6 Weeks Old

We've had some fun milestones the last couple of weeks! Lily is sure keeping us on our toes, and we're havin a blast.

- Depending on the time of day, miss Lily will smile on demand! She has the biggest, cutest smile. I have yet to get a picture of her largest grin, but will keep trying.

- She is trying to laugh already. Today while she was grinning at me, she started making a "heh" sound, that was so close to a little chuckle. Can't wait to get a real chuckle out of her!

- The pesky "45 Minute Intruder" has arrived. I guess this visitor shows up between 6 and 7 weeks, and your baby suddenly goes from their regular nap times to waking up about 45 minutes in. Lily was taking consistant 1.5 - 2 hour naps, then she started waking up every 45 minutes this week. Hopefully it will pass soon!

- She is taking the first steps toward rolling over. While on her stomach she will arch her back and roll onto her side. When she's on her side she will kick her leg over and roll back. I'm sure it will take some more time before she's strong enough to actually roll over, but she's getting there.

- She can do the "mini push-up." When laying on her stomach she will push-up onto her forearms and lift her head up to look around. She can't do it for very long, but it's fun to watch!

Well, my naptime window of freedom is coming to an end, lol. Better get goin before Miss Lily wakes up!

"But I don't WANNA go to bed!" - Lily

As I was lying in bed last night, still awake at 1am, I thought to myself "I should really write a blog post about Lily's sleep adventures..." When I woke up this morning I got on Blogger and saw that one of my friends had the exact same idea last night, and wrote a post about her little boy's "sleep woes." So apparently Lily isn't alone in this don't-want-to-sleep business.

We went from Lily going to bed easily and sleeping for two 4-hour blocks, to her not being able to fall asleep until 2 or 3am and then sleeping for 5 or 6 hours.  Although it's nice to have her sleep at longer increments, it's been very difficult to get to bed so late every night. Over the last 2 weeks we've tried quite a few things to help her sleep, with little to no success.

Here's the problem- well, two problems-
1- It takes her hours to fall asleep EVERY night, and is difficult to get her down for most of her naps.
2- She continually wakes her self up once asleep.

Todd and I knew we had a fun, spunky little baby...but we had no idea that could translate into fighting sleep. Here's what we've tried so far to help her:

- the 5 S's: Swaddle, lay on Side or tummy, Sway, Shhhing sounds, and Sucking (taught in "Happiest Baby on the Block"). I highly recommend this book, as doing these things together definitely helps her calm down. They just don't help her stay asleep.
- Tummy sleeping. We learned how to swaddle her so she could sleep on her stomach, and it does seem to help. She can keep her pacifier in better, and we think it helps with her tummy bubbles too.
- White noise. She has a little white noise teddy bear that we've been using, and it helps soothe her to a degree, but isn't quite enough. We've tried the other white noise extreme - the blow dryer. I experimented with it last week and put it by her swing while she fought a nap, and it worked! Well, it hasn't worked since then. It calms her down, but doesn't help her fall asleep.
- Hyland's brand Colic tablets. These homeopathic tablets help calm her stomach and mellow her out, but the effect only lasts a few minutes.
- Gas drops. We've been giving her continual doses throughout the day, which definitely has been helping her gas problems. However, they aren't making much of a difference in allowing her to sleep better at night.
- Walking, rocking, and bouncing. Todd and I will spend an hour or two just walking around with her. This will always get her to fall asleep, but a few minutes later her eyes pop back open.
- Swings. We have two electronic swings, one with a vibrate setting and one without. These worked miracles the first few weeks and would put her to sleep instantly. Not any more! Plus, we don't want her sleeping in a swing every night.

Our little girl just thinks there are much more interesting things to do than fall asleep! Her mind has a hard time shutting off enough to allow a good, deep sleep.

Any suggestions on what to do when:
1. She fights falling asleep, and
2. She can't stay asleep?

We want her to have healthy sleep habits, not only for our sakes, but for hers! If all else fails, we will just keep working with her and being patient. She is only 6 weeks old, and may grow out of it soon.

Thanks for listening to a whiney new mother :)

Lily's Baby Blessing

We had the wonderful opportunity of blessing our little Lily in church on Sunday. It was such a beautiful day! When we woke up that morning and realized the power was out, I was worried the day was off to a rough start. Luckily it came back on with enough time to finish getting ready and make it to church.

We were so thrilled at how many of our family and friends came! The blessing was beautiful, and Lily did extremely well through the entire Sacrament Meeting (including narrowly avoiding a complete diaper blow-out in her blessing dress!).

