Week 11 - First Easter!

We celebrated Maude's 11 week birthday and First Easter on the same day.  It was our 3rd anniversary on Monday so we spent the weekend (and into Monday) in Paso Robles.  We got married there three years ago and have been able to go back every year for our anniversary.  This meant that Maude spent her first Easter by going wine tasting with her parents!  Lucky girl.  =) She was also quite thoughtful and had a bouquet of flowers delivered to our hotel room which were waiting for us when we got there.  So sweet!

She did amazingly well traveling.  It took us a few more hours than normal to get out of the house on Saturday morning but once we headed out, she was a great traveler.  She was of course a huge hit wherever we went throughout the weekend.  We loved taking her to Cass Winery where we got married. It was so much fun introducing her to Steve and Alice Cass, the owners. 

Maude is one happy little gal.  It's pretty easy to get a big smile and often a giggle out of her.  Her biggest smiles and laughs are saved for her Daddy, though.  She particularly likes it when he sings to her.  A few weeks ago after being out late, Maude was still awake as I was getting ready for bed.  I sat her in bed with Mike and while I was getting ready for bed, I could hear Mike singing a few lines of a song to her, then I'd hear big giggles from her, followed by laughs from Dad.  He'd then start over and sing the same two lines again and I'd hear the father and daughter laughs.  I could have listened to that forever! 

I don't want to jinx it by typing this, but she's also a great sleeper.  It probably has a lot to do with our very busy weekend and the fact that she's catching up a bit on sleep, but for the past three nights, she's slept for 9-10 hours straight without waking up.  She also takes good naps and almost always falls asleep on her own after I put her in her crib still awake.  She lays there and talks and laughs to herself until she falls asleep.  I've heard that many babies' sleep habits change at 4 months.  Poor sleepers will suddenly start sleeping really well and good sleepers will start waking more.  I'm praying that's not the case for our little one, but we'll see.  It will be not so great timing since that's right when I go back to work.

I have lots of photos this week - we were fairly camera happy while in Paso.

Maude and Stella having one last cuddle before we left for the weekend and they were without each other for a few days.

Easter morning.  She looks like she's trying to pray here!

Maude in her Easter basket.

Maude and Momma in downtown Paso's square.

The Overman family in downtown Paso.

Cute baby, playing a bit coy.

Maude and the owner of Windward Vineyard.  We got lots of pictures of her here.  Other visitors also took pictures of her which they've promised they'll email to us!

Happy Baby!!

Maude and Daddy relaxing in our hotel room after a day of wine tasting.

So happy!

Really happy!

Maude and Momma on the deck at Eberle Winery.  This is where Mike and I got engaged.

Maude and Momma standing under the oak tree where we got married.  This photo was taken three years to the day of our wedding.

Week 10 - Photo Post

The past few weeks have been fairly busy and I just didn't have time to post a blog update.  Maude went to her first Dodger's game last week - she had a great time, even though the Dodger's lost!  She's so much fun right now.  She giggles and coos a lot.  She's really discovered her own voice and loves to hear herself jabbering and making lots of funny noises.  She makes me smile and laugh almost all day.

This weekend is our third wedding anniversary so we're taking our annual trip to Paso Robles, where we got married.  This means that Maude's first Easter will be spent there.  Yes, we will be the parents taking our baby to a winery... on Easter.  I'm sure we'll win some sort of parent of the year award for that.  We did buy her a cute outfit so hopefully I can be a little more on top of things next week and get a photo posted of her in it!

I hope you enjoy these photos for now.

This cracked me up.  One arm and one leg out of her swaddle.

Another very funny sleep position.

Tummy time with her white sun hat.  We were inside, but I think the hat is just too cute.

Hanging with Stella.  I love those little leg warmers - they're called Baby Legs.

Just out of the bath.

Dodgers game.

9 Weeks!

Maude turned 2 months old last week.  We celebrated the day by going to the pediatrician and learning that she had pink eye.  I think she got it from another baby (a week older than her) at our yoga class.  I noticed that he had icky green goopy eyes at our last class.  Just a few days later, Maude started having the same thing in her left eye.  Thankfully the drops we got did the trick and she's absolutely perfectly healthy once again!  And in other great news - neither Mike nor I got the nasty infection.

