Five on Friday

ONE
I've already confessed that I've been watching more TV than usual since being home with baby. I DVR a ton of stuff then watch it while I nurse/pump/rock the baby. Here are some of my favorites: Project Runway, Manzo'd With Children, Million Dollar Listing, Pioneer Woman, Below Deck, Ladies of London, and Our Little Family.

TWO

As soon as I saw Carolina Charm post this Quinoa and SausageStuffed Peppers recipe I knew I had to try it. Well it definitely lived up to my expectations; both Andy and I loved it. There are lots of steps since almost everything is prepared separately but you can make a couple of the steps ahead of time which cuts down on assembly time. This is a must try!

 

THREE

We have had beautiful weather in Columbia, SC lately. Mornings and evenings are in the 60’s, afternoons in the high 80’s, perfect! With fall around the corner I start thinking of mums. I love them. They are colorful and fluffy and are realivily easy to take care of. I’ve been debating on grabing a couple for our front steps, but what color and what size? I lean toward the dark red, being a Gamecock fan and all, but the yellow ones are so happy.

 

FOUR

The Greek Festival is this weekend in Columbia and it’s my favorite! Funnily enough I think Columbia has one of the better Greek Festivals I’ve been too, there is dancing and pastries to buy and oh the food! Everything is so good, but my favorite is the baklava sundae, vanilla soft serve with layers of crusted up baklava. Heaven!

 

FIVE
I’ll leave you with a cute baby picture because who doesn’t like cute babies?

2 Months

- At her two month appointment Anna Grace weighed 10lbs 10oz and was 22 inches long. Grow baby grow!

- Baby Girl got three shots at the pediatricians office. The nurse was super quick and got them all done before she even had a chance to cry.  I think Mom and Dad were more bothered than she was. Anna Grace slept almost all day after her appointment. I may have cheated and held her all day, even through naps, just to make her feel better. (Or because I loved the cuddles. )

 - We graduated to Number 1 diapers and all 0-3 month onesies. They are all huge on her but we didn't want to buy a big pack of newborn diapers and then not be able to use them all.

- Sleeps 5-6 hours during the night. Usually she eats around 8-9:00pm, fusses, we pace the house, and then fall asleep. We started giving her a bottle for this feeding so we know she is getting enough food. She sleeps until 3-4am, when my prince of a husband gets up and gives her a bottle, then usually goes right back to sleep until 7-9am. She has slept completely through the night twice now and we have tried to recreate that experience ever since.

- She is nursing and eating from a bottle, just depends on the situation and time of day. She moved up from 3oz to 4oz really quickly in the last two weeks. We go through bottle and pump parts like crazy. I feel like there is always something waiting to be washed.

- The girls visited a local pottery painting place and made Dad a mug for his birthday. We put Anna Grace's footprints on the mug and wrote Dad on it. Andy was totally surprised and loves the first present from his little girl.

- Her happy place is still on her changing table, post diaper change. She could sit there all day and stare at her diaper wreath. This is where we see the most smiles and hear the most talking. 

- Anna Grace started showing us her sweet smile. It's appears randomly but it warms our heart every time.

- Andy's Dad came down from Maryland for a visit. Her grandfather fell in love immediately and they were best buds for the whole trip. He came up with the perfect saying for Anna Grace, "She winds up to wind down". She is always super fussy right before she falls asleep.

- The baby has been holding her head up from day one, but we make sure to practice with lots of tummy time.

- Poor baby must be as tone deaf as her mama because she actually likes to hear me sing, and let me tell you, I'm no singer. When she is super fussy we pace the house and I sing to her and she usually calms down by the fourth line. Her favorite songs are Wheels on the Bus, Jesus Loves Me, and Ms Grace by the The Tymes.

- My brother has been in Washington DC all summer doing an internship, but when he came back to SC the first thing he did was come visit his niece. It was love at first sight for both of them. Honestly some of the first smiles we ever saw from Anna Grace were for Uncle Neal.

 

- We took the advice of some friends and got her a Summer's Infant sleep pod. I wasn't sure how she would like it since she loves sleeping with her arms above her head, but it was a hit. The baby slept more soundly and I went ahead and bought the next stage up and she seems to like that one too. We call it her burrito look.

