11 Months

One more month until our precious girl turns one year old! Unofficially, she's around 17.4 lbs and about 27" tall (I'm using the baby gate as my ruler for height). Much like 10 months, there isn't too much to update in terms of progress. She does a lot of standing on her own, but we still can't convince her to take steps without a finger or other support. Like her daddy, she loves tomatoes. A majority of the time she now shares my plate of food for meals. Not much longer and she'll be able to have just about anything to eat.

This month we started doing the Baby Signing Time series of videos. They help teach infants/toddlers (and parents too!) sign language with fun songs and animations. Usually Ada's not one for watching tv; she'd much rather play with her toys. Not the case with these videos. She'll bring J or I the case, or do the sign for "baby" when she wants to watch them (which is at least once a day). Like all good children's program, the songs are rather infectious. I find myself singing the songs long after we are done watching the videos. I'm also dvr-ing the original Signing Time show, which comes on PBS early Sunday mornings. I'm certainly no where near conversational, but I can put together small phrases.

Our 11 Month Old Monster 

Taking Lamby on a walk around the house

Playing in a box with my buddy

Ada's First Aggie Game

This month Ada attended her first Aggie game at Kyle Field. We saw the Aggies take on the Auburn Tigers. Even though they ran out of time, we had a good time. I need to preface the story of this weekend though. At the beginning of October, I got strep (first time in almost 29 years). Despite our attempts to prevent, J came down with it the Wednesday before the game. Doctor visit Thursday gave him new meds. By Saturday he wasn't any better, so the doc called in new meds to College Station. Unfortunately it wasn't in time for him to be up to going with us to the game.

Ada and I struck out on our own for Kyle Field that afternoon. Mom and Dad had left ahead of me, at separate times. It was a little chilly in the stands as we were in the shade, but I hear it was the better option to being in the sun the whole time. I didn't do terribly well traveling with baby and accessories on my own (Ada in a sling plus diaper bag, camera and sweatshirt). Somehow we made it up to the seats.

Knowing that the game was going to last 4 hours, during nap time, we were unsure of how things would go. However, I made sure that I had plenty of food and toys to entertain Ada. She was loving it from the start. I put her up on my shoulders to get a better view and she giggled with delight. At times it even seemed like she was cheering along with the crowd. Somehow we managed to make it the whole game (plus of course travel to and from, total of 7 hours I think) without it being too terrible. Hopefully next year J will be feeling better and we can do more of the pre-game Aggieland fun.

Pre-game, playing with her train

With Nini at the start of the game

Watching the players run on the field

With Pop at half time

This picture cracks me up, "Why?!?"

Family shot

Double digits, 10 months!

We hit double digits with Ada on the 14th. I feel like things are starting to slow down, in terms of progress. Seemed like she went through so much between 6 and 9 months at top notch speed, and now is plateaued. Unofficially she weighed 16.8 lbs, and I'd put her around 26.5".

Currently she's not any close to walking on her own. I can get her to walk holding my fingers, but she has to be holding on with both hands. If I let go, she immediately sits down and continues with crawling. Perhaps in the next month she'll realize that walking is the way to get around.

She's been eating more "real" food as opposed to purees. Some of her favorites include: lil meat sticks, cheese, crunchies (like cheetoes for babies) and all sorts of fruit. Much like her momma, she's not as interested in eating the veggies. We'll keep offering and trying though in hopes that she'll eat them. Also like her momma, she's a climber. Her new thing is to empty her doll cradle and climb into it, usually with a book (sometimes a toy as well). Her personality is beginning to come through and I'm excited to see the person she's going to become.

Are you ready for some football?

One exciting thing in our house is the beginning of football season. Both college and pro football keep us occupied on the weekends. Sometimes Beau and I end up in other rooms to watch our respective teams (if the games are being aired simultaneously). Of course, Ada has to help represent her parents' school pride. Given that we went to different schools (him Wisconsin, me Texas A&M), her outfits alternate from week to week. Of course there's no argument with pro (I sort of rooted for the Cowboys, but not really a true fan), we just have to get her some Packers gear.