This face cracks me up. "What are we doing out here, exactly?"

That little tongue is ALWAYS going! :)

Lily also turned 5 weeks old this week, and is over 10 lbs now. Gettin' chunky!

Poor Teddy, doesn't stand a chance.

What good guard dogs! Cassie (left) has taken it upon herself to be Lily's surrogate mother, so we refer to Lily as her little puppy.

She sure loves her Gramma!

Lily is sure giving us a run for our money when it comes to getting her to bed at night. She does pretty well with her naps, but will have nothing to do with bed time. It's a work in progress! Hopefully as she gets older it will get easier. She's starting to smile more often, and is getting so much personality. Even after the long nights, we sure love this little girl. 







4 Weeks Old

Our Miss Lily is already 4 weeks old. Amazing! She is doing great, and growing like crazy.

Teddy doesn't stand a chance! She's passing him up with lightning speed.

Pretty adorable...if I do say so myself!

Todd and I have said that Lily could go from 0-60 in less than 2 seconds. She is very assertive little girl, not afraid to communicate what she needs and wants! When I began to see her dynamic personality, I didn't think I'd be able to understand her or relate to her. But I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it. She is so fun, and SO strong. We are just loving every day with her.

We've already gotten a couple of grins out of her! She's starting to smile a little bit every day. She is also trying to roll over. Her sleeping patterns are getting better and better. She will normally go to sleep at about 9, and sleep in 4-hour blocks. She got up to a 6-hour block last week! We still have rough nights here and there, but are plugging along.

We can't wait for Lily's baby blessing this Sunday! I think it will be a beautiful experience, and we're excited to see our family and friends.

3 Weeks Old

I can't believe our little girl is already 3 weeks old. Time is sure flying by. Todd went back to work last week, and Lily and I survived our first week home alone together! It's definitely been an adjustment, but we're getting used to things.

She's got the "Todd Scowl" goin' on :)

We have thought that Lily was getting colic, but aren't positive. We know she has a sensitive stomach and has a hard time coping with any sort of tummy troubles. Her sleeping schedule is also a little backwards still (she thinks she needs to be wide awake between midnight and 1am), so the combination of fighting sleep and upset tummy has made for some interesting nights. She is getting a little better each night though. We've started giving her Hyland's brand Colic tablets (thank you Amanda and Becca for suggesting them!) which seem to help calm her stomach down. So, now we get to figure out how to fix her sleeping schedule...and are very open to suggestions!

She is so good during the day! She is actually starting to smile a tiny bit. She is such a cuddly little girl, and loves to snuggle with her parents. She takes great naps during the day, and is finally getting the hang of nursing. For how much she's grown already, we're surprised she's still fitting into her newborn clothes. 0-3 month clothes are still a little too big for her. She is already in Size 1 diapers though!

We had quite the firework adventure last night! One of the smaller aerials tipped over when it went off, and shot right where we were sitting. One went off by my elbow while I was holding Lily, and fortunately didn't get either of us. She looked completely content through the entire adventure. She slept really well last night, so maybe we just need to give her a little adventure every night :)

Newborn Photos

Hello all!

Our awesome neighbor and friend, Amanda Gibbs, took Lily's newborn photos last week. If I do say so myself...they look fabulous! I thought I'd share some of them with you :) Enjoy!



We are so happy to have this beautiful little girl in our lives. I can't beleive how much she has changed already. It's so fun (but kind of sad...) to see her growing up. 

2 Weeks Old!

Miss Lily turned 2 weeks old today! She had her second Well-Baby checkup today, and passed with flying colors. We've got a growin' girl on our hands...she is now 8lbs 9oz, and almost 22" long. She had her second PKU test done (hence the bandage on her ankle) and was not a happy camper after. So glad we don't have to go back to the doctor for another 6 weeks!

She's already passing up Teddy!

Lily got 5 uninterrupted hours of sleep the other night. If she keeps this up, she'll be sleeping through the night in no time! She's starting to get a little more fussy, but is still such a good baby. She just has a hard time coping with tummy troubles and gas bubbles. Hopefully she'll grow out of that soon.

We took her newborn pictures last week, and should have them back tomorrow! I'll post them when we do. They are beautiful! Or am I just biased? :) You can see a sneak peek here.

Todd went back to work yesterday. Lily and I are working on adjusting to this new situation. I got very used to having Todd around all of the time! It's been pretty overwhelming, but we're getting the hang of it.