to just brush most of it off, but when Abigail was asleep and I wasn’t at 1:00am Friday morning, I was finished. Complaint was filed the next day, and it’s been pretty peaceful since. Thank goodness!

Friday began Abigail’s cooing. So. Much. Fun. I could listen to her little noises all day long, and I do! She started at the MOMS Club brunch Friday morning and has kept it up ever since—not non-stop, but when she’s alert and content. I think having 20+ kids running around her at the brunch gave her the courage to make some noise too! She’s also starting to check out things hanging overhead. Silly us, we never hung anything above her (other than her lamb mobile) to look at until recently, so she’s still sort of figuring it out. She gives anything hanging over her head a stare down, but hasn’t started batting yet. Soon enough!
.

.
David had to work on Saturday, so I filled up the day as much as possible starting with a two-mile stroller run with Carrie and Madison. Abigail was asleep when it was time to head to the YMCA, so I picked her up, changed her diaper AND outfit in an effort to wake her, but to no avail. She continued to sleep through the car ride and the stroller run. She hasn’t done that since she was just a week old or so.

I planned to drive out to Georgetown to watch the Clemson game with my friend Mary (from my mom’s meetup group), her husband, Ramesh, and their daughter, Sati. Before leaving, I was feeding Abigail, and David got home—hours early. So exciting! We went out to Georgetown as a family to cheer on our Tigers. Too bad they lost…but we still had fun.
.

 

.
Sunday is the day of rest, right? And rest we did—as much as possible. That meant sleeping while Abigail slept until mid morning, then napping later in the day. Bliss! We kept the rest of the day really low-key and focused on getting pictures of Abigail and spending time as a family.
.

 

 

.
Non-Abigail related news?

1. The Grey’s Anatomy premiere was Thursday night, and I’m so happy it’s back on! I could only watch the first hour before having to feed Abigail and put her down, but thanks to Hulu.com, I watched the rest first thing Friday morning. Missing George, but glad Izzy made it!

2. We had to have our computer totally rebuilt last week. We’ve been having PC issues that make those “I’m a Mac. And I’m a PC” commercials eerily true. Maybe we need a Mac? Anyhow, our PC is still under warranty (SO glad my Dad encouraged me to get the extended warranty when I bought the computer back in January 2007), so our hard drive, motherboard, and memory were all replaced for free. Some of the issues still remain, though. Time to go to the local repair shop to sort out the remaining bugs. Here’s to hoping everything will be resolved by our next blog post! 

3. I’m back to working out in the wee hours of the morning with Princess. Thanks for toughing it out at 4:30am, girl!

4. I went to a Park Lane Jewelry fashion show last night with Amy Smith (from MOPS). It’s weird to go out without Abigail, but I love that David is so good with her; he’s a natural and isn’t intimidated by really anything Abigail throws at him. Go David!

A few more photos for good measure:
.

 

Week 7…inconsistent for now September 22, 2009

I forgot to mention in last week’s blog that David and I went out to dinner with Abigail for the first time on Sunday (9/13). One of David’s co-workers and his wife gave us a gift card to Basil’s (a local Italian restaurant that’s super family friendly), and we used it on a tasty meal! Abigail slept through the whole thing as she tends to do whenever she’s in her car seat, and it was nice to see that yes, we can go out to eat with her so long as we plan accordingly.

On Tuesday, I had my 6-week follow-up appointment with my OB, and I’m all healed up and back to normal. In the waiting room before the appointment, though, David was hanging out with Abigail in his lap when she decided to explosively fill her diaper–ruined her outfit and left a nice mark on David’s. I got to change her right there in the super full waiting room from a cute onesie into a plain white t-shirt. So much for looking cute for Dr. Tucker!

She stayed awake for most of the morning but passed out later in the afternoon as seen below:
.

First in the bouncy seat before getting moved…
.
…to the crib.
.

That night, we took a huge step for us and left Abigail with our friends, the Winfrey’s, so that we could go on a solo date night. It was the first time Abigail was away from us at somewhere other than our apartment and the first time she was watched after by someone other than immediate family. Scary? Just a little, but there was absolutely nothing to fear. George and Princess had a great time with Abigail, and once I got my mind off of her, I…well, I never fully got my mind off of her. David and I enjoyed our time away (dinner at Jersey Mike’s—yum! and homemade pudding at home), but I’d be lying if I didn’t say we were thrilled to be reunited with our little girl.
.

Hanging out with the Winfrey’s
.

I’ve still been trying to get to the gym as much as possible (aka, three mornings a week aside from stroller time with Abigail) and just signed up for my first post-baby 5K. It’s the Heart of Savannah 5K on October 3, and while I plan to run/jog the whole thing, that’s my only goal. No time goal. I need a new baseline to work from!

On Thursday, I drove out to Pooler to meet up with Carrie and Heather at the bi-annual kids consignment sale. Holy moly! I found all sorts of awesome stuff for Abigail for really cheap, and it was all name brand (Baby Gap, Ralph Lauren, Carters, Gymboree, etc). I even got a Halloween costume, but you’ll have to wait until October to see a picture of Abigail dressed up!

After the sale, we headed over to Lenny’s Sub Shop for lunch, and I nursed Abigail in public for the first time. Sure I’d nursed her in the car, but never around people. With Carrie’s help (thanks for holding up that blanket!), everything went smoothly.

Abigail napped pretty much the whole morning and a large part of the afternoon. When she ate, she took in big meals. That night, we put Abigail down in her crib in the nursery for the first time. She’d napped in the crib during the day, but never at night. Thursday, she slept 5.5 hours straight in her crib! Then another four hours after she ate. She did the same thing (or close to it) on Friday and Saturday night, but Sunday, she was back to 3 hours at a time at night. C’mon, man!

On Friday morning, I went MOPS’s weekly meetup at Tradewinds for coffee, then headed over to Connie’s to help out a bit more with the nursery. Abigail decided to be a little high maintenance and fussy, so I wore her around in the sling. That seemed to settle her down a bit. Friday night, I went out with the mom’s club to Lulu’s Chocolate Bar and had my very first drink post-pregnancy—a pomegranate martini! Hurray for mom’s night out!
.

