Just Us Lately :)

Ahhh, maternity leave, how I love thee... ;o) Although exhausting, these last couple weeks have been wonderful. Our little Stella is blossoming... as much as a 7 week old can really blossom. ;) She's happier, a fantastic eater, cuter by the second, sleeping like a rock star, and just so sweet. She gets more used to her sister's less-than-gentle hand shakes, head pats, and hugs everyday. Ava's not totally used to the fact that she's not the star of attention anymore, but she's handling it like a big girl. As big girl as I can expect from an almost 3 year old, at least. :) Right now, Stella-bell loves her nightly baths, loves her legs massaged, loves her swaddler blanket, and loves to nurse. Pretty sure her favorite time of the day is bedtime because she gets all these things! :) We start her bedtime routine around 7:15pm and she's in her crib and out cold by 7:48pm every night. Not kidding... it's so weird, I'm literally walking down the stairs at 7:48 almost every evening, lol! Back in the early days, it would take sometimes hours (!) of rocking and ssh'ing to get her to fall asleep before bed. Who am I kidding... I don't think she had a bedtime! More like nights full of scattered naps. Glad that's over! Anyway, I knew I couldn't keep up with the lengthy bedtime routine now with 2 little ones to get ready for bed. So, every few nights I would lay her down after less and less rocking each time. So by now, after her bath, massage, and swaddling, I nurse her and she dozes off. After a burp, I put her in her crib and she falls asleep... sometimes with a couple minutes of fussing, but usually she's just out. Of course, I spend the entire 20 minutes of nursing just staring at her cute little self... her cheeks are getting a little chub to them, and her fluffy hair sways in the air while we rock. I try to burn these moments into my memory... never ever forget this moment right here, Liz!!! How I love motherhood... :)

That's all for now... onto some pics!

Dad and his girls...

She means business ;o)

She's starting to enjoy her jungle gym. I remember Ava loved this thing... actually she still tries to enjoy it... silly girl.

Checkin' out her daddy.

^ Stella at 6 weeks in the tub ^

^Ava at 6 weeks in the tub^

I just thought it was interesting to see them compared at the same age... naked! :o)

Riding a pony at the zoo. This pony's name is "Awesome". When we asked Ava later what the pony's name was that she rode at the zoo she said, "my pony's name was "Cool"!" HA!

Helping mama make bread. Glad to be back in the kitchen! Not having to soothe a wailing baby all evening makes this a little easier. ;) Now she likes to sit in her bouncer and watch the dinner-making! :)

Because Stella does not sleep well on the go (which means lots of crying on the go!), we end up staying home all day most of the time. So, to entertain miss Ava, we spend our time painting (lots of painting! :), coloring, playing with My Little Ponies, reading, playing Memory and other little learning games, decorating the driveway with sidewalk chalk, watching movies, and building skyscrapers and bird houses with blocks. Why birdhouses? I have no idea... it was Ava's idea. :)

And here's the girl who shares my heart with the other lil peanut in this house. :)

One Month Big!

It's Stella's one month milestone! She made it... we made it... and we're all happy! Well, mostly... I'll cover that later. :) As of today, she's actually 6 weeks old (what? I've kinda had my hands full! :) and so much has happened over the last short (well... long) 6 weeks. One thing I've learned about myself this time around is that I really don't do the newborn stage very well. The first time around, I had no idea what was to come, like after the newborn stage, so I just went with it and was so excited to learn at each stage that it all does get easier and more fullfilling. This time, already knowing these things, I find myself thinking, "Oh I can't wait til she's giggling and rolling over and blowing us razzberries!" Newborns, while snuggly and sweet-smelling, are basically just that... and while I love this baby girl more everyday and try to just soak up these early months, I'm looking forward to the coming stages of her baby life. But for now, we've got SMILES! She shoots us a few every now and then and they help affirm that she really does love us despite the hefty amount of crying that she does! Ha! They really are heart-melting. I think babies learn to smile at just about the time you think you're going to lose it... 5 ish weeks for miss Stella bell.

Tuesday marked Stella's 6 weeks. Since then, she has totally mellowed out (knocking really hard on wood over here ;). Up until then, she spent a good share of her days pretty irritable and fussy. And evenings were much worse. I originally thought we were dealing with a colicky baby, but I have since concluded that her immature belly and the reflux is probably the culprit. She is just a firecracker (remember me saying that she came out screaming and crying and crying and crying at delivery? yep, still a firecracker :) and gets fussy easy... I mean I guess? Who really knows. I took her to the pediatrician earlier this week because I've heard this reflux can be some nasty stuff for babies and I just needed a little guidance on how I can make her less miserable-acting. I'm still nursing, and being that I've already been nursing longer this time than I did with Ava, i'm pretty much a rookie at this so I thought maybe it's something I'm eating that's bothering her tummy. Thankfully, Dr. Brown said, "Eat whatever you want." He doesn't advise changing my diet because only a very small amount of what I'm eating crosses over through my breastmilk, and basically this is just something she will grow out of around 3-4 months. I did cut back on dairy... sadly... so we'll see how she does. I'd rather not have my baby take medications if I can help it... but I also don't want her to be miserable. So, there's our last 6 weeks in a nutshell. OH, and sleep. It's getting better. :) She now sleeps anywhere from 9p-3a and sometimes 9p-5a. I cannot be anymore thankful for that!! She gets up around 6:30-7:30a for the day.

Stella weighed 9 lbs 5 oz at her one month well visit! That's up 3 lbs since her 3 day old visit! She's 21 & 1/4 inches long, which is one and a quarter inches longer than last month. Amazing how fast these babies grow... no wonder she's fussy! Really, I think we're coming off a week long growth spurt and that's why she has been more mellow the past few days. She went from 9# 5 at her one month appt to 9# 15 oz at her appt this week!! Another reason I"m not worrying about this "reflux"... its not stopping her, she's growing like crazy!

Another daddy's girl...

Lil papoose :)

One Month Big!!

Calming the fussies in the Moby wrap. It really does help :)

Taken today... 6 weeks old. She loooves her swing...and so do we. :) Check out that hair... I love it!