I can't wait until Friday. We are doing her 9 month pictures with a football theme. Until then, here are some shots of her supporting the teams.

Supporting the Aggies for the season opener against Rice

 Ready to Jump Around as the Badger took on Tennessee Tech

On the bus to Aggieland for the Alabama pre-game

(we actually watched the game from Nini & Pop's house)

9 month update

Saturday was Ada's 9 month birthday. So crazy to think that we are merely 3 months away from her first birthday. Today we had our 9 month well check, which included our flu vaccination. She took it like a champ and only cried for a little bit. Officially she's 15 lbs and 26" tall, which fall into the 2nd and 7th percentiles respectively. She may be small for her age, but she proportionate and her head circumference (most important) is still in the 50th percentile.

We've been given the green light to start adding more carbs to her diet and start trying to swap solid snacks for bottles of formula. At this point, we can also start adding meats and more table food into her diet as well. This mom's gotta get back to introducing new foods into the diet. She has her picky days, which makes it harder at times to get the new things in there.

Each day she's doing more standing and "walking" around the furniture. She can stand unsupported for a few seconds before losing her balance. I'm sure that she'll be off and walking/running in the next month. In the meantime, she's cruising all over the house by crawling. She's amazingly quick, so we do our best to keep her contained. Stairs are also now a breeze for her. I try to let her crawl up them herself when we have the time.

The doctor today noticed 2 new teeth that are beginning to break through, her two lateral incisors on the top. We have a vampire baby on our hands now. Perhaps we'll be able to sing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" come December. This brings our total number of teeth to 3, none of which are fully through yet.

Lots of babbling has been going on for a while now, but I think she may finally be cognitively making sounds. Lots of mmmm/mamama when she wants something (food, me, etc). She's getting an understanding of simple commands. For example when I tell her to "watch her fingers" she'll pull them back from what ever I'm trying to close. However, there isn't always a guarantee that she'll do what's asked of her, especially no/stop/leave it. Ours is definitely a strong willed child.

9 months old (excited by J coming down the stairs) 

At Story Time at the Library with friends from MOMS group

8 months old

Once again, I've gotten a little behind with the updates; however, such is life with a little one. We crossed the 8 month mark on August 14. Unofficially, Ada Bean was 14.8 lbs and about 25.5" long. On her 8 month birthday, I felt her first tooth coming through! It was the bottom right incisor. Very exciting to finally have a tooth coming through.

By this time, we were able to start introducing more fruits and veggies into her diet. Things like melon, blueberries, regular potatoes, beets and turnips to name a few. In addition to these, we started trying more snacky-finger foods as well, like the Gerber Li'l Crunchies (man does she love those).

Just after passing 7 months, Ada got down her all-4's crawl and began to pull up on the coffee table and other furniture. I have to be constantly aware of what's on top of lower surfaces now. She's cruising everywhere and getting into everything.

We also joined the local MOMS group, which is for stay at home moms. We do playgroups and lots of fun outings with other moms and kids. It's been a great way to meet new people and socialize Ada.

8 months old, and such a ham! 

Helping Momma with Laundry

Our 100th Post!

Woohoo! 100 posts since starting our blog two and a half years ago. What a wild ride these past two and a half years have been. From merely dating and finding our first home together, through getting engaged, planning and then executing our wedding and finally through our first pregnancy, raising our first child and buying our first house together.

I can't say that two and a half years ago I'd ever think this is where we'd be today. However, I am so happy with how our life is turning out thus far. Some days are harder than others, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else.

Who knows where the next 100 posts will take us, but I'm excited to find out.

