Sleep

Ok so it's almost midnight and I set the baby down to try to let her sleep on her own...not working. Josh is usually with her right now, but he has to drive tomorrow so he's been asleep for the past hour. I couldn't take a nap this afternoon because I had to pack...very tired. Hopefully after the enxt feeding she'll go down.

get that tongue!

Juliette loved to stick out her tongue and Josh got a picture of her doing it in the church. Again, how cute is she??? :)

Happy baby bath

Crazy night

The baby had a great night- it was her parents who were freaking out and wide awake. When Juliette woke up at 1:45 for a diaper and a burp, I took her back in her room to rock her and she fell right back to sleep. I thought I'd try putting her in her crib for the rest of the night since we decided we were going to do that when we get home from PA anyway. She stayed asleep and I turned on the monitors. I couldn't stop going back and checking on her and Josh heard the static and woke up; he was mad at me for setting her back there and not telling him I was going to do it. So we were up waiting for her to wake up. Josh went back to bring her back in our room, clicked the crib rack, and she woke up screaming. Thankfully she went back to sleep when he put her in the pack and play and she slept until 6. I think we're going to have issues when we put her back there for good!

9 weeks old and playtime with Daddy

Here are some of her nine week pictures. As you can see, her new favorite thing is her fist. She's smiling more and more when you mirror her facial expressions- it's like baby crack! She loves it!

Rough night

I wanted to see what would happen if we put the baby down awake and she was fine for about 10 minutes and then screamed for an hour and a half. Josh walked her and she spent most of the time burping and farting so that was her problem. I felt awful waking her up this morning around 9:45 because we had to get ready to go to my dr appt and as soon as I was finishing up feeding her, they called to reschedule for tomorrow. When I fed her lunch, she started falling asleep, I set her in the crib and of course she woke up again. But amazingly she put herself back to sleep and has been out for about 30 minutes so far. Josh wanted us all to go to Borders, but I didn't want to bring her out again, so he is enjoying some alone time and he can pay me back tonight ;).

Tired baby

I guess Juliette's night wasn't as restful as we thought it was. She's been dozing all morning on and off. She has become famous for being sound asleep in our arms, snoring away, yet waking up screaming when we set her down. This happened twice so far this morning. But she ate about an hour ago and fell asleep on me and I thought I'd give setting her down a try. She must be really tired because when I set her in the pack n play, she looked up at me like "Hey! Oh well I guess I'll sleep here now" kind of look. I doubt it will be a long nap, but I'm taking advantage of the time and getting laundry done, finishing thank you cards from her party, and organizing the house a little.

Self confidence

Yesterday I finally did what I have been dreading since having the baby- I got on a scale. I was so nervous- what if I hadn't lost any weight? What if I had GAINED weight?? I was shocked when the numbers were lower than they were before I was pregnant! So far, according to this beautufl scame which I am believing, I've dropped about 37 pounds. I guess what they say about breastfeeding dropping the lbs like water is true! I just feel jiggly now and have to tighten up. I think carrying the baby will help- right now she is snoring in her baby bjorn so I can get some work done. I know if I set her down she'lll get upset again.

First time in a pool

It was so warm yesterday that the pool heated up enough for us to take Juliette for her first swim. It only lasted a few minutes since she can't wear sunscreen yet and we didn't want her to get burned, but she got used to it after the initial dunking. I love her chunk arms!

Yay!

Ok so it's small victories day by day now for us. Last night Juliette did great with her bath- not a peep and even a few smiles! And although she didn't go to sleep until about 12:45am, she slept until 7!

our family portrait

Remember the photo session from hell? Here's the result!

Return trip

I tried to get the baby's doctor's appointment moved so we could come up a few days early, but they are booked solid until September for 2 month check ups, so it looks like our return trip to PA will be from August 1-9.

I can't speak for Josh, but I feel pretty freakin' great today. The baby slept from 8 until midnight and 2 until amost 7! It must have been the beach air over at Lake Anna--hey it is a nuclear facility! It's a lot nicer than our state park at home; much cleaner. The beach is really nice for kids, but I won't be swimming in a lake any time soon--I've seen Jason movies!

Crib

Today Juliette had her first nap in her crib. It only lasted about 30 minutes, but hey it still counts!

8 weeks old

Today Juliette is 8 weeks old! Technically she won't be two months old until the 27th, but it's 8 weeks today. She's doing great with sleep- watch her be up all night now that I've said that. She usually goes down after her 11 or 12 am feeding and won't wake up until 5 or 6 then goes down again until around 9 or 10. Now if we can just get her to sleep from that 8-11pm time slot we'd be golden!