YUM!
.

David had his annual mud run with CBI on Saturday and had a great time. He slipped on part of the course (a log over a ditch) and fell chest first on the log before falling into the ditch. No broken or bruised ribs—just a lot of scratches—and he managed to finish the race with his team 5+ minutes faster than last year. So proud of him!

On Sunday, David and I went to Babies ‘R’ Us and bought a play gym for Abigail. She’s not too sure what to make of it at this point, but seems to be intrigued by it anyway. It’s a much more exciting place for tummy time; that’s for sure!
.

Checking it out
.
“Yeah, this is pretty neat!”
.

As I mentioned before, Sunday night was rough as Abigail reverted back to her three-hour-at-a-time sleeping causing us to get up twice instead of just once at night, and on Monday, she decided to not nap all morning.

I went to a baby play date with the East-Savannah Moms meetup group, and as much as Abigail wanted to sleep there, the noise level was waaay too high for her to get anywhere close to sleeping. Arg! She was calm the whole time, but had heavy lids that, as soon as they closed, flew right back open upon the sound of another baby screaming. Ah well.

Monday afternoon, she opted to take a one-hour nap, then a two-hour nap, then nothing else. Why so inconsistent, my dear?

So, onto her eighth week of life. Here’s to hoping for some consistency! Here are some additional photos from this week for you to enjoy:
.

“Do these glasses make me look smarter?”
.
Gorgeous!
.
Evidence that she is indeed tired during the day, but just refusing to settle down and nap!

Week 6…all smiles September 15, 2009

Ok, so perhaps every moment of the week wasn’t sunshine and roses, but our baby girl started smiling on Wednesday while wide awake while hanging out with me and David. All of those smiles outweigh any late nights or long days for sure. In addition to smiling, she’s starting to try out her vocal chords a bit by making all sorts of fun noises. It’s pretty entertaining to “talk” with her when she’s going to town.
.

Loves being in Daddy’s arms
.

Lounging in the bouncy seat
.

So on to the happenings of our week…Chic-Fil-A was giving away free chicken sandwiches to anyone wearing their favorite football team’s gear, so date night was free this week! Something about food being free makes it taste that much better.

We’ve been on sort of a napping roller-coaster this week as we try and sort out what foods in my diet keep her awake. On Tuesday, she basically napped all day just waking up to feed. On Thursday, she wasn’t asleep more than 10-15 minutes ALL day, but slept well at night. On Friday, the naps during the day were moderate, but she only slept 2-2.5 hours at a time at night. Saturday, she was back to normal in all areas, but Sunday, she woke up twice during the night when she wasn’t hungry…just awake. She keeps us guessing, that’s for sure!

I’m trying to get more settled into my role as a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) by getting involved with SAHM groups in the Savannah area. On Wednesday, I attended my first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting and loved it. I can’t wait to really get to know the other women in the group—and their kiddos. Perk of it being a mom’s group? I can nurse during the meetings so that Abigail doesn’t get off schedule or super fussy while waiting for a meal. Woo hoo!

Abigail had her one-month check-up (although she was a month and a week old) on Thursday, and we found out exactly what we already suspected: she’s in the 95th percentile for her weight, length/height, and head size. That’s right, folks; she’s growing super fast! Abigail is now 11lb 7oz+, nearly 24″ long, with a 15″ diameter around her head. I’m still exclusively breastfeeding, so it’s pretty funny to see that I’ve got miracle grow or something in my system. It’s good to know that she’s definitely getting enough to eat as that’s always a concern of breastfeeding mamas.

At the same appointment, Dr. Mozer concluded that Abigail’s got a mix of baby acne and eczema on her face. Solution? Use Aquaphor lotion on the dry spots. We’ve been doing that since Thursday and have noticed a huge difference in the eczema. The baby acne is still present, but only really shows up when Abigail gets hot or fussy. We trust it’ll go away in due time.

On Friday, I went to another SAHM group meeting—the MOMS Club of Savannah. Again, another great group of women with kids ages five and under. They’re doing a mom’s night out this Friday, and I can’t wait to go! After the meeting, I headed to the Mommy & Me boutique at Candler hospital to get another nursing bra. Why I thought I could get by with just two, I have no idea. The lady working was the same lactation consultant that I worked with when Abigail was three days old. Shelly remembered me and was astonished with how much Abigail had grown since she last saw me. She was super encouraging, which was really nice.

David had to work on Saturday, so that morning, I went on a walk around the YMCA trail with Princess and Abigail. The weather was perfect, and it was, as always, so nice to be active and to spend time with a good friend.
.

After walking with Princess. Apparently Abigail wanted to be superwoman!
.

Hallelujah for the fact that one of David’s coworkers covered for him on Sunday so that he could be home with us! David hung out with Abigail while I went jeans shopping at Gap. Let me just say that Gap’s new curvy jeans are phenomenal. I have three pairs now and a bunch of v-neck t-shirts that were on sale. Once home, I cleaned out my closet of all maternity clothes and the clothes that I stretched waaay out during pregnancy. Catharsis!

In the meantime, Abigail was on the floor with David and opted to roll from her stomach to her back! Fluke? Perhaps. We tried to catch it on video, but with no such luck.

When David played soccer last fall, Chuck was one of his teammates. Chuck and his wife, Carrie, had baby Madison last December. Monday, Abigail and I got to hang out with Carrie and little Madison for lunch and a trip to the park. It was hilarious to see Madison (8.5 months old) trying to interact with Abigail. Madison’s interpretation of “interact” being lunging her whole body towards Abigail. Pretty entertaining! Madison was actually the first baby that Abigail has been awake to meet, and she was all smiles the whole time.
.

Madison checking out the camera before…
.

…lunging for the baby! (no babies were harmed in the taking of this photo)
.

Lots to look forward to this week: my 6-week follow up with Dr. Tucker, The Office premiere, kids’ consignment sale with Carrie, mom’s night out at Lulu’s, Nathan, Sarah, and Ava Berry Ann in town, and a baby playgroup with the East Savannah Moms group. So thrilled to be involved all over the place; having at least one social thing to do each day makes a world of difference!
.