Ada's 6 month photo shoot

Picture courtesy of Taryn Melgoza Photography

7 month update

We crossed the 7 month threshold almost 2 weeks ago and Ada's definitely keeping us busy. Unofficially she was at 14.4 lbs and somewhere over 25" (I think maybe 26"). As mentioned in my previous post, we're up to 3 solid meals a day, along with our typical nursing sessions. I'm slowly trying to phase out the formula/extra bottles. The pediatrician said we could do it as we got into a good three meal a day. She's eating anywhere from 2-4 oz per meal depending on how she's feeling.

We're off and crawling now. Around the beginning of July Ada began with an army crawl where she tucked her right arm under her chest and pulled with her left. Possibly a lefty? Guess we'll find out. Now she's working on the full, up on all fours crawl. Sometimes she gets it, other times she bobs up and down. This week while we've been visiting Nini and Pop (my folks) she's decided to start pulling up to standing and taking a few steps. I have a feeling that she'll be an early walker.

Still no teeth yet, but definitely all the signs. Drooling, chewing on everything, etc. Mom doesn't quite remember when I first got teeth, but she knows it was later on. J got teeth just before turning 8 months, so we could have at least another month before anything breaks through. It's a busy time with this active little one.

Solid foods

I decided early on that I was going to try to make all of Ada's solid foods, except the cereals. So we started out with oatmeal, which didn't go over terribly well on it's own. Her first real foods included avocado and banana since these were easy to mash up. She's really taken well to most foods. Only a couple, like peas and green beans, that have to be mixed with other foods to go down easier.

We've made it through most of the foods that she's allowed to have currently according to the website I've been using as a guideline. Just recently we've added her third meal, lunch. I started doing just dinner, then added a breakfast, and finally lunch. Adding each about 2 weeks after the previous. Breakfast is usually a fruit or two with some cereal (mixed grain or oatmeal), lunch is a combo of 2-3 fruits and veggies (sometimes with cereal) and dinner is usually 2-3 veggies (and the occasional fruit).

It's been a fun journey making foods and introducing my little one to a wide variety at an early age. Hopefully I can start adding some of these foods to our meals too as Ada gets older.

6 months old!

We made it to 6 months! Halfway to 1 year old! Where has the time gone?!? At her 6 month well check Ada was 13.1 lbs and 24.5" long, still on the lower end of the charts, but at least on them. 

By this time Ada was doing with the pediatrician called tripoding, which is a precursor to sitting. Within two weeks of this (the end of the month) she was able to sit up fully on her own. While we may have mastered the sitting part, the getting up/down from sitting was not quite there yet. Also she's doing a lot of rolling around to travel from one place to another. Nothing is safe anymore!

6 months was an exciting time because we now introduced solid foods. Our first taste was oatmeal cereal and Ada was not a fan of plain oatmeal. Subsequent solids that have become favorites were avocado and bananas. Now that we are introducing solids, the pediatrician said that once she gets a good three meal a day routine we can finally drop the formula! It may take some time, but hearing this made me one happy momma :)

We also marked this momentous milestone with a photo session with Taryn Melgoza Photography. The pictures turned out amazing and Ada loved her. I think we have a winner for all future shoots. Now enjoy some cute baby pictures :)

Ada tripoding

Our first taste of cereal

Six months old!

Closing and Moving

Wow.... It's been a while since I updated our blog. So be warned that there will be several posts over the next week.

We closed on the new house May 20. It was a relatively smooth process.

Moving day was May 23. My mom came down to help with the last of the packing, moving and watching of Ada. It was wonderful to have the extra set of hands. The movers had expertly and quickly loaded up all our stuff in the morning. Then after lunch, delivered it to the new place. Rather uneventful really.

By May 30 we had everything finally out and a cleaning crew come to clean the old place for us. Ada definitely didn't make the last of the moving easy. So we opted for having someone come take care of it for us.

It was sad to leave the island, but we know that we are in a great place for the next stage of our life.

Rascal helping with packing

Movers arrived!

5 months and moving

Today marks 5 months since Ada arrived. Next month will be half way to 1, eek! In one month, she's come so far that I can only imagine what this next month has in store for us. As of Friday, she was 12.2 lbs. We went to the doc to check out what ended up to be dry skin. No clue how tall, but I'm sure she's over 24".