Each week I can't believe how old our baby is.  I remember being 7 months pregnant and thinking that 2 months until I would have her seemed like forever.  Now that she's 2 months old, it feels like just yesterday that I had her.  I have just a month and a half left of my leave and it really doesn't feel long enough!  I can't possibly imagine not spending all day every day with our little girl.

Mike's parents visited this past weekend.  They had a great time meeting and visiting with their second granddaughter.  Mike's dad had a special talent of making funny faces and noises to make Maude smile! We went out to brunch on Saturday and took advantage of a nice day to take some family photos on our front steps afterward.  Mike's dad has a nice camera and we were able to download the photos onto our computer before they left.  A few of them are attached below.

It's amazing how each week brings something new we learn about Maude.  This week, we found that when she's fussy and there could be nothing wrong (she's dry, full, and well rested), she just likes to be put down and be left alone.  We're not sure if she gets overstimulated or what, but as soon as we put her down, she's all smiles again.  She needs her Maude time.  She is indeed my daughter. 

Maude loves being a 2 month old!

Maude's cow dress and cow diapers.  She's obviously thrilled to be wearing them!

Having Maude time playing with her gym.

Family photo.  I can't express enough how much I love this photo.  I look at it several times a day.

Grandpa, Granny, and Maude!

Our Baby Girl is Nearly 2 Months Old!

Maude is now eight weeks old.  It is truly amazing how much a part of our life she is and it hasn't even been two months.  I would have never expected that spending day after day with no down time and a lack of sleep would be okay, and even enjoyable. 

Last week, I mentioned Maude's talent with projectiles.  I even gave an example via a video of a projectile booger.  (I've heard some thought it was a little too gross - sorry about that!!)  Anyway, she showed off her projectile talents last week, but from the other end.  While changing her diaper one afternoon, she sent a little gift flying at least 3 feet across the room.  It hit the nearby bathroom door and overall, made quite the mess.  This was definitely the grossest, and possibly funniest, part of parenthood so far...

Along with all of the nasty moments in parenting, there are many sweet moments. Mike gives Maude a bottle every night just before bedtime.  We made a playlist of songs the two of them listen to while he feeds her and rocks her to sleep.  One of them is "Lullaby" by Billy Joel which he wrote for his daughter.  Mike shared with me that he dreamed of having a daughter and playing that song to her.  Another song on the Daddy & Maude playlist is Paul Simon's "Father and Daughter" which is one of my favorites.  Watching Mike rock her and sing to her each night absolutely melt my heart. 

Enjoy the pictures from this past week!

Daddy and Maude in her rocker.

Bundled up.  We had some chilly days this week as well as days in the 90s.

Tummy Time!

I'm loving these bows - they're velcro!

Maude and her buddy Pete.  Maude is trying to hold his hand.

Things are going pretty well from Maude's perspective.

Clearly Pete doesn't feel the same way about Maude as she feels about him!

Maude is 7 Weeks Old!

Our 7th week with our baby girl has been wonderful.  Her smiles light up our days.  She is a pretty agreeable and happy little gal.  After having the last few weeks with just me and Maude during the day, I've started to figure out her days much better than I was able to before.  I'm starting to understand when she's hungry vs tired vs has gas.  I know about how long she stays awake between naps.

Other things we've figured out this week:
- Maude is not a big fan of the swing.  She doesn't hate it, but it is certainly not the go-to bucket to put our baby in.  She's satisfied in that thing for maybe a full minute.  Luckily, we borrowed our swing from friends who visited this weekend and were able to take it off our hands.  We're happy to have our living room back.
- Maude is able to projectile many things from her little body.  Use your imagination.
- Mike is better at swaddling Maude than I am.
- Maude can shove her entire fist in her mouth.
- Maude likes to shove her entire fist in her mouth so we're now doing the one arm swaddle so she has access to that fist in her sleep.


Today has been a rough day.  Maude got her first round of vaccinations.  The poor gal hated them which was to be expected.  She's been Ms. Fussy Pants tonight as well.  She's been sleeping then will suddenly start crying and fussing.  I feel terrible for her.  Most of the other moms I've talked to said their babies slept a lot the day of the shots and then were cranky for a few days afterward.  Maybe since Maude is cranky on the day of, it will be over by the morning.

We also got Maude's updated stats while at the doctor.  She's now 9lbs 7.5oz and is 21.5 inches tall.  Her doctor was impressed with her neck control.  Our devotion to tummy time has paid off.  Maude and I even took a tummy time class at our favorite place, the Pump Station.  We go there at least once a week for various classes or support groups with other new moms and babies.  It's become our second home.

Below are a few videos and photos from the past week:

Hanging out on her bedroom floor.

Time in her activity gym with Stella keeping a watchful eye.

Daddy after getting a very upset little Maude quieted down.  Shots are no fun!

Close up of the hand on her face.

6 Weeks!

Today is Maude's 6 weeks old.  Woah.  In some ways, it feels like she was just born, but it also feels like she's been a part of our lives forever.  As we do every Sunday, we celebrated her birthday at her birth time.  I'm sure most everyone does this after they have a baby, but it feels like a special little thing that the three of us do together every week (four of us when Stella chooses to chime in on "Happy Birthday").

Our first full week alone went really well.  We had something going on every day which made the week fly by!  Since it takes nearly the entire morning to actually get out of the house, once we're out and go do what we need to get done and then get home, Mike is almost home so I don't feel like we've even had much hanging around the house time.  I decided to leave at least a day or two in the coming week without plans so we can have a little more down time.

We had friends visiting from Seattle this weekend.  Uncle Jason and Aunt Tonya took a few days to come over while on their annual trip to Vegas.   Maude went out to eat for the first time at night.  It was a sport's bar and with the NCAA tournament, it was quite a lively (aka LOUD) place!  She did great - I think it was a lot of excitement for her with many things and people to check out.  The entire weekend was pretty stimulating for her.  Mike, Jason and Tonya went to Magic Mountain yesterday and Maude took a 3+ hour nap!  I was able to shower and get ready all at once (that never happens anymore!), eat lunch, bake some bread, pick up the house, unload the dishwasher, and even relax a little bit.  It was amazing! 

In other sleep news, last Thursday night, Maude went to sleep at 8:30 PM and didn't wake up until 5 AM, then went back to sleep after eating and slept until 8:30.  I felt like I'd slept forever and had so much energy on Friday!  This weekend wasn't as good, but I think the excitement of the guests and the late bed times messed her up a bit.  Here's hoping we can continue with the good sleep patterns starting tonight!

I reported last week that we thought Maude was smiling for real and I can now confidently say that she is!  (We're still pretty sure she's been smiling at us for a few weeks now, but there's now no denying it.)  There's nothing better than getting a wide grin from her just because she sees our faces.  She's also making more little noises and practicing using her voice.  Her very favorite place to be is on her changing pad.  We get more smiles and "oohs", "goos", "gaaahs" and "ahhgs" when she's laying there than we do anywhere else.  She has a colorful, toy-filled, musical, light up play mat that she enjoys, but it's nothing compared to her changing pad.  I spend a good portion of every day standing there and talking, reading, and singing to her. 

Maude's favorite songs are the "Hokey Pokey" which we sing when we're putting an outfit on ("You put your right arm in...") and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with modified words.  She has a soft little lovie which is a pink lamb so we made the song about Maude and her pink lamb.  Here is how it goes:

Maude had a little lamb

Little lamb

Little lamb

Maude had a little lamb

Its fleece was pink as a pig

Everywhere that Maude went

Maude went

Maude went

Everywhere that Maude went

That lamb was sure to go

It followed her to school one day

School one day

School one day

It followed her to school one day

And went to calculus class

(We also replace "calculus" with geometry, biology, chemistry, AP English, or some other class she's sure to love someday)

We're looking forward to what new thing the next week brings! 

Here are updated pictures from this past week.  I felt like we took a lot more than this, but then I realized that Jason and Tonya took a lot with their camera.  It was the first time since the day she was born that we got a few pictures of us as a family so hopefully we can share those once we get them.

All smiles on her changing pad!

I bought her a hat which she obviously loves! (Note that she is on her changing pad, but it doesn't have its cover on and Maude is naked except for the hat.  She'd just peed all over her clothes and the cover.)

Again, loving life on her changing pad!

All dressed up!  I think she looks like she's trying to be all mysterious and model-like in this photo!

Snoozing with Uncle Jason.

I don't know if you can see it, but her shirt has a little scarf on it.  It's cold and rainy today in LA so it is a very appropriate top.

A close up.

5 weeks old!

We skipped the 4 week/one month post mostly because I just didn't have the time.  My mom was visiting during that time and I just didn't get around to updating the blog.  So here is a 5 week update.  Because February was a short month, Maude's 4 week birthday was also her one month birthday.  We celebrated by buying an ice cream cake and letting Maude go to town eating it.  Kidding!  Mike and I sure enjoyed it, though!

As we do every Sunday in celebrating her birthday, we relive the day she arrived.  I have a few funny stories from that day that I forgot to share in our first blog post after she was born.  First off, my water broke at home and we needed to get going to the hospital but I was determined to shower, wash my hair, and dry it before we left.  We also had to pack a few more things for the hospital.  Mike thought I was nuts when he said "ok, let's go" and I said "no, I need to shower and get ready."  Thankfully he was patient and let me do my thing before we left.  We left our house to drive to the hospital at 2:30 AM on Saturday night/Sunday morning and I was absolutely convinced that every driver on the road was a drunk driver.  I think I drove Mike about crazy as I exclaimed about every car "WATCH OUT!  There's a drunk driver!"  Our hospital had recently changed it's procedure for arriving overnight.  It used to be that you'd enter at their main entrance which was right next to labor and delivery.  Beginning February 1 (5 days before we showed up), check in was at the emergency room.  So we parked in their parking ramp and went into the emergency room around 3 AM.  The staff on duty didn't seem to quite know what to do so they gave us some paper name tags and sent us on our way.  After we walked about 10 feet, I realized we didn't know where to go so I went back to ask.  The security guard just pointed at the name tag where it said "East Wing, 1st Floor" and said to look for that.  Ok.  So we set out on our own to find labor and delivery.  Let's just say that finding the East Wing is NOT an easy feat and Mike and I walked around that hospital, completely lost for quite some time.  Because it was 3 AM, there was also nobody around.  (And let's keep in mind that I was having very regular and not so pleasant contractions at this point.)  We thankfully, finally ran into a maintenance worker and begged him to help us find our way.  Even he wasn't entirely sure where to go and didn't even have proper access to get there!  We did finally get there but the whole adventure was a bit stressful at the time and now makes for a good story.

While my mom was here, Mike and I were able to go out to eat BY OURSELVES twice!  A huge thanks to my mom for watching Maude and to both her and my dad for paying for our dinners out.  =)  What a treat!  We were gone for maybe an hour and a half both times which felt like a long time to be away from Maude but it was also nice to have some adult time.

Maude is starting to be awake a bit more throughout the day.  It's fun to have more time to interact with her but also makes it difficult when I need to get things done.  I think she also got pretty darn spoiled with my mom being here and holding her all the time.  In the 4 days since she's been gone, Maude hasn't wanted to do much else besides hang out in our arms.

We think we've seen a few smiles that aren't of the I-have-gas variety but we're not 100% sure.  We like to think she's smiling at our silly antics but I think it's more likely they are involuntary grins.  She should definitely be smiling in reaction to our smiles sometime in the next few weeks.  She's also starting to make some noises that aren't just grunts or cries which is a lot of fun.  There's a part of me that can't wait for the next new thing she'll do, but I also want her to stay her tiny self for a while longer.

On the subject of staying her tiny self, our gal is packing on the pounds (er, I mean ounces)!  As of our last blog post, she weighed 7lbs 5oz and just four days after she weighed in at that, we had to go back to the doctor and she weighed 7lbs 13 oz!  It's been over a week since that appointment and my guess is that she's around eight and a half pounds by now.  She can still wear about half of her newborn outfits, but some are a bit snug at this point.  She's been starting to wear some of her 0-3 month outfits, too.

This will be Maude and my first full week on our own.  I'm really hoping to get into some sort of routine.  Not sure how possible that is with a 5 week old, but we'll give it a try.  It will be nice to have our time together and figure out our days.  I'm very much looking forward to it.

Here are more pics of the little lady.  Enjoy!

Ice Cream Cake!

Clearly she was thrilled to be having her ice cream cake celebrating her one month birthday!

She's a big fan of her fingers when she's coordinated enough to get them to her mouth and have them stay there!

One month old!

Had to get one of Stella in here.  She loves to lay on Maude's play mat.

As long as that pacifier is even near her mouth, she's fine.  If it moves too far away, she lets us know!

5 weeks!  As you can see, we give her a bath each Sunday and take a lot of photos at that time.  We have a photo that looks almost identical to this from each week since she was born.