When she actually takes the pacifier, she insists on holding it in herself. I guess she’s not a fan of it falling out!

Week 5…Family time September 8, 2009

Anyone else out there have consistently ridiculously absurd dreams during the first couple of months of their child’s life? My goodness! David and I finally figured out why I can’t seem to hit the pillow without entering into bizarre dream world—almost all of my sleep is REM sleep since I’m waking up to feed Abigail. REM sleep is when you dream and remember those dreams. I rarely make it into deep sleep, but I still feel rested. Anyhow, I can’t get over how crazy my dream life has become. Just Thursday night I was playing a life-size version of Tetris with Kacie; I wasn’t married and didn’t have a baby, and I lost the game. And that’s a pseudo normal dream. Yikes!

So Abigail is five weeks old now and hit the one-month mark last Friday. A lot has changed about her in the first month, and David and I look forward to seeing all that she learns in month two. One thing we know will happen for sure is more growth. She’s just about outgrown all of her “newborn” sized clothes, so we’re beginning to transition into the “0-3 month” stash that we’ve got. Sadly, I keep forgetting to dress her in the cute outfits that we’ve been given. For example, the dress that I posted a picture of her wearing a couple of weeks ago? Too small now. She only wore it once! We tend to keep her in onesies all day as they’re just easier, but it’d be nice to dress her up at least once a week. We’ll work on that!

We have a pediatrician appointment this coming Thursday and will find out how much Abigail’s grown in the past two weeks since I took her in. Her feedings have decreased in length recently, so perhaps she’s settling in to a slower growth pattern? Who knows! We just know that she’s definitely a growing girl. She still smiles everyday, but we’re pretty sure she has no idea she’s doing it. It’s usually toward the end of a feeding—which results in a broken latch—or as she’s falling asleep. I tried to get a picture of her smiling, but alas. No such luck yet!
.

My attempt at catching her smiling—immediately after a feeding. Close enough for now! Hopefully she’ll be doing the real thing in a couple of weeks.
.

On Monday night last week, I reread the chapter in Babywise about naps. Abigail had been taking little cat naps during the morning hours—30 minutes or so—then a super long one in the afternoon—around 3 hours—then going down at night for 3-4 hours at a time. She had been pretty cranky during the morning, and I wondered if that was because she wasn’t getting enough sleep. According to the book, infants should sleep about 1.5 hours between each feeding during the day. Oops! I dug into the chapter and realized she had been getting overstimulated by mommy dearest and wasn’t able to really settle herself down for a nap.

Tuesday started our new nap routine, and a decrease in the intensity of wake time/playtime with mommy. She’s still getting adjusted, but has been sleeping right around that hour and a half in between each meal. Yipee! It makes her a much calmer and happier baby during wake time too. If she wakes up in the middle of a nap and isn’t able to calm right back down, I go in, pick her up, and settle her until she’s back drowsy again, then put her back down to finish her nap. So far, so good!

On Tuesday night, Jen and Todd brought dinner over—grilled chicken (on an actual grill—not a George Foreman like we’ve been using) salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing and fruit salad. Delicious! They got to see Abigail for a little bit although she really didn’t want to fully wake up to greet them. No worries; she’s a ton of fun to watch when she’s in between asleep and awake—lots of stretching and noise making.

Last Monday, I treated myself to a little chocolate chip cookie dough batter. I hadn’t had any in nine months, so I figured I’d earned it! Well, I had a little too much apparently, and on Wednesday, Abigail was ridiculously alert, gassy, spit-uppy and fussy. Ok, lesson learned. At least for the time being, chocolate and raw batter only in moderation if at all. Being pregnant was a great way to get me to quit certain habits (coffee, raw batter, other caffeine sources), and it looks like breastfeeding is going to do the same. No complaints!

Further evidence that my husband is amazing: on Wednesday night, he planned a surprise dinner outing for me and Princess. It was so nice to go out with her and just have some girl time away from Abigail. I knew I’d missed hanging out with Princess, but I didn’t realize just how much I missed it. We went out to Yummy House (Chinese restaurant) and got Tradewinds ice cream for dessert. SO nice! We’ll definitely be doing that again soon!

On Thursday, Sara Vet brought us dinner, and she absolutely outdid herself. She won the prize for the heaviest dinner by making homemade lasagna that completely filled the 13×9″ all the way up to the top. It was a fantastic meal complete with a strawberry pie for dessert. After dinner, I headed off to the YMCA while David got Abigail ready for bed. Little did I realize that he would experience a first; Abigail pooped in the bath right as he was finishing. Hehe! Have to say that I haven’t gone through that yet, but he’s definitely initiated into the dad club.

Friday was our first full family day of David’s vacation, and it was fabulous. We lounged around and hung out with Abigail for the bulk of the day, but did get out to walk the YMCA trail a couple of times. I also tried pumping enough milk for a bottle so that David could feed our little one. A normal meal for Abigail lasts 15-20 minutes with me burping her every five minutes. She took to the bottle just fine, but sucked it down ridiculously fast—resulting in spit up later on. We’ll be slowing her down in the future. The plan is that I’ll only pump for date nights (once we start getting back out for those) and for other times when we’ll be away for a while. I don’t mind feeding her eight times a day, and whenever David’s home, he’s normally sitting with me while she’s eating. He gets to be a part of it too; plus neither of us are bottle fans.
.

David giving Abigail her very first bottle at one-month old. Look how long Abigail is!
.

Saturday was a lot of fun, but we didn’t take any real pictures until that night. Anyhow, we went downtown in the morning to eat breakfast at Express Cafe then headed across the street to Gap. I promised my co workers that I’d come by with Abigail and David, so come by we did! We got to see my old boss, Chantana, and a few of my co workers—Hillary, Ebony, and Mike. It was so great to get caught up a bit with them, and we even got to shop a little for Abigail with a gift card we received earlier on.