She's moving and grooving, as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts. Lots of rolling and almost rolling as well as scooting on her back and twisting around. I'm guessing that she'll be fully rolling and maybe even some attempts at crawling in the next month. She's also sitting and standing, both with help.

The only thing we are struggling with is sleeping. Naps are inconsistent, some days almost non-existent. We were doing great with bed time and then in the last week things have been rough. I think it's because the sun is setting later and later. Hopefully we can get some black-out curtains for her new room to help her with going to bed earlier.

In other news, we are getting into the final week prior to closing and moving. The dining room is starting to overflow with boxes, especially now that we are starting to transfer boxes out of storage. Hopefully we'll make it through the next couple days until we can make the final push to pack. Exciting times to come!

They see me rollin'....

About a week after her four month check up, I caught Ada almost completely rolled from her back to her front. So I thought to myself "Rolling front to back should happen first. If she's this close to back to front perhaps she can roll if I put her on her tummy" So I flipped her over and readied my camera (since J was at the office).

I am one proud Momma :) We still haven't mastered back to front, but she's getting closer every day. My baby is growing up so quickly.

4 month update

Sunday was Ada's 4 month birthday. It's hard to believe that four months have already passed by us. Ada's growing by leaps and bounds with each passing day. She's already trying to feed herself when she has a bottle. I'm kept busy helping keep her entertained daily. Simply laying on her activity mat doesn't always cut it. We now have an activity center that she's enjoying, even though she looks ridiculous sitting in it. 

Everything goes into her mouth now and she's testing limits. Nothing like watching your child see how far down her throat she can shove her fingers. I live for her smiles and laughs. Whenever I get her laughing, it makes me laugh. I love to hear it so much.

4 months!!

Her 4 month check up and shots were on Monday. She didn't do quite as well as she did at 2 months, but we some how made it through. Ada is now actually on the charts in all areas: 23.25" long, 11.2 lbs and head circumference of 16.14". These are in the 16th, 6th and 52nd percentile respectively. We are going to keep up our current feeding routine and hopefully after the 6 month check we'll be able to let her sleep through the night. Our pediatrician just wants to be sure that her weight continues to rise at a good rate.

In other news, we've begun packing up our house in anticipation of the move. We folded down the dining table and put it off to the side so we could start filling our dining with packed boxes. The next couple weeks will go by quickly, so I'm trying to get ahead on packing things that we won't need between now and then.

Also, I've been having some issues with wrist pain in the past couple weeks. My ob/gyn referred me to an orthopedist to diagnose the problem. He confirmed what I thought it most likely was which is de Quervain's tendonitis. It's like carpel tunnel and apparently many new mom's experience it. Hopefully a regimen of anti-inflammatory pills and rest should help get me over it soon. Gotta love all these postpartum issues.... 

Well, it's time to get back to playing with baby girl, working and getting the house in order for moving.

Feeding Update

Not sure why I've been thinking more on this subject tonight than usual, but I know I haven't really said much in a while about how the feeding is going. Over the weeks we found our groove and what's worked best for us. We do 8 feedings each day with about 10 ounces of supplement throughout the day.

It's taken time for me to come to terms with how things have turned out. I keep thinking about how everything from labor and delivery to now has not gone according to plan. My plans have ended up going to the wayside. During L&D this didn't seem like a big deal. Sacrificing my plans to get Ada here safely were worth it because we got her here safely. However, having my breast feeding plans get thrown off has been harder to accept. Possibly because I'm reminded of it everyday.

As Ada gets older it's getting harder to stick with my plan. I feel like I've been stuck in a cycle of guilt. If I spend time pumping, I feel guilty that I'm not spending time with my family. If I spend time with the family, I feel guilty that I'm not pumping as much milk. There simply aren't enough hours in my day to do it all: work, take care of my home and family, enjoy all the little moments. Now throw on top of that trying to prepare for buying a house and moving.