- Speaking of sleep, we started putting her in the crib at night right at 6 weeks. She sleeps so soundly in her crib and it was a super easy transition. We've heard horror stories about trying to get your baby to sleep in the crib so we wanted to do it early. She still mostly nap in your rocker, but sometimes we put her in the crib too.

- We go on lots of car rides during the day and she almost always fall asleep.

- We've only gone on a couple strolls since it's so hot but she likes those a lot. She is always bright eyed and looking around and super calm, which is a big deal for her. We love showing her off to the neighbors who have watched our family grow from being newly weds, to adding Camden, to now being a family of four.

- Nicknames: AG, baby girl, fuss pants, sassy, little girl

- She has discovered her tongue and sticks it out all the time. This means the pacifier has a tendency to go flying at a moments notice. We finally invested in pacifier clip.

- Anna Grace definitely has some sass to her and people say she gets it from me. (I don't believe that for a minute. ;)

- She really likes to sit up on our laps or in the Bobby pillow and we've found it really helps after she eats. She also really likes to sit in her bouncy seat. This has come in handy while cooking dinner. Plus it allows Andy and I to eat dinner at the same time, which we haven't done in ages. (Weird the things you start to appreciate after baby.)

- Andy started a new job in July, because we like to group all our life changing events into 30 days of each other. Unfortunately that meant he had lots of training to do, which included three overnight trips. My mom came to help in the evenings, but we survived the nights all by ourselves. I'm really proud of us and thankful the baby was so good during the nights. 

- AG's latest trick is to kick off her socks. She always starts with the right sock. We find one sock randomly all over the house.

- She has also found her hands and loves putting them in her mouth. It threw us off at first since that usually meant she was hungry, but now it's just a way of playing.

- We started out the month with an extremely fussy baby and ended with a much calmer baby. I think this is partly because Andy and I are learning what works best for her and partly the is baby just maturing. Either way, she is much more fun and I love getting to interact with her a little more.

Mommy and Daddy love you to the moon and back baby girl!

Five On Friday - Non Baby Related

1) Peaches - Did you know that South Carolina actually produces more peaches than Georgia? Well we do and peaches just so happen to be my favorite fruit, next to pineapple. I'm so excited because I had a friend give me a couple homegrown peaches from Gaffney, SC. (Any House of Cards watches out there?)

2) CeraVe Foaming Cleanser - I saw a bunch of people blog about this face wash and I was in the market for a new one. I've really loved this product, it doesn't dry out my skin and it's super easy to pick up at an convenient store.

3) Omegaderm - We've given this fish oil to Camden for over a year and we love it. The pup has always had dry skin and half a packet a day makes him so happy. Well, it's been on back-order through our vet all summer and the itching is driving us all crazy, but I decided to randomly check on Amazon and I was shocked to find it. We told the vet where we found it at his two year old checkup and she was thrilled. If your pup has dry skin I highly recommend asking your vet about Omegaderm.

4) Crazy Rich Asians by. Kevin Kwan - I'm not getting much time to read but when I do I'm really enjoying this book. It's a fun story about a guy who brings his girlfriend home to Singapore to meet his family for the first time. However he doesn't tell her about the world of wealth he comes from and it's quite a surprise as she slowly learns the truth.

5) Project Runway - I can't believe they are on season 14! I've been watching this show since the beginning and love that it's still going.

10 Things I've Learned About Parenthood Recently

1) There is nothing more frustrating than walking and rocking your baby to sleep and then they are instantly wide awake as soon as you put them down.

2) It really does take a village to raise children. I'm not great at letting people help me, but I've been so lucky to have friends and family who want to come visit and help.

3) Bringing new parents a meal is an amazing gesture. It's even better when you bring a hot meal for that night and a freezer meal for later. I'll be doing that from now on. I also will forever insist that new parents not write me a thank you note. It's hard to get those suckers out in a timely fashion.

4) Everything is new to you as parents, but everything is also completely new to baby. When they cry they don't necessarily know what they want either.

5) Showers are the elixir of life. It's amazing how much better you can feel after a 15 minute shower.

6) You will do anything to make your child happy. To hear them cry, especially if you know they are uncomfortable, is heartbreaking.

7) You never realize how quickly three hour spans are until your life revolves around them. I can't tell you how many times I've been trying to figure out why the baby is crying then realize that it's been three hours since she last ate and she is hungry. Sometimes it feels never ending.

