Leah's 1st Trip

We have just returned from a long weekend to Chattanooga for my best friend Elizabeth's wedding to Dan Thomas. It was such an honor to be her matron of honor. It was probably the most fun wedding I have been to in a long time! I told Elizabeth that day she looked as if she was part of a fairy tale-- the weather was chilly but beautiful, the fall leaves were the perfect colors, her dress & hair looked amazing, and everything seemed to go off without a hitch.

Leah was a trooper the whole weekend. We did a lot of running around getting ready for the wedding on Thurs. & Fri. and Leah just hung in there, barely fussing, sleeping a lot. She seemed to really love being around new people, in new surroundings. She slept like a champ in her pack 'n play (which inspired me to try her out in her crib now that we're home), even sleeping 6 hours Thurs. night.

Leah & I flew down to Atlanta on Wednesday. It was only an hour flight, and Leah slept the entire way. We got to the airport two hours early so I could get through security, etc., so I was able to feed her and get her to sleep before we ever even got on the plane. I ended up getting to sit in a row all by myself, since the flight wasn't full, so we had plenty of room to spread out. The flight attendants were also great. On the trip back from the wedding on Sunday, Brett drove the 3 of us. It was an 8 hour drive. Again, Leah slept for much of it. We stopped for an hour for lunch so she was able to eat & play some, then went right back to sleep. She only cried once, about the last hour of the trip & I got in back, fed her a little & she was fine. She is going to be a great traveler!

The Bed & Breakfast where the reception was held was really beautiful, set on a lake with the mountains in the distance. Brett & I got a room for Friday & Saturday night. We had a huge king sized bed, a jacuzzi tub, a separate sitting area & a small kitchenette. It made for a great mini romantic getaway after the wedding was over!

The beautiful bride & groom

Family photo

Elizabeth & me

Two Months Old

Leah at two months:

* Measurements- She's up to 9 lbs. 10 oz. She can finally wear most 0-3 month sized clothing, though she still wears a lot of newborn stuff.

* Eating- We are now thinking it is because she is incredibly social that her eating/ sleeping patterns have gone awry. The past week she is only sleeping 2 or 3 hour stretches, if that, and is up 3 times a night. When she eats, she only takes about 1- 1.5 oz. before she either a) is ready to play; or b) falls asleep and is no longer interested. Then in another hour or so, she's ready to eat again. She acts ravenously hungry but will only eat another ounce before getting bored again. Up to this point I have been "demand-feeding," i.e., feeding whenever she is hungry, but I am thinking now I might start trying to get her on a schedule. The dr. even mentioned it is worth a shot. It may take some tears on her part, but I think if I only feed her every 3-4 hours, she will eventually learn to eat more at each feeding. I'm also going to try keeping all her feedings quiet, as the TV might be too distracting for her.

* Personality- She is incredibly social. Even the doctor said she seems to be much more engaged than most babies her age. I have started taking a mom & baby exercise class at the hospital. The past two classes she lays on the mat and just smiles and "laughs" the entire hour. (I like to believe the cooing and huge open-mouthed smile she has is laughing; Brett, however, is skeptical.) I make faces at her and she gets a huge grin that fills her entire face. She can do this up to 3 hours a day! She especially seems to like looking at her daddy-- maybe its the facial hair, or maybe she gets bored with me.

- She seems to enjoy being naked, as long as she is not cold. Is this bad for her future?

- She did great with her two-month shots today. She cried while she was getting them, of course, but once she had a bottle in her mouth, she was fine and went back to her usual happy self. She's sleeping peacefully now, two hours after the fact. We will see how she feels tomorrow.

- I am beginning to fall more & more in love with her every day. The smiles and "giggles" make all the sleepless nights worthwhile, and I am learning to see each day with her as a blessing, because she is growing so quickly and I only have her a short while.

She is actually about 2 inches longer than @ 1 month!