In the end, there are a couple lessons I can take away from this experience. First is that seeking professional help is better done sooner than later (possibly the most important). With the next (which is a ways off still), I won't wait to call in the reinforcements. Especially after this experience. Second is accepting the balance that you achieve, whether it's your ideal balance or not. I'm trying to not beat myself up over only pumping 2 times a day (as opposed to 4 or more). I'm hoping once we introduce solid foods in another couple months the need to pump will become moot. This also includes accepting what my body is capable of in terms of production.

I keep taking life one day at a time. Lots of deep breaths and baby steps.

Ada's Baptism

Planning Ada's baptism for Easter weekend made for an interesting Sunday. Church was busy with all sorts of activities: an Easter egg hunt for the kids, family pictures, lots of fellowship time with good food.

Besides our family and friends, we had a packed house to share in our special day. There were over 300 people! Reverend Bob had the children come forward to share in the event, along with all the family.

Ada did really well with everything. She fell asleep at the beginning of the service. I thought she would sleep through the baptism, but she woke up right as we walked up to the baptismal font. She didn't cry once during the entire process. Not while Rev Bob put water on her head, not when he walked her down the aisle with all the other kids following.

Now after the service, that was a different story. She wasn't overly thrilled about being in the baptism dress (which was mine from when I was an infant). So after the baptism I took her back to the nursery and put her in her Easter onesie. Once church was over, everyone was asking to get pictures with her in the dress. I decided to put her back in it and boy was she unhappy with me. There's not one picture with her not screaming and red faced.

We had lunch at Sunflower bakery after, which was a really nice affair. Then we came home a got a few more family pictures with a happier (not dressed up) baby girl.

All in all it was another great Easter on the island :)

Easter Weekend

We had a fantastic, and busy, Easter weekend with family and friends. Long before Ada's arrival, we started making plans for her baptism. After consulting with the family we decided on Easter weekend. It gave everyone a chance to recover from Christmas.

Friday afternoon, Kyle and Marcy came down to spend some time with their niece. She enjoyed them, especially her Uncle Kyle. I think it's because he made lots of funny faces and noises, and played with her on her mat.

Candi and Michael spent Friday evening babysitting for us so we could enjoy a dinner out. We hit Sky Bar for happy hour sushi (making up for all the sushi I couldn't eat while pregnant).

Saturday the family and some friends went out for dinner at Salsa's. We enjoyed getting to catch up with everyone over good food. One of my favorite pictures captured Ada and Kaya interacting with each other. Hopefully they'll be great friends like their moms ;)

3 months and growing

March was Ada's three month birthday. The first month we didn't have to do a doctor visit, as she's been on a good weight gaining trend. Unofficially she was 9.6 pounds and about 23 inches.

It's hard to believe how much she's grown in the past three months and how much she's changed. For the most part, Ada's a happy baby. We get lots of smiles and laughs each day (in addition to some fussy times). She's talking more and more each day and becoming interactive with toys and life around her. She wants to be able to see the world around her and feel included, even if that means Momma or Daddy has to hold her.

We set up her activity mat, which she really enjoys. Ada enjoys watching a couple TV shows, namely Dinosaur Train and Word World on PBS. So far, no rolling yet. More tummy time would help, but we aren't always keen on tummy time. I don't anticipate her getting teeth until she's closer to 7 months, but the drooling has begun. Might have to cave and start putting bibs on her soon.

Life is settling down nicely and we've gotten a decent schedule going now that Ada's a little bit older. I'm excited for our move and getting Ada her own dedicated space and not just a corner of our bedroom.

Three months old!

Houses, houses and more houses

After seeing several houses and weighing our options, we decided to put an offer in on a house in the non-gated section of South Shore Harbour. It was a 2 story house that backed up to a small man made lake. Originally we hadn't been sure we even wanted to see it, but we decided to check it out and it grew on us.

