Dramatic Gopher

It might not be appropriate to compare my daughter to a gopher but this picture reminds me of a youtube video that was everywhere this year.

Click on the link below to see the 5 second video. Enjoy the laugh.

YUMMY (and other photos)

Our girl is changing so much everyday. She can almost completely hold her head up on her own and is standing for longer periods of time (with help, of course). She is "blowing bubbles" a lot and is starting to mouth little things but not really making any noises or cooing yet. We are patiently waiting. Enjoy these pics!

Smile for Mommy and Daddy.... please??

I mentioned before that Alice is starting to smile a lot. I am trying really hard to get a picture of our cutie mid-smile but it is proving to be difficult. By the time we get the camera out, the smiles have ended and she sits there looking at me like, "Seriously Mom? More pictures?" These are the best ones so far. I love the one above - looks like she is batting her eyes, doesn't it?

I have started keeping the camera right next to me and have even tried to take a bunch of shots while trying to make her smile. Once I put the camera to my eye, she stops smiling so I am resorting to focusing it and holding it on the side. That is why some of the shots are not centered or close to being out of the frame.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

On the menu today....

HANDS!!!

Alice has discovered her hands - and they sure taste good! She usually sucks on her knuckles but once in a while gets her first 2 fingers in there too. If we put her in her crib before she is really asleep the hands go immediately to her mouth. The first few times she did it were funny. We would hear this sucking noise coming from the supposedly sleeping baby, peak in and there she would be sucking away.

Home away from home

This is Alice's home away from home - daycare. The infant room has a total of 10 kids but there are only about 6-8 at any one time. There is a 5 month old little girl and a 6 week old little boy so Alice will have lots of playmates to grow up with.

The first few days of dropping her off were hard for me. I left in tears almost everyday this week. I was ok this morning but my eyes are watering as I am typing this and thinking about it. I know that daycare will be such a great thing for her. She will learn so much and will make lots of friends. Work is good for me too, I know that. Slowly but surely I will get my emotions in check and will be happy about this arrangement.

Month 2 - Stats

Alice had her 2 month check-up with the pediatrician yesterday. She is 24 inches long, weighs 13 lbs. 10 ozs. and is in the 95th percentile for her age. She had two shots while we were there which she took like a champ. Just a little crying and some fussiness for the rest of the evening but overall, everything went smoothly.

Alice slept most of the evening away again - daycare is really exhausting! As you can see in this picture, she is starting to stand and put weight on her legs (with support from Mom and Dad, of course). She is now pretty bored with just sitting with us and wants to be entertained. We do a lot of dancing and looking at toys with lights. She has only recently discovered her hands. She doesn't really look at them but she puts them in her mouth all the time so feeding has become a challenge.

The smiling has started and it is so heart warming. One of my favorite things is when she sees me for the first time in the morning or something and her face lights up - that makes everything in the world fall away. She is going through a phase of being really fussy with John but she calms right down when I take her. John knows that sometimes a baby just wants Mommy and understands but I know that he is a little crushed when it happens.

Now that I am back at work, I hope to get into a routine about blogging more often. fingers crossed!

First week at daycare

Today was Alice's second day of daycare. Everything has gone really well and Alice "has been the perfect girl." Since we picked her up this afternoon, she has been passed out . Hopefully, she will sleep tonight. Colleen has started back at her job and she is doing good as well. Alice is going to the doctor tomorrow for her two month checkup and Colleen will update the blog tomorrow.

John

Alice's Playmate

This is Collin. He was born 3 weeks before Alice. Collin and his family live a few houses down from us. His mom, Vicky, and I have been spending lots of baby bonding time together while we are out on maternity leave. This picture is going into the vault until high school graduation.

Hi!

Photos from Thanksgiving

Alice looking around at all the new people.

Grandma in Heaven with her two grandchildren.

Alice with her cousin, Nate

Our little pink bear!

Happy little family!

Having a heart to heart with Mommy

I love this picture so much. It looks like I have just explained something really important to her and she's thinking about it. We talk so much...well, I talk and she grunts and coos back at me. Sounds like she is telling me all sorts of stories. So adorable.

Going...Going...Gone... (Observations of New Parents)

John and I are having so much fun with our big girl. As first time parents, we obviously have no idea what the timeline is for child development so we keep trying things. At 6 weeks, we have discovered that Alice cannot sit. She has however started to stand - sort of. When we hold her to burp (over/against our shoulder), she kicks and pushes out her legs so she is kind of standing. I am waiting for her to do this some morning and smash her head into my chin. That will leave us both crying.

Alice is quickly outgrowing many of her clothes. Two weeks ago she was 11 pounds and 23 inches - 3mos clothes, here we come. We are also moving her from newborn diapers to size 1 this week or as soon as we run out of the newborn size.

Alice, John and I are gearing up for our first family trip. We are going to visit my family for Thanksgiving. I am really looking forward to the trip and hope that the plane rides are uneventful for the 3 of us.