We left Gap, walked a little around Broughton Street, then headed for Forsyth Park. It was a beautiful morning, and it felt great so nice to be out and about as a family. Granted, Abigail slept the entire time we were out (thank you, Graco stroller!), but still. While walking through Forsyth, we got a few previews of what’s ahead for us as there were tons of kids of all ages running around—some just learning to walk holding Daddy’s hand, and others tentatively sitting in swings waiting to be pushed for perhaps the first time, and still others playing chase and tag. So much to look forward to!

Later in the day, we headed to the YMCA trail where I walked/jogged a couple of laps with Abigail while David ran. We wanted to squeeze in a workout before the CLEMSON GAME! Too bad it wasn’t televised, but we did watch a portion of it on ESPN360 and Gametracker. Go Tigers! We’re undefeated! Let’s hope it lasts a large part of the season. Before the game, we took a family photo:
.

Abigail didn’t think it necessary to keep her head straight, but that’s ok. The outfit’s a little big, we know, but it was opening day of the season, and we wanted her to look the part! She’ll grow into in no time.
.

We’re still not sure why, but that night, Abigail decided to give us a nifty gift; she slept six hours straight! Yes, we know we’re supposed to wake her up after five, but up until Saturday night, she’d never slept more than four, and most of the time, three and a half. It was the most sleep I’ve gotten in a row since she was born, and on Sunday, I felt so unbelievably rested! Thanks, Abigail!

Another first on Sunday, we opted to venture out and take Abigail with us to Sunday school. We miss seeing our pals there, but we’re not ready to leave Abigail in the church nursery. She slept in her carrier for the whole class, but got a little fussy/gassy toward the end. I took her in the hall for the last 10-15 minutes of class, but it was so nice to be back at FBCI fellowshipping with friends.

After church, we took our very first family beach trip! We knew we couldn’t be out all that long because of the heat and the sun, but David rigged up a pretty nifty shade system for Abigail. We’ll just let the pictures tell the story of our 25 minutes on the beach as a family:
.

Us enjoying the sand and the sun
.

Abigail enjoying the cool and the shade. The blue thing on top of her carrier is a shirt of mine that we dropped down to block the sun while walking out to the beach. Gotta love rigging everything up!
.

Like the hat? It was one of our Gap purchases for her, and is size 0-6 months, so hopefully it’ll fit a little better soon! She was starting to wake up here…
.

And fully awake here—what a face!
.

Later that evening, we headed to the mall to redeem some coupons for free stuff—left the mall with $14 worth of free things. Yay! We were amazed at the number of strollers at the mall. It’s like you don’t notice them until you have one. Again, Abigail was awesome and just snoozed through our trip.

To wrap up our weekend, we made a grocery run to Walmart on Monday morning; Abigail riding along in the Baby K’tan. I’m still getting used to it. I absolutely love it, but sometimes have trouble getting Abigail into it properly. Practice makes perfect, though, so I’ll keep on trying until we get it down pat! Can’t wait to use the other carrying positions once Abigail has full head control!

Our friends from Sunday school, Chris and Connie, are expecting twins very, very soon, and with two other little ones at home, Connie in the hospital with preterm contractions, and having just moved into a new house, their hands are FULL. The MOPS group from church had a sign up for people to work shifts at the Helton’s house setting up the nursery and to get them all settled in their new place. David was kind enough to hang out with Abigail while I went for a couple of hours. I had a great time and assumed that Abigail would be down for a nap shortly after I left. Not the case…poor David!
.

Yes, he staged this photo himself.
.

Abigail got the hiccups during her feeding before I left, and I tried to feed her again to get rid of them—no such luck! Apparently all the chaos of eating while hiccuping caused some inner turmoil, and only minutes after I left, David was covered in 100% of Abigail’s last meal. And that meant David had a hungry, wet baby on his hands with hiccups. No nap in sight! He spent nearly two hours of tumultuous awake time with our little one—what a trooper! I might have to pump a few bottles worth of milk to have on hand in situations like that.

It seems like Abigail wanted to squeeze in as many bodily functions as possible while David was home—pooping in the tub, pooping on David, peeing on David, spitting up on him, runny nose…EVERYTHING! Love it! Oh, and don’t worry, she spat up, peed, and pooped on me all in a row Monday night.

Things to look forward to this week: my first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting on Wednesday and a pediatrician appointment on Thursday—can’t wait for updated stats!
.

“What are you looking at?”
.
.
Gotta love a baby’s yawn!
.
.
Bath time with Daddy; now that her umbilical cord stump is gone and she’s able to be pseudo immersed in the warm water, she’s a much bigger fan of baths.
.

During tummy time—tried to catch her while her head was waaaay up, but just missed it. You get the idea, though.

Week 4…Growing pains September 1, 2009

Another week with our precious daughter and a ton more lessons learned. It’s pretty neat to figure out little things about her each day, and while some of our new found “discoveries” only hold true for a day or two, it’s fun nonetheless.

First off, David and I have some not nice feelings towards the hiccups. Sure they were cute at first (really, really cute), but now they either interrupt/delay a feeding or interrupt/delay a nap, and neither of those are good situations. When Abigail gets a bout of hiccups, they last 15-20 minutes…every time. Yikes! All we can do is walk her around and keep her calm until they go away. David did try scaring her—haha! Don’t worry, he just snuck up to her bouncy seat and said “boo!” Didn’t work. Anyone else have super hiccup-y kids? Tips you’d like to share?

Perhaps they’re somehow related to her recent growth spurt? Ok, probably not, but her increased appetite over Wednesday and Thursday sure is. She didn’t eat significantly more often (one or two extra feedings each day), but each meal was about five minutes longer than normal, and she hardly napped during the day. The doctor confirmed our thoughts when I took Abigail in.

Why did I take her by the pediatrician? Well, last Sunday, Abigail had three little red bumps on her left cheek. By Wednesday, she had bumps all over her face and scalp. I did as much research as I could, and figured it was baby acne. That said, I wanted to make 100% sure it wasn’t some sort of allergic reaction or something. Hence the doctor. Yup, our little girl is wanting to go through the awkward adolescent years about 13 years early; she’s got baby acne. It’s caused by the hormones she got from me in utero and will go away on its own. Glad it’s nothing serious!