Sadly after some back and forth, we ended up becoming the back up offer. We're not sure what happened, but it was becoming more of a headache than we really wanted. So we began the house hunt again, as we'd ruled out the other one we'd narrowed down to in the previous round.

We went back to the League City area two more times to see all the other options for our price range that met our needs. The second time around we saw an amazing house inside the gated section of South Shore Harbour. The house backs up to the golf course and a water hazard. It was a little outside our price range, but we decided it couldn't hurt to see if he'd entertain a lower offer.

We heard back by the end of the day and he agreed, so we started the process of putting in our formal offer. Last week we had a home and pest inspection done. We should be closing late May and moving by the end of the month. It's going to be a whirl wind couple months! Here are some pictures of the new place.

 The front and side of the house

The view from the deck/patio in the backyard

Two Month Check-up, Valentine's Day and House Hunting

Ada's two month birthday fell exactly on Valentine's Day, which ended up being a very busy day for us. We started the morning with her two month check-up and immunizations. Ada was up to 8.1 pounds and 21 inches, which was great progress! I was warned that we could have some adverse reactions to the immunizations (fever, fussiness, etc), which worried me as we were planning on house hunting in the afternoon. Fortunately, that was not the case. Aside from fussing during the shots, she did amazing the rest of the day.

 Two months old!

It was a long day....

During the afternoon we toured several houses in the League City area and found 3 potentials. Two that were in the neighborhood of South Shore Harbour and one in Victory Lakes. Earlier in the week we looked at some houses in Galveston that just didn't quite fit our needs. There were a few more houses on the island we wanted to see before we made a decision.

Upon returning home, we order delivery from Mario's Ristorante. It was a very romantic Valentine's dinner on our living room floor. 

Unexpected difficulties

Fair warning: this post is in regards to feeding issues, read at your own risk.

Toward the end of week five, I started to get worried about the whole weight gain issue. I thought that surely my child would alert me to the fact that she was hungry. For the most part she played the part of a well fed, happy child. She rarely fussed for long periods of time, and usually could be soothed quickly. However, as I started to read more articles online I started to get concerned about the any number of problems that could be lurking beneath the surface.

The IBCLC website listed a place in League City that would do home visits. Within a day I got a response to set up a visit with a lovely IBCLC named Leah. She came down and spent a couple hours with us to see what Ada's intake was during a feeding, watch how she fed, check for any noticeable problems, and from there create a plan to combat the weight issue.

We learned that Ada was only taking in about 2/3 of the amount of milk she was needing at each feeding. Her latch wasn't great and she was not sucking very well. The consultant identified three main issues that were working against Ada: an upper lip tie, a potential tongue tie and a bubble palette. The lip tie was preventing her from being able to phalange her upper lip and get a good seal and the bubble palette made it difficult for her to get milk if she didn't have a deep enough latch.

Our first plan seemed simple enough. First was to contact an ENT in Houston that she trusted for a consult and revision. In the mean time we were to begin giving her supplements in addition to her normal feedings and I was to begin pumping 6-8 times a day. A daunting task, but it seemed do-able. In addition I was to up my intake of herbs to help boost my supply. My original goal was to exclusively breast feed for the first six months before introducing solid foods along with breast feeding. I had already started pumping and building a stock in the freezer. Sadly it wasn't as much as I thought/hoped it was, but it got us by for the first few days.

We visited the ENT a couple days later. He confirmed the lip and tongue tie within minutes and had them snipped in no time. While baby girl was displeased at the time, she seemed to get over it quickly. I had hoped that with this fix, and some of our steps to increase my supply things would be back to normal in no time. Hahaha, not....

The following Sunday the LC dropped off a scale for us to check her weight and see how our progress was going. Sadly, Ada had only gained an ounce or two. I was devastated. After talking things through, and swallowing my pride, I went to the store to buy formula to use as supplement when I was out of breast milk and waiting to pump enough for supplementing.

