Lily's 3 month photo shoot!

Once again, thank you Amanda Gibbs for the FABULOUS job you did on Lily's 3 month pictures. This amazing lady has done our maternity photos, newborn, and now 3 month photos. We plan on doing 6, 9, and 12 month shots with her too! We're hooked on her great style :)

So, without further ado, may I show of my awesome baby?! Brace yourself...there's a lot...

The classic Merrill "Walnut Cracker" look..check out those eyebrows!

She loved grabbing those feathers with her monkey toes.

Love this one!

Num.. blanket!

Those spit bubbles never stop!

Those feet never stop either!

More spit bubbles...lol

Serious little girl!

The only little grin of the whole shoot! Normally she smiles all the time...but not that day.

lol! "Hmmmm?"

Those little hands are always grabbing something!

 

Thanks for letting me show off our little Lily :) 

3 Months already? No way...

I know I say this in every post, but time is flying! I can't beleive our little girl is 3 months old already.

 

Trying on headbands :)

Here's some of the things that she's doing now:

- Smiling like crazy! It's really easy to coax a grin out of her now.
- Laughing! Although they're still little just chuckles, they are so fun!
- Holding her head up. She gets the bobble-head once in a while, but she can almost hold her head steady.
- Still waking up once a night. We're getting her on a nice routine of bed at 10pm, eating at 2am and waking at 6am. Some days she can go back to sleep until 9am. But I can't wait until she drops that night meal!
- Eating every 2.5-3 hours. I don't like to stretch it farther than that or she's up more in the night.
- Size 2 diapers! Luckily we hadn't bought any more 1's, so we were able to use up what we had and switch her to the next size. This girl is groooowing!
- In size 3-6 month clothes. Although even some of those are snug...especially if they have to fit around her chunky thighs :)
- Still trying to roll over. She's not to interested in rolling from back to tummy, but will try to roll over when down for tummy time.
- Sleeping un-swaddled! (Most of the time). This is HUGE. She has never been able to sleep with her arms out because she's just wake herself up. Todd asked last week if she was ready to switch, and I thought it was worth a shot. We've had to help her learn how to sleep unswaddled, but she is doing much better. It also means that she doesn't use her binky much anymore because she pulls it out of her mouth when her arms are free.
- Is OK in her carseat. She'll still fuss, but overall she tollerates being in the car. For those of you who have driven with us while she was screaming... you know why that's an improvement :)
- Still sleeping in our bedroom. I really enjoyed having her in our room, but it's getting to a point where Todd's not sleeping very well. We're just saving up to buy a crib so she can be in her own room now. I think I'm finally ready for the change, but it's going to be a hard adjustment.
- Grabbing things. She has been able to grab things for a couple of weeks, but is starting to develop some hand-eye coordination and tries to grab things she's looking at. SO fun to watch.

We had her 3 month pictures taken yesterday. I'll post them as soon as we get them back! Can't wait for you all to see this chunky little girl :)  You can see a sneak previews HERE.

10 weeks just might be the magic number!

What's so special about 10 weeks old? Well, Lily suddenly decided that she was ready to sleep better! Or, should I say, she's finally learning how to self-soothe without going into absolute hysterics. We're able to put her in bed (for naps or bedtime) and just let her cry for a few minutes at a time, plug her binky back in, and repeat until she falls asleep. The last few days she has taken less and less time to fall asleep, and even does it without her binky once in a while! She still wakes up in the middle of most of her naps, but will usually fall back asleep after crying for a few minutes. Might not seem like a big deal, but it feels like a huge accomplishment to us :)   BUT... I don't want to jinx ourselves, and are prepared for some rough nights and naps here and there, just in case. lol.

10 weeks. Legs are getting chunky!

Trying some tummy-time. It didn't last very long, lol

More tummy-time. She decided licking her blanket was more fun!

She's sure starting to grab things! Poor teddy got his ears pulled...lol

 

We decided that it was best if neither of us were in school this semester. So, that means we actually get to see Todd int he evenings! It's been wonderful. Especially since we just got called to be the new Cub Scouts Wolf den leaders! So, we'll be chasing 9 year old boys around our house once a week, plus other activities and camps. But we're really excited. It's going to be an adventure wrangling those boys plus taking care of a 3 month old...but we'll figure it out I'm sure.

We're excited to do Lily's 3 Month pictures with Amanda Gibbs in two weeks. I'm thinking of doing a Autumn theme, and would love to get some pretty fall leaves pictures! So, if anyone has ideas for good locations in Davis/Weber county (preferably close to Layton), I'd love to hear them!

2 Months Old!

Woohoo, we survived our first two months!  

Look how big our little girl is getting!



 We've had an interesting couple of weeks. Todd is back in school full-time and his work schedule is stabilizing a bit. We're trying to get used to not seeing him as much. Monday and Friday he's gone from 6:30am to 4:30pm, and Tuesday - Thursday he's gone from 6:30am to 8:30pm. It's going to be a rough semester, but we'll get through it!

 

Lily has had a rough couple of weeks too. She was starting to sleep better and be happier, and then it went downhill again. She's been fussy and lethargic the last couple of days, and we think she might have an ear infection. Poor little girl, it's so sad to see her not feeling well. I feel that I've been blessed with strength and patience to stay up with her and comfort her. Although I've enjoyed all the cuddle time we've had, I wish it was under better circumstances. Here's hoping she feels better soon, and will be back to her usual, happy self!

Enjoying some good tummy-time. That neck is sure getting stronger!

This little girl sure loves her fist. It's nice for her to have a way to soothe herself a little.

Some good daddy-daughter time :)

We have her 2 month appointment next week. I can't wait to see how much she's grown. She's sure getting big! We've had some ups and downs, and are learning more every day, but we absolutely adore our daughter. She has been such a blessing in our lives, and we love watching her grow and develop each day. 

 

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.