Sleepy Sunday

We made it through the entire church service today! Grace stayed awake through the worship part of the service and then dozed off during the sermon. She even stayed asleep and was super cute while we introduced her to some of our friends at church. If all of our future church experiences go this smoothly I will be more than pleased. Yeah... I know we will have more "special" Sundays in our future, but at least I know that we can have good Sundays too.


I have been making a point of never letting the baby sleep for long periods of time while being held. Part of this is because all health care professionals really scared up with the threat of SIDS, but mostly I want her to be comfortable sleeping on her own. I know this is kind of crazy. Anyway, today she had a dirty diaper that woke her up during the middle of her afternoon nap. I got her calmed down and was just too tired to get up and put her in her bassinet, so for the first time we just snuggled and took a nap together. I can see how this could become a habit. It was such a sweet time. We may have to do it more often.

Here we are after our nap. Well, Grace is still asleep.

Grace is so slow to wake up.
It usually takes her about 20-30 minutes.
We think she must have a lot of her Aunt MA in her.

Oooh... Stretching!

Now I'm awake... and sooo happy:)

Some snuggle time with Daddy after naptime.

3 Weeks Old

Grace really has enjoyed spending time with her Granny.
I think Granny has enjoyed spending time with Grace too.

Grace is 3 weeks old today. She has grown and changed so much. I am already sad about how big she is getting, but the thought of her getting older is exciting too. It is really amazing to think that just a few weeks ago Grace was still inside me and I was so anxious for her to come. We did not even know what she looked like! Now I can not imagine not having her with us. (I also can not really remember what it felt like to be fully rested and coherent:) I can not wait to see what our little kiddo will do next week.

Sweet little Grace Girl. You are such a blessing!

Dressing Up

Yesterday was quite a day. I had my first experience with a clogged milk duct. Wow. That's all I have to say about that. I am doing a lot better now, but yesterday morning was a rough one. Thank goodness Jonathan's mom was still here to watch the baby for me. Yesterday afternoon, in an attempt to feel a little more normal, I decided to see if one of Grace's nice outfits would fit her. We have mostly 3-6 months sized clothes for Grace, and she is still a bit too small for most of them. I found this one that seemed to fit alright! So she wore it for a while yesterday afternoon. I don't think it is was as comfortable for her as her usual onesie. She cried a little after she had been in it for a while. And of course I had to take a few pictures.

I don't know what she is thinking here.

Swinging

More swinging

and more swinging

This morning Grace had a good time sitting up and looking around in her Boppy that her friend Joseph is letting us use. Maybe she will make a habit of this peaceful time in the morning.

Swing Time

The first time we put Grace in her swing she had this shocked look on her face for about 15 seconds and then screamed like a banshee. I am glad to report that over the past few days she has learned to enjoy her swing more and more. This morning she really seemed to enjoy it. She stayed in close to 20 minutes and was very content. Now we just need to get her to enjoy the swing in the late afternoon when she morphs into miss cranky pants:)

look at that content little face

We have been pretty busy here... hence the lack of blog posts. We have gotten out for extended periods of time about every day this week. Tuesday I had to go to the doctor so I left her (for the first time) with her Granny and I had a nice time getting out by myself. My appointment did not take much time at all, so I even had a little time to go shopping afterwards. Later that night Jonathan and I were able to go out to eat with some friends while Granny watched her again. We are going to miss Granny so much when she goes home next week.

Grace loves to look outside when she is not able to go outside.


Wednesday we had to take Grace to Kosair Children's Hospital to get an ultrasound done on her hips. The doctors noticed a click in her hips and ordered the ultrasound. Apparently because she was breech for so long she has a bit of hip displasia. We will see an orthopedist on Monday to find out what we need to do to help correct the problem. Grace was such a trooper on Tuesday. We were out from about 9am to 3pm and she was so well behaved the whole time.

I put a bow in her hair yesterday when we went to the store.
I am beginning to think that her hair is not going to fall out. It really does not look like it's thinning out any to me. Who would have ever thought I would have a kid with straight hair!


Because Grace did such a good job of being out on Wednesday we decided to take her out again on Thursday. We took Grace to Target for the first time and got her some new toys. She did great! Then we ran by the grocery store and even went out to eat last night! I think that I am starting to feel more comfortable getting the baby out of the house. We will see how I do next week when I am on my own, and we will also see how church goes this Sunday. Maybe we will actually make it through more than five minutes of the service.