Not sure if we will post again before we leave so we hope you have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for all of you!

How about some more pictures!

Alice's Palace

Our livingroom has officially been transformed into Alice's playroom. Yes, we know that it will be a while until she is using it to the fullest extent but John and I got a little excited and wanted to set up the floor pads and a few toys.

This picture is from this past weekend. As you can see, Alice is getting so strong and is really pushing up and out when she is lying on us.

Results from the Weigh In

Sorry, it has been a while since I blogged. I just wanted to report that everyone is doing well. Alice went for a "weigh-in" yesterday. At a month old, she is at 11 lbs 1 oz. She is gaining about a 1 lbs a week. Her collar bone is completely healed and is looking good. She has been using the swing and mom is enjoying it very much. Keep your fingers crossed, she is still sleeping through most of the night. Last night, she went down at 10pm and I had to wake her at 5:45 am. I hope I didn't jinx it for tonight but the sleep has been very nice. Colleen and I working on the play room (formerly our living room) and we will have pictures later this week. Sorry for the last picture posted, 99% of the time she has been an angel (like the picture above) but the picture was really funny.

I hope everyone is well.

John

Enough Said

John and I came up with about 10 different funny comments to go along with this picture but then realized that it speaks for itself. Interestingly enough, John thinks that Alice looks most like him but now claims that she looks just like me in this picture. LOL. Alice is learning to make all sorts of faces as you can see. She has also started grunting quite a lot but she is not doing the usual baby cooing. I suppose she is just learning all the stuff that she can do. John is already trying to teach her how to say Daddy. He is determined to make that her first word.

Happy Halloween!!!

Paparazzi

Alice had her first photo shoot on Sunday. She really worked the camera and we hope to have some great pictures soon.

There was only one little mishap... During one set of pictures, Alice was on black fabric and was peacefully dreaming away when all of a sudden, she pooped all over the fabric. Thank goodness the photographer is a friend of ours and works with babies all the time. It was pretty funny though.

Two more of the charter members of the Alice Fan Club are visiting this week. John's parents are here all the way from Montana. We will try to post a little more this week but I wouldn't be surprised if we just don't get to it until next week. We are all just spending time looking at the girl.

Alice is thriving and continuing to be a fantastic eater. She is staying awake a little more everyday. She is really starting to look around and focus on things. Such an incredible thing to watch.

1st Stroller Ride

Mom and Dad took Alice for her first ride in the stroller. The weather is getting a bit cooler down here in Alabama. Perfect weather for us but as you can see from the picture, we were a little worried about keeping Alice warm. Once we got her all bundled up, I couldn't stop laughing at how funny she looked. The arms of the little suit she is in stood straight up. Do you think this was too much for 60 degrees and breezy? I am never sure what is too much and what is not enough.

Hope you get a good laugh at this....hey, don't they say that parents make all their mistakes with the first kid? Gonna keep this pic for the high school graduation book.

Saturday Morning Update

Everybody is doing better this morning. Colleen is feeling like herself. She must be better because she corrected my grammar twice this morning. Alice is also doing well. Her eye is looking better (she has a blocked tear duct resulting from delivery and it has been a little goopy) and the belly button stump looks loose and it might come off any minute.

I have been trying to get a picture of Alice every day for the first year. I do not know what I am going to do with all of them but I wanted to share the October 24th picture with you.

Have a great weekend.
John

Endometritis

It has been a very long and painful couple of days. I have been diagnosed with Endometritis (not endometriosis) which is an infection in the lining of the uterus. Doctors say that it is quite common and I have started antibiotics. I don't think I have ever been in so much pain in my life...well except for the 2 hours of no pain meds during labor and delivery. Yesterday was especially rough, shivering though the sweats, fever, horrid abdomen pain.

I am not a whole lot better today but I can tell the antibiotics are starting to work. The pain pills are great but making me groggy.

Alice is doing well. Nothing new to report right now with her. She is giving us the occasional smile but we are not convinced it is anything but gas. :)

Hopes dashed

Alice had another wonderful night of sleep....I put her down at 11:30 and she did not make a peep until 7a.m. WOW!!! But just when I started thinking I have the most wonderful baby and I am the luckiest new mom, my hopes were dashed. Alice had her first check up with the pediatrician today. I told him all about her awesome new sleeping habits and he said that it was not good. He told me that I have to start waking her up after 4 hours to eat so she will not get dehydrated. DAMN !!!


In the hospital, the nurses would bring her to me every 2-3 hours to nurse and I was told to make sure to continue that once I got home but I hate the idea of waking a peaceful baby to eat. It seems ridiculous. I thought the whole "feed on demand" idea was to do just that...and if she didn't demand, there would be no need to force feed. Also, how on earth do you actually nurse a baby who is adamantly not waking up? Anyone? No, seriously, any ideas or advice?


