Laurel's first halloween - 2 months old!

Here's our cute pumpkin on her 2 month birthday - Halloween!

For a full collection of pictures, including her little pumpkin costume...visit: http://foofnik79.winkflash.com

nearly 2 months

I can't believe it, she's almost 2 months old. Where does the time go? I sure feel lucky that I can be home with her every day. Even when she's fussy or not sleeping, she still needs me and I love that I can take care of her.
The days do run together though. Day runs into night, and what we do each day seems to drift out of my memory. I am filling out a wall calendar with tid bits of what we are doing or anything new that she's doing. I get behind sometimes and then have to reflect back to earlier days and search my brain for what we did. I can't remember most of the time! I was sitting in the rocker at a wee hour one night and found that I had no idea what date is was and felt like I had just been in that rocker not long before. All running together:). But I can blame it on the fact that she's the focus of my world and it really doesn't matter what day it is, does it?:)
She's such a lovely, sweet baby. Everyone who sees her makes that comment. She's just so cute, I can't help staring at her. When she's asleep at night, Alex and I always run in to check on her and then stand and watch her in her crib before bed.
I'll have another update on November 1st. Her 2 month Dr. appt. And she'll be getting some shots, so I'm not looking forward to that part:(.

morning smiles

Here we are at nearly 8 weeks and Laurel has changed so much already!
She smiles and coos at us all the time. Very much so in the morning, ready to start the day! Her coos and noises are almost communication and we can start to feel like we can relate to one another.
She's also growing very quickly. I am looking forward to her dr. appt. next week to get the latest weight and length. She's starting to fill out and is getting the rolls where the rolls should be:).
We've also conquered the night routine. She's going to sleep earlier than we'd like, Alex has no evening time with her. But for now, we have to go by her inner schedule. That has her getting cranky around 6 and really tired by 6:30. So at 6:30 we have our bedtime nursing, then a swaddle, pacifier, a bit of rocking and she's out! The first couple of nights, we had to go in repeatedly to shoosh her or even pick her up and comfort her. But last night, we went in only once and it was to put the pacifier back in her mouth. We love our time with her, but it's been nice to have a little down time for just Alex and me in the evening.
She's been sleeping very well at night and sleeps until around 9. We are still doing two night feedings, plus waking her for a small one before I go to bed. Sometimes she's so sleepy, her nursing session is very short, so she wakes up a little sooner than I'd like. Last night, I waited to see her awake on her own, to see what cue she gives in her sleep. When she is hungry, she starts to squirm and eventually munches down aggressively on her fist. That was good to see because now I can decide if she's hungry and I really need to get myself out of bed during the night or if she's just working on something else:).
Next up will be the nap schedule. I fear that's no where close to regular now. She doesn't sleep for the 2 hour stretches I'd like, but more like 45 min. to an hour. And I think the daylight distracts her, so she's much more difficult to put down in her crib. But we will give it a good effort and hope it goes the way of bed time!

celebrating fall

On Sunday we went to Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch in West Hollywood. A pretty warm day, but it was still nice to be doing something fall-related. A cute place for kids, there's a petting zoo, pony rides, face painting, and bounce house. And of course lots of pumpkins to choose from. Laurel will enjoy it so much more next year, but we thought it would be fun to take her photo with the biggest pumpkins. That ended up being impossible because she was sooo comfy in the sling with daddy that she snoozed even when we took her out for photos. Oh well, better luck next year! :)
Oh and if you click on the picture of the 3 of us so that it's huge, in the back left of the photo you'll see the paparazzi with their super telephoto cameras. Yes, they found out we were going to be there. Ha, Mark Wahlberg and his kids were there.

and now 6 weeks!

Laurel is now an active fist sucker. She doesn't always have the best hand-to-mouth aim, but she's doing her best to shove her fist in her mouth whenever she can. And sometimes, only sometimes, it's a feeding cue which makes it super confusing for me. I did try prying her little thumb out and she happily sucked on it for a few seconds. Otherwise, she's a pacifier girl, through and through.
We've had to restart the thrush meds. It seems to be rearing it's ugly face again. At her next appt., I will be sure to ask how to prevent it instead of just treat it.
Laurel's smiles have become more distinct and aimed at us. She recognizes her mommy and daddy and gives us big smiles. She also smiles after she's filled a diaper and feels relieved, but we like to think she's just happy to see us:).
Our latest trial has been to figure out how to get Laurel to nap. And also go to bed at night at a reasonable hour without such a struggle. It's still too early for a regular schedule, but we're trying to pay attention to when she's showing signs of being sleepy. I think if she gets over-tired, she has trouble going to sleep.
Last night we took her footprints for a frame and also for her baby book. The feet were easy, but prying the hands open to print sure was difficult!
We made another walking trip to my new business site. We're in the middle of buying out a business that is just a pleasant 20 minute walk away from our home. It's very exciting and so nice to be so close. I've been carrying her in the jeep carrier and she just loves the jiggling and falls to sleep right away and stays asleep much longer.
On a funny side note, it's interesting to note the differences between mom and dad's ways. I sing her lullabies. Alex sings her the Smurfs theme song, Star Wars theme, Monday night football theme, and other such man-type music.:)

5 weeks old!

We're now a week into the second month and we're starting to figure this little girl out:). The latest learning accomplishment was to figure out how she burps and fusses. For the first couple of weeks, she would fuss in the early hours and I had no idea why. Turns out she's a gassy girl, but takes a loooong time to burp. Grandma O. took one look at her and said, "oh she's pulling her legs up while she fusses, she needs to burp." Thank goodness we learned that! She also likes the positions that put pressure on her tummy when she's fussy, like the "colic carry" over the arm or over my legs.
She's been a difficult napper this week. Great at night, but a restless dozer during the day. We took a long walk today and I carried her in the front Jeep carrier and she slept the whole day. I may just have to carry her a lot until she takes to a schedule.
On the plus end of things, she's a smiler this week! She's started to respond to our funny faces and noises. She also likes being passed around and seeing new faces. She will smile and make her first noises which sound like "Ahh-gee".
She is fascinated by Aunt Megan and her singing. My sister will swing her back and forth and sing to her in a voice that goes up and down and Laurel will just watch her face entranced:).
Laurel also loves to stare at patterns. Grandma O. crocheted a cover for the head area of my glider. When I hold Laurel up to burp her, she just stares at it. It's peach and yellow. She's also started reach and grabbing at it.
We're also trying to give her tummy time, but find that she loves being perched up on our shoulders and holds her head up very steadily there.
I've gotten a bit of extra uninterrupted sleep the past couple of nights. Grandma O. volunteered to take Laurel after she finishes the 4 or 5 a.m. feeding. She burps Laurel and they fall back to sleep together. And she deals with Laurel's fussing if she wakes up, which is great because the fussing keeps me up. I can then sleep until 8 or 9! Yay!