Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Longest Day Ever





Leah and I are on our way home. Eight hours into it and we aren't even in Arkansas yet. The entire trip should take seven to seven and a half hours. The little one slows us down. Here are some travel pics.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

5 weeks!



Well, little girl is now 5 weeks. I can't say enough how fast time has gone since she's been born. It's crazy.
We went to her one month check up on Friday and she's doing great and is now 8 lbs. 11 oz and 21 inches. Little runt. She's still wearing newborn clothes and some of them are still HUGE on her, like those pink pants in the picture, those are newborn and the waistband doesn't even touch her little belly. Everyone told me babies rarely wear newborn clothes and I only needed 0-3 months so that's pretty much all we have and they swallow her. So, she wears the same newborn clothes over and over. Doesn't matter too much though because we are pretty much at the house all day. Dr. Razak does think she may have reflux so she's now on medicine for that 3x a day. The bad thing is, she has to take her medicine 30 minutes to an hour BEFORE she eats.. which means while she's sleeping.. grr.

Oh yeah!! Perri also is now rolling over!! She did it the first time last week. I was in the laundry room and she was laying on her playmat in her room (right by each over) and I had her on her belly in there. I heard her crying and went in and she was on her back! So I rolled her back over and sure enough she flipped herself right back over again. She's done is several more times since and today did probably 5 or 6 times. Though, she hates it and cries the whole time. Poor thing.

Anyhow, here are some new pics of our little girl. The outfit, hat and blanket are all made by her Lu Lu, and the headband is one of the firsts that I made.







Wednesday, December 10, 2008

4 weeks old!

I can hardly believe our little girl is 4 weeks old today. It honestly feels like we've had her maybe a week or so? Time flies!!

We're pretty boring people so I don't have much to report on except that she's starting to become much more alert and focusing in on our faces and even smiled huge at me yesterday!! yayy!!! Its nice to get a response to all the hard work you do! And, last night she slept a 5 hour stretch!! I fed her at 10:30 and put her down then she woke at 1:30 and I fed her, and put her down, then she didn't wake again until around 6:30 this morning! woo hoo!!!

The cloth diapering is actually going well and I much prefer it to disposables. So much softer and cuter!! The first week or so I didn't use it because I was way too overwhelmed and it was HUGE on her but now its not quite as big. So, hopefully, we will continue to use it. You can see pics of her in one of her diapers below, when she's having a little 'tummy time' ( I hate thats what its called) with Emma. She HATES being on her belly, by the way, and usually screams, but I got her to lay on her belly for about 10 minutes yesterday and she was quite pleasant.

Anyhow, in celebration of her being 4 weeks, Im posting more pictures!









Friday, December 5, 2008

3 weeks!

I can hardly believe our little girl is now already 3 weeks old (as of Wednesday). Time has literally flown by! Everyone always says how fast time goes and how quick your children grow but I never thought anything of it until now. We are learning so much about her every day and its amazing how much she's changing and growing. We haven't been to the doctor since her last visit but go again next Friday for her one month, but I know Perri is getting some weight on her. Those cheeks keep getting bigger and bigger and she's becoming a little chunk! Her appetite has revved up as well, she definitely likes to eat!

When I was in college and worked at Montessori School in Fayetteville, a parent of a baby I had told me about the book "On Becoming Babywise" and I knew from then on I had to get that book when we had a baby. Her baby was the happiest, best baby ever and you could just lie him down and he wouldnt make a peep but would put himself to sleep. When we found out we were pregnant I immediately bought the book and read it, but once Perri was here, I kindof forgot the tips in it and the importance of having her feed, then wake, then sleep instead of the normal feed, sleep, then wake that people usually do. It's tough to try and keep her awake while she's eating so I had just been letting her fall asleep and then lie her down. This ended in her constantly waking and being fussy and us having to console her nonstop. WELL, after the night before last, I'd had it, re read the main points of the book and put it into practice last night. It's hard because it is a lot of crying at first, because you put her down while she's still awake, allowing her to learn to put herself to sleep. Last night went great, though and she only woke once to eat!! And then today, though the morning there was a lot of crying, the rest of the day has been amazing. I'll feed her, then make her stay awake for a bit to "play" and talk and sing to her, etc, then it's time for a nap. She'll wimper for a bit but then she's learned to coax herself to sleep and she's been sleeping through her whole nap! This has been SO great for me because breastfeeding had started to wear me out and the lack of sleep, and let me tell you, though I'm still tired (who isnt when you dont get a constant sleep at night and having a new baby??) but I am actually having my time to myself during the day, eating when I'm hungry and not having to shuffle between consoling her and eating, etc. It's great!!! Let's hope it keeps going this way. Anyhow, I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone expecting or if you have a new baby.