Look at this big girl in her bassinet. Pretty soon she will have outgrown it!

Just Chillin' With Baby Grace

Grace, Granny and I have had a good week so far just chillin' at the house. Grace is a great baby for pretty much all of the day, except for bedtime. Grace is proving that she is not a huge fan of bedtime. Once she goes to sleep she sleeps great, but the getting to sleep part is a bit of an ordeal. She starts to get a little cranky in the late afternoon, and today was no exception. We have figured out that the kid absolutely loves to be outside, and if she is ever fussy we just have to take her outside and she is a happy baby again. We ended up spending some quality time outside for awhile this afternoon. She was being super cute, so I had to take some pictures for y'all. 

I think that she really likes the way that the grass feels under her.

Does she look bigger to y'all? She does to me.

She calmed down right after I laid her down and then just looked around.

I think this is the first time her feet touched the grass!

This is Grace's favorite activity. She holds her paci in her mouth and stares at the flashing light in the star's face. She will do this for the longest time.

Here is a picture of Grace watching her daddy play the guitar. She was watching him so intensely! He is gonna teach her how to play someday.

Sometimes we just spend a lot of time looking at each other. 

Grace's First Church Service

I decided this morning that today was the day we were going to try to attend church for the first time. Well, what can i say, it was quite an adventure. Grace slept great last night. She even cut out the awake time in the middle of the night and gave us 5 hours followed by 4 hours of sleep. She fussed a bit when I was getting her ready, but once I got her dressed she was her usual content little self. We even took pictures to remember the special occasion. Then we put her in her car seat and the fun began! Usually Grace falls asleep immediately once we put her in the car. Apparently all that good sleep she got last night backfired as far as getting her to sleep through church was concerned because she was still wide awake when we got to church. The plan was to keep her with us during the church service, sit in the balcony and use the cry room if need be. Well, we made it through the announcements and she started to fuss a bit. So during the welcome I picked her up to keep her quiet and felt something special happening in her diaper. Then when we stood up and I moved my hand I felt a little something special that had made its way from her diaper to my hand. I asked Jonathan if he could see any of the special substance on Grace and that's when he noticed a substantial amount of poop not on Graces dress but on MY pants. Now, I have this kiddo's diaper bag packed full of everything that we could possibly need to keep a kid clean and presentable, but I did not pack extra clothes for myself. I mean to people actually do that? So there was no question about what we were doing next, we went home... fast! Maybe next time we will make it through more of the service.

Family picture

She even had a bow in her hair for the occasion!

So instead of church-time we had bath-time! Since Grace's cord fell off we decided to try out her bathtub. She liked her bathtub SO much more than when I had to sponge bathe her. She sat content in the warm water and looked at the light under the kitchen cabinet. What a good baby! I think the bath actually calmed her down a bit. I foresee many fun bath times in our future:)

She likes to get her hair washed

Snuggling with Granny after her bath

There's our clean kiddo!

The Many Faces of Baby Grace

Grace is 2 weeks old today! I thought I would celebrate this little birthday by posting some pictures that show her little personality. She makes the funniest faces and we laugh at them all the time. My sister took all these pictures in about a three minute period. This should let you know just how expressive she is... even if she doesn't know what she is doing.

This last one is my favorite... a classic Grace pose... as if to say hmmm...

******

And now for an update. Two significant things have happened here.

1. Grace now has a belly button! I am waiting for it to completely heal up before I post pictures, but it is there... and I am glad I don't have to worry about cord care and her cord falling off anymore. I was a bit alarmed when I saw it. I think Grace was a bit alarmed herself. She screamed bloody murder when the cord fell off, so I think it must have hurt her.

2. This child finally woke herself up for a feeding last night. She slept a 5.5 hr stretch and then I fed her and after some awake time she slept another 5 hrs! She has been sleeping 4 and 5 hr stretches at night since the doctor told us we could let her, but I had still been waking her up to eat because I just couldn't stand to let her go any longer. Anyway, last night I decided to not worry about her and try to actually get some deep sleep. I figured she had to wake up from hunger eventually. I got great sleep, and Grace ate well because she wasn't asleep while I was feeding her :) Hopefully this will continue, and she will just cut out that awake time during the middle of the night. I guess we will see, won't we!