So, back to the growth spurt. Abigail was weighed at the doctor and checked in at 9lbs 10oz! She’s still exclusively breastfed only about eight times every 24 hours and has put on two pounds since birth. Milk does her body good! She’s definitely growing (our sore backs and arms are evidence of this), and it’s pretty nice not to have a teeny fragile-feeling infant anymore. She outgrew the newborn diapers that we had been using (only had five of them left anyway) and is now in size 1’s–well, sort of in between newborn and size 1; the newborn diapers are too small and the size 1’s are too big. We definitely prefer that she has circulation in her legs! The size 1’s should fit her up to 14lbs which hopefully won’t be anytime soon, but at the rate she’s going, who knows?

So her most recent growth spurt is in the books, and she’s pretty much back on schedule.

On Thursday, Laura Powell from Sunday school brought dinner over for us—a tasty barbecue chicken dish with mac’n'cheese, rolls, a salad and cheesecake bars for dessert. Oh man! We made it last three nights. We still haven’t cooked dinner (outside of heating up spaghetti that I made and froze back in July) since Abigail was born, and have two other meals being delivered this week. We are truly blessed with some incredible friends down here in Savannah. Thank you guys!

Kristy was in town from Chapel Hill on Friday and stopped by for lunch. It was SO nice to catch up with her and hang out with another adult. Woo hoo! Abigail slept the whole time (I’ll talk about that long afternoon nap a little later? Yeah. Love it!)

David is still working 12-hour days, six days a week, but occasionally, he’s able to surprise me by coming home early. He did that on Friday, and it absolutely made my day! He got home at 3:45pm or so and was off on Saturday, so we got just over 36 hours together before he headed back to work on Sunday. What a gift! He’ll be shifting to a seven-day schedule sometime this fall, so any time we have together, we savor. Ooo and he gets four days off for Labor Day—Friday-Monday! It’ll be his last break before Thanksgiving, so we’re going to make the most of every bit of it!

On Saturday, we went back to Daffin Park to walk with Abigail in the stroller. While starting our second lap, I heard someone yelling my name. David and I turned around to see Courtney Brewer jogging toward us, but not in jogging clothes. She and Luke had been driving past the park, spotted us, and pulled over to try and catch us! It was awesome to see them and for them to meet Abigail, passed out in the stroller.

Once we got home and got Abigail out of the carrier, she started to cry. She normally doesn’t eat until 12:30pm, and it was 11:00am. We figured she was tired and worked on putting her down for a nap. To no avail! We caved, momentarily anyway, and stuck a pacifier in her mouth. She sucked on it a little, but was more puzzled by it than anything else, and it dropped out. I’ve tried to use it since, and it really doesn’t work on her (so Kacie, I can relate to Jonathan’s aversion to using them). All the more reason for us not to use them with her; she’s not a fan. Oh well.

Later that evening, we headed out to Tybee for Russ and Sarah’s adoption party! The adoption of their sons was finally made official last week, so of course a celebration was in order. We stayed for the first part of the party, but had to leave so that I could nurse little miss Abigail. It was a good thing we had to leave because I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes! I hope wherever we move to in February doesn’t have biting insects. Pittsburgh really didn’t, so I have faith we can find another city that’s nearly mosquito and sand gnat free!

On Sunday, David headed back to work, and I set out to start learning Abigail’s nap preferences. Once upon a time, she slept for at least an hour and a half between feedings. Starting Thursday, she shortened her morning naps to 30 minutes, her afternoon nap expanded to two and a half hours, and she’s slept fairly consistently after dinner and at night (four-hour stints at a time, but never longer than four and a half). Not sure if this will be the norm for a while, but it held true for Thursday-Monday, and that’s about 20% of her life so far! Maybe a pattern? Stay tuned.

To other new moms out there, what do you do with your little one during their wakeful times? I like taking Abigail out for walks in the stroller, but with the heat like it is down here, we don’t stay out more than 20-30 minutes at the most. There’s only so much we can do inside—i.e. me talk to her while she’s in her bouncy seat, in my arms, or on her tummy on the boppy—and she can’t really respond to much yet. So, how do you other mothers fill your wakeful times? Abigail is awake and not eating 4-6 hours each day.

Yesterday night was my first trip back to the gym to truly work out, and oh my gosh it felt incredible!! Yes, two exclamation points on that one. I fed Abigail at 6:30pm, handed her off to David and hustled over to the YMCA for an intense 30-minute workout—20 hard minutes on the elliptical and then some upper body work (although carrying Abigail and all her gear around provides plenty of that!) I felt like a kid on Christmas day…seriously. I came home, showered, and once David had Abigail down, I proceeded to giddily tell him about how great it felt to be back working out. The plan? I’ll go for 30 minutes on Monday and Wednesday night, then for a little longer on Saturdays. We’ll see how that works out. David’s been going in the mornings on Monday, Wednesday and Friday before work. So glad to have the endorphins flowing again!

Oh, and I never really pictured myself singing to my kids, but I can’t stop doing it with Abigail! I even made up words to a melody that my mom hummed for me and my brother (and for Abigail while Mom was in town). And no, I won’t sing it for you; it’s our little special secret. Singing really calms our little one down, and I love that she keeps eye contact while I’m singing. Enough to melt my heart!

Exciting developments? She definitely recognizes our voices and will maintain eye contact for longer periods of time. Love those baby blues! Now for a few pictures:

Trying out a sleeper that actually fits (thank you, Sue!) Wish it wasn’t so hot down here so that Abigail could wear it more…
.
Toward the end of tummy time. We used those mitten things to keep her hands off of her baby acne, but they just looked ridiculous. So we threw them back in the drawer.
.
A post-feeding peaceful moment captured by David
.
Right before we woke her up for a meal on Saturday. She loves being swaddled.

