Lily's Eighth Week (4/20/09 - 4/26/09)

I can't believe that Lily is eight weeks old already! My how time flies. It has been so wonderful staying home with her. I luckily had enough time off accumulated that I was able to extend my time at home with her another week so I don't go back to work until May 4th. The thought of leaving her and returning to work just tears me apart but we decided to go with Paul's friend, Kirsten, for her childcare so I am at least feeling confident about her well-being while we are at work.
This week Lily and I spent a lot of quality time together smiling and talking. She is awake more often and happier than ever. With a few minor exceptions, her tummy issues seem to be a thing of the past which is wonderful. On Wednesday, my mom and Aunt Gloria came over. They totally spoiled Lily to the point that she cried every time I tried to set her down the next day. Thursday was my birthday and Lily gave me the greatest gift of all- sleep. She only got up once for a feeding between 11pm and 7am and fell asleep immediately after eating. Then we got to take a nap together from 9-11:30 as well. In fact, Thursday night through Saturday night she kept the same schedule of only waking up once for a feeding during those hours. What a blessing! I hope this continues when I return to work! Thursday evening my parents came over at 4pm so I could take a shower then we met Paul at Weber's for a lovely birthday dinner. Lily slept the whole time. Then we came home for presents and cake. Rachel made my cake all by herself with Paul supervising. What a wonderful birthday gift! My parents got me a great new digital camera which I used for all but the first photo on this post and Paul got me a lovely tigereye necklace pendant and a giant new pot for my cactus. It was a very good birthday.
On Friday night, we took Rachel for a sleepover at her friend Kassiana's house. She was home for about an hour on Saturday then went with her Aunt Debbie for a sleepover in Lansing so we barely saw her this weekend. We had a crazy storm right after she left on Saturday then ran errands and visited all the local nurseries looking at plants and dreaming of summer. On Sunday, Rachel arrived home early, Paul did some yardwork, then we went for a walk at Kensington MetroPark.
Here are some pictures from the week.



making a cute face:

my big girl:

the family posing with a quilt that Lily's Aunt Eileen made her:

Lily loves her swing:

singing over the cake that Rachel made:

Lily with Papi Tim:

the birthday evening exhausted Lily:

my beautiful baby asleep on Daddy:

Lily and Amber asleep in similar positions:

staring up at her Pooh mobile:

adorable pudgy Lily on her changing table:

my angel on a quilt made by my mom:

we wanted to photograph cousins Lily and Sophia together but Lily wouldn't wake up. At this angle they look similar in size but Sophia is actually much bigger as she is 3 months older than Lily:

Sophia finally got Lily to wake up:

Debbie and Sophia:

Me and Lily, who fell back asleep sitting up:

Rachel, Lily, Debbie, and Sophia:

it was so muggy on Saturday night that Lily was only happy when stripped down to her diaper:

my adorable little lady:

Lily demonstrates how she sucks her thumb (knuckle) and twirls what little hair she has, just like her Mommy used to do:

there's nothing more refreshing than a bath on a hot day:

I love her smiles:

Lily Speaks

Lily's favorite place to talk is on her changing table. She stares up at her beautiful mural and smiles and talks to it. It is the cutest thing and makes changing gross poopy diapers totally worthwhile. Here are two little videos I shot of her in action.

Lily's Seventh Week of Life (4/13/09 - 4/19/09)

This week was full of smiles, coos, and lots of vocalizations! It was also full of heartache for me as I spent the week looking for a daycare for Lily. Monday and Tuesday I spent calling around and making appointments. Wednesday I visited three daycares and Thursday I visited two. I was feeling horribly disappointed. Nothing felt like a good fit and nothing felt good enough for my baby. I know I have impossible standards. I wouldn't like one place because they had too many kids, the next place had too few, the next place had too young of kids, the next place too old, and the two that felt somewhat okay were too far away. Then I looked up some providers on the State website and found some serious violations on their records that scared the crap out of me! I was getting pretty frustrated when I received an email from an old friend of Paul's who heard that I was looking for daycare and was looking to take care of a child in her home. I visited her on Friday as well as another daycare and both felt like really good fits for Lily. I am so relieved. Now Paul and I have to decide which is the better option for us.
We had a really busy weekend. Rachel had a sleepover at Katelyn's again on Friday night so Paul and I drove her out there. Saturday was a beautiful day that we spent running errands. We had to take the truck in for a new exhaust system in the morning and while we were waiting to pick it up at 3pm, we went to a mom to mom sale and got some cute clothes for Lily and ran a bunch of other errands. I wanted to find a swing at the sale but they didn't have any. We never registered for a swing for Lily but she sat in one at two of the daycares we visited and loved it. We originally didn't want to get one since they take up so much space but then my mom told me about the portable swings they sell which are lower to the ground so the bases are much smaller. Since we couldn't find a used one, we used some gift cards we had received and purchased a new one at Target. Lily absolutely loves it. It calms her down and is a great place to put her during her naps. The motion keeps her from waking up which is the usual problem I have when I try to set her down when she falls asleep. We have only had it a short time and it is already a godsend. On Sunday, we had lunch at our coworker Pat's house. We were originally going there to talk to his wife about providing care for Lily but since we found some good options, we were going to talk to her about providing backup care instead. She was not interested but her daughter was so I am glad that we now have local backup for when our daycare provider is either sick or on vacation. We came back home and were visited by another coworker, Lois, who missed Lily last time her and I visited the hospital.
Lily's cries are getting easier to tell apart and this week she started rubbing her eyes when she is tired. Either her cues are getting more obvious or I am finally able to pick up on them!
Here are some pictures from the week.
napping in her crib:



wearing her cute gift from the Freydl's:

look at her Michelin man legs:

my angel asleep on the Boppy after nursing:

I ordered this shirt for Rachel with Lily's birth picture. It arrived this weekend:

Lily after her bath in her adorable pooh towel sack:

We got this bunny onesie at the mom to mom sale and had to get some pictures of our Honey Bunny:

Lily in her new swing:

Lily's Sixth Week of Life (4/6/09 - 4/12/09)

This week Lily's tummy problems were much improved to the relief of us all. She is smiling a lot now and has a very expressive face. She has even started cooing and talking to us. On Monday, Lily had her one month doctor check. She is apparently Mommy's little butterball now. She went from 7 lbs 12 oz at birth, dropped to 7 lbs at three days old, and now is 10 lbs 5 oz. She has grown from 20.5 inches at birth to 22.1 inches. I discussed her stomach issues with the doctor but she wasn't concerned and said to just keep using the Mylicon if it is working for her. I don't know if it helps a ton but a little improvement is better than none.
Here are some of Lily's adorable expressions:

I love this smile:

asleep on Mommy:

asleep with Daddy:

asleep on Grandma:

On Friday, I had my post-partum OB visit. Everything looks good and (unfortunately) he gave me clearance to return to work when my 8 weeks of leave are up. I am thinking about taking another week off though as I have enough hours saved and the idea of leaving Lily just kills me.

On Saturday, Paul picked up Rachel from the airport while Lily and I went to Meghan's wedding shower. Lily was one of three infants there. There was a 3 week old, a 7 week old, and Lily who is 6 weeks old. Crazy! I got to visit with Lynn, a former coworker. It was great seeing her again and she gave Lily some adorable outfits. Lily was really good and pretty much slept the whole time:

Sunday was Easter. We usually spend Saturday night with my parents and have Rachel do her egg hunt there then go to 10:00 mass. However, with a little baby, we figured it would be easier to sleep at home. Plus, we didn't want her keeping my parents up all night if she was fussy! We got up really early, had Rachel do her egg hunt at home, then got ready and headed to my parents' house for 12:00 mass. Here we are when we first got there. Lily wasn't in her Easter dress yet but we thought it was cute because all the girls were wearing pink:

Lily did awesome and actually slept through most of mass and was quiet the little bit of time she was awake. I was amazed. I was glad we got to go to noon mass because the Stockmans and Lumsdens were there because Grayson played in the children's bell choir. It was adorable! Once we got back to my parents' house, my mom got the meal ready and I took some pictures of Lily with her stuffed bunnies while we waited for the rest of the family to arrive:

I got Lily this adorable bib and just love this picture:

We had a great dinner with my parents, Grandma Marion, Aunt Robin, Uncle Lee, Ashlee, Jeremy, and Todd. People took turns eating and holding Lily. After dinner, Ashlee and Todd were goofing around with our bunny ears:

my girls:

Lily's dress matched Paul's shirt perfectly. This is her in her "arm sloth" position which is her favorite way of being held and bounced around when she is fussy:

The biggest calming influence on Lily all day was Aunt Robin. Whenever Lily got fussy, we just had to hand her to Robin and she calmed right down:

Todd passed out after the Easter meal so he and Lily napped together on the couch:

Lily with Ashlee:

When the festivities were winding down, we got her out of her dress and into something more comfortable. Her "I'm Mommy's Dream Come True" outfit is my absolute favorite. Here she is being held by Jeremy. I think she looked angelic against his shirt color:

After dinner we took Rachel to Northville to her best friend Katelyn's house for a sleepover. Katelyn is in town for her spring break which is the week after Rachel's but worked out okay because Rachel was in Charleston last week. Luckily, Rachel has Monday off of school so they could have a sleepover Sunday night. After driving from Davison to Northville then Northville to home, it was late and we were exhausted. Especially since we had to start the busy day so early! It was a wonderful Easter, though, and were so happy to share it with our great family and our wonderful new baby.