8) You will do a lot of things you said you would never do. You will give you child a bottle/pacifier, you will snap at your spouse in the middle of the night, you will buy all kinds of random stuff in hopes that they will sleep/eat/calm down.

9) You will become that crazy parent who is very tuned in to who holds, touches, and cares for your child. I'm already starting to steel myself for the day I have to take Anna Grace to daycare.

10) You will love your child more than you ever thought you could. You will do anything to make them happy. Everyone tells you about this indescribable love, but you don't understand it until you feel it.

Anna Grace - 1 Month

I want to start by taking my hat off to all those moms who blog on a regular basis once baby makes their appearance. It's a struggle for me to remember to brush my teeth twice a day, no less sit down and blog. I'm going to try to be better about writing down all these experiences because I don't want to forget them. 

Anyway, I can't believe our little Anna Grace is a whole month old. I swear I just started doing my weekly bump updates. I wasn't sure how to go about these new updates so I borrowing this style from Mrs. Southern Mama. The major takeaway is we are completely in love with the baby and time is going by way too fast. 

Weight: 8 lbs. 3 oz.

Height: Not 100% sure but probably between 21 and 22 inches. At her 2 week appointment she was 20.5 inches and she is definitely longer now.

Hair: Anna Grace was born with a ton of dark brown hair. Her hair is one of the first things people comment on and they are shocked to hear that she looks just like me when I was born, dark hair and all. Unfortunately it has already started to fall out. (Fingers crossed that it grows back soon.)

Eyes: Her eyes started as grey, but have slowly been changing to blue.

Clothes: She is still wearing all her newborn clothes, but I think will be graduating to 0-3 months clothes very soon.

Diapers: We are buying newborn size diapers as fast as we can. She isn’t much for making dirty diapers, but she loves to pee one or two times between each feeding. Everyone warned us, but good grief we go through a lot of diapers and wipes.

Sleeping: We have been putting her in both her crib and her Rock ‘n Play and she likes them both. Baby’s sleeping routine changes quite a bit still. She has started doing 4 hour stretches at night, which is wonderful. After her 9-10pm feeding I head to bed and Andy puts her down. He gives her a bottle of breast milk around 2-3am and then I take the morning shift which ends around 6:30-7am. During the day her sleep schedule is all over the place, which makes planning things a little hard. 

Eating: Anna Grace has always been a champion eater, even with a couple hurdles. After two trips to the lactation consultant we figured out she was tongue tied, which was making nursing difficult for baby and painful for me. So we elected to have a very simple procedure done and it has helped so much. She eats every three to four hours. Baby has taken a bottle of breast milk with no trouble at all, which has allowed Andy to feed her in the middle of the night. (This gives me the chance to sleep longer than two hours, if I was lucky, which was a killer the first two weeks.)

Baby’s favorite things: Being swaddled with her arms out, eating, car rides, laying on her changing table and looking at her diaper wreath, sleeping with her arms above her head, being walked around or rocked to sleep, Soothie or Nuk pacifiers, Dr. Brown’s bottles, Rock ‘n Play, and she doesn't hate bath time.  

 

Baby’s Dislikes: Being wet, gas bubbles, being held facing my shoulder unless she is being burped or asleep

Baby nicknames: Baby girl, pup (unfortunate crossover from Camden), we mostly just call her Anna Grace

Baby Milestones: Everything is new and different. We slowly watched Anna Grace become comfortable with everyday things. We feel like she literally grows in front of our face. She is not a fan of new experiences initially and can be fussy until she determines if it’s a good thing of not. Unfortunately baby suffers from serious discomfort from gas. As she grew her generally fussiness and pain from gas grew as well, to the point where she was either sleeping, eating, or crying pretty much all day and night. We tried everything we could think of: gas drops, massage, tummy time, laying her on an incline. Finally we took a trip to the doctor and we are being treated for silent reflux, which helps control her discomfort. We hate giving her something at such a young age, but if it means she isn’t in pain, then that’s what we’ll do. 

On a fun note, Anna Grace moves constantly. Her hands and legs are always on the go, even when she sleeps. She has been able to lift her head since the second she enter this world and she "bobble-heads" away from our shoulder all the time. She has a love/hate relationship with tummy time. Sometimes she likes it, sometimes not so much. 