Week 3…Stepping out August 25, 2009

We heard a quote not too long ago about raising a baby, “The days and nights are long, but the years fly by.” Considering we haven’t even spent a month with Abigail yet, we can’t really vouch for the years flying by, but it’s pretty crazy to think that three weeks have already passed. And at the same time, each day seems really long—not necessarily a bad thing, just a statement of fact. Here’s to savoring every moment!

We’ve had quite a few folks ask us why we chose the name and what we plan on calling our daughter. We fell in love with the name “Abigail” because we like it, honestly. Then we looked up the Hebrew meaning, my father’s joy. How applicable! From the moment there was even a glimmer of hope that we were pregnant, David was overjoyed! We wanted to use one of the fruits of the spirit for her middle name, but ended up deciding on “Grace” as it is thanks to God’s good grace that Abigail made it here safely and healthily. So, Abigail Grace she is!

Annnd, we’re calling her “Abigail”—not “Abby” or “Gracie” or “Abby Grace,” etc. As her personality forms more and more, we may change what we call her, but for now, that’s that. We love her name!

Based on feedback that I’ve received from this blog recently, I feel like I should say that we do not have a perfect baby. Whew! Far from it! I mean, she’s beautiful and perfectly healthy, but we’ve had our fair share of baby meltdowns, mommy meltdowns, being pooped and peed on, etc. I just like to focus on the positive aspects and our parental victories in this blog instead of talking about our struggles. We’re enjoying figuring out our little one on our own. She’s like a puzzle—a 3,000 piece jigsaw puzzle where every piece is the same color. The only way to solve it is trial and error!

In exciting news, we are no longer dealing with an umbilical cord stump. It fell off last Tuesday (after my blog post), and the few remaining scabs are gone now too. It’s so nice to be able to tickle Abigail’s cute little tummy without worrying about messing up the stump. Whew.

We established a new kind of date night last week. We’re hoping it’ll only be this way for another month or two, but I fed Abigail at 6:30pm, then went to pick up food while David hung out with her and put her down for a nap. When I got back, she was asleep in the den, and we were able to eat our meal and hang out in the nursery for a couple of hours. Bliss! We’ve already had quite a few babysitting offers from Savannah friends, and we’ll definitely be taking those folks up on their offers as soon as Abigail’s schedule is better set. We’re pretty close now.

Supposedly all babies have a “fussy time” during the day. We thought hers was in the afternoon (based on last Wednesday), but that ended up just being hunger. She really only gets fussy when she’s hungry or over-tired/over-stimulated and can’t sleep. Does this “fussy time” happen later? Anyone know?

We’ve been avoiding traditional pacifiers, but have figured out a few decent substitutes: walking around with Abigail in a sling, a car ride, and a stroller ride. And since she’s really not fussy when there’s not a reason, we don’t have to resort to those all that often. Love it!

Any other new moms now totally numb to their baby’s body fluids getting all over them? It doesn’t gross me out anymore in the least bit. I guess that’s because I’ve been peed and pooped on while changing her diaper and while bathing her. Both are rather convenient times for it to happen, though. That said, Abigail seems to like to pee on David a heck of a lot more frequently than on me. Perhaps she’s marking her territory? We like to think so. Ha!

Finally got out of the apartment with Abigail again on Thursday. I say “with Abigail” because David’s been awesome about sending me out of the apartment when he gets home so that I can have a few quiet minutes outside. On Thursday, though, Abigail and I went on a trip to CVS (prenatal vitamins) and Walgreens (photo pick up) that would normally take me 15-20 minutes tops. It took us 45! But hey, she slept most of the time and got to get some fresh air. That counts for something, right?

Our little girl loves to eat and is quite the latcher! That said, if she’s hungry, and I’m not moving fast enough, she’ll suck on anything within reach (translation: any part of her body), but she prefers her arm. On Friday, she gave her forearm a hickey. Seriously. And we’re talking about maybe 60 seconds of sucking. Gracious, girl!

**Mommy breakthrough** on Friday, I finally learned how to properly swaddle our growing girl. Sure I learned in the hospital, but at that point, Abigail was pretty weak and couldn’t kick anything off of her. Now, though, she’s super strong (in comparison), and all week up to that point, she woke herself up from naps when her arms flailed in her sleep and hit her face. Ugh. But…::triumphant sound:: we’ve now figured it out, and she’s napping like a champ!
.

All snuggled up in her crib
.

Remember how I worked out during pregnancy? The past two weeks of not working out have about killed me. Well, I will say that the first three to four days after Abigail was born, I couldn’t imagine working out. Ever. But the soreness faded, and I started craving the gym. I haven’t gone back yet, but I have started doing abs, push ups, lunges, and squats at the apartment. It feels so great to be exercising again. I even ventured out with the stroller for the first time on Saturday. I went walking around the YMCA with Missy, Princess, George’s mom, and Ms. Patricia. We did two whole miles! David was working, else he would have gone too.
.

Can’t wait for winter! We went walking at 7:30am, and were soaked with sweat by the end of two miles. Geez!
.

On Sunday, we kept the weekend strolls alive by going as a family to Daffin Park for a 30 minute stroller walk. I will say that it felt pretty incredible to be out with David and Abigail in the sun walking around…just existing as a family. David said that it felt weird to be pushing a stroller (I agree!) but I’m sure we’ll both get used to it in no time.
.

David looking like a daddy
.

Abigail sleeping through the walk—don’t worry, we had the dual canopy shades over her so she didn’t get scorched by the sun!
.

Amy and Joe came by later on Sunday afternoon and brought a delicious pasta dinner (thanks so much, guys!) that we plan to make last until Wednesday. Thanks to the generosity of friends and family, we haven’t prepared a dinner since Abigail was born. How awesome is that? We are so blessed and so thankful!

Sunday was the first day since Abigail was born and since I’ve been back up to speed that David’s been off work and we haven’t had family in town. It was pretty cool to work together to take care of Abigail; teamwork is where it’s at, folks! David gets four days off for labor day, and we can’t wait!

Fun tidbit and some fun pictures: babies cry more in the first three months of life than any other time (from BabyCenter.com).
.