Gardner-Webb Homecoming

Leah & I had a great weekend visiting some old friends at my college's Homecoming football game. Brett had to stay home because he was officiating his first-ever wedding. He was missed, but we had fun anyway. We drove down Friday night and came back Saturday after the game. I got to see Sarah & her family whom I haven't seen in over a year, and Mandy and her new beau, whom I haven't seen in almost a year and a half. And I haven't been back to Gardner-Webb since 2004!

Leah did so well on the trip. She slept most of the way there. She was a little difficult to put down at night. I think she sensed she wasn't in her usual bed, but she finally went to sleep around 11:30 and made it 4 hours before waking up again. At the game she slept for awhile (even through the multiple cannon blasts, cheering & loud noises-- we were winning!) then woke up & entered her cheerful, smiley mode. The trickiest part was the drive home. We had to stop twice on the way back-- once I had to go to the bathroom, so she woke up & realized she was hungry. Then another hour and she spit up all over herself. So then she was hungry again. A 4 hour trip turned into 6.5 hours. And there are not many baby-friendly fast food restaurants out there. I changed her once on the floor of a handicapped stall (right after I also pumped my hurting breasts-- where else am I supposed to do something like that?), and once on the bench of a booth. Now I'm going to research places that have family restrooms where I can pump, or at least restrooms that have changing tables!

Some fun photos from the weekend:

Routine

I had thought by the time she was 6 weeks, Leah would have some sort of daily routine. She does, somewhat, although it's not exactly the routine I would like. She is still eating every 2 or 3 hours, and rarely sleeps longer than 3 hours, even though at one point she was sleeping two 4-hour stretches at night. Here is our usual daily schedule, varying by about an hour or so:

7:30 or 8 a.m.: Wake up & eat-- Usually she's fairly alert after this feeding, although I like to try
to put her right back to bed so I can catch an extra hour of sleep. We have the rare sort of
baby that can lay in her crib awake for 20-30 minutes without fussing and just "talk" herself
to sleep. She's done this quite a bit lately!
10:30: Wake up & eat. Feedings typically take between 30-45 minutes, including a diaper
change halfway through to keep her awake.
12:00: Brett comes home for lunch-- Leah is typically in her "awake & happy" state, where she's
smiling & cooing and fun to be around
12:30: She wants to eat again. She's getting drowsy, but not really ready to sleep. If I have
plans to go somewhere, this is when I go, because she always falls asleep in her car seat. If we
aren't going anywhere, I'll put her in her swing or on her play mat and after a few minutes
she usually drifts off.
4:00: Wake up & eat again, then another "awake & happy" state before getting drowsy
6:00: It never fails, she's ready to eat again just as we're ready for dinner!
7:30: Evenings are usually when she does her "cluster feeding"-- she'll eat only about 1.5 oz (a
typical feeding is about 3.5 oz.) and then get drowsy & fall asleep. As soon as her head hits her
bed, her eyes pop open & she wants to eat more. She'll eat more, fall asleep. Repeat the
process. Ocassionally she'll be fussy during this period (usually when I'm here by myself with
no help!) and want to be held the rest of the evening.
9:30 or 10: Her usual bedtime. This is when I put on her pajamas. Eventually we'll add in a
regular bathtime & story here, but for right now, we're working on getting her to take a full
feeding, because it seems the more she eats, the longer she sleeps. She usually falls asleep
after 2.5 oz., though, and then we go to bed shortly after she's asleep.
2:30 or 3: Usually I keep the room dark & quiet during this feeding, so she can distinguish that it
is night. Typically I don't have much trouble getting her to go back to sleep right after she
eats. The key is to put the diaper change in the middle, since it wakes her up long enough to
eat more, and then she gets sleepy again.
5:30 or 6: This is the hardest feeding for me, because I'm just so tired & I want to hit her
"Snooze" button.

I've read that by 3 months babies can typically sleep through the night. Right now that seems like a faraway dream, but I am hoping that we are establishing good habits now that will set her up to start sleeping longer. I know she can do it, because she already has. The one thing I really want to change in her routine is getting her to eat more at each feeding, so that she's not hungry again in an hour. I know she has a small stomach & I don't want her to get too full, but I know she is capable of holding at least 4 oz. at this point. So we will continue to work on that, and continue to maintain her routine so that before we know it, I will be sleeping more than 3 hours at a time!

