Father's Day and other Updates

We had a very relaxing, enjoyable Father's Day Weekend.  My dad was out of town with work so unfortunately we were not able to celebrate with him.  We made sure to call him first thing though and let him know how much he is loved and appreciated :).  Hopefully we can get the whole family together this weekend when he's back in town.

Taylor and I woke up early (as if this isn't our normal routine anyway) on Sunday to wrap Daddy's presents to surprise him when he woke up.  You can't ask for a better present than our sweet little Taylor, but we made a solid attempt anyway :).

We got him a single serve coffeemaker to take to work, along with possibly the best coffee in the world.  If you haven't tried New England Coffee's Blueberry Cobbler, you're missing out.  We thought this was an appropriate gift since Taylor has a habit of waking Daddy up in the middle of the night during her feedings when Mommy can't get her ish together quick enough :).  It came in handy this morning too when Daddy stayed up too late watching the NBA finals and didn't have time to make his morning coffee when he woke up.  Happy First Father's Day, Craig!  We can't wait to celebrate many more in the years to come!

Baby Taylor is changing everyday.  She has such an adorable personality and loves to chatter away through the cutest grunts and squeaks you've ever heard.  She also started taking a bottle for the first time this weekend.  She had no issues at all and alternates back and forth between bottle feeding and breastfeeding seamlessly.  Mommy had a hard time with this, but it's nice that Craig can now be involved too.

We've been using the Infantino carrier a little bit each day and she still seems to love it.  Since she's awake so much more during the day, it's a lifesaver to keep her with me at all times but still be able to get things done.  I included a picture as promised in the last post, but sadly my appearance did not improve.  It's very difficult to be motivated to make myself presentable when I rarely leave the house.

I also installed her baby monitor above the crib and we're currently working on transitioning her to the nursery for naps during the day.  I'm not sure if I'm ready to move her there at night yet..baby steps :).

The monitor works great and allows me to talk to her if she starts to get fussy.  So far she seems to enjoy her nursery and doesn't mind hanging out in her crib.  Possibly the super awesome chandelier I have for her to look at :).

I think we're on the verge of smiling so hopefully my next post will be full of giggles and grins from sweet Taylor!

One Month Milestone!

Everyday I find myself thinking back to May 7th and wanting to relive every moment of sweet Taylor's delivery day.  Our lives changed so drastically that Tuesday afternoon and I couldn't be happier!  Taylor was  officially One Month old last Friday and has already changed so much!  Her precious little feet are getting bigger everyday it seems, and it breaks my heart.

I decided (like many others) that I want to track her monthly milestones through pictures so we can look back and see exactly how much she's grown and changed from month to month.  I re-purposed Daddy's Valentine's Day picture frame present to use as a photo prop.  Taylor wasn't exactly stoked about the idea at first, but 20 shots later, we captured the cutest little expression.  You can tell from the pictures below that we came a long way from picture #1 to picture #20.

In other updates, I recently looked into alternative infant carriers as the Moby Wrap was way too advanced (and HOT) for me to handle.  I decided on the Infantino Swift Baby Carrier and it has been LIFE CHANGING.  She just slides right in and can hang out while Mommy gets her chores done around the house.  We've only used it once and Mommy was looking like a hot mess, so I'll post pictures later this week  when we break it out again :).

In the same shopping trip we decided to go ahead and get her a Bumbo chair since she's already rocked out with her tummy time.  She has really good control of her head and neck and prefers to sit propped up with us as opposed to a cradle position, so we thought we'd give it a go.

SUCCESS!!!!  She loves it!  She sat up in it right away.  We'll probably only let her do this for short spurts each day but it's still fun to see her trying new things.

1 Month Check Up!

To say the last few weeks have been a whirlwind would be an understatement.  I opted to work through my leave so my days are a balancing act of email, Qgenda, housework and most importantly..Taylor!  She's such a sweet, happy baby and has made it much easier on me than it should be.

I decided to breastfeed exclusively and it has worked out marvelously.  Besides Craig's inability to help out with the multiple late night feedings, of course :).  She eats consistently every 2-3 hours, day and night.  As long as she's happy and healthy, that is fine with me!  According to the pediatrician, in about 4 weeks or so her night time feedings should start to spread out a little to every 4-5 hours.  Let the countdown begin ;)

Craig and I took Taylor to her one month check up this morning where she unfortunately also had to get her second Hep B shot.  She had a perfect check up!  She is now 9 lbs 8 oz (which I had guessed yesterday spot on!), and 22.75 inches.  That is a 1 lb 14 oz weight gain since she was born!  She's also 2.75 inches longer, so Taylor is eating VERY well!

As you can see from the handout, she is in the 84th percentile for weight and 99th for length!  Hello, WNBA! ;)  After her fantastic report, she had to get her second round of the Hep B vaccine :(.  I had to take her to get her blood drawn the last time so we made Daddy play the bad guy today.  She was NOT happy but calmed down soon after.  Luckily she doesn't have to go back for any more shots until her 2 month check up.  At least she got to sport this snazzy bandaid afterwards.

Our weekends have been pretty low key since Taylor's arrival.  She's starting to stay awake for longer periods during the day so maybe we'll start to venture out a little more as she progresses and gets settled into a predictable routine.  It's nice to finally be able to look into her pretty blue eyes when she isn't always sleeping!