New Pictures

Here are some pictures from Pennsylvania with Nana, Grandpa, her baptism, a real smile, and a few from her party in Scranton.

Back Home

We got back to Spotsylvania around 6 last night and it was not the easy trip like we had going up to PA. Juliette needed several stops for feeding and diapers, but still slept most of the way. When we got home I guess she was a little confused about where she was or something because she screamed until almost 2 am, but them slept until almost 5 and went straight back to sleep after eating until after 8. It's a different experience unpacking with a baby because Josh likes to get everything done right away and I couldn't help much because I had to feed the baby and hold her so she wouldn't scream like a banshee. We tried a routine last night with her; getting pjs on, reading a book, quiet time, and putting her in her bed while she was still awake. It obviously didn't work. Oh well, try again tonight I guess! I'll put more pictures up from our week in PA once I get some stuff done around the house. Mari- I know you were thinking about taking some time off when we came up for the Italian Festival, but Josh decided he wants to go back for a week or two in August so if you can get some vacation days then, that would be awesome!

Mommy and Juliette

Not a fun day

I am not a happy person. I thought I planned Juliette's first pictures at a good time- when she was napping. Not good. She was asleep when we got to Pennys and then woke up when we took her out of the seat...not a happy kind of waking up either. We got two pictures taken and had to get out of Dodge before the baby exploded from screaming. We fed her, changed her diaper, nothing worked so we ended up rescheduling for August. On the bright side the picture of the three of us we did manage to have taken turned out really cute.

Playtime

Juliette is beginning to really focus on different things and grab at her toys. She likes this rattle!

Naptime in the Long house

Husband, baby, cat..hmm who isn't sleeping?? Oh yeah that would be ME!

Cute!!

I tried a new outfit on Juliette today---too cute!!

Can we say tired???

Ok so yesterday apparently was enough sleep for Juliette for two days because today she didn't take her usualy three hour nap in the morning or the afternoon. I think she had a few cat naps lasting 20 minutes on our shoulders, but as soon as we put her down she wakes up. I'm hoping that means tonight will be a good night after the 8 o'clock feeding. She was cranky this afternoon I think from lack of sleep and as soon as I started rocking her, she fell fast asleep, but woke up right after I put her down. We've got to work on that one. It seems like my life right now is about sleep, pee, and poop...ahh parenthood. Unlike many couples, Josh and I don't argue about money, we argue about amount of sleep the other got---" Hey you got three hours last night--get your butt up!" "I was up with her for two hours last night, it's my turn to sleep!" These are a few of the comments that can be heard at our house these days :).

still sleepy

The baby is still sleeping after only being awake for about 3 hours today. Hmm this probably means we'll be up all night diong our laps in the kitchen...at least we have some walking room! This is going to be a busy week. Tomorrow is her doctor's appointment, Tuesday is a car inspection, Wednesday is my 6 week follow up with Terri, Thursday we're getting her picture taken at Penny's, Friday we're packing, Saturday family is coming to visit, and Sunday very early in the morning we're leaving for PA. I'm nervous about traveling that far with her because I know we'll have to pull over so I can nurse her. I hope we can time it right so I only have to feed her once- just a matter of finding the pit stop to pull in at. We're thinking that if we leave after the 11 o'clock feeding on Saturday night she'll sleep most of the way--the car always knocks her out anyway. Plus after her performance of going 5 hrs between feedings, we might just make it in time..or at least make it into PA before pulling over. Fingers crossed people!

Wonder of Wonders miracle of miracles!

After a rocky start to the night with some fussing after her midnight feeding and a little rocking from her daddy, Juliette slepts from a little after 1 until just before 6 this morning! I woke up and noticed it was light outside and thought I slept through her second night feeding! I fed her again and she was just beginning to drift off when she woke up again. I put her in her swing for about 45 minutes and that put her out and she slept until 10:30! On the downside, I felt like I was about to explode because I'm used to feeding her every 2-3 hrs and she went for two 5 hr stretches. Needless to say she got a good meal :). I'm trying to remember the last time I got 4 hrs of sleep in a row and it would have to be before she was born...ahh I feel great! I'm not holding my breath that this is a new pattern--she was a very busy little person last night being passed around at the party and had lots of stimulation which probably helped bring on the sleep.

Hey...

I know you check this often so..MAR--call me! Gotta ask you something! I don't have your cell ##.

Dr visit

We just got back from the cardiologist for Juliette's follow up visit. She still has a common newborn murmur that should go away by the time we go back in six months. She's a whopping 10.5 pounds now and 22 inches long! I knew she got longer!!