“Excuse me, I have a question!”
.

“Why does Daddy insist on making me sit upright as much as possible? Aren’t I growing up fast enough? And it looks like I have no neck. Most unfortunate.”
.

Abigail’s happy place (picture taken after David calmed her down after many many minutes of crying. Go Daddy, go!)
.

“I’m naked and cold. Why the camera?” Taken right after bath time on Sunday night.
.

“Do I really have to get up to eat right now? And could I maybe wear an outfit that fits me?” Taken around 6:15am on Monday morning. Breakfast is at 6:30am, dear.
Amusingly enough, we were told she’d be a nine-pound baby, so all the clothes we bought were size 3 months and up. And while this sleeper is big, she’ll grow into it soon enough. For now, it’s a source of amusement for me and David.
.

And for my pregnant friends, a post-baby-body update. I am now back to my pre-pregnancy weight and am in my pre-pregnancy jeans. I owe it all to breastfeeding because I’ve only “worked out” for a little bit each day for a few days and only did moderate exercises. I weighed at the YMCA on Sunday. It feels pretty incredible to be back! Now, don’t get me wrong…just because I’m back in my jeans and the scale says a certain weight doesn’t mean that my tummy is all firmed up. Still have a bit to go on that front as it’s just excess skin. I’m hoping that by eating well and working out, it draws back in. Check back in a few months!

Week 2…new skills August 18, 2009

This post marks the end of family visits for a while. Don’t get me wrong, David and I love hanging out with our families, and it’s been a ton of fun to see our parents enter their new roles as grandparents and our brothers as uncles! That said, though, we’re pretty excited about having some time to establish our little family of three; today is day two.

Ok, so babies really do grow and change extremely fast. Abigail is already doing things I thought it’d take weeks for her to master. For example, on Tuesday of last week, I sat down to feed her. I placed her on the boppy prepared to latch her on, but she took the initiative and did it herself. What? I mean, awesome, but at one week old? Go baby go!

My mom stayed in town through Thursday morning and was a huge help—plus great company! She sent me out on my first away-from-baby errand by treating me to a pedicure (felt SO good) while she stayed with Abigail. Was it tough to be away from my daughter? Yes! Was it a good thing, though? Yes. Not to mention the fact that my toes looked fabulous for date night that night; yes, my mom watched our little one so we could go eat dinner and maintain our weekly tradition.
.

Right before leaving for date night
.

Was that tough? Oh yeah. I was 20 minutes away instead of three (for the pedicure), but it was so nice to spend time solo with David even if it was only a little over an hour. We’re trying to sort out the details of date night now that our parents are out of town. We’ll probably take Abigail with us for a month or two until she’s on a more predictable schedule. Then we’ll hopefully be able to find some friends willing to watch her for an hour while we go out. We’re certain it’ll all work out!

On Wednesday after Abigail’s morning feeding, Mom and I headed out on some errands. I wanted to make sure that I had the hang of the car seat/carrier and sling before flying solo. Our little one slept right through the whole ordeal making life super easy on both my mom and I. How crazy would it be if we could sleep as deeply as an infant? It’s so hard to wake them up!

We got back from errands, and I started trying to figure out the Baby K’Tan sling that Kacie gave us. I had been using an Eddie Bauer sling that we received as a gift, and while it worked fine, it left all of Abigail’s weight on one of my shoulders. The Baby K’Tan boasts an even distribution of weight. Anyhow, I finally figured out how to get Abigail into it snugly, and now I’m in love! It’s super comfy, and it’ll keep prying hands away from baby.

Once David got home from work, we were having one of Savannah’s constant summer thunderstorms, and he insisted on taking Abigail out to experience lightning and rain! Too cute. David loves a good storm, and I’m sure our little one will adopt that same mentality.

Who wouldn’t be a fan of diaper changes? Abigail loves them, but apparently felt that David and I were taking too long to get a clean diaper fastened on her. She took matters into her own legs on Thursday, and realized that if she kicked them straight out and held them there, we’d be able to finish super quickly. “Hey mom, let me help you with that diaper!” Now she does it consistently, and it makes changing time so much easier. No more wrestling with bent legs!

Another milestone was reached on Thursday; Abigail and I took our first solo errands trip to Publix and Hallmark. Again, she slept through the whole thing. As nice as it is to be able to take her along with me, it’s also a bit stressful. I mean, I’m pretty much guaranteed 2.5 hours between feedings to take care of things, but sometimes, I just want a nap or just want to hang out with my baby if she’s alert and awake. I’m thinking that errands will be held off until the weekends for a while. That way, David can hang out with her while I head out. We’ll see how it goes; everything is trial and error at this point!

David’s parents flew in Thursday night, and we surprised them at the airport. It was the longest Abigail had been in a car (30 minutes one-way), but as you may have guessed, she stayed asleep the whole time! We had a great time hanging out, and Abigail seemed to enjoy all the attention during her wake time.
.

Grandma Mertens with Abigail
.

Meeting Grandpa Mertens
.

…annnnd Uncle Kevin!
.

We had other visitors over the weekend, but I forgot to take a picture of them with Abigail. Kristy and Travis came to town from their new home in Chapel Hill, NC and took the time to stop by. It was great to get caught up with them, and Travis (a radiologist) couldn’t get over how “Awesome!” the framed ultrasound photos were in our nursery. Only a radiologist…

We’re still waiting for that pesky umbilical cord to fall off, so bath time has been interesting to say the least. The cord stump isn’t supposed to get wet, so sponge baths are in order. Abigail gets chilly pretty quickly, so the first bath at home was one filled with crying and shaking on her part. As the week went on, though, and two baths later (one every other day), we’ve figured out how to keep her as cozy as she can be while giving her a quick rub down. Little victories, folks, little victories!
.

Toweling off after bath time
.

In other news, we’ve been working over the past few days to get Abigail started on a more consistent schedule. She was eating every 2-4 hours on her own and sleeping 4-5 hours at a time at night before waking up, but there was no real consistency to anything. David and I are planners and schedulers and feel that Abigail can absolutely learn to be one too! We’re going by the principles in Babywise, and have been pleasantly surprised so far. Of course just as it takes us grown-ups two weeks to form a new habit, it’ll take her a while to get the hang of things, but it’ll be worth it!

