October 23, 2008

Last night was the 2nd night in a row that Carmen slept 10+ hours...yes 10 hours straight! Wahoo!!!! She didn't nap great yesterday so she was probably tired from that. Yesterday was her first trip to the hardware store. And today she's visiting KDOT and Huhtamaki (where we work). :) Carmen & Dad have been busy!

Yesterday morning I was lucky enough to have about 5 minutes with Carmen (before my ride to work came) and she made my morning. She was smiling & cooing...great way to start the day! Here's a little clip from last night.

October 21, 2008

Picture 1 - crashed out after a bottle. Picture 2 - Carmen still loves her hands. She holds them together a lot, especially when it's almost time to eat.

I have survived 2 days of work and Brian has survived his first 2 days with Carmen! :) It was nice to be back among my work friends, even though I missed Carmen lots & lots!! Today Brian took Carmen to Alisa's, where she will start daycare on Monday...just to try to get her acclimated a little. Though I know she'll receive much love from Alisa, it will be another hard adjustment!

She slept through the night Sunday night - from 9 pm to 5:30 am. That was the 3rd night in a week! Last night she slept until 3:30, still pretty good for a 6 week old!

New things for Carmen. She is kicking her legs & waving her arms a lot more, especially under the mobile. She is talking & cooing more all the time. She is holding her head up better. Her legs are getting stronger - she pushes off. And here's a clip of how well she is following things with her eyes. I was holding a musical seahorse that's got a glowing belly. She also follows Mommy with her eyes, which is quite annoying to Daddy when he's trying to get her attention. :)

October 19, 2008

Fun weekend! Lori, Haley & Austin came Friday. My best friend Monica came to visit on Saturday.

We had a fun photo shoot with Carmen on Saturday, she was quite entertaining.


Carmen & Aunt Lori. Lori was trying to get a picture with both of them looking at the camera. We had to delay the picture a bit because Carmen had something different in mind. She kept turning around to look at Lori, all she wanted to do was talk! Here's a little video clip.

Cute sneezes!

We were all cracking up at this look that Carmen kept giving Austin. She just kept doing it - and the more she did, the harder we laughed.

Monica showing us a new way to relax (and burp) Carmen.

Well, tomorrow's the big day. I go back to work and Brian stays home with Carmen (for a week). Please pray for both of us this week as we try to adjust. Carmen will start daycare on the 27th with Alisa, a friend from church. I know she'll be in good hands, it's just an adjustment! I've loved the last few weeks with her (the first 4 were pretty rough for several reasons), she changes by the day.



In the 2nd picture you can see that her hair is growing. It sticks up most of the time...just makes it cuter!

October 16, 2008

YEAH FOR CARMEN!!!!! Last night was another night of sleeping 8 hours! We were so excited...and of course are hoping for a 3rd night. We can't complain either way, she is a pretty good sleeper. She has been doing much better the last few days, she seems to be feeling better and have the grouchies a lot less. She has been napping great again.

Patti Lynch came to visit us last week. She took some pictures that are above. Patti got a kick out of her Mary Jane socks that Shar gave her. They look like little shoes. They're a hoot! And we have them in several colors...funny story about that. I always wash the clothes, Brian folds, I put away. So I went to put away Carmen's clothes - all of these socks were in the pile. There was a blue sock with the green sock, pink was with the purple. He said he had the lights low when he was folding & they all looked the same. :) We chuckled! I didn't realize how long my hair had gotten until I saw this photo.

These are from yesterday. I now have the Chariot (jogger) all set up for Little Miss to go with me. We've been walking in it the last 2 days & will go on the first run tomorrow!!! You can just barely see her in there. It has the screen on front, then the cover that keeps out wind/rain/snow, sides are tinted, safety harness that's about like her car seat except more cushioned - it is quite a smooth ride. It's so easy to push! I love it already!

October 15, 2008

After 4 days of taking irregular naps (I guess irregular to her) , Carmen was wiped out enough to sleep all night! She slept 8 hours straight and is back down for another 2.5 hour stretch. Yahoo!!!!

Mema & Pepa have been here since Sunday. They've been helping me out by watching Carmen while I do things that need to be done before I go back to work on Monday. We took these pictures yesterday. I absolutely just love the last one where she's smiling really big.

October 13, 2008

Pretty cute facial expression huh? She is smiling more & more and changing facial expressions.


Carmen enjoys time in the bouncy seat. When she's awake, she checks out the sun & the bug that hang down. Here's a clip of staring down the bug.

Mema & Pepa are here visiting, they've really been helping me out by taking care of Carmen while I put away maternity clothes, go to the chiropractor, the gym, and SHOPPING!! Wahoo...now if only I were shopping for smaller sizes vs. bigger!! :) Such is life!

Mema was trying to make something to eat and she put Carmen down on the counter. WHO KNEW we'd find a new place to occupy her. Watch this clip....

Carmen has - for some reason - not been taking good naps since Saturday. She should be taking about 1-1/2 hour naps between each feeding, right now she's probably averaging 20 minutes. Makes for a long day for a little girl...and a fair amount of cranky time because she's so tired! Not sure why it's changed, but I hope it changes back quickly!!!

October 11, 2008

Here is a picture of the one of the few naps that Carmen took today. Rough afternoon for Little Miss. This morning she woke up so happy, then the three of us laid on the floor and she talked & watched us. We did that for probably 30 minutes, then it was naptime. Apparently that was too much stimulation because it was all downhill from there! She just didn't nap well. We went back to our resource, Babywise, which indicates when they're fussy, it's time for a nap which may mean some times of crying. So we learned a few things today and we'll need to start adjusting naptimes so that she gets consistently good naps.

Yesterday we went to Wal-Mart. She was actually awake for a good part of the shopping. She was just looking at the lights & hangin' out. (We went to pick up some groceries & some Selsum Blue, to try to help the cradle cap/dandruff.) Then it started to happen...I was going to be one of "them" - the person w/ the screaming child. So I picked her up out of her car seat, held her for a few minutes. Pushing a cart while holding a baby isn't easy but doable. It didn't take long and she was out. So back in the seat she went & had a good nap.

The Dr. gave specific instructions to not let the Selsum Blue get in her eyes. So I had the idea to use a Qtip & do her eyebrows while she was sleeping vs. in the bath (you have to leave it on 5 minutes). A blue unibrow...she'll love me for this.

She had great bath time last night. We made it nice & toasty in the bathroom. She laid in her little mesh seat like she was in a lounge chair at the beach. It was fun for all of us! Sorry no photos, it's hard to take photos and give her a bath. Funny how bath time uses two adults for one 10 lb baby!