Other than working on this new schedule with her, there hasn't been much going on here, so I'll post some pictures of her! We realized we hardly have any pics with Perri, they're just of her, so we'll try and work harder on getting pictures with us in them!
Oh yeah, the one of her hair, that is after waking up from a nap. Pretty nice huh?








Friday, November 28, 2008

Little Hog Fan





Here are a few pictures of Perri in her cheerleading uniform. It pretty much swallows her but we had to try it on.
She wasn't exactly happy about us undressing and redressing her to get the pictures, as you can tell. But, it paid off because we actually won!! YAYYY!!!!!

Bad at blogging

So I'm learning how horrible I am at remembering to put blogs and pictures up on here. But then again, we do have a two week old so there's not exactly that much time when I can get on here and post. Anyhow, my apologies.

Everything is going well around here. She's been having some pretty fussy times but today has been amazing so far! Craig has been home most the week with me and is being amazing by letting me sleep at night if she's already eaten and taking her to her room and rocking her to calm her. But still, I manage to be exhausted every day. I am so appreciating this though. Won't be able to happen come next week when he goes back to work though.

Perri's jaundice is getting better and after three doctor's visits and labs, we don't have to go back until Dec. 12th for her one month check up. AND, she's gaining weight!! We went in last Tuesday and Friday and her weight was still at 7 lbs 3 oz. (she was 7lb 12 oz) at birth so they were talking about having to see a lactation consultant to weigh her before and after feedings etc, but we went in this past Monday and she had gained 5 oz. over 4 days!! Yay!!!! She's still a skinny minny but finally gaining some weight!

We didn't venture to Arkansas this year for Thanksgiving but were able to have it with some friends here who are pregnant and having a little boy in 2 weeks so that was nice. Perri actually slept the entire time and let us have our first meal together in two weeks!! haha. Oh the things you take for granted without a baby.

Sorry to be short but she's starting to wake a bit. Here are some pics of her lately, I'll get Craig to upload all of them shortly.











Saturday, November 22, 2008

New Pictures

New pictures of Perri are on our photos page.  Click the "Photos" link to the right.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The past few days...

Just thought I would update a bit about the past few days and how everything is going. This little girl is amazing at night, praise the Lord, and I am actually having to wake her to feed her! And most times she'll go right back to sleep after she nurses!! Craig definitely appreciates this, as he's had to go back to work already. We thought he would be off more this week but he has some huge projects due tomorrow that made him have to come in early but thankfully he'll be off most, if not all of next week for Thanksgiving. Luckily, mom is here with me and helping me, cooking, cleaning, watching Perri so I can shower and nap, etc. She's really been a blessing this first week at home, especially since Craig isn't here to help. Today we went to the doctor for her check up and she's only lost one ounce since discharge Friday so she's now at 7 lbs. 3 oz, where her birth weight was 7 lbs. 12 oz. She is slightly jaundice so we had to get labs done to check her bilirubin level which showed slightly elevated levels so we have to have her in the sun atleast thirty minutes twice a day in her diaper. Mom took her out this afternoon and she immediately fell asleep from the warm sun. Other than that she is doing wonderfully and we go back Thursday morning to see the doctor to have them check out the jaundice. Also, her cord fell off last night! Yay!! It had been barely hanging on and then I went to change her last night and it was off! Fell off after only 5 days!

Tomorrow she'll be one week old and I can hardly believe it! It's gone by so fast and I am loving this little girl like crazy. Though my days revolve around feeding her, which has become quite tiring, its all so very worth it. I am feeling great, and recovering very fast. Im really not sore anymore and am moving around like normal and taking walks and such. A c-section was so not what I wanted for my birth but thankfully recovery has been easy so it's all okay. Below are some pictures of the past few days! Enjoy!