Two months old and counting...

On Wednesday Sammy hit the two month mark. I can't believe it! Time is just flying by. She's fussing on my lap as I type this so I'll make it brief. She was 10 lbs. 6oz and 22 3/4 inches long at her two month doctor's appointment on Thursday. She also got her first round of immunizations. She screamed through all three, understandably, but recovered pretty quickly and besides being a little tired that day doesn't seem to have had any ill effects, though she has been a little cranky this weekend. Thanks to Grandma Marian for going with us to the appointment. It made it so much easier to have a second set of hands.

Another milestone, for me and Sammy, is that she is now sleeping in her crib at night! We decided to take the plunge on Friday night and she has now successfully slept in her crib three nights in a row! The only problem is that she's back to sleeping 2-3 hours at a time but we're hoping to get her back to those blissful 6-hour nights soon.

That's all for now. I'll post pictures later this week.

Some Sammy Updates

So since she's sleeping (see pic to the left taken just moments ago) I've decided to update the blog. This pic and the pic below illustrate Sammy's latest achievement: grabbing her rings. She hate, hates, hates tummy time and screams the whole time I have her on the floor but I think she's learning something because starting on Friday she reachs out and grabs one of her colorful rings when I place them in front of her face. She can also hold her head up pretty well now so, like it or not, we will continue to put her down for tummy time and endure the screams.

Another big achievement for her this week was sleeping six hours in a row!!! This one is my particular favorite. Last night we went to a St. Patrick's Day dinner party at Lauren and Eric's house. We left around 9:15 so we figured she'd still get to bed at her regular time but the crowd must've worn her out because after getting her to finally fall asleep at 11:30 (yes, she's very nocturnal) she didn't wake up until 5:30 this morning. And after a quick change and feeding from daddy she went back to sleep for another 2.5 hours! I'm not expecting it to last but after a tough week of weird sleeping habits, thanks to the time change, it was nice to get some extended snooze time. And to think that before baby I would've considered six hours a bad night's sleeep...

In her new outfit at the St. Patty's Day party at Lauren and Eric's.

Lorelei looking cute in her jammies at the party.

Everyone wearin' the green after eating yummy corned beef and cabbage and Irish soda bread, all homemade by Lauren. So good!

Her favorite sleep spot.

A woman that I work with, Rowena, gave me a bumch of hats that her little girls had outgrown so Tracey and I made Samantha do a little hat fashion show for us. As you can tell from the pics, she was not happy by the end. But doesn't she look cute?

More Baby Pictures

Not much new to report but I wanted to put up some new pictures of little Sammy. She smiles more and more each day and I swear she's going to laugh any minute now. I keep tickling her tummy in hopes of getting that first giggle. She made her first trip to the zoo last Sunday and probably had no idea where she was but Bryan and I had fun. We've got another trip coming up on Tuesday with Whitney and Lorelei. I'm sure I'll have more pics then. In the meantime, here are some of the latest...

The family in front of the Polar Bear Plunge.

Post-bath, wrapped in her Elmo towel.

Winnie-the-Pooh outfit.

In her favorite new toy, her swing.

I love Grandma!

I love Grandpa!

Imparting cousin wisdom.

In her sling.

Ian and the missing front tooth.

Samantha Smiles

Just a quick update: Samantha is now smiling. And not just because she has gas. Here are a few shots of her adorable little grins. It's so fun to see her get more alert and aware of her surroundings. And whose heart doesn't melt when a baby aims a toothless grin their way. She's also started making the funniest noises. Bryan and I lie in bed laughing at her grunts and snorts. She's also got some more kitty cat noises that we need to capture on video so that we don't forget how fun she is at this age.

We don't have a doctor's appointment until 8 weeks (she's only 5 weeks 3 days today) so I don't know how much she weighs but she's started to outgrow some of her newborn clothes and her face has definitely filled out. She's looking more like herself and less like all other newborns. She is still having trouble with gas but she doesn't scream for hours at a time any more so no colic I guess. Just typical baby cries.

She's still not sleeping in her crib. Part of that is my fault. I like having her by the bed at night. Plus the transition seems like it will be so difficult, though it will probably only take a couple of nights. I need to just accept that fact and buckle down to it. She's just still so little but I know that it will be easier on all of us if we do it sooner rather than later. Maybe next week...

She's gaining weight but she's still a little skinny girl.

Hangin' with daddy.

She loves bath time.

Her first visit to Pizza Port and definitely not her last. She loved the noise and slept throuugh it all.

The Many Faces of Sammy

Happy Valentine's Day! Sorry it's been so long since I updated the blog but newborns are a lot of work...surprise, surprise. She seems to sense it every time I get on the computer and starts to cry. But now that Bryan is home I've got the time to get on here for some updates. This picture is my Valentine's present from Bryan. I woke up this morning and he had changed her into these "love" jammies as a surprise. Sooooo cute! What a sweet daddy she has.

We're all doing really well...now. We had some issues with gas a couple of weeks ago but we switched to a different formula and added some Mylicon drops and things seem to be better this week. We were afraid it might be colick. She was crying every night from about 5-8, just as Bryan got home. She still has her moments where she screams in pain but they are fewer and farther in between. It's so hard to hear those screams without crying myself.

On Monday she had her 3-week check-up. She now weighs 7 pounds, 9 ounces, up 1.2 pounds from her first appointment. Her belly button fell off this week too so we were able to give her her first real baths. She hated the first one but the second one was much better. She realized that being immersed in warm water feels really good.

We've also taken her on a few outings. We went to the Fish Market for lunch last weekend and she slept the whole time. I was even able to have a glass of wine, something I hadn't had in a very long time. I also took her to visit my office. She was, of course, a big hit.

Bryan and I are settling into parenthood. We've had quite a few sleepless nights but she is starting to give us at least 4 hours of sleep at a time so we're feeling lucky. We haven't had much luck transferring her into her crib at night (she still sleeps next to our bed) but we plan to start the transition pretty soon since she'll be one-month old next week! I can't believe it's already been a month.

Here are some pictures of the many faces of Sammy for your enjoyment:

Pacifier view.

First smile recorded on camera.

Her sleeping baby zombie hands.

Victory!

So tired her tongue hangs out.

Her first mail. Why we recorded this and not her first bath is a mystery.

7-mile stare...

Funny faces.

Crying.

Popeye.

Baby Pictures

No time for more than some pictures since I need to get to a doctor's appointment. I'm on day three by myself and so far its going ok but I'm still not showered at 12:30 so...Here are some pics of Samantha's first 11 days days.

Her first official photo.

Our first family photo.

Under the bili-light in the nursery. Bryan called it "the spa".

You can see how yellow she was in this one.

Finally going home!

First look at her nursery. Lions, tigers and bears...oh my!

Sleeping mommy's arms.

She loves her boppy.

Meeting her cousins.

My favorite photo.