1 Month Checkup!

So a little belated, but it's hard to find time to write as much as I'd like. But last Friday I took Grace in for her one month checkup, and her doctor said she's looking great! She was up to 9 lb 14 oz, and 21.5 inches; she's gained a little over an ounce a day, which she said is right on target. That's our Gracie! :-) She has seemed to develop a strong preference for turning her head to the right though, so we're working on teaching her that the left side is just as entertaining. She also got her second Hep B shot, and screamed briefly, but quieted down quickly with a little nursing.

Long Nights

It's nearly two in the morning, and somebody is wide awake. (Note: It's not me or Caleb!)

First Real Smile!

We've been seeing the little baby grins since she was born, but last night we saw our first true smile! Caleb was holding her on the couch, and she just looked at us and her whole face lit up. We were both too entranced to go looking for the camera, so that'll have to wait for another day. :-)

Baby Grins

Her little baby smiles are so fleeting they're hard to catch with the camera. But thanks to Picasa's new ability to take a snapshot from a movie clip, we caught one!

Our Little Peanut

Grace and I went to our first Mommy-Baby class at Evergreen today. It's kind of a cross between informational lectures and a baby play group, and the hospital offers it free for the first three months. Today they had a marriage counselor talking about the transition to parenthood. It was interesting, but my favorite part was just being in a room filled with other new moms and lots of little babies making all their cute baby sounds. And there's something relaxing about knowing nobody's going to care if I'm changing her diaper on the floor.

Speaking of which - she just had (what I'm fairly certain) is her "fullest" poopy diaper yet! Which Daddy is lovingly changing while I'm blogging about it. It's fun being a mom! ;-)

-Laura

P.S. That picture was taken a week ago, I just thought it was so cute I had to post it anyways.

Clean Baby (and a not so clean kitchen...)

So while Caleb was at work today, I decided it'd be fun to try to give Grace a bath on my own. It'd been a somewhat stressful morning as her diaper had leaked while she was on our bed and left a large wet spot and then her mommy had another adventure trying to vacuum up a large bug. Anyways, always before we've had at least three hands available (the fourth being the one holding the camera), but I figured I'd have to try it sooner or later.

Lesson number 1 - let sleeping babies lie. She was really fussy while I was getting everything ready, but when I went to pick her up, she was sound asleep. I briefly considered letting her sleep and enjoying a little rest myself, but foolishly decided to wake up the slumbering babe to stick her in a tub of water. Unfortunately, she still doesn't like being stuck in a tub of water.

Lesson number 2 - babies without diapers = wet kitchens. So I got her all undressed and ready to go, but just before putting her in the water she decided to go herself - all over Mom and the kitchen cabinet and floor.

Lesson number 3 - clean babies don't stay clean long. As soon as I got everything (and everyone!) all cleaned up, our poor darling spit up all down her front. I sponged her off and got her all nicely dressed. And she spit up again.

Fortunately, after lots of cuddling, Mom and baby are alive and happy. But next time I'm waiting for Dad. :-)

Grace's First Road Trip

Since last week was his last out on paternity leave, we decided to take Grace on a mini road trip last Thursday. We drove out along the Duvall-Woodinville Road down through Carnation, where we took a baby-feeding break and got ice cream cones for ourselves. We drove on down to North Bend and stopped at the outlet mall there to look at some nursing clothes, and had a second baby-feeding break in the fitting rooms (fortunately, maternity/nursing clothing stores are most encouraging about breastfeeding in their stalls.) Afterwards, we headed out I-90 across the mountain pass and stopped for pizza at a small little town called Roslyn. And more baby-feeding. We also successfully completed our first diaper change on the front seat of the Civic, with no major disasters!

Mom was right though, road trips aren't quite as much fun with a crying baby in the back seat! For the most part she slept, but every so often she'd wake up and cry awhile and we'd sing her back to sleep. Overall, it was a great time though, and refreshing to know it can be done! :-)

Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down

Grace just discovered her thumb and began sucking on it! :)
And then she just poked herself in the eye with her other fingers. :(