Our Bernese Mountain Dog, Camden, has been amazing with Anna Grace. We gave him a swaddle blanket so he could get used to her smell before we brought her him from the hospital. As soon as the pup entered the house he was in love. He sleeps in her nursery when she is in her crib and leads people to her when they come to visit. Camden is a little confuse why he isn't getting all the attention but he is doing great.

Anything else new: Baby girl has everyone wrapped around their finger. Nana, my mom, comes over for a short visit everyday, which frees Andy and I up to run errands, shower, or nap. Lolly, Andy’s mom has visited from the coast a couple times and loves Facetiming. We have also Facetimed with my brother, who is working in DC this summer. My sorority sisters came to visit and it was so fun to catch up, and introduce Anna Grace to one of their little boys.

However, no one is as in love with her as Andy and I. There are no words to describe all the feelings we have experiences this first month of parenthood. There have been many tears, lots of laughter, sleepless nights, and overwhelming pride in getting to know and show off our daughter. 

Baby and Life Update

Yesterday marked two full weeks home with the baby. I feel like we've had Anna Grace for forever, but also like we just brought her home. There is nothing that can describe how wonderful it has been to have her home. It's been really hard, exhausting, and frustrating, but also incredibly rewarding and we love her more everyday.

Here are a couple details that I want to remember about these first two weeks.

Baby at 2 week doctor's appointment:

Weighs: 7.6 lbs

Length: 20.5 ins

After two visits to a lactation consultant, AG is a nursing champion. As you can see from her stats she is growing like a champ. I'm doing a little bit of pumping when she does a small feeding and everything is going well.

We took the pup and baby on a walk the other day around the block. We talked so much about going on walks as a family of four while I was pregnant so it was fun to actually do it.

Baby girl is super strong. She has been able to lift her head since day one and bobble heads anytime we try to lay her on our shoulder. Her arms and legs move constantly, even when she sleeps. Tummy time has been really fun because she moves around so much. We are pretty proud.

We spend a lot of time just watching Anna Grace's facial expressions. She can go through every feeling in 10 seconds and it shows all over her face. It's so entertaining.

Camden loves Anna Grace! From the second we brought her home the pup has been obsessed. He follows the baby around the house and sleeps in her room any time we put her in the crib. When she cries the dog comes to find us with a look of "the baby is upset, fix it now". I can't wait for AG to start toddling around, I just know they will be best friends.

My mom, Nana, is in heaven being a grandmother. It's so sweet to see how she lights up when she holds the baby. She has been a lifesaver by coming over to watch Anna Grace while we either run errands or, more importantly, sleep.

We are still getting the hang of this parenting thing, but we are enjoying every second of it. Now I'm off to nap. ;)

40 Weeks - The End of Pregnancy

 (Please excuse the no makeup. New parent = lucky I was showered.)

Surprise! Miss Anna Grace was born on Friday, June 19 at 5:56pm. She was 6 lbz 9.7oz and 19in long. We are so incredibly in love. I thought it would be really fun to still do my 40 week bump date as a way of updating you on what we are up to. 

How Far Along? Well I only made it to 39 weeks and 2 days. I really was scared I would have to be induced and I really didn't want that. I wanted baby to come on her own and she did!

Size of Baby: A little under 7 lbs, well played What to Expect app.

Gender:  She is all girl!

Maternity Clothes:  I’ve already been able to use some of my maternity dresses as nursing outfits. I love that I can still use my maternity clothes.

Nursery: I still have a couple bare walls, but I have big plans for pictures of our new little family for them.

Movement: Umm…nope. That would be a little weird if I still felt something.

Sleep: LOL This is funny. I thought I was so tired before and I just had no idea. I’m slowly becoming a napper, which I never was before. But when baby eats every 3 hours, and I have to be present for every feeding, you learn to sleep when you can.

Cravings: Sandwiches, lots of sandwiches! I’ve had a ton of cold turkey sandwiches since little Miss arrived and I’m still not tired of them. (If you are a Columbia native, I specifically wanted a T-Bird from Beezers. It’s like Jimmy Jones, but better.)

What I Miss:  I wondered if I would miss being pregnant, but nope, not really. I had an amazing pregnancy, but I love having baby here in my arms instead.  

Best Moment This Week: AG’s birth was life changing and I can’t wait to share her birth story.

Looking Forward To: Parenthood, we are here!