That said, we established a first feeding for 6:30am, and she eats every three hours on the hour after that. Following each feeding, we try to keep her awake and alert for a little while, then put her down for a nap while she’s drowsy, but not asleep. That way, she has to put herself to sleep instead of relying on us rocking her or singing to her or whatever. Her last feeding is at 9:30pm, then we let her sleep until she wakes up (or five hours, whichever comes first) for another meal. Then we try to stretch her to 6:30am again. So far, it’s going pretty well. We’ll have a better idea in a few weeks, though. And no, she doesn’t follow it perfectly, and she’ll get hungry a little early or still be asleep when it’s time to eat, but so long as she’s pseudo predictable, we’re happy! Otherwise, we’ll never be able to plan to do anything longer than an hour or so. No fun!

I sort of messed her up yesterday, because I slept through her first feeding. Oops! “I’ll just take a quick nap on the couch…whoa! It’s 7:00am!” By 9:30am, though, we were back on schedule, and she ate every three hours on the hour (even through the night). Woo!

So, all in all, a good week! Hope the photo below makes you grin; she’s definitely my daughter as neither of us are fans of dresses—or bloomers, for that matter!
.

Don’t worry, we changed her out of the dress right afterward.

1 week old…what a whirlwind! August 11, 2009

Can’t believe that our first week with Abigail has already flown by. I can see now what other parents meant by “they grow up so fast!” We truly see changes in her every single day and know that she’ll grow much faster than we’re ready for. That said, we’re trying to soak up every moment!

A brief post about our first week broken up by days. I’ve only got a little bit before it’s time to feed my precious baby again:

Tuesday – She was born! See my previous birth story post for all the details. We didn’t get a lot of sleep that night since hospital staff members were in and out of our room just about every hour to get vitals on me and on the baby. Plus the bed I was on was an air bed that was constantly refilling itself as I shifted my weight. Annoying!

Wednesday – We spent the majority of this day in the hospital. Dr. Tucker came by in the morning to check out my healing progress; all good! Later on, Dr. Mozer (pediatrician) came by to check out our daughter. He seemed amazed that she wasn’t jaundiced since she’s exclusively breastfed, so apparently I was doing something right. He didn’t want us to leave that evening, but eventually caved. I assured him we’d be at his office first thing Thursday morning so that he could check back in on us, but that there was no way we’d be able to get any rest if we stayed at the hospital another night.

Poor Abigail had to undergo all sorts of stuff on this day—heel pricks, the hepatitis b vaccine, a hearing test, her first bath, me working with a lactation consultant, etc. She was a trooper, though, and kept her fussing and crying to a minimum.

We were discharged at 6pm and were thrilled to be at home! Our night was tough, but good. We had a little party thrown by Abigail in the middle of the night and took as much advantage of it as possible to spend time with her.
.

..
.
During our middle of the night disco party!
..

Thursday – Our pediatrician appointment was first thing in the morning, and it went really, really well. Abigail was down 6oz—to be expected—but still had great coloring. I’m telling you, the doctor must be expecting a mustard-yellow baby or something. She’s fine, doc!

My dad and brother came down that afternoon to join my mom, and we all hung out. It was a lot of fun for Abigail to meet one set of grandparents and one of her two uncles. Pretty neat to see the joy on everyone’s face as they got to hold her for the first time!
.

Dad with Abigail
.

With mom and Abigail
.

With Greg and Abigail
.

Friday – David and I took this day to just relax, nap when possible, and take care of one major errand (our first family outing!)—heading back to the hospital to work a little more with the lactation consultants. My milk came in over night, and Abigail wasn’t sure what to make of the change. After a couple of hours with the consultants, though, we had it down and haven’t looked back since.
.

Saturday – Another day for relaxing. We did go on a family errand trip, though. A quick stop at the grocery store, Walgreen’s and George and Princess’ house. We kept Abigail in one of her slings the entire time (except at the Winfrey’s house), and I felt pretty good about how it kept people from wanting to put their hands all over her. I’m still waiting to use my Baby K’tan sling but have a feeling it’s going to work great!

Visiting with George and Princess was awesome. Just like old times! Nah, it just felt great to be around friends for a little bit.
.

.
.
Dads weren’t meant to nurse, but David sure tried!
.
.

Sunday – We briefly stopped by Sunday school in the morning to thank them for our prayers and give them a peek at Abigail’s face—still in the sling. I only had a 30 minute window before she needed to eat, though, so we headed right back home.

A little while later, I went to the YMCA—no, not to work out. I wanted to weigh myself and see just how much I had lost since having Abigail. I definitely felt lighter, but wasn’t sure about the numbers. Well, I’ve lost nearly 15 pounds already with just seven to go until my pre-pregnancy weight. I have a feeling that breastfeeding will eliminate the rest of the pounds. If not, I’ll be able to knock them off once I’m able to work out again. Can’t wait!
.

Monday – Back to the pediatrician again (don’t have to return until mid September—woo hoo!) and found out that our little one is up to 8lbs and 21 inches long (19 inches at birth). Milk does her body good! While waiting in our room for Dr. Mozer, David changed Abigail’s diaper. In the process, she did what we both thought only little boys did—she peed all over the place. Too funny!

After the appointment, David went to work. It was a weird moment for me after he left realizing that yes, I am now a full-time stay-at-home-mom. I’m really excited about it!

That afternoon, my mom came back into town to stay for a few days and help as I finish my recovery. What a blessing! She made a fabulous dinner for us and gave me the option to sleep whenever I needed to. Thank you so, so much!

.
And in honor of all my pregnant friends who are wondering if you ever get your body back. Check out the photos below. From top to bottom: 41 weeks pregnant before going in to the doctor, the day after delivery, one week after delivery. Have no fear, my friends! You’ll get back in shape in no time; just be sure to take care of yourself during pregnancy!
.

.

.