Other than that, the rest of the visit was all good. Alice's weight has increased to 8lbs 12oz. and she has grown 1/2 an inch! I can't remember if I blogged about the amount she is eating or not so...long story short...she is a hungry, hungry hippo. She usually nurses for about 40-55 minutes but then usually has 2 ounces of breast milk or formula (whatever I have on hand at the moment). I am trying to not give her formula very often but I only have so much of the other and I am not adverse to the formula. Whatever makes this little girl happy is ok for me.

Signing off for now...between the feedings (Alice and the adult dinner) this blog posting has taken me almost 2 hours to finish. Hope all is well with you.

Ahhh....sleep

The most amazing thing happened last night. Alice slept from 11:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m.!!!! She ate a bit and was back to sleep from 8:00 a. m. until 11:30 a.m. Of course, I didn't take full advantage of it and go back to bed myself at 8 a.m. but I am hoping this will be repeating tonight because I am super tired now.

Grandma left this morning. Alice didn't seem as upset as Mommy was but we will be seeing her in Syracuse for Thanksgiving.

Good news from the pediatrician....we are allowed to set Alice's left arm free.

I foresee these blog postings to be on the short side for the next few weeks as we try to get everyone on a schedule. Bear with us. :)

Fatigue

Sorry we have been slacking on our blog post duties. The 2, 3, 4 and 5 a.m. feedings are starting to take a toll on Mommy and Daddy.

I will try to post tomorrow.

All is well with Alice. She is proving to be a world champion eater or should I say drinker...ah, well, she got that from her momma.

Alice Houdini

Since Alice's clavicle was fractured during delivery, the pediatrician has told us that we need to try to keep her arm sort of immobile for the next week or so. This has proven to be much easier said than done.

On recommendation of a hospital nurse, we started out by keeping Alice's left arm inside her onesie. That didn't really work well as you can see in the picture, she continually found a way to get her hand out. Next, we tried to pin her sleeve across her chest. That only caused holes in her pretty outfits because she was still moving her arm around quite a bit. Finally, we bought an ace bandage and secured her arm tightly to her chest. She did not seem to be bothered by the bandage but within 4 hours, she had managed to get her hand out the bottom of the bandage and was in the process of pushing the whole arm up and out of the sling.

So, we are back to keeping her arm inside her clothes. We are figuring that since her upper arm is staying somewhat in still, there is not much damage that she can really do. The bruising is almost gone and more importantly, she does not seem the least bit troubled or in pain from the fracture. For now she is amazing us with her magically appearing hand. :)

Alice 10-16-2008

We are home!

Dear all,

We came home yesterday! We had to wait for the little one because she had a little blood work done for her slight case of jaundice. Other than that, everybody is doing well. I am really surprised that she can lift her neck. She likes to lift her neck and look at you when she is burping.

The first night went well. The dogs were a little nervous all night but hopefully everyone will get in a routine. Alice decided that 1 am to 4 am was a good time to try out the lungs. Otherwise, she is sleeping well.

We had a weigh in this morning with the doctor. She is 7lbs 12 oz as of Wednesday morning. We lost a couple of ounces but that is normal.

John

How about some more pictures...

Some More Pictures from the Hospital

I'm a Mommy!!!

Hello from the hospital... still can't believe that I am officially a Mommy. Alice is absolutely wonderful and completely perfect. As you can read from John's previous posting, there were a few issue with the labor and delivery. The labor progressed a lot faster than the doctors expected so that was good but the epidural I got must have slipped out or something because all of a sudden I was in agony. To those women who have chosen to deliver "au natural", I have only one word to say....insane! So, after 2 hours of no meds, the anesthesiologist finally placed another epidural and I was good to go. After only and hour and a half of pushing, Alice was born. All told, the entire process took 14 1/2 hours. Not too bad for a first timer.

The one minor complication with Alice is that her clavicle was fractured during delivery, most likely because she was born sunny-side up. The doctors are not worried and said that it is relatively common with big babies. We have to keep her left arm on the inside of her onesies for a week or two but are assured that she will be fine. It does not seem to bother her too much but we are being extra gentle with her.

She is proving to be a very good sleeper but is not that interested nursing much yet. She is already really strong. If I lay her on my chest, she can pick her head up and look around all on her own. She is not spending much time in her crib between mommy, daddy and grandma....no one can bear to put her down.

Hope you enjoy the picture of our angel.

Sunday Night Update

Dear all,

Well, it is another unauthorized blog entry that hasn't been approved by Colleen. I love the picture and I wanted an excuse to post it.

Although we had some very minor complications for both Colleen and Alice, both are doing great tonight. I will leave the details for Colleen. When I left tonight, everybody was going to sleep for the night. It will be nice to get some sleep since being up since 2 am last night.

John

The Muffin has Arrived

Alice Madelyn

Born October 12, 2008 1:32 pm
Length: 21.5 inches
Weight: 8 lbs 5 oz.

Everybody is doing great!