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

I am already starting to see how quickly babies grow. Leah still doesn't do much more than eat, sleep, and poop, but she is starting to be awake a lot more often. She's smiling for real now, in recognition to people's voices, and it always makes me smile! This milestone has got me forward-thinking to the next milestones, like sitting up and laughing and eventually crawling. Trust me, I am in no hurry for her to get there, but it made me really think about her future and all that we have to look forward to. It also made me think how relatively easy the decisions Brett & I have had to make in raising Leah have been so far, and how much harder they are bound to get as she gets older. Right now it is so easy to focus on the day to day-- making sure she is fed and clean and well-rested. It seems hard now. But I can imagine it will be a different kind of challenge as she grows.



Before we know it, we will be faced with the responsibility of sharing the Gospel with our daughter. Sure, that's really an everyday responsibility that we will live out in our daily lives, but there will come a day when she will have questions, and we will be her primary source of information. We will be the ones that will model Christ to her. And then before we know it, we will be making decisions that are so much harder than whether we should wake her to feed her or let her sleep during the day, or whether we should bottle or breastfeed. We will be helping her make decisions about the friends she should spend time with, the activities she should participate in, whether she should date. We will be the ones that will model honesty and purity and humility in relationships.


I can barely fathom the idea of Leah as a teenager, and then as an adult, making her own decisions and becoming the person God is already shaping her to be. But I know it will happen before we know it, and what an awesome responsibility Brett & I have as her parents to model all that is pure and True!






Look who's smiling now!








If you have time, watch this video of Steven Curtis Chapman's song, Cinderella. I'd heard it before, but it is so much more meaningful now that I have a little girl of my own. Be prepared to cry!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfxL0S-7yVo

Aunt Eli's visit & Family Photo Shoot

This post is to make Elizabeth happy! We had a great visit last Wed. & Thurs.-- Leah loved to meet her "Aunt" Eli. We also had a blast taking some family photos. Click to see more: http://picasaweb.google.com/brettandsabrina/FamilyPhotoShoot#

Must-Have Newborn Items

Baby Necessities You Will Need for the First 6 Weeks:

4-5 onesies

2-3 pairs pants

3-4 long-sleeved sleepers or gowns

3-4 pairs socks

1 knit cap or hat

2 lightweight blankets

1 heavy blanket

3-4 receiving or swaddling blankets

5-6 burp cloths

5-6 baby washcloths

2 hooded towels

3 four-oz. bottles w/ slow nipples

bottle cleaning brush

baby nail clippers

portable diaper changing pad

10 diapers per day = 420 diapers

3 wipes per diaper change = 1260 wipes

diaper rash cream

1 bottle baby wash

crib or bassinet

2-3 bassinet or crib sheets

car seat

swing or bouncer seat

1 or 2 toys: with lights & music

diaper bag



Diaper Bag Packing List for Newborn

1 diaper per hour you will be out

travel-sized pack of wipes

small sized bottle of diaper rash cream

1 receiving or lightweight blanket

1 burp cloth

2 extra outfits (weather-appropriate)

1 pair socks

1 knit cap or hat (if cold outside)

1 prepared bottle (if bottle-feeding)

1 small toy

1 pacifier in small Ziploc bag (if using)

grocery bags for dirty diapers



Hospital Packing List

insurance card/ hospital paperwork

magazines or books for labor

bathrobe

slippers

nursing nightgown

nursing pillow

2 pairs underwear

2 nursing bras

2 pairs warm socks

toiletries: shampoo, soap, deoderant, etc.

toothbrush & toothpaste

makeup

going home outfit for mom

going home outfit for baby

warm blanket for baby

camera w/ extra film & batteries

cell phone

change for drinks & snacks

for labor partner: 2 changes of clothes; toiletries