Two weeks after getting her upper lip and tongue revisioned, we went back for our follow up. Thankfully everything had healed correctly. Now the biggest challenge seemed to be building my supply and baby girl's muscles. By this time I was taking More Milk Plus and Fenugreek several times a day trying to increase (along with pumping and lots of feedings). Since we had the scale we were also doing weight checks with each feeding to track her intake from me and know what to supplement. Being the scientist that I am, there was lots of experimenting with times and techniques to get the best results.

Things were going well, and she began gaining more weight. Our LC decided that it was time to make another visit and move us to the next step: nursing and supplementing via sns instead of a bottle. This would allow Ada to be in more control of how much extra she needed with each feeding. We stopped the weight checks with each feeding and relied on her cues. This worked for a couple weeks before Ada's weight gain stalled and then began to dip.

Frustrated, I tried switching things up during the day. Some sns, some bottle. Then last week I decided to do a check of an afternoon feeding to see how much I was producing (since it's normal to have a dip in supply in the afternoon/evening). Much to my surprise between the feeding and pumping there was 2 full ounces. If my afternoon gave me such a good feeding, surely that was a good sign. So I did a full 24 hour weight check, hoping badly that I was producing enough to stop the supplements (or be closer). Such was not the case. In the weeks since I started monitoring my supply I'd only increased by a couple of ounces. Not nearly enough to come off the supplements.

In the past weeks I've tried a number of things to help boost my supply: taking pills (more milk plus and fenugreek), eating lactogenic foods, making lactation cookies. None had seemed to work. Recently I started an herbal supplement called Shatavari, which has worked for other women. I'm hopeful that it may be working for me as I've recently seen a jump in my pumping volumes. Later this week I will do another 24 hour check to see if things have gotten any better.

No one ever said that breast feeding was easy, even though sometimes it sounds like it should be. I've had my fair share of days where I can't seem to hold it together and cry out of frustration. Frustration with myself that I'm struggling to produce enough milk. Frustration with my child who has to ability to taken a full 2 ounces a feeding, but doesn't always. I'm taking things one day at a time, hoping that my supply will get there but preparing for it not. I'm thankful that my baby girl is getting as much of my milk as I can give her at this time, and for the strength to endure this experience. Baby steps....

One month weight check and newborn photos

With weight gain being an issue, the ped had us come back for a one month check to see how things were progressing. At one month we had gained back our original birth length, but were still not back to our birth weight. However, she had gained some more weight from the previous check up. We set up another weight check at six weeks.

One month old!

Right around our one month "birthday" we had our official newborn shoot with Oceandance Photography. Enjoy some of the amazing shots that she got that day.

Two week check up and New Year's

At two weeks old Ada went back in for a check up and the second round of genetic tests. Much to our dismay, she wasn't anywhere near back to her birth weight, although she had gained some back. After discussing things with the ped, we decided to give her some more time and check again at one month. From what we could see, there didn't seem to be any issues. She fed for the typical length of time, slept well and generally was content.

As parents of a newborn, life really changes from life before kids (duh). We celebrated New Year's Eve at home, just the three of us. We somehow managed to stay up til midnight (thanks to her feeding schedule) before falling asleep.

On New Year's Day we watched the Rose Parade and then the Rose Bowl, cheering on the Badgers. Sadly, they lost :( We're ready for an amazing new year though. After last year, I can only imagine what's in store for us!

Christmas part 2

We had some more Christmas celebrations in the week following Christmas, all falling on Friday. First was my staff holiday lunch at Mosquito Cafe. This was Ada's first official outing to somewhere not the doctor's office. She did pretty well while we were out and we got to enjoy a nice lunch.

That evening the Prices came down for our Christmas gift exchange and brought us dinner. It was a nice evening getting to visit with them and have them meet Ada for the first time.

2 weeks old!

After Prices left we had the last of our gift exchange/openings with Kyle and Marcy via skype. We had planned to do it Christmas day while Mom and Dad were around, but severe weather kept Marcy at the station pretty much all day. So awesome how technology has allowed us to see each other even though there are miles between.