On Our Own

Well, Grace and I are on our own now... that is, until Jonathan's mom comes tomorrow. I had no idea how attached I would get to my mom. It was so hard to say goodbye to her and my sister. I can't believe that only 2 weeks ago today we were finding out that we would be delivering Grace. It has been a great visit, and it makes me so sad that we live so far away from each other. I did not realize how much I would need my mom here with me during this whole experience, not so much for the help (which was awesome) but for the encouragement that she provided. We definitely have a different relationship now that I have a child too. I can't wait till her next visit. She is such a great Grandma or Nanna or whatever Grace ends up calling her.

Grace's First Picnic

Grace chillin' during our picnic


It was another absolutely beautiful day in Louisville today. We started out the day with a great visit to the doctor. We even made it to the appointment by 8:30 AM. Grace now weighs more than her birth weight, a whopping 7lb 14oz! The doctor said she looks great and also told us that we don't have to wake her up at night for feedings anymore. So maybe Momma will get more than 2 hrs of consecutive sleep tonight. We will let you know how it goes.

Grace chillin' on the blanket at the park


After our great trip to the doctor we made a quick run to our local Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. This was Grace's first visit to the grocery store. I realized that I will not be able to fit nearly as much stuff in our cart with the baby being in there. Hopefully we will save some money.


All the Milford girls



Later we went to the park, had a picnic and then chilled on our blanket. Grace seemed to sleep very well. She also slept very well during our dinner at PF Chang's and dessert at Graeter's Ice Cream. We then went on second walk in the park. This time Daddy and Maggie were able to come. Right now Grace is hanging out with her Aunt. We are really going to miss my mom and sister when they leave tomorrow. We have had such a great time with them. It is going to be so strange to be alone during the day with the baby. But we won't be alone for long. Jonathan's mom will be here Friday!

Mom and Grace

A Visit From Aunt M.A. and A Walk in the Park

Aunt Mary Allison is here! I was a super brave Mommy and brought Grace (and a lot of Purel) to the airport so Grace could welcome her aunt into town in person. We sat far away from everyone and it was late on a Sunday evening, so there really were not too many people in the airport. All the Milford girls have been having a good time playing with the baby sine then. Here are a few pictures we have taken so far.

Grace is checking out her Aunt

I finally got a bow to stay in her hair. Pretty cute to me :)

Daddy started work this week, and he and Grace had to spend a lot of time together when he got home yesterday. Look at how Grace is already starting to hold her head up! What a smart girl we have. She is also quite the fashion guru. I believe she went through 6 outfits yesterday. Good thing her clothes are so small it only takes one load to get them all clean.

We finally went to the park! The weather is supposed to be great all week with highs in the 70's and not much humidity. Hopefully we will get out every day.

Here we are at the park entry.


Grace slept the whole time (there's a shocker!), but I had a great time getting out of the house and enjoying the fresh air.

Happy Father's Day!!!

We have not posted in a couple of days. So much has happened! Today is Father's Day, so Jonathan and Grace spent the whole morning together just hanging out. Grace was very alert this morning. She even stayed awake most of the time in between her morning feedings. Grace is so fortunate to have the Daddy that she has. I can't wait for her and Jonathan to really get to know each other. They are going to have some good times together.

Here are some pictures of Grace hanging out with Daddy this morning...

She started the morning by having a blow out diaper all over Daddy's shirt. This is the after picture. She seems to be resting well :)

Daddy read Grace part of a book this morning.

She fell asleep half way through.

Grace's head is not much bigger than Daddy's hand. We think she is already starting to grow!

*****

Here are some more pictures of the things that we have been doing.

Here is a picture of Grace and the beautiful blanket that Mrs. Jennifer hand made for her. Thank you Jennifer!

Grace had her first friend over for lunch today! Benjamin was really interested in the baby, but Grace just wanted to sleep. Soon they will be able to play. I can't believe she will be so big in only 7 months!

Grace turned one week old on Saturday! Her Grandma made cupcakes to celebrate.

Grace tried out her play-gym. She really had a good time and was pretty tuckered out when she was done playing. She liked to look at the flashing colored light.

The mirror was also entertaining.

She is very interested in mirrors.

She even had her first tummy-time.

We are going to pick up Aunt Mary Allison at the airport tonight. I know that we will have a lot of great pictures to post of her visit soon!