Coincidence? I Sure Hope So...

This guy (above) is Redfoo from the group LMFAO.  Though I've seen him before I had to use Google to find out what his "name" is.  I am also 100% sure that my 4½ year old would have no clue who this guy was if she was shown a photo of him yet, in the collage below it sure seems to me as if she is channeling him with her crazy hair and weird outfit.

One thing is for sure though...we have a performer on our hands!

"I Want to Hold Her."

"I Want to Hold Her!" 

I hear this sentence many, many times in a week and when I have the opportunity to stay close at hand and supervise, I will allow Y to do it.  But it's not as easy as it once was.  It used to be that Y would make the request, she'd sit on the couch, and I'd place the Boppy pillow around her and then lay Q on it.

Those were the days before Q became active.  Now she wants to sit up, she has no interest in laying much anymore and thus it's a little more challenging for Y to hold her.  .And even more challenging to get a decent picture of the two.  Not to mention that while she's sitting up she constantly trying to find a way to get her feet in her mouth.

We were given a picture frame at Christmas which says, "The Girls" and I've desperately been trying to snap a picture that I can have printed up to put inside it but it is proving to be rather difficult!  But it's just as well I suppose, we plan on taking outdoor family photos this spring and so whatever photo I could take would undoubtedly be replaced by one of those.

But, here are a few of the pictures I was able to take:

2011 Family Photos

Back in September we bought a Groupon for a photo session at JCPenney Portrait Studios.  Today is the day we went to have the pictures taken, and here are the results:

The three poses we ordered:

And here is a collage with all the poses we took:



Recent Photos

Just a few different facial expressions!

I guess big girls need tummy time too!

6 Weeks!

Never mind that I am a week late writing this post...only 1 day before she turns 7 weeks but it has been a crazy sort of week.  Though the post has been on my mind for most of the last week this is my first opportunity to sit down and actually write it.

Monday, September 12th actually began Q's 6th week with us.  Things are beginning to get back to normal, or the new normal that is.  We've had issues with gas, reflux, colic and sleeping but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The gas kind of went away on it's own so I'm thinking it wasn't the real culprit of all her crying,  it was likely just an added bonus for a few days here and there.  We're still battling the reflux and no matter what I seem to eat, or rather avoid eating, she still has to suffer through it.  During Y's well child visit on Wednesday I had the opportunity to ask him some questions about reflux and he instructed me that if it gets any worse to call in and he will prescribe something for her - calling in is definitely on my todo list after this weekend.  I felt so bad for her, you could really tell that it was bothering her by the cry which she let out after each time she spit up.  I think I have deduced that anytime I have any tomato based product that it is substantially worse but it's always present, just at varying degrees.  As for colic, it's nothing like I thought it would be.  By definition colic is 3 or more hours of crying a day on 3 or more days per week for 3 or more weeks.  That is one of the broadest definitions I've ever heard for anything and so it leads me to believe that colic is more a symptom of a problem than the problem itself.  Also by that definition, yes Q was definitely colicky, but the likely culprit was the reflux and being overtired.  That brings me to the other major issue we battled/are battling - sleep.  Q was a great sleeper until the reflux really kicked into high gear and then she'd wake up every half hour screaming because she had spit up.  We lifted one end of the mattress, put her in the car seat to sleep, none of it seemed to help. And when she'd wake it'd be super difficult to get her back to sleep and by the time we did get her to sleep again she'd wake up because it was time for her to eat.  It was a never ending cycle and caused much frustration on our part and even more crying on her part.  As a result her sleep got all off whack and I would often misread her signals and well, it was an uphill battle.  I started keeping a sleep log and paid more attention to her sleep/wake cycles to get a better grasp on knowing when she was ready to go down to sleep.  I still haven't perfected it but she's napping much better now than she was just over a week ago.  I am hoping that as she sets more of a schedule for herself that it will get easier for me.

Now that she's spending less time crying we've begun to see the smiles and hear the cooing that I love so much.  We've also been able to take more pictures of her which I will share some of below.  While we took Y to her well child visit on Wednesday I put Q on the scale to see approximately how much she weighs currently and she was at 10lbs 4oz.  Granted that was with clothes on (they normally weigh babies with only a diaper on) but being as her clothes don't weigh a heck of a lot I figure it's probably somewhat close to accurate, give or take a few ounces!

 

I LOVE this picture!!

 

The First Week

Where has the week gone?!?!  It's been a whirlwind sort of week.  We were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday and it seems we've been rolling ever since.  It's been nice having B at home with me but that all ends tomorrow when he returns to work.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dreading it.  In fact, in all honesty I get emotional every time I think about it.  I generally don't deal well with approaching and dramatic change, it always overwhelms me, but once thrown into the "fire" I always end up working my way through it and it's never quite as bad as I anticipate it to be.  But it still makes me extremely nervous and on edge.

Y has seemed to adapt fairly well to having a little sister around - well except for when it comes to B holding said little sister. She isn't too keen on sharing daddy yet, hopefully that will become a bit easier for her though.  As for Q, she has been pretty easy going.  She sleeps a lot and we've had a few "disagreements" already when it comes to nursing, but she seems to have relented and is going along with mommy.  She has the most beautiful eyes and I really hope they remain that way though I haven't been able to take a picture yet that captures them.  Anyway, here are a couple pictures which I snapped today since she is now a full week old.  Enjoy!

Welcome Baby Q!!

Impromptu Pictures

Today while I had the camera out taking pictures of the Baby Q's newly hung name, Y decided that she wanted to have her picture taken too and since this isn't something that she allows me to do very often, I decided to take her up on it.  I suppose I should clarify that when I say, "she doesn't allow me to do it very often," it's not that she doesn't like to have her photo taken, she LOVES it.  But she wants to have her picture taken and stand BEHIND the camera to SEE the picture at the same time.  One day she'll understand that I actually have to take the picture before she can see the picture on the camera, but until that day arrives I guess we'll be snapping these impromptu photos.

Pictures As Promised...A Week Ago!

Washington DC Temple

We made it a point to stop in to take a few pictures and show Y the place where we got engaged and later married.  She loved seeing the temple and kept asking to see Jesus (in reference to the large Christus that is in the Visitor's Center).

This was our first trip back here since we were married here almost 6 years ago.

Y loved visiting the temple but especially loved the replica home that was inside the Visitor's Center.



 

 

Y sitting with me on the bench outside the temple where B proposed.

The Outer Banks

I am convinced that the closest place to Heaven on Earth are the Outer Banks of North Carolina!  If you've never been there for a visit then I insist that you do so.  Fortunately for us it's not a super long drive from my parent's house. Y LOVED it and it was undoubtedly her favorite part of the trip.

Coquina Beach, it's part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and right across the road is the Bodie Island Lighthouse that you can climb and tour. 

The walkway that takes you from the showers/changing rooms to the beach.

My mom, Y, and myself playing in the sand.  It was a perfect day - 85 degrees and a water temp of 72!

She's focused...she's got the Michael Jordan tongue going on.

Family & Temple (Again)

Here are a few pictures of us hanging out with my family as well as a final stop at the temple on the drive back home.

Y playing with her cousin, G who's 6 weeks older than her.

We drove back on a Monday so the temple was closed but the grounds were still open.  We had the whole place to ourselves until the couple who took our picture